Kouri Richins, a children’s grief author, has been found guilty of murdering her husband by fatally lacing his drink with fentanyl. The verdict was delivered on Monday, March 16, following a three-week trial and three hours of deliberations.
The jury in Park City, Utah, convicted Richins on charges of aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder, insurance fraud and forgery. The 35-year-old mother killed her husband, Eric, by lacing his Moscow Mule cocktail with a fatal dose of fentanyl on March 4, 2022.
Prosecutors said Richins planned to get herself out of debt with her husband’s $4 million estate. In addition, she also reportedly planned to run away with a man she was having an affair with.
Kouri Richins, a Utah mother accused of murdering her husband and later publishing a children’s book about grief, has been found guilty on all charges by a jury in Utah, including aggravated murder. https://t.co/K9E6YjWBvL pic.twitter.com/qEkaOQOORO
— CBS News (@CBSNews) March 17, 2026
According to the New York Post, the author owned a home-flipping business that was under $4.5 million in debt. On March 16, during his closing arguments, prosecutor Brad Bloodworth told the court that she was an “incompetent” business owner. He also accused her of “carefully curating the facade of a privileged, affluent, successful business owner.”
Bloodworth said she planned the murder of her husband so that she could pay off the debt. He added that Richins was also planning to restart her life with her lover, Robert Josh Grossman.
According to the court documents, Richins asked Grossman, who was a 43-year-old Iraq war veteran, if he’d ever killed anyone. She asked the question just a few days after she laced her husband’s drink.
At the trial, Grossman testified that he had discussed Eric’s sudden death with her, and that’s when she asked the question. Following her husband’s death, Richins wrote a book titled Are You With Me? to help her kids process the loss.
After a little less than three hours of deliberations, the jury returns with a verdict in Kouri Richins’ murder trial, where she faced charges of aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder and financial crimes in the poisoning death of her husband, Eric Richins. pic.twitter.com/sVZ6GsyIMl
— Court TV (@CourtTV) March 17, 2026
Richins now faces up to 25 years in prison, after pleading not guilty to the charges. Apart from the aforementioned charges, the author was also found guilty of trying to poison her husband a month earlier. On February 14, 2022, before she murdered Eric, Richins laced his sandwich with fentanyl. At that time, he broke out in hives and blacked out, but did not die.
A judge scheduled her sentencing for May 13. Bloodworth told the court why Richins thought that killing her husband was the only way. “She wanted to leave Eric Richins but did not want to leave his money. Their prenup meant if she left him, she would also leave most of his money,” the prosecutor said.
