She wrote a book about her husband’s death. Now she’s on trial for his murder

Kouri Richins faces a jury from Monday NewsWorldAmericasUS Crime NewsShe wrote a book about her husband’s death. Now she’s on trial for his murderKouri Richins faces a jury from MondayHannah Schoenbaum Saturday 21 February 2026 03:38 ESTBookmarkBookmark popoverRemoved from bookmarksClose popoveropen image in galleryKouri Richins, a Utah mother of three who wrote a children's book about coping with grief after her husband's death and was later accused of fatally poisoning him, looks on during a court hearing in 2024The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekdayYour briefing on the latest headlines from across the USYour briefing on the latest headlines from across the USEmail*SIGN UPI would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy noticeA year after her husband died, Utah mother Kouri Richins self-published a children’s book that she said helped her three sons cope with the loss. Richins promoted the book, Are You With Me?, on TV and drew praise for helping young people to process the death of a parent.But weeks after the book's 2023 publication she was arrested and charged with her husband Eric Richins’ murder.The arrest sent shockwaves through her small mountain town just outside Park City, where a month-long trial will begin Monday.Richins, 35, faces nearly three dozen charges in connection with her husband's death. They include aggravated murder, attempted murder, forgery, mortgage fraud and insurance fraud. She has pleaded not guilty.Prosecutors say Richins killed her husband at their home in March 2022 by slipping fentanyl into a cocktail that he drank. They say she was deep in debt and killed him for financial gain – while planning a future with another man she was seeing on the side.open image in galleryKouri Richins is accused of murdering her husband Eric in March 2022 (Facebook)The chilling case of a once-respected local author accused of profiting off her own violent crime has captivated true-crime enthusiasts in the years since her arrest. Once lauded as a touching read, her book has since become a tool for prosecutors in arguing that she carried out a calculated killing.Her defense attorneys, Wendy Lewis, Kathy Nester and Alex Ramos, said they are confident the jury will rule in Richins’ favor after hearing her side of the story.“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,” her legal team said in a statement. “What the public has been told bears little resemblance to the truth.”’Cold to the touch’On the night of her husband's death, Richins called 911 to report that she had found him “cold to the touch” at the foot of their bed, according to the police report. He was pronounced dead, and a medical examiner later found five times the lethal dose of fentanyl in his system.That was not her first attempt on his life, charging documents allege.open image in galleryThe house where Kouri and Eric Richins lived (AP)A month earlier, on Valentine's Day, Eric Richins told friends he broke out in hives and blacked out after taking one bite of a sandwich that Richins had left for him. She had bought the sandwich the same week police say she also purchased fentanyl pills from the family's housekeeper. Opioids, including fentanyl, can cause severe allergic reactions.After injecting himself with his son’s EpiPen and chugging the allergy medication Benadryl, Eric Richins woke from a deep sleep and called a friend to say, “I think my wife tried to poison me,” the friend said in a written testimony.A day after Valentine’s Day, Kouri Richins texted her alleged lover, “If he could just go away ... life would be so perfect.”Richins ‘asked housekeeper to get stronger fentanyl’The friend Eric Richins called that night and the housekeeper who claims to have sold his wife the drugs could be key witnesses in the upcoming trial. Others may include family members and the man with whom Kouri Richins was allegedly having an affair.The prosecution's star witness, housekeeper Carmen Lauber, told police she gave Richins fentanyl pills she bought from a dealer a couple of days before Valentine’s Day. Later that month, Richins allegedly told the housekeeper that the pills she provided were not strong enough and asked her to procure stronger fentanyl, according to charging documents.open image in galleryKouri Richins appeared on Good Things Utah to speak about her book ‘Are You With Me?' (Screenshot / ABC4)Defense attorneys are expected to argue that Lauber did not actually give Richins fentanyl and was motivated to lie for legal protection. Lauber is not charged in connection with the case, and detectives said at an earlier hearing that she had been granted immunity.No fentanyl pills were ever found in Richins’ home, and the housekeeper's dealer said he was in jail and detoxing from drug use when he told detectives i