A Utah woman who wrote a children's book about how to cope with grief after her husband's death — and then was charged in his murder — now faces a new charge alleging she had actually tried but failed to kill him once before.
Prosecutors say Kouri Richins, 33, fatally poisoned Eric Richins in March 2022 with a lethal dose of fentanyl added to a Moscow Mule that he was drinking to celebrate closing on the purchase of a home.
Now she is additionally accused of previously trying to kill Eric weeks earlier — on Valentine's Day — by poisoning his favorite sandwich at their suburban Salt Lake City home.
An arrest warrant claims that the pair had enjoyed a Valentine's Day dinner in their home. Shortly after the meal, Eric became very ill.
Police said Eric believed that he had been poisoned and told a friend that he thought his wife was trying to kill him.
He survived after injecting himself with his child's EpiPen and taking some Benadryl.
But Eric didn't survive the Moscow Mule she served him weeks later. Police found him on the floor in front of his bed.
She told officers that she had brought the drink to him as he sat in bed, claiming that she left the room and went to sleep with one of their children because the child was having a night terror.
Richins told investigators she woke up around 3 a.m. and came back to their bedroom and called 911 after finding him cold to the touch.
Police found inconsistencies in her story, including details about her phone that didn't match up.
An autopsy determined that he had died from the oral ingestion of an amount of fentanyl that was five times the lethal dosage.
The alleged sandwich poisoning was detailed in charging documents filed Monday.
Kouri Richins was also charged with mortgage fraud and insurance fraud for allegedly faking loan applications and illegally collecting insurance benefits after her husband's death.
She had self-published a book called "Are You With Me?" about a father who had angel wings and was watching over his little kid after he passed away.
