US children’s book author accused of killing husband also charged with poisoning attempt

An author from Utah who is accused of killing her husband and then publishing a children’s book on grief has been hit with a further charge – for allegedly attempting to previously poison him via a sandwich.

Kouri Richins, 33, was charged with aggravated murder last year for the alleged killing of Eric Richins, 39, at their home in Kamas, Utah, in March 2022. Eric was found unresponsive after having a drink to celebrate his wife’s business deal. Authorities allege that Kouri spiked the beverage with fentanyl, after a medical examiner found five times the lethal dose of the drug in her husband’s system.

Prosecutors now say this wasn’t the first time Kouri attempted to poison her husband. In a new charge filed on Monday, authorities allege Eric fell ill after his wife brought him his favorite sandwich on Valentine’s day 2022, just a few weeks before his death.

Eric, the charging documents state, “broke out into hives” after one bite of the sandwich. He then had to drink a bottle of Benadryl and inject himself with his son’s EpiPen before falling to sleep.

The man later told a friend: “I think my wife tried to poison me,” according to prosecutors. Kouri had purchased several dozen pills containing fentanyl, which can cause people to break out in hives, and then allegedly told her housekeeper, who had sold her the drugs, that she needed stronger fentanyl following Eric’s initial illness.

Prosecutors say that Kouri’s motives may be financial, as she had opened life insurance policies on Eric, without his knowledge, with benefits totaling nearly $2m.

Kouri has yet to enter a plea but has previously denied the allegations. According to Kouri, her husband of nine years slipped the opioid into a cocktail she had made.

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In an unusual twist, Kouri self-published a book titled Are You With Me? in the wake of her husband’s death. The book, which she promoted on local TV, is about how children can process the death of a parent. Kouri said at the time that her husband died “unexpectedly” and that the death “completely took us all by shock”.