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Utah mom accused of poisoning husband with fentanyl in cocktail took out $2 million in life insurance policies on him

  

Category:  News & Politics

Via:  perrie-halpern  •  10 months ago  •  20 comments

By:   Minyvonne Burke and Alicia Victoria Lozano

Utah mom accused of poisoning husband with fentanyl in cocktail took out $2 million in life insurance policies on him
PARK CITY, Utah — A woman who allegedly spiked her husband's drink with fentanyl and then wrote a children's book about grief after he died is now accused of secretly taking out almost $2 million in life insurance policies on him.

S E E D E D   C O N T E N T


PARK CITY, Utah — A woman who allegedly spiked her husband's drink with fentanyl and then wrote a children's book about grief after he died is now accused of secretly taking out almost $2 million in life insurance policies on him.

The allegations against Kouri Richins were raised in an amended court document filed Thursday that led to the postponement of a detention hearing originally scheduled for Friday.

Richins, 33, is charged with aggravated murder and three counts of possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute following the death of her husband, Eric Richins, last March 4.

He was found unresponsive in the bedroom of their home in Kamas, about 40 miles southeast of Salt Lake City, after she made him a Moscow Mule to celebrate a business deal. An autopsy and a toxicology report found that he died from a fentanyl overdose, according to a probable cause statement.

Prosecutors said Richins slipped five times the lethal dose of fentanyl into the cocktail.

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A year after his death, she published a book about grief titled "Are You With Me?" to "create peace and comfort for children who have lost a loved one," according to a description on Amazon. She dedicated the book to "my amazing husband and a wonderful father." It has since been removed from Amazon.

The court document filed Thursday alleged that in September 2020, Eric Richins found out that his wife had obtained and spent a $250,000 home equity line of credit on their home in Kamas, had withdrawn at least $100,000 from his bank accounts, and spent more than $30,000 on his credit cards.

Richins is also accused of appropriating distributions made from her husband's business "for the purpose of making federal and state quarterly tax payments and not paying the taxes," the document alleged. The stolen tax payments totaled at least $134,346, it said.

Eric Richins confronted his wife about the money and she agreed to pay him back, according to the document.

230510-Eric-Richins-ew-412p-81031b.jpg

Eric Richins.Walker Mortuary

The following month, in October 2020, Eric Richins consulted a divorce lawyer and an estate planning lawyer, the document said. Unbeknownst to his wife, he changed his will, formed a living trust, placed his estate under the control of his sister Katie Richins-Benson, and designated the trust as the beneficiary of his $500,000 life insurance policy, according to the filing.

It further alleged that between 2015 and 2017, Richins bought at least four life insurance policies on her husband totaling almost $2 million. Eric Richins was unaware that she had purchased the policies, the document said.

Richins also allegedly changed a separate life insurance policy that her husband had to list herself as the beneficiary. The policy had initially listed his business partner as the beneficiary.

Eric Richins was alerted to it and was able to change it back to his business partner, the filing said.

Kouri Richins.KPCW.org via AP

The document also provided additional details on Richins' alleged attempts to poison her husband with fentanyl pills she obtained from an acquaintance identified in court documents as C.L.

Eric Richins' family has said that she tried to poison him multiple times.

One of those attempts happened last Valentine's Day. According to the filing, Richins allegedly made her husband a sandwich and left it on the seat of his truck with a love note.

"Shortly after consuming the sandwich, Eric Richins broke out in hives and had difficulty breathing," it said. "Eric found his son's EpiPen and administered it to himself and slept."

Eric Richins believed he had been poisoned and told a friend that he thought his wife was trying to poison him, according to the document. Despite his suspicions, he stayed in the marriage because of his children, his family's spokesperson said.

Late last February, Richins allegedly asked C.L. to get stronger fentanyl pills, the document said.

"C.L. initially stated that the defendant specifically asked for 'some of the Michael Jackson stuff' during this request for fentanyl, but subsequently conceded that the defendant may have made the Michael Jackson reference during her first request for fentanyl," it said. (The pop superstar died in 2009 at his Los Angeles home after having received a lethal dose of propofol.)

C.L. obtained the pills for Richins, the document said.

A medical examiner said that Eric Richins had five times the lethal dosage of fentanyl in his system when he died and that it was "illicit" fentanyl, not medical-grade. It is also believed he ingested the drugs orally, according to the statement.

Days after her husband's death, Richins allegedly had a locksmith drill into his safe, which contained between $125,000 and $165,000 cash, according to Thursday's filing. When Eric Richins' sister suggested that Richins should not touch the money, she allegedly became enraged and punched the woman in the face and neck.

The document alleges that last March 9 or March 10, after her husband's death, Richins told C.L. to leave more fentanyl pills in a fire pit at a home she owned.

Prosecutors said they needed more time to provide discovery related to the new allegations in the document, according to a motion filed Thursday.

Richins' attorneys said they needed time to review the discovery and prepare for the hearing.

"The State amended the charging Information and has not turned over discovery yet that supports it," Skye Lazaro, an attorney for Richins, said in an emailed statement. "Therefore we couldn't be prepared to argue about the sufficiency of the evidence."

The new detention hearing is scheduled for June 12.


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Ender
Professor Principal
1  Ender    10 months ago

I was watching a crime show about the woman that killed several men for insurance.

I thought they made a law that if someone took out a policy on someone else, they would have to be notified of it.

 
 
 
cjcold
Professor Quiet
1.1  cjcold  replied to  Ender @1    10 months ago

Ya just gotta love mormons and scientologists. 

Their religious insanity knows no bounds.

All religions are based in insanity.

 
 
 
Texan1211
Professor Principal
1.1.1  Texan1211  replied to  cjcold @1.1    10 months ago

religion had nothing to do with it.

amazing the lengths some will go just to get their digs in about religion.

 
 
 
pat wilson
Professor Participates
1.1.2  pat wilson  replied to  cjcold @1.1    10 months ago
Ya just gotta love mormons

Did you see last week's 60 Minutes about their "hedge fund" of more than $100 billion ? Holy Cow !!!

 
 
 
devangelical
Professor Principal
1.1.3  devangelical  replied to  pat wilson @1.1.2    10 months ago

you can baptize a lot of dead people with that kind of money...

 
 
 
pat wilson
Professor Participates
1.1.4  pat wilson  replied to  devangelical @1.1.3    10 months ago

Hell ! You could cremate them, make them into gold bricks and send them into orbit for that kind of money... 

 
 
 
Buzz of the Orient
Professor Expert
2  Buzz of the Orient    10 months ago

What life insurance company would issue a substantial policy on a person's life without their having to undergo a physical examination by the insurer's physician?  How could the policies be "secret"?

 
 
 
cjcold
Professor Quiet
2.1  cjcold  replied to  Buzz of the Orient @2    10 months ago

Used to do those medical exams for a living.

Retired as a paramedic and made much more money working for insurance companies.

 
 
 
Greg Jones
Professor Participates
3  Greg Jones    10 months ago

[deleted]

 
 
 
cjcold
Professor Quiet
3.1  cjcold  replied to  Greg Jones @3    10 months ago

removed for context

 
 
 
CB
Professor Principal
4  CB    10 months ago

Impossible situation. How does one stay in a relationship when its goal is (toxic) death?

 
 
 
devangelical
Professor Principal
5  devangelical    10 months ago

yikes. I feel lucky to be alive for some strange reason now...

 
 
 
cjcold
Professor Quiet
5.1  cjcold  replied to  devangelical @5    10 months ago
yikes.

Have barely survived a few relationships myself.

 
 
 
Gsquared
Professor Principal
6  Gsquared    10 months ago

She seems nice.

 
 
 
cjcold
Professor Quiet
6.1  cjcold  replied to  Gsquared @6    10 months ago
She seems nice.

Most do at first. Later on is when relationships can prove to be problematic.

 
 
 
cjcold
Professor Quiet
6.1.1  cjcold  replied to  cjcold @6.1    10 months ago

The love of my life always seems to be married to another guy.

 
 
 
devangelical
Professor Principal
6.2  devangelical  replied to  Gsquared @6    10 months ago
She seems nice.

that's probably chiseled on his tombstone...

 
 
 
TᵢG
Professor Principal
7  TᵢG    10 months ago
Eric Richins believed he had been poisoned and told a friend that he thought his wife was trying to poison him, according to the document. Despite his suspicions, he stayed in the marriage because of his children, his family's spokesperson said.

The way the story reads, Eric Richins had plenty of warnings that his wife was up to no good.   He had been poisoned once already.   Why would he continue to stay in a vulnerable position?   "Because of his children" makes no sense in these circumstances.

 
 
 
pat wilson
Professor Participates
7.1  pat wilson  replied to  TᵢG @7    10 months ago
 "Because of his children" makes no sense in these circumstances.

No it doesn't, you'd think his survival instincts would have kicked in for his children, if not for himself. Strange story.

 
 
 
Ender
Professor Principal
7.2  Ender  replied to  TᵢG @7    10 months ago

He stayed because of his children?
Uh, if you think someone is poisoning you, getting your children away from them should have been the priority.

 
 

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