Global Courant 2023-05-25 17:40:46
Court documents reveal classified life insurance policies, stolen money, a contentious lawsuit and the hiring of a private investigator to investigate the death of a Utah man whose wife allegedly poisoned him with a spiked drink.
The woman, Kouri Richins, was arrested and charged with the murder of Eric Richins last year during a low-key celebration at their home in Kamas, Utah, about 40 miles southeast of Salt Lake City, after authorities say she closed a home to her business. .
A medical examiner said he had five times the lethal dose of fentanyl in his system at the time of his death on March 4, 2022.
Eric Richins suspected his wife had tried to poison him on multiple occasions and warned his family that it was her fault if anything happened to him, according to search warrant affidavits obtained from the Summit County Sheriff’s Office. A family spokesperson said he remained in the marriage because of their three children.
As Richins prepares for a hearing next month, here are some key dates in the investigation.
Between 2015 and 2017
Richins is accused of buying at least four life insurance policies on her husband totaling nearly $2 million, according to an amended court document filed May 18 that led to the postponement of a detention hearing originally scheduled for May 19. Eric Richins knew nothing about the policy, the document said.
September 2020
Eric Richins discovered that his wife allegedly obtained and spent a $250,000 line of credit for their house in Kamas, deducted at least $100,000 from his bank accounts and spent more than $30,000 on his credit cards, according to the amended court document. It also alleged that Richins “appropriated distributions from Eric Richins’ company for the purpose of making federal and state quarterly tax payments and not paying the taxes.” The stolen tax payments totaled at least $134,346, according to the filing.
He confronted her about the money and she agreed to pay him back, the court document said.
October 2020
Eric Richins consulted both a divorce attorney and an estate planning attorney. Unbeknownst to his wife, he changed his will, forming a living trust and placing his estate under the control of his sister, Katie Richins-Benson, according to the amended court document.
He also transferred his partnership interest in his company to the trust and designated the trust as the beneficiary of his $500,000 life insurance policy, the document said.
Kouri and Eric Richins.via Facebook
January 1, 2022
Eric Richins and his business partner had $2 million life insurance policies that listed each other as beneficiaries, but prosecutors alleged that on Jan. 1, 2022, Richins changed the policy to list himself as a beneficiary, according to the amended court document.
Her husband was notified of the change and reinstated his business partner as a beneficiary, the document said.
Later in the month, she was reported to have “applied for a new $100,000 life insurance policy on the life of Eric Richins,” the document said.
February 12, 2022
In early 2022, Richins called or texted an acquaintance named CL and asked for fentanyl, the document said. Records from Richins’ phone showed that she had contacted CL several times in January 2022, but authorities were unable to determine the content of the messages because she allegedly deleted data from her phone from January 2, 2022 until shortly after the death of Eric Richins.
CL told authorities she obtained the fentanyl pills and gave them to Richins in a hand-to-hand transaction on February 11 or 12, 2022, according to the document.
February 14, 2022
A Valentine’s meal turned into a nightmare when Eric Richins “got lumpy and had trouble breathing” after eating a sandwich his wife made for him, the document said.
Prosecutors alleged in the document that Richins made a sandwich for her husband and placed it in the seat of his truck with a love note. But after eating it, her husband got sick and had to use their son’s EpiPen. The document stated that Eric Richins believed he had been poisoned and “told a friend that he thought his wife was trying to poison him”.
End of February 2022
Richins reportedly contacted CL and said the fentanyl pills “weren’t strong enough and asked her to buy some stronger fentanyl,” the document said. CL told authorities that Richins “asked for some Michael Jackson stuff” during this request for fentanyl, but then admitted that the defendant may have made the reference to Michael Jackson during her initial request for fentanyl, the document said. (The pop superstar died at his Los Angeles home in 2009 on a lethal dose of propofol.)
CL obtained pills for Richins again, according to the document.
March 3, 2022
Richins reportedly owed more than a million dollars at the time of her husband’s death, prosecutors said in the document. The day before her husband died, prosecutors said she spoke to a lender to whom she owed at least $1.8 million and had a lengthy phone call with the IRS. The document claimed she had outstanding state and federal tax liabilities totaling $189,840 and also owed her husband at least $514,346.
March 4, 2022
Eric Richins, 39, died after being found unconscious in the bedroom of their home in Kamas after having a drink to celebrate his wife’s business deal.
He had five times the lethal dose of fentanyl in his body, according to the medical examiner, who said it was “illegal” fentanyl and not medical grade. It is also believed that he took the drugs orally, according to the medical examiner.
Details about that night differ in a search warrant affidavit and statement of probable cause.
Richins told authorities she and her husband were celebrating closing a home for her business, the statement said. She said she made a Moscow mule for her husband in the kitchen and brought it to their bedroom, where he drank it while sitting in bed. Prosecutors have said she threw five times the lethal dose of fentanyl into the cocktail.
However, the affidavit stated that Eric Richins had one shot of alcohol and a THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) gummy.
Richins told authorities she fell asleep in one of her childhood bedrooms and when she woke up and went to her bedroom, her husband felt cold, both documents said. The affidavit stated that Richins had supposedly tried to resuscitate her husband, but when medical and fire crews arrived, they said it didn’t look like she had performed CPR “because of the large amount of blood coming out of Eric’s mouth”.
She also told authorities she left her phone in her bedroom, but investigators found it had been locked and unlocked several times and showed movement before calling 911, the statement said.
The couple had been married for nine years at the time of Eric Richins’ death, according to his online obituary. They have three sons.
March 6, 2022
Days after her husband’s death, Richins reportedly had a locksmith drill into her husband’s safe, which contained between $125,000 and $165,000 in cash, according to the amended court document. When Eric Richins’ sister, Katie Richins-Benson, told Richins to leave the safe alone, prosecutors claimed in the filing that Richins became angry and punched Richins-Benson in the face and neck.
Sheriff’s deputies responded and called Eric Richins’ estate attorney.
Richins was told that her husband had created a living trust.
March 9, 2022
Richins allegedly wrote a retroactive $1,300 check to get fentanyl pills from CL, prosecutors said in the document. CL told authorities she left the pills in a fire pit in the backyard of a home owned by Richins on March 9 or 10, the document said.
July 15, 2022
Richins-Benson hired a private investigator to guard and track Richins, according to court documents Richins filed to remove her sister-in-law as a trustee of Eric Richins’ trust. Richins and her sister-in-law have been embroiled in a legal battle over the trust and estate since the death of Eric Richins.
Richins said in the documents that the private investigator would park outside her home “to watch and guard her” and question her neighbors about her and her husband.
Greg Skordas, a spokesperson for Eric Richins’ family, told NBC News that the private investigator was hired to investigate the death. The private investigator did not want to talk about the case.
March 7th
A year after her husband’s death, Richins published a book titled “Are You With Me?” and dedicated it to “my wonderful husband and a wonderful father.” An Amazon description of the book said it was written to “create peace and comfort for children who have lost a loved one”.
In the 41-page book, a boy wonders if his father is with him when he is sad or angry and if he is on special occasions. The father assures the boy that he is there for all those moments.
The book is no longer available on Amazon.
6 April
Richins, in an interview with Salt Lake City’s KTVX-TV, discussed her book and her husband’s death, which she said was “unexpected.”
“It shocked us all. My kids and I wrote this book about the different emotions and grieving we went through last year in hopes it might help other kids deal with it and find happiness in some way,” she shared. KTVX Reporters.
She went on to share how she would tell her children that their “father is still here, just in a different way.” Richins said she wrote the book after watching her children struggle with their father’s death.
The station later updated its story to say it was unaware she was suspected in her husband’s death.
May 8th
Richins was arrested on charges of aggravated murder and three counts of possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute. She has not entered a plea and is due to appear in court on June 12, the new date for the hearing.
Her lawyer declined to comment on the allegations.
