A Hidden Clue? A detail on page 92 of Kouri Richin...

The couple were struggling in their marriage, and Kouri was allegedly having an affair

A few years into their marriage, Kouri was struggling financially when her real estate business, K Richins Realty LLC, was “imploding,” a forensic accountant testified at the 2026 trial, per CNN.

 

In the fall of 2020, Eric met with an estate planning attorney after he allegedly “discovered … ongoing abuse and misuse of his finances” by his wife, per court documents obtained by CBS News.

 

Unbeknownst to her, Eric removed Kouri as the beneficiary of his $500,000 life insurance policy and created the Eric Richins Living Trust so that his estate and business would be under the control of his sister with the money going to his three sons, according to Fox2Now.

 

“Eric Richins informed his lawyer that he wanted to protect himself in the short-term from recently discovered and ongoing abuse and misuse of his finances by the Defendant, and to protect his three children in the long-term by ensuring that the Defendant would never be able to manage his property after his death,” prosecutors wrote.

 

In addition to her financial concerns, Kouri had also reconnected with her ex-boyfriend Grossman, who later testified that they started having a romantic relationship in 2020, per NBC News.

Eric was found dead in their bedroom on March 4, 2022

On March 4, 2022, Eric was found dead in his and Kouri’s bedroom in the early morning hours. He was 39 years old.

Kouri called 911 a little after 3 a.m., and Eric was pronounced dead on the scene. The EMTs later noted that it appeared as though Eric was “dead a while,” per the arrest documents. At the time, Kouri claimed to authorities that she fell asleep in one of her sons’ rooms, but when she woke up in the middle of the night, she noticed her husband was unresponsive.

“I turned over, like to put my arm around Eric and he was just cold,” she told investigators in April 2023, according to court documents. “Like it was like a – like putting your arm over a cement brick.”

In April 2022, medical examiners determined that Eric had died from a fentanyl overdose after he had five times the legal limit in his system.

Eric was remembered as a “family man, who always strove to be the absolute best father and husband,” per his obituary, which added that he was a “devoted husband to the love of his life, and wife of nine years, Kouri (Darden) Richins. Eric did absolutely everything in his power to provide his family with every possible opportunity to learn, grow, and have fun.”

She wrote a children’s book about her husband’s death

One year after Eric’s death, Kouri released a children’s book, Are You With Me?, on March 5, 2023. The book was based on her own life and created in hopes of helping her three sons grieve the loss of their father.

The book has since been removed by several booksellers, including Amazon.

Kouri was arrested and accused of poisoning Eric in 2023

Shortly after Eric’s cause of death was revealed, investigators began zoning in on Kouri — especially after they discovered suspicious internet searches, her alleged affair with Grossman and texts in which she seemingly planned her future with Grossman.

On May 8, 2023, Kouri was arrested in connection with Eric’s death. She was charged with aggravated murder and three counts of possession of a controlled substance. Over the next two years, Kouri was charged with additional counts, adding up to over 30 charges, including attempted murder, forgery, mortgage fraud and insurance fraud, among others.

Kouri pleaded not guilty to all of the charges, while maintaining her innocence, and her attorney said that she was looking forward to proving her innocence ahead of the trial.

“Kouri has waited nearly three years for this moment: the opportunity to have the facts of this case heard by a jury, free from the prosecution’s narrative that has dominated headlines since her arrest,” her defense attorneys said at the time. “Now the state must prove the allegations beyond a reasonable doubt.”

She was found guilty of her husband’s murder in March 2026

Kouri’s trial began on Feb. 23, 2026, with prosecutors calling a total of 40 witnesses — including the couple’s friends and Grossman.

Prosecutors alleged that Kouri laced a Moscow mule she served to Eric with five times the lethal dose of fentanyl. They alleged that Kouri was nearly $2 million in debt and killed Eric in hopes of getting his business, life insurance and trust — which she was allegedly unaware she had been removed from.

Grossman took the stand toward the end of the trial and got emotional while reading messages in which Kouri wrote to him about Eric, allegedly saying, “If he could just go away and you could just be here! Life would be so perfect!!!” per KSL.

Another key witness in the trial was the couple’s housecleaner, Carmen Lauber, who testified that Kouri had asked her to help her purchase drugs at least three times in early 2022. Lauber alleged that Kouri asked for “something stronger” in February 2022, and Eric was dead less than a week later.

Lauber testified that after she discovered Eric’s cause of death, she called Kouri and asked her, “I said, ‘Please tell me these pills were not for him.’ She said, ‘No they were not.’ Eric passed away from a brain aneurysm,” per CNN.

“Kouri Richins wanted to murder Eric Richins, thus took out an insurance policy on his life to get money for murdering Eric Richins,” prosecutor Brad Bloodworth claimed to the jury. “Then she murdered Eric Richins, and then she submitted a claim to get the money.”

The jury deliberated for three hours and found Kouri guilty of aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder, as well as two counts of falsifying insurance claims and forgery.

Her sentencing is scheduled for May 13 — which would have been Eric’s 44th birthday. She faces 25 years to life in prison.