Utah jurors convict Kouri Richins in husband's fentanyl murder case

A Summit County jury needed only about three hours to convict Kouri Richins, 35, on all five counts in the fentanyl murder of her husband, Eric Richins, ending a case that hinged on whether jurors believed a death that first looked accidental was a deliberate killing for money and a fresh start.

Prosecutors said Eric Richins died on March 4, 2022, after Kouri Richins slipped a lethal dose of fentanyl into a cocktail. In court, chief prosecutor Brad Bloodworth told jurors that she had asked two people for the “Michael Jackson drug” while trying to get fentanyl, and a charging document said Eric Richins’ blood level was about five times the lethal dosage. The state also said she made a failed second attempt on Valentine’s Day, when she gave him a fentanyl-laced sandwich two weeks before his death.

The prosecution’s case was bolstered by a 911 call that quickly became central to the trial. After finding Eric Richins unresponsive, Kouri Richins told dispatchers, “My husband is not breathing. He’s cold.” Investigators paired that call with digital forensic testimony they said showed her phone sensor activity suggested she was holding the device to her ear rather than using speakerphone while claiming to perform CPR. Prosecutors also said Eric Richins’ family had warned him, through spokesperson Greg Skordas, “Watch out for Kouri, watch out if something happens to me.”

Jurors rejected the defense argument that the case was “sloppy” and “driven by bias.” They found Richins guilty of aggravated murder and attempted aggravated murder, along with insurance fraud and forgery. Prosecutors said she took out a $100,000 life insurance policy on Eric Richins with a forged signature, then filed a claim after his death. They argued she was obsessed with appearing “privileged, affluent and successful” and killed him to cover debts from her floundering house-flipping business.

The verdict led to a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. On May 13, 2026, Eric Richins’ birthday, Utah district court Judge Richard Mrazik said Richins was “simply too dangerous to ever be free.” He also imposed consecutive sentences of one to 15 years on two insurance fraud counts, up to five years for forgery, and five years to life on the attempted murder charge.

The case has resonated beyond true-crime attention because it showed how modern juries can weigh a mix of digital records, financial motive and circumstantial evidence against a defendant who never took the stand. Laura, the jury foreperson, said there was “never a not guilty check with anything, with any element, nothing.” Richins had also written a children’s book about grief after Eric Richins’ death, a contrast that sharpened public scrutiny as her children later said they wanted her to stay behind bars because they are scared of their mother.