A Utah court in the United States found Kouri Richins guilty of poisoning her husband with fentanyl to murder him, motivated by insurance money and inheritance. She exhibited cruel behavior, secretly having an affair and accumulating massive debts before building a public image by writing a children's picture book about coping with loss shortly after her husband died.
A Utah jury deliberated for only three hours before delivering a verdict on Monday, 16 Mar 2024 GMT+7, convicting 35-year-old Kouri Richins of murdering her husband, Erik Richins, in March 2022 by lacing his drink with a lethal dose of fentanyl.
Prosecutors called over 40 witnesses, including a woman who admitted selling fentanyl to the defendant. Evidence showed Kouri was millions of dollars in debt and had secretly taken out multiple life insurance policies in her husband's name. She was also having an affair and planning to live with her lover.
Brad Bloodworth, Summit County district attorney, told the court, “She wanted to leave Erik, but she didn’t want to leave his money.” Kouri mistakenly believed she would inherit more than $4 million (about 130 million baht) if her husband died.
Officials revealed that before the fatal incident, Kouri had attempted to poison her husband once by putting drugs in a sandwich, which nearly killed him but he survived. In the latest attempt, she increased the drug dosage, leading to a conviction also for attempted murder from the prior incident.
Erik himself began to suspect his wife. Court documents state that after he fell seriously ill on Valentine's Day 2022, he told a close friend, “I believe I was poisoned, and I think my wife tried to kill me.”
What drew worldwide attention to this case was Kouri’s behavior after Erik’s death. She published a children’s picture book titled "Are You With Me?" about coping with grief after losing a loved one. She told the media she wrote it to help their three children and other families handle loss, dedicating the book to Erik as “an amazing husband and wonderful father” before being arrested two months later.
On the night of 4 March 2022, Kouri called police in the middle of the night reporting she found her husband unresponsive. She claimed she had made him a vodka drink at their bedside before going to sleep with their children who were having nightmares. When she returned, she found his body “cold as ice.”
However, the autopsy found Erik died of a fentanyl overdose, with toxic levels five times the fatal dose. There was also evidence of text messages ordering powerful painkillers, with Kouri requesting “something strong like what Michael Jackson used.”
Kouri Richins denied all charges throughout the trial, but the jury found her guilty. The maximum penalty for aggravated murder is 25 years to life imprisonment.
/sourceBBC