Utah mother convicted in husband’s fentanyl poisoning, gets life sentence

A Utah judge sentenced Kouri Richins to life in prison without parole after a Summit County jury convicted the 35-year-old mother of three of aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder, fraud and forgery. The sentence, the harshest available for the murder conviction, was imposed May 13, 2026, on what would have been Eric Richins’ 44th birthday.

The verdict came after a weekslong trial that ended with jurors deliberating for about three hours. Prosecutors said Richins killed her husband in March 2022 by serving him a fentanyl-laced Moscow mule at their home just outside Park City, Utah. Eric Richins was 39 when he died on March 4, 2022, and the medical examiner said he had about five times the lethal dose of fentanyl in his system and that the drug had been orally ingested.

The case built beyond the single drink that investigators said killed him. Prosecutors also alleged that Richins tried to poison Eric Richins before his death, and that she was under intense financial pressure as the couple’s marriage fractured. Court filings and trial coverage said Eric Richins was considering divorce and had changed his will and life insurance beneficiary before he died, undercutting the payout allegations investigators say were part of the motive.

Richins was arrested in May 2023, more than a year after Eric Richins’ death, as detectives and prosecutors assembled the timeline around the poisoning allegation. The case drew wide attention because of the contrast between Richins’ public image and the accusations against her, including her later publication of a children’s book about grief after her husband died.

Eric Richins’ family said it was grateful for the verdict and the sentence. His sister, Amy Richins, said the family’s focus was honoring his life and continuing to heal. For prosecutors, the conviction turned on a steady evidentiary trail: the fentanyl dose, the drink, the alleged prior attempts, the money pressure and the steps Eric Richins took before his death to change his estate plans.