Author of grief book who is now accused of murder allegedly used fentanyl spiked cocktail to kill husband

Kouri Richins, 33, has been charged with murdering 39-year-old Eric Richins, who died in March 2022

The author of a grief book who is now accused of murdering her husband allegedly used a fentanyl-spiked cocktail to kill him.

Kouri Richins, 33, has been charged with murdering 39-year-old Eric Richins, who died in March 2022 after his wife made him a drink before bed at their home in Utah.

Court documents state that Eric Richins believed his wife had tried to poison him before, and that she attempted to change his life insurance policy just before his death, according to FOX13.

This photo provided by KPCW.org shows Kouri Richins at the KPCW studio in Park City, Utah, April 12, 2023 (AP)

Eric Richins came from a prominent Mormon family in Kamas, Utah, while his wife wrote a children’s grief book called Are You With Me?

Her arrest warrant states that she allegedly spent $1800 for 60 fentanyl pills which investigators say she described to a drug dealer as “the Michael Jackson stuff.”

Phone records allegedly show that she claimed to be buying the painkillers for an “investor” who had a back injury, and initially asked for hydrocodone, before later demanding “something stronger.”

Police say that she first spent $900 on 30 pills. While her husband became “very ill” after a meal on Valentine’s Day, he survived.

“Eric told a friend that he thought his wife was trying to poison him,” the documents read.

The arrest warrant claims that she went back to the dealer and bought another 30 pills for $900 and allegedly used them to murder her husband on 4 March by putting them in a Moscow Mule drink.

Officials determined that the cause of death was a fentanyl overdose with five times the lethal dosage found in his body.

Kouri Richins appeared on Good Things Utah to speak about her book ‘Are You With Me?' (Screenshot / ABC4)

“While investigating the death I was told by Eric’s family members that they suspected his wife had something to do with his death,” a detective with the Summit County Sheriff’s Office wrote. “They advised he warned them that if anything happened to him she was to blame.”

The investigator wrote that he had been told that during a trip to Greece years earlier, Eric Richins had become “violently ill” after his wife made him a drink and that he told his sister his wife had tried to kill him.

The warrant also states that on another occasion he broke out in hives and could not breathe after taking one bite out of a sandwich his wife had made for him.

Court records show that over the past few months, Kouri Richins has been attempting to have her husband’s sister removed as a trustee for his estate, which is valued at $3.6m.

Kouri Richins was arrested on Monday and booked into Summit County Jail where she remains held without bond. She has been charged with murder and drug possession and is set for a detention hearing on 19 May.