Poisoned food, drugs, money. A widow’s murder trial grips the nation
Accusations of a poisoned sandwich. A paramour turned witness for the prosecution. Conflicting testimony about illicit drug deals. A children’s book about grief written by a widow later accused of killing her husband. And a judge winning over social media spectators by wrangling attorneys on both sides.
The murder trial of Kouri Darden Richins is the latest true-crime case to grip the nation.
Richins, 35, is on trial for the murder of her husband, Eric Richins, who was found dead early on March 4, 2022, from an overdose of fentanyl at their home in Kamas, Utah, a small mountain town about 40 miles east of Salt Lake City. Kouri Richins was charged with first-degree aggravated murder, attempted criminal homicide, forgery and two counts of insurance fraud in connection with the death of her husband, court records showed.
So far, prosecutors have presented mountains of evidence, including cell phone data and financial documents, in their effort to prove Kouri Richins owed millions and killed her husband for money. Dozens of witnesses, including a private investigator hired by Eric Richins’ family and the man who said he was having an affair with Kouri Richins, have all taken the stand and offered, at times, emotional testimony.
Now, Kouri Richins’ attorneys are preparing to mount their defense.
Here’s what to know about the case so far:
What happened to Eric Richins?
Chief prosecutor Brad Bloodworth said in his opening statement that Kouri Richins attempted to kill her husband on Valentine’s Day and succeeded not long after.
Bloodworth said Kouri Richins asked her house cleaner to buy her illicit drugs, and days later, on Feb. 14, 2022, she bought a sandwich for her husband, then left to meet up with her boyfriend an hour away. Meanwhile, according to Bloodworth, Eric Richins sent a message to his wife saying, “I’m gonna lay down for a bit if I don’t start getting better I’m gonna head to the hospital.”
After that, Bloodworth said Kouri Richins asked her house cleaner to buy her “something stronger,” and days later, Eric Richins was dead from a fentanyl overdose. Bloodworth said Kouri Richins owed more than $4.5 million to over 20 different lenders on the day her husband died, and “she needed Eric Richins’ money to get her fresh start at life.”
When she knew that police were investigating her, Bloodworth said she published a children’s book on how to deal with the loss of a parent.
Defense attorney Kathryn Nester, however, said what happened on Valentine’s Day was not attempted murder, but an allergic reaction. Nester said Kouri Richins fell asleep next to her son on the night of March 3, 2022, and at some point, Eric Richins ingested a fatal dose of fentanyl, “went to bed and fell asleep and died in his sleep.”
Nester said there is “zero evidence” of how the fentanyl got into his system, but told jurors Eric Richins had recently visited Mexico before he died. “Guess where the fentanyl comes from into this country from? Mexico,” she said.
Nester and a spokesperson for the Summit County Attorney’s Office declined interview requests from USA TODAY.
Housekeeper says she bought drugs for Kouri Richins
Carmen Lauber, the former house cleaner who testified after receiving immunity agreements from several law enforcement agencies, said Kouri Richins asked her to buy illicit drugs for her on four occasions.
After the first time, she said Kouri Richins asked for something stronger, including “the Michael Jackson stuff.” Jackson died of acute propofol and benzodiazepine intoxication.
Lauber said she told Kouri Richins she had a friend with access to fentanyl pills and Kouri Richins told her to get them. Lauber said she bought drugs multiple times from Robert Crozier, but he testified that he only clearly remembered meeting her once and selling her oxycodone, not fentanyl. Crozier also received grants of immunity before his testimony.
Lauber got emotional as she talked about what happened when she learned that Eric Richins had died.
“Please tell me these pills were not for him,” Lauber said she told Kouri Richins.
“No, they were not. Eric passed away from a brain aneurysm,” Kouri Richins responded, according to Lauber.
What was found on Kouri Richins’ phone?
Chris Kotrodimos, owner of a company that does digital forensics, said there was evidence that “hundreds” of text messages were deleted from Kouri Richins’ phone around the time of her husband’s death.
Kotrodimos said he recovered three “ghost” or “orphaned” images, thumbnails of images that have been deleted, that appeared to be memes or GIFs accessed on Kouri Richins’ phone around 8:30 a.m. on March 4, 2022 ‒ the day her husband was found dead. The images displayed by the prosecution appeared to show President Donald Trump with the caption “I’m really rich,” actor Kevin Spacey with the caption “Idiots. Idiots everywhere” and someone pressing dollar bills to their face.
Kotrodimos said it’s not clear if the images were sent or received by Kouri Richins because they were deleted.
Prosecutors also displayed search queries Kotrodimos said were made on Kouri Richins’ phone for information, including whether deleted text messages could be recovered, whether life insurance payments can be made if a death certificate is still pending and prisons for the rich.
Wife was in ‘financial distress’ before getting husband’s life insurance money
Forensic accountant Brooke Karrington said Kouri Richins’ financial situation was “imploding” around the time her husband died.
Kouri Richins was borrowing large sums of money to support her real estate business, including $3.2 million to purchase a mansion, according to Karrington. She said the deal to purchase the mansion, which reportedly needed an additional $3 million worth of repairs, was supposed to close the day Eric Richins was found dead.
Kouri Richins closed on the home and then tried to sell it about a week later, Karrington said. But Karrington said all the potential deals fell through, and Kouri Richins didn’t have enough money to pay for the renovations or her debts.
“Kouri Richins was in financial distress, and her financial enterprise was collapsing, had been collapsing,” Karrington said. “And but for a significant infusion of cash and capital, it would have continued to collapse.”
Karrington said Kouri Richins did receive a significant influx of cash: about $1.3 million in life insurance money after her husband’s death. She spent it all within three months, including sending $25,000 to her boyfriend, according to Karrington.
Boyfriend says Kouri Richins asked if he’d ever killed anyone
Around the time when the mansion deal was supposed to close, Robert Josh Grossman told Kouri Richins he wanted to celebrate with her, according to text messages displayed by the prosecution. Then she told him her husband had died.
“They think an aneurysm,” Kouri Richins purportedly wrote, according to the messages.
Grossman, who said he started a romantic relationship with Kouri Richins in 2020, put his head down and appeared to get emotional as prosecutors displayed affectionate messages between the pair. He said this trial marks the first time he’d seen Kouri Richins since they broke up.
Grossman said their relationship changed after Eric Richins died, and they met up in the mountains weeks later to talk. During the wide-ranging conversation, Grossman said Kouri Richins asked him if he’d ever killed anyone while serving in Iraq and how it made him feel.
He testified that she eventually ended things with him and they went some time without speaking. He said he reached out to Eric Richins’ family and their private investigator after hearing Kouri Richins do an interview about her book and learning she had been arrested.
“After I found that out, I was overwhelmed with you know guilt, sorrow, my wrongdoings, and you know infidelity,” Grossman said.
The defense pressed the private investigator, Todd Gabler, about whether Eric Richins had been unfaithful. Nester repeatedly asked Gabler if he had found any evidence that Eric Richins was “sexting” with another man.
Gabler said he didn’t recall, but upon reviewing messages on the stand, he said they appeared to be jokes. He read one of the messages, which appeared to be from Eric Richins, aloud: “Kouri and I are starting an open relationship tonight, so I told her I’m taking you home.”
“I don’t understand this to be sexting. I think you’re wrong about that. I resist your characterization,” Gabler told Nester.
Courtroom drama erupts between lawyers, the judge and the audience
In addition to the dramatic testimony, there has been drama between the attorneys in the case. At one point early in the trial, prosecutors objected to Nester’s word choice. She said it’s a Southern thing, but she would try to refrain from using “y’all” in questioning.
Later, Nester told Judge Richard Mrazik that people watching the trial on television had reported members of the prosecution team were “making faces at the jury during our cross-examinations.” Mrazik cut her off, saying, “With respect, I have a better view of this than any of the cameras. I haven’t seen anything like that.”
After prosecutors took issue with the defense asking certain witnesses hypothetical questions, Mrazik asked that only one attorney from each side speak during sidebar conversations, which he dubbed the “one horse, one rider” rule.
That afternoon, another brought another surprising twist: Mrazik read a handwritten note to him from a juror asking if someone in the audience was sketching members of the jury. He said court staff confirmed the incident, that person was permanently barred from the courtroom and the sketches were “removed” from the sketchbook.
“We cannot have anyone doing anything to identify the jurors in any way,” he said.