Accused murderer Kouri Richins says a letter written to her mother, instructing her to say her slain husband obtained drugs from Mexico and overdosed, is for a book she plans to write, according to Summit County court documents.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, Summit County deputies in Utah found Richins’ hand-written letter to her mother, Lisa Darden, during a search of the defendant’s jail cell. She instructed Darden to tell her brother to repeat, “Eric told [redacted name] that he got Pain Pills and fentynal from Mexico from workers on the ranch.”
Richins is currently behind bars, charged with killing her hubsand by lacing his Moscow Mule drink with drugs.
Court documents obtained by The Docket indicate that when deputies found the letter, entitled, “Walk the Dog,” Richins claimed that it was for a fictional book she’s writing that details her stay inside a Mexican prison.
“Those papers were not a letter to you guys,” Richins told her mother during a September 16 jail call. “They were part of my freaking book…I was writing this fictional mystery book.”
Prosecutors, however, say that the letter asked her mother to “facilitate witness tampering involving her brother, seeking to have her brother support a false factual narrative.”
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,” according to court documents.
Prosecutors added that they found the letter hidden inside an LSAT prep book, inside the defendant’s jail cell.
State Response: Kouri Richins by Leigh Egan
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.”
Eric Richins Murder
Richins accused of killing her wealthy husband, Eric, with a fentanyl overdose — five times the lethal dose. Prosecutors say she purchased fentanyl pills days before his death in March 2022.
A few years before his death, the couple took a trip to Greece, where Eric became “became violently ill” after his wife served him a drink, an arrest affidavit stated. The victim survived that particular incident and told his sister about it.
Two months before his death, the suspect allegedly logged into Eric’s life insurance policy and changed the beneficiary from his business partner to herself. She also changed the business partner’s policy, removing Eric Richins as beneficiary and changing it to herself.
The insurance company reversed the changes after contacting the two men and inquiring about the switch.
Then, two weeks before Eric’s death, on Valentine’s Day 2022, Kouri Richins made him a sandwich, that again, left him violently ill.
“After one bite, Eric broke into hives and couldn’t breathe,” an arrest affidavit read. “He used his son’s EpiPen and Benadryl “before passing out for several hours.”
Eric told his business partner about the sandwich incident afterward. Eric then changed his life insurance policy and named his sister as beneficiary, and removed the suspect from his will, with an estate estimated at around $3.6 million.
An arrest affidavit indicated that Eric did not tell his wife about the will and policy changes.
Following Eric’s death, the suspect self-published a book the day after his death, entitled, “Are You With Me?”
The book is about families dealing with a sudden loss of a father and husband and how children can learn to cope.
Kouri Richins remains behind bars without bail. Check back for updates.
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[Feature Photo: Kouri and Eric Richins/Facebook]
Additional reporting by KC Wildmoon
