Kouri Richins / Facebook
Kouri Richins with her husband, Eric.
Kouri Ricchins, 36 years old, considered by the judge “too dangerous to be free”. Son said he “wouldn’t feel safe” with his mother out of prison.
Kouri Ricchins was sentenced this Wednesday to life in prison without the possibility of parole, after being found guilty of the murder of her own husband, Eric Ricchins.
The case of the 36-year-old American, from the US state of Utah, especially because Kouri published a children’s book about grief after the sudden death of her husband.
In March, a jury concluded that Kouri killed her husband in 2022 by poisoning him with a drink laced with fentanyl.
The sentence was handed down this Wednesday, the day Eric would have turned 44 years old. In announcing the decision, Judge Richard Mrazi stated that a person convicted of those crimes was “simply too dangerous to be free again”, he quotes at .
During the trial, which lasted several weeks, prosecutors maintained that Kouri Richins she accumulated millions of dollars in debt, had taken out life insurance policies in her husband’s name and maintained an extramarital relationship.
According to the prosecution, the woman believed (falsely) that she would inherit Eric Richins’ estate — valued at more than four million dollars — after his death.
Kouri Richins was also considered guilty of attempted murder, related to a previous episode in which she allegedly poisoned her husband’s sandwich, as well as fraudulently claiming insurance benefits after his death, at the family home, near the Park City ski resort.
“I won’t feel safe with you in freedom”, says son
The woman, mother of three children and author of the children’s book about grief “Are You With Me?”, did not give testimony during the trial, but spoke for around 30 minutes at the sentencing hearing, mainly addressing her children.
“I know that you don’t want to talk to me today and that you hate me. That’s okay. When you’re ready, I’ll be here for you,” he said, according to CBS News.
“I’m destroyed without your father, destroyed without you boys”, he also said, in court, on Wednesday: “Secrets diminish self-love”, he said, “I fell in love with someone who wasn’t your father. Your father fell in love with someone who wasn’t me”.
Therapists also took advantage of the session to read statements from the ex-couple’s children. “I won’t feel safe if you’re free,” one of the children reportedly said, while another assured that his mother was “always drunk.”
Kouri Richins was arrested in March 2023, two months after publishing the book she presented as a work intended to help children and families cope with the loss of a loved one. The book was dedicated to her husband.
