Prosecutors allege that Kouri Richins, the Utah grief author accused of poisoning her husband Eric with a fentanyl-laced Moscow mule, tampered with witnesses in a six-page letter instructing her mother on how she wanted her brother to testify.
Summit County deputies found the hand-written letter to Lisa Darden, Richins’ mother, during a search of the defendant’s jail cell, KSTU reported. In the letter, she tells Darden to instruct her brother to repeat, “Eric told [redacted name] that he got Pain Pills and fentynal from Mexico from workers on the ranch.”
“[Redacted name] can reword [the narrative] however he needs to, but is super short not a lot to it,” Richins wrote.
Richins also told Darden to give her brother the instructions in person because she’s afraid that her mother’s “house and phone are bugged.”
The filing also said that during a September 13 video conference with her mother, Richins held up a different letter for her mother to read. Afterward, they said, the letter was flushed down a toilet or otherwise destroyed.
Prosecutors said in the motion, filed on Friday that “it is imperative that Richins be barred from all contact with her mother and brother because of the letter.
Her attorneys filed a response accusing prosecutors of violating a gag order in the case by making the filing.
Richins is being held without bond for allegedly killing her wealthy husband Eric with a fentanyl overdose — five times the lethal dose, as CrimeOnline previously reported. Prosecutors say she purchased fentanyl pills days before his death in March 2022, lacing a drink she made him with them. And, they say, it wasn’t the first time she tried to kill him.
Court records show that two weeks before Eric died, on Valentine’s Day 2022, Kouri made him a sandwich and he grew violently ill after eating just a small portion of it. Previously, Eric Richins told family members he believed his wife was trying to kill him — and he caught her trying to change financial records, including insurance policy beneficiaries, behind his back.
Ultimately, he changed his will and made his sister the executor, essentially writing Kouri Richins out. Richins has sued, Eric’s sister has countersuied, and the civil cases are making their way through the courts.
After her husband’s death, Kouri wrote and self-published a book entitled “Are You with Me?” about a deceased father who wears angel wings and watches over his kids. The mother of three promoted the book on radio and television, stating that she wanted to help children be able to grieve.
Last month, prosecutors announced they would not seek the death penalty for Richins after discussions with her husband’s family.
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[Featured image: Kouri Richins, a Utah mother of three who authorities say fatally poisoned her husband then wrote a children’s book about grieving, looks on during a bail hearing Monday, June 12, 2023, in Park City, Utah. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, Pool)]
