Kouri Richins was a Utah real estate agent, a mother of three, and by most accounts an unremarkable name outside her local market – until March 4, 2022. That’s the night her husband Eric died at their home near Park City, and toxicology results would later show fentanyl in his system at roughly five times a lethal dose. More than three years, one children’s book, and one trial later, a Summit County jury found her guilty of aggravated murder. She’s now serving a life sentence, and her appeal is still working its way through the courts.
Here’s what we actually know about who Kouri Richins is, what happened the night Eric died, why her own book became part of the story, and where the case stands as of September 2026.
Quick Facts About Kouri Richins
- Full name: Kouri Darden Richins
- Age: 36 (born April 20, 1990)
- Former occupation: Real estate agent and property investor in Utah
- What happened: Convicted of fatally poisoning her husband, Eric Richins, with fentanyl on March 4, 2022
- Charges: Aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder, two counts of insurance fraud, forgery
- Plea: Not guilty — her defense argued that prosecutors never nailed down how or when someone gave Eric the fentanyl.
- kouri richins trial: February to March 2026, Summit County, Utah
- Verdict: Guilty on every count, March 16, 2026
- Sentence: Life without the possibility of parole, handed down May 13, 2026
- Current status: Incarcerated; appeal filed May 26, 2026
- Marriage: Wed to Eric Richins for around nine years
Who Is Kouri Richins?
Before any of this, Kouri Richins was just working real estate around Park City and Kamas. She and Eric had been married for close to a decade and had three sons. After Eric died, she settled into a role a lot of people recognized instantly – young widow, raising three boys on her own – and she leaned into it publicly, even publishing a children’s book about losing a parent months before her own arrest.
That image didn’t survive May 2023. That’s when she was charged with killing Eric, not just losing him.
Kouri Richins Parents:
Her mother, Lisa Darden, has stood by her the whole way, insisting even after the conviction that she believes Kouri is innocent. At sentencing in May 2026, someone read aloud a statement from Lisa, who called her daughter a devoted mother. Kouri’s brother, Ronney Darden, has also spoken up in her defense, including at that same hearing. As for her father – there isn’t much verified reporting on him, and honestly, a lot of what circulates online about him doesn’t hold up to scrutiny, so it’s worth being skeptical of it.
What Did Kouri Richins Do?
According to prosecutors, Kouri poisoned Eric with fentanyl on the night he died, and this wasn’t the first attempt – an earlier, non-fatal poisoning allegedly happened that same year, on Valentine’s Day. She was convicted on both counts, plus insurance fraud and forgery connected to close to $2 million in life insurance she’d taken out on him.
She’s maintained her innocence this entire time. At trial, her lawyers argued the prosecution never actually proved how or when the fentanyl entered his body. She didn’t take the stand, and her defense didn’t call a single witness.
How Did Kouri Richins Get Caught?
It started with Eric’s toxicology report, which showed roughly 15 nanograms of fentanyl per milliliter of blood — CBS reported that this amount was about five times what experts consider lethal. That number sent investigators digging through Kouri’s texts, bank records, and insurance paperwork. They say she’d been in contact with a woman who had a prior drug history, and that Kouri first asked for prescription painkillers before eventually asking for fentanyl itself – once before the Valentine’s Day incident, and again before Eric died.
The money side of things didn’t help her case either. Prosecutors said she had over $4.5 million in debt at the time and could access an estate worth around $4 million after Eric died.
Timeline of March 4, 2022
By Kouri’s own account, she and Eric spent the evening celebrating a real estate deal, and she’d made him a Moscow Mule. She says she stepped away to check on one of the kids, then came back to find him unresponsive. She called 911. Paramedics couldn’t revive him, and Eric was pronounced dead at 39. Nobody knew why yet – that answer wouldn’t come until the autopsy results landed weeks later, and once they did, everything changed.
Kouri Richins Husband: Who Was Eric Richins?
Eric ran a masonry business and worked in construction around Kamas and Park City, where he and Kouri had built a life together. He was 39 when he died. According to his family, he’d already voiced concerns about his wife before that – and friends later said that after the Valentine’s Day incident, he told them directly he thought she’d tried to poison him.
Kouri Richins Children
Kouri and Eric had three sons. Their names haven’t been made public, which makes sense given they’re minors. All three were under 10 when their father died in 2022; by the time of their mother’s sentencing in May 2026, they were roughly 13, 11, and 9. Statements read into the record that day made clear how scared the boys are of what might happen if Kouri were ever released.
Who Is Raising Kouri Richins Children Now?
Eric’s sister, Katie Benson, and her husband, Clint Benson, are raising the three boys, according to KSL. The family has kept them well away from cameras since Eric’s death.
Kouri Richins Boyfriend: Robert Josh Grossman
Trial reporting named Robert Josh Grossman as a former partner of Kouri’s, and prosecutors leaned on that relationship for motive evidence. One message, reported by CBS, was sent not long after the Valentine’s Day poisoning – Kouri reportedly wrote that if Eric “could just go away,” life would be perfect. Grossman was never accused of any role in Eric’s death.
Kouri Richins Book: Are You With Me?
In 2023, Richins put out a children’s book called Are You With Me?, meant to help kids process losing a parent. She promoted it herself, even did a local TV spot, all in the months leading up to her arrest – and later reporting suggested a ghostwriter had actually done much of the writing. It’s the detail that turned this from a regional case into a true-crime headline: a woman writing about a child’s grief, accused of causing it herself.
Where Is Kouri Richins Now?
She’s incarcerated as of September 2026, serving life without parole. Her appeal, filed back in May, is still active with the Utah Court of Appeals, and the conviction stays in place while that plays out.
The Trial: Charges, Timeline, and Delays
Richins was arrested in May 2023. Getting from arrest to trial took almost three years. Along the way, prosecutors added the Valentine’s Day poisoning allegation and more financial charges, and in May 2024 her original defense team quit – they cited only an “irreconcilable and nonwaivable situation,” with no further detail given publicly. She was later declared indigent, so court-appointed lawyers took over before the trial finally opened in Summit County that February.
kouri richins verdict
The jury deliberated for about three hours after roughly three weeks of testimony. On March 16, 2026, they came back with guilty verdicts on all four counts – aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder, two counts of insurance fraud, and forgery.
kouri richins Sentence
Sentencing landed on May 13, 2026 – Eric’s 44th birthday, as it happened. Judge Richard Mrazik gave her life without parole, saying someone willing to do this for money was too dangerous to ever let out.
The Appeal and Ongoing Legal Issues
She filed her notice of appeal on May 26, 2026, and it went to the Utah Court of Appeals the next day. A separate fight over Judge Mrazik himself came up in July, when her attorneys tried to get him disqualified from post-trial matters – that request was rejected, though it’s a different issue from the appeal itself, which is still ongoing.
Then came August 28, 2026: Mrazik ordered her to pay back $1,369,581 in insurance money to two companies. Her lawyer didn’t fight the number, though he did ask to delay payment until the appeal wrapped up – the court said no. On top of all that, there’s a separate mortgage-fraud case against her, unrelated to the murder, due back in court on October 9, 2026.
kouri richins update trending
People keep coming back to this case largely because of that contrast – grieving widow and children’s-book author on one side, calculated killer on the other. Interest spiked again around the verdict, spiked again at sentencing, and it’s spiked once more now with the appeal and the restitution order, which is part of why “Kouri Richins update” keeps trending months after the trial technically ended.
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Frequently Asked Questions
A former Utah real estate agent and children’s book author, convicted in March 2026 of murdering her husband, Eric Richins, with fentanyl.
Born April 20, 1990 – she’s 36 as of this writing.
Eric Richins, who ran a masonry business and was father to their three sons. He died March 4, 2022, at 39.
No – she pleaded not guilty and never testified. Her defense rested on the argument that the state hadn’t proven its case.
Life without parole, handed down May 13, 2026.
Eric’s sister, Katie Benson, and her husband, Clint.
Are You With Me? – a children’s book about coping with losing a parent, published in 2023.
Robert Josh Grossman, named in trial coverage as a former partner and cited as part of the prosecution’s motive evidence.
Withdrew in May 2024 over an “irreconcilable and nonwaivable situation” – no further explanation was ever made public.
Yes. She filed notice of appeal in May 2026, and it’s still pending before the Utah Court of Appeals.
KSL, CBS, and the AP have all stayed on top of the trial, sentencing, appeal, and restitution developments.
Source: WikiPedia
