After Kouri Richins’s husband, Eric, died instantly final yr, she wrote a youngsters’s e-book that she mentioned she hoped would assist her three boys course of the loss, comforted by the data that their father would all the time be with them.
On Monday, slightly over two months for the reason that e-book — “Are You With Me?” — was revealed, Ms. Richins, 33, was charged with murdering her husband by poisoning him with a deadly dose of fentanyl at their dwelling outdoors Park City, Utah.
An post-mortem and toxicology report decided that Mr. Richins, 39, had 5 occasions the deadly dosage of fentanyl in his system, and that the drug was illicit and never medical grade. The medical expert additionally concluded that the fentanyl had been ingested orally, in line with courtroom paperwork.
Ms. Richins revealed “Are You With Me?” on March 7, simply over a yr after her husband’s demise. Just a few weeks later, she appeared on KTVX-TV in Salt Lake City to advertise the e-book, which follows the story of a boy who misplaced his father however is reminded of his presence.
“My kids and I wrote this book on the different emotions and grieving process that we’ve experienced in the last year, hoping it could help other kids deal with this and kind of find happiness someway or another,” Ms. Richins informed KTVX. “It’s comforting for them that they’re not living this life alone. Dad is still here, but in a different way.”
A detention listening to is ready for May 19. A lawyer for Ms. Richins didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
According to courtroom paperwork, on the night of March 3, 2022, Ms. Richins and Mr. Richins had been celebrating the closing of a sale on a home that Ms. Richins, an actual property agent, had bought. She made her husband a Moscow mule, a cocktail, within the kitchen round 9 p.m. and introduced it to their bed room, the place Mr. Richins drank it in mattress.
Ms. Richins later informed investigators that she went to mattress and awoke round 3 a.m., as a result of one of many boys was having a nightmare. When she returned to the couple’s bed room, Ms. Richins informed investigators, she “felt Eric and he was cold to the touch.” She referred to as 911, in line with courtroom paperwork.
When Summit County sheriff’s deputies and emergency medical employees arrived, they discovered Mr. Richins on the ground on the foot of the mattress, the courtroom paperwork mentioned. They tried lifesaving measures however couldn’t revive him, and he was pronounced lifeless.
Ms. Richins informed investigators that she had left her telephone plugged in subsequent to her mattress when she went to examine on her son. But investigators later discovered that the telephone had been locked and unlocked “multiple times” between the time she mentioned she had gone to her son’s bed room and the 911 name, in line with courtroom paperwork, and that she had despatched and acquired messages throughout that point. The messages had been later deleted, the courtroom paperwork say.
In addition to homicide, Ms. Richins was additionally charged with three counts of possession of a managed substance, gamma-hydroxybutyric acid, with intent to distribute. Also often called GHB, it’s a narcolepsy drug that can be used recreationally at dance golf equipment, and has been known as a “date-rape drug.”
A search of Ms. Richins’s telephone discovered “several communications” with “an acquaintance” recognized in courtroom papers solely as C.L. According to courtroom paperwork, C.L., who has confronted a number of drug fees, informed investigators that Ms. Richins had reached out to him between December 2021 and February 2022, in search of assist getting prescription ache treatment for “an investor who had a back injury.”
Two weeks after the ache capsules had been delivered, Ms. Richins contacted C.L. once more and mentioned she was searching for “something stronger,” in line with the courtroom paperwork. She requested for “some of the Michael Jackson stuff,” specifying that she was searching for fentanyl. C.L. bought her 15 to 30 fentanyl capsules for $900, the courtroom paperwork say.
On Feb. 14, 2022, three days after Ms. Richins had bought the capsules, Mr. Richins grew to become in poor health after a Valentine’s Day dinner at their dwelling in Kamas, Utah. Mr. Richins later informed buddies that he thought his spouse was making an attempt to poison him, in line with courtroom paperwork.
Two weeks later, Ms. Richins contacted C.L. once more, asking for one more $900 price of fentanyl capsules. C.L. procured the capsules from a seller, the courtroom paperwork say, and left them for Ms. Richins outdoors a home she was promoting in Midway, Utah, south of Park City.
“Six days later,” the courtroom paperwork mentioned, “Eric was found dead of a fentanyl overdose.”
Source: www.nytimes.com