Murder Trial Begins for Utah Author Accused of Poisoning Husband with Fentanyl

Kouri Darden Richins, 35, stood before a Summit County Third District Court jury in Park City as prosecutors opened a murder case that centers on the March 4, 2022 death of her husband, 36-year-old Eric Richins. Prosecutors allege Richins laced a Moscow mule cocktail with fentanyl that amounted to roughly five times a lethal dose, and they have charged her with first-degree aggravated murder, attempted criminal homicide, forgery, and two counts of insurance fraud.

The autopsy and toxicology reports in the case show fentanyl present at levels described in reporting as nearly five times a lethal dose, and the medical examiner recorded the drug as illicit and orally ingested. Deputies responded to the couple’s home in Kamas about 3 a.m. on March 4, 2022 and found Eric dead on the floor at the foot of his bed, according to court filings relied on in the prosecution’s theory.

Court filings also allege an earlier attempted poisoning on Feb. 14, 2022, when prosecutors say Richins laced a sandwich that caused Eric to break out in hives and to black out. Investigators note Eric had met with a divorce attorney shortly before his death, and charging documents allege Kouri Richins took out nearly $2 million in life insurance policies without Eric’s knowledge while owing “hundreds of thousands” of dollars in debt.

Richins pleaded not guilty and was arrested in May 2023, about a year after Eric’s death. Her defense sought a change of venue to Salt Lake County, arguing pretrial publicity would prejudice jurors; Judge Richard Mrazik denied that motion after jury selection earlier in February 2026. KUTV reported the trial began Monday with jury instructions and opening arguments scheduled for an 8:30 a.m. start.

The indictment lists first-degree aggravated murder as the lead count, with prosecutors warning a conviction could carry a life sentence. Prosecutors intend to present toxicology values, scene evidence from the March 4 response, and the alleged Feb. 14 incident as part of their timeline from February and March 2022 through the May 2023 arrest and subsequent filings.

Richins is also known in court filings and local reporting as the author of a children’s book titled Are You With Me?, published in the months after Eric’s death and dedicated to her husband with imagery of a father with angel wings watching over his young son. The book and the couple’s three shared children have figured in pretrial publicity that defense lawyers argued would require a change of venue.

Her defense team issued a courtroom statement emphasizing the right to a jury determination: “Kouri has waited nearly three years for this moment: the opportunity to have the facts of this case heard by a jury, free from the prosecution’s narrative that has dominated headlines since her arrest,” and, “What the public has been told bears little resemblance to the truth.” As the trial proceeds, jurors will weigh the toxicology findings, alleged delivery methods, and financial records laid out in charging documents in a case that has drawn national attention and could result in life imprisonment if Richins is convicted.