A Utah mother who published a children’s book on grief following her husband’s death last year has now been accused of poisoning him with a lethal dose of fentanyl. Court documents show that 33-year-old Kouri Richins faces charges including aggravated murder in connection with the death of her husband, Eric Richins, 39, who was found dead at the foot of their bed on March 4, 2022. Prosecutors allege that Eric Richins was poisoned by a lethal dose of fentanyl on the night of March 3, 2022, according to the charging document. Kouri Richins has also been charged with three counts of possession of drugs with intent to distribute. Her next hearing is scheduled for May 19.

According to the probable cause statement, Kouri Richins allegedly told police following his death that they were celebrating her closing on a house for her business that night and she “made Eric a Moscow Mule in the kitchen and brought it to their bedroom where Eric consumed it while sitting in bed.”  She then said she went to sleep with one of their children, and when returning to the bedroom around 3 a.m. she found him “cold to the touch.”  An autopsy determined that Eric Richins died from a fentanyl overdose, and that the level of fentanyl in his system was five times the lethal dosage. The medical examiner indicated the fentanyl was “illicit fentanyl,” not medical grade, and that it was likely ingested orally.

Kouri and Eric Richins were married for nine years and had three young sons together, according to his obituary. While appearing on a “Good Things Utah” segment last month on Salt Lake City’s KTVX to promote her new children’s book, Kouri Richins said her husband died unexpectedly, and that his death “completely took us all by shock … My kids and I kind of wrote this book on the different emotions and grieving processes that we’ve experienced last year. [I am] hoping it can kind of help other kids deal with this and kind of find happiness some way or another.”

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