Kouri Richins insisted ‘it would be better if he was dead’ in damning messages to friends and lover before ‘poisoning her husband’

BEFORE her husband’s sudden death, Kouri Richins told her friends and lover that life would be better if he wasn’t around.

In court documents prior to the murder trial, prosecutors say Richins, 34, went to great lengths when she poisoned her husband, Eric Richins, 39, with a drink laced with fentanyl in their home in March 2022.

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Summit County prosecutors alleged that Richins kept a secret second phone in a drawer next to his bed which was used to carry out several incriminating internet searches in moneyFBI investigations and lethal doses of fentanyl.

Some of Richins’ alleged research includes: “Lux prisons for the rich in America”; “women’s prison in Utah”; “can cops force you to take a lie detector test”; “how.permanently delete information from an iphone remotely”; “what is a .faz.of. fetanail”

In a statement to Judge Richard Mrazik, prosecutors gave more information about their theory of the case, writing that Kouri Richins was “in financial difficulties” before Eric’s death.

They also allege that Richins was planning to start a new life with her lover, whom she allegedly told that she and Eric were divorcing.

“I am in love with a man who is not my husband,” Richins wrote in text messages sent to her lover.

“I want to, but I can’t end my family. It’s having your cake and eating it too. I just want to love you. I love you.”

Prosecutors said Richins also told a friend that she felt “trapped” in her marriage and that “in many ways, it would be better if Eric Richins were dead.”

Richins allegedly continued to maintain the relationship even after a failed attempt to poison Eric on Valentine’s Day 2022, weeks before his death.

In another text message, she allegedly told the man she wanted to watch a documentary about murder with him.

“If I were divorced right now and asked (sic) you to marry me tomorrow, would you do it?” Richins reportedly asked on February 15, 2022.

“I just want to lay on the couch and hug you! Watch a murder documentary and snuggle up!”

During that time, Richins continued to accumulate debts, totaling $3.1 million on the day of her husband’s death, prosecutors said.

“She had recently defaulted on one loan and was struggling to avoid defaulting on others,” the document said.

“Her bank accounts were depleted and she was heading towards total financial collapse.”

Despite this, Richins was apparently trying to buy another million-dollar home with money he “didn’t have,” prosecutors said.

The state argued that Richins was likely trying to use money of Eric’s estimated net worth of $5 million.

“However, the defendant was unaware that Eric Richins had placed his assets in trust, with only the minimum elective portion passing to the defendant,” the prosecution wrote.

MURDER CASE

A month before his arrest in May 2023, Richins appeared in a local news interview discussing his book, Are You With Me?

In a segment called Good Things Utah, Richins explained that he wrote the book to help children who have experienced the sudden loss of a parent or loved one.

At the time, Richins said the mourning was about “making sure their spirit is always alive in their home.”

“It’s — you know — explaining to my son that just because he’s not physically present here with us doesn’t mean his presence isn’t here with us,” she told the local ABC affiliate. KTVX-TV.

Richins dedicated the book “to my incredible husband and wonderful father.”

Now, she could lose $2 million and the rights to her book if she is found guilty of murdering her husband, thanks to a new bill that would prevent convicted murderers from receiving money through a prenuptial agreement.

Benazeer “Benny” Roshanpartner at Greenberg Glusker and chair of the Trust and Probate Litigation Practice Group in Los Angeles, California, told The US Sun that most states prohibit murderers from inheriting money from their victims’ estates.

However, in Utah, this does not apply to premarital agreements, which is why a high school friend of Eric’s introduced the bill modify the existing statute.

“If you have a premarital contract that gives you money and you are later convicted of murdering your spouse, then you cannot get money by virtue of the premarital contract,” Roshan said.

The bill it would only be applicable to specific and rare care.

“In Kouri’s case, she entered into a prenuptial agreement that netted her $2 million from the sale of a house,” Roshan said.

“That’s what she was trying to impose against her husband, against her deceased husband, who she had been accused of killing.

“So that’s what this bill does.”

However, Richins would only be affected if the bill is connected law and she is convicted of her husband’s murder.

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