US EditionUtah grief author Kouri Richins convicted of murder in husband's poisoning death
Kouri Richins, deeply in debt and facing $7.5 million owed, was convicted for poisoning her husband to collect nearly $2 million in life insurance proceeds, prosecutors said.
- On Monday, March 16, 2026, a Utah jury convicted Kouri Richins, a Utah mother, of aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder, insurance fraud, and forgery in the fentanyl-poisoning death of her husband, Eric Richins.
- Prosecutors argued Richins was in a "downward financial death spiral," poisoning her husband with a fentanyl-laced Moscow Mule while facing more than $4.5 million in debt and falsely believing she would inherit his estate worth more than $4 million.
- Defense attorney Wendy Lewis urged acquittal, arguing prosecutors presented "paper-thin evidence" and that Eric Richins was addicted to painkillers, while prosecutors detailed a failed poisoning attempt on Valentine's Day 2022 that made him break out in hives.
- Sentencing for Richins is scheduled for May 13, 2026, after investigators testified she promoted a children's book about grief to create a sympathetic narrative, which prosecutors cited as evidence of a calculated cover-up.
- Richins now faces a possible life sentence for the aggravated murder conviction, with the case drawing significant attention for highlighting how financial desperation and affair motives combined to drive the crime.
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99 Articles
Utah Grief Author Kouri Richins Convicted of Killing Husband
A Utah woman who wrote a children's book on coping with loss has now been convicted of causing it. A Summit County jury on Friday found 35-year-old Kouri Richins guilty of aggravated murder in the 2022 fentanyl death of her husband, Eric Richins, and four related charges, the Salt Lake...
Author Who Wrote a Memorial Fairy Tale After Husband's Death Was the Poisoner Who Killed Him. An American woman in her 30s who wrote a children's book about overcoming the grief of losing a family member after poisoning her husband has been found guilty four years after the incident. According to foreign media outlets, including the AP, on the 16th (local time), a jury at Summit County Court in Utah, USA...
A Utah court has found a female writer guilty of poisoning her husband after finding she had mixed a potent drug into his drinks. The case stemmed from her portrayal of herself as a child author coping with loss through children's books dedicated to her deceased husband.
A Utah mother has been found guilty of killing her husband, who wrote a children's book about how to grieve the sudden loss of a father, the BBC reported. The jury found that Kouri Richins killed her husband in March 2022 by giving him a drink laced with fentanyl. The trial heard that Richins, 35, had accumulated millions of dollars in debt, took out life insurance policies on her husband and had an extramarital affair. Prosecutors called more t…
Kouri Richins Who Wrote Grief Book After Husband's Death Is Found Guilty of Murdering Him
Kouri Richins was found guilty of aggravated murder by a Utah jury on Monday after poisoning her husband with a lethal dose of fentanyl. The 33-year-old mother had gained national attention for writing a children's book about grieving just months after Eric Richins' 2022 death. Prosecutors successfully argued that she killed him to resolve financial disputes and gain control over his multi-million dollar estate. The prosecution depicted the Utah…
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