The young sons of Utah author Kouri Richins have stated that they would feel unsafe if their mother was ever released from prison, following her conviction in March for the murder of their father. Richins, 35, faces several decades to life in prison on five felony convictions, including aggravated murder.
Sons Express Fear
In a memo from prosecutors urging Judge Richard Mrazik to sentence Richins to life without parole, the three sons, now aged 13, 11, and under 10, expressed their fear of their mother. The oldest child, now 13, said he does not miss his mom and is afraid she would harm him and his brothers if released. The middle child, now 11, refuted his mother's claim that she slept in his bedroom on the night of the murder, recalling unusual circumstances. The youngest son said he feels 'hateful and ashamed' and would be 'so scared' if his mother got out of prison.
Details of the Crime
Prosecutors said Richins laced her husband Eric Richins' cocktail with five times the lethal dose of fentanyl in March 2022 at their home near Park City. She then self-published a children's book titled 'Are You With Me?' about a boy coping with the death of his father shortly before her arrest in May 2023. In the book, Eric Richins is portrayed as an angel who is always close by. Richins was a real estate agent with a house-flipping business who was millions in debt and planning a future with another man. She had opened numerous life insurance policies on her husband without his knowledge and falsely believed she would inherit his estate worth more than $4 million after he died.
Additional Charges
Jurors also found Kouri Richins guilty of other felonies, including insurance fraud, forgery, and attempted murder for trying to poison her husband weeks earlier on Valentine's Day with a fentanyl-laced sandwich. According to court documents, Eric Richins' family suspected that his wife had also attempted to poison him in 2019 during a vacation in Greece. Richins also faces more than two dozen money-related criminal charges in a separate case that has not yet gone to trial.
