Why did Kouri Richins want her husband dead?

What is the real story of Eric and Kouri Richins’ marriage – a marriage that would end in tragedy? It begins at their wedding, in June 2013. 

June 15, 2013: A wedding and a pre-nup

On June 15, 2013, Kouri Darden, 23, and Eric Richins, 31, got married in the backyard at their home in Utah. They already had one son, and their family would soon grow.

According to court documents, the couple signed a prenuptial agreement that day, establishing that each party did not have rights to one another’s “present or future income, property, or assets” — except if Eric died while the two were lawfully married.

April 2019: Kouri Richins starts her real estate business

Kouri Richins started her real estate business, K Richins Realty LLC, in 2019. She began to buy homes, fix them up, and sell them for profit. As the business picked up, according to her family, Kouri Richins she would typically be working on three houses at a time.

March-June 2019: “Stolen” funds

Prosecutors allege that in 2019, Kouri began stealing from Eric’s accounts and “misappropriating monies distributed from Eric Richins’ business.” Court documents claim that “without Eric Richins’ knowledge or permission,” Kouri used a “fraudulent” Power of Attorney to execute a $250,000 credit deed of trust on the family home, then withdrew the entire $250,000 from this home equity line of credit.

Kouri Richins’ family told “48 Hours” that she did not steal from Eric Richins, and that Eric was always aware of the family’s finances.     

November 2020: The Eric Richins Living Trust

 in November 2020, Eric Richins met with an estate planning lawyer, Kristal Bowman-Carter, to make a new estate plan. He created the Eric Richins Living Trust and named his sister, Katie Richins Benson, trustee. In the case of his death, Katie – not Kouri – would manage his estate.

Bowman-Carter said in a statement filed with the court: “[Eric] told me he had two primary goals. His first goal was to protect him in the short-term from fairly recently discovered and ongoing abuse and misuse of his finances by his wife Kouri Richins. His second was to protect the three young sons he and Kouri had together in the long-term by ensuring that Kouri would never be in a position to manage his property after his death.”

Kouri was not informed about the trust and wouldn’t find out about it until after Eric died.

Early 2022: Kouri Richins  buys illicit drugs

According to prosecutors, in early 2022 Kouri Richins asked her housekeeper Carmen Lauber to procure pain pills for her, allegedly for a business investor who was dealing with pain. Lauber testified that she provided Kouri Richins with fentanyl. 

Phone records shown in court indicated that texts between Kouri Richins and Lauber from January 2 until shortly after Eric Richins’ death were deleted off of Kouri Richins’ and Lauber’s phones.

Feb. 14, 2022: A Valentine’s Day poisoning

Prosecutors say that on Valentine’s Day, 2022, shortly after Kouri Richins gave Eric Richins a sandwich, he broke out in hives and had difficulty breathing. He used his son’s EpiPen and slept. According to the prosecution, Eric believed that he had been poisoned, and told a friend that he thought his wife was trying to poison him. Defense attorneys for Kouri Richins alleged that Eric Richins had an allergic reaction to the sandwich.

March 4, 2022: A tragic death

Summit County Sheriff’s deputies and EMS staff arrived at the Richins’ home in Kamas, Utah, at 3:31 a.m. on March 4. They found Eric Richins deceased. According to court documents, the responding paramedic thought “he’d been dead a while.”

At the scene, Kouri Richins told investigators she’d made her husband a cocktail before bed then went to sleep with her son who was having nightmares. She said that when she returned to Eric’s side at around 3 a.m., he was unresponsive, and she called 911.

Eric Richins’ family’s spokesperson, Greg Skordas, describes Eric’s death as “a huge loss … he was this beautiful son and – and brother, and father, and cared about people … cared about everything he was doing.”

March 5, 2022: The $3.9 million mansion

The day after Eric Richins’ death, Kouri Richins closed on a big purchase she’d made for her house flipping business: this $3.9 million, 20,000 square foot mansion in Heber City, Utah, known as the “Midway Mansion.” Kouri Richins’ family says Eric was on board with the plan to fix up the house and sell it for a large profit.

“[Kouri] and Eric sat down with an accountant one time,”  Lisa Darden told “48 Hours,” “and he said, if you can get it done and stay under budget, you could walk away with $12 million.”

But according to a search warrant, Eric’s family told investigators that Eric was not happy with the purchase, and that he Kouri were arguing about the property before his death.

“He was on board with supporting his wife,” family spokesman Greg Skordas said. “That doesn’t mean he agreed with it.”

March 6, 2022: A fight breaks out

Two days after Eric Richins’ death, court documents allege, Kouri Richins and Eric’s sister, Amy Richins, fought at the family home. Prosecutors say Kouri Richins called a locksmith to attempt to access a safe in the house, and Amy objected. Amy allegedly told Kouri Richins that Eric’s property, under the trust, did not belong to her, and Kouri “became enraged” and “punched Amy in the face and neck.”

Kouri Richins was charged with assault and later pleaded no contest. 

April 2022: Five times the lethal dose

Following an autopsy in April 2022, it was determined that Eric had died from an overdose of fentanyl. The medical examiner said that Eric had 15 ng/mL of fentanyl in his blood — and that in other deaths caused by fentanyl, concentrations have been reported as low as 3 ng/mL. This data indicates that the amount of fentanyl Eric ingested was five times the lethal dose.

March 7, 2023: A book to cope with grief

Kouri Richins’ family says that after Eric Richins’ death, she and her sons were grieving. “The boys … lashed out a little bit because they couldn’t quite understand what was going on,” says Kouri Richins’ brother Ronney. “They needed some help and Kouri needed some help.”

To help her sons cope with their grief, according to Kouri and her family, Kouri published a children’s book, “Are You With Me?” on March 7, 2023.  She sold the book on Amazon. It follows the story of a child who lost his father but is reminded his presence still exists all around.

In April 2022 Kouri promoted the book on a local TV show called “Good Things Utah.” Just a month later, she was arrested for Eric’s murder.

May 8, 2023: Kouri Richins arrested

On May 8, 2023, Kouri Richins was arrested and charged in her husband’s murder. Prosecutors alleged that when she made Eric Richins that drink just hours before he died, she deliberately poisoned him with fentanyl she purchased from Carmen Lauber.

Kouri Richins pleaded not guilty. Her defense argued that Eric Richins may have acquired the fentanyl himself on a recent trip to Mexico, or accidentally taken something – perhaps a THC gummy – that he didn’t know was laced with fentanyl, and that his death was a tragic accident.

Nov. 3, 2023: Accusations of witness tampering

This unsent letter, found in Kouri Richins’ jail cell, has become known as the “walk the dog” letter for the words scrawled at the top of the page. Prosecutors argued this letter was evidence that Kouri Richins was attempting to tamper with witnesses.

In the letter, Kouri Richins writes to her mother and gives her instructions on what her brother, Ronney, should say in court. She writes that her defense case needs “some kind of connection” between Eric and drugs. She says, “Here is what I’m thinking but you have to talk to Ronney. He would probably have to testify to this, but it’s super short not a lot to it.” She appears to tell her mother to tell Ronney to recount a story where “Eric told Ronney he gets pain pills & fentanyl from Mexico”.

Feb. 23, 2026: Kouri Richins trial

Opening arguments in Kouri Richins’ trial began on Feb. 23, 2026 in Park City, Utah. The trial lasted three weeks, and 40 witnesses were called to testify for the prosecution. When it came time for defense to make their case, they unexpectedly rested.

“I was so shocked and I was actually really disappointed,” the jury foreperson told “48 Hours” in an interview. “I felt like there was more to the story.” 

March 17, 2026: A guilty verdict 

After deliberating for three hours, the jury found Kouri Richins guilty on all charges, including aggravated murder, attempted murder, insurance fraud, and forgery.

“I thought the evidence was devastating against Kouri and that she was guilty,” one juror told “48 Hours.”

May 13, 2026: Kouri Richins sentenced to life without parole

On May 13, 2026, what would have been Eric Richins’ 44th birthday, Judge Richard Mrazik sentenced Kouri Richins to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Several family members spoke at her sentencing.

“It’s impossible to fully describe how devastating Eric’s death and Kouri’s crimes have been to our family,” said Eric’s sister Katie Richins. “Nearly every aspect of our lives has been permanently changed, and we have no choice but to live with those changes and with Eric’s loss forever.”