A Grieving Widow Publishes A Children’s Book After Orchestrating The Tragedy Behind It

From the outside, 31 year old Kouri Richins and her 39 year old husband, Eric Richins, seemed to have the perfect life.

From luxury vacations to private schooling for their children, they appeared to be living the American dream—young, successful, and wealthy. Yet beneath the polished surface of their seemingly blissful marriage lurked a web of secrets, financial betrayal, and a relationship teetering on the brink of collapse…

Eric Richins ran a successful masonry business, amassing a net worth of around $5 million. Over time, however, Kouri began to feel overshadowed and somewhat intimidated by her husband’s success.

In 2019, she decided to forge her own path, launching a business in property flipping—buying homes, renovating them, and selling them for a profit.

On the evening of March 3rd 2022, Kouri had reason to celebrate.

She had just closed a $2 million deal on a home she believed she could flip for $3 million. For a woman who often felt overshadowed by her husband’s financial success, the prospect of a million-dollar profit was worth toasting.

After putting their three young sons to bed, Kouri called Eric into the kitchen to share a Moscow Mule—a mix of vodka, ginger beer, and lime. Later, they retired to bed.

By morning, however, Eric Richins was dead.

On the final night of his life, Eric had been groggy after receiving an allergy shot earlier that day and had fallen asleep quickly.

During the night, one of the couple’s sons awoke from a nightmare, and Kouri crawled into his bed to soothe him until he fell back asleep.

When she returned to her own bed around 3:00am, something immediately felt wrong. She reached for Eric and found his skin icy cold. Panicked, she screamed his name and shook him, desperate to wake him—but he was lifeless.

In a panic, Kouri grabbed the phone and called 911, her voice shaking as she told the operators: "My husband's not breathing!"

Within minutes, paramedics arrived at the home—but it was already too late for Eric.

Everyone was stunned by Eric’s sudden death. He had been in good health, with no known medical conditions, and medics found no signs of trauma—nothing to explain why an avid outdoorsman had died peacefully in his sleep.

Kouri was devastated and suggested that the allergy shot might have contributed to her husband’s death. Investigators, however, quickly dismissed this theory—a routine allergy injection would not be fatal.

An autopsy was carried out, and within weeks, the results sent shockwaves through everyone who knew the couple. At the time of his death, Eric had more than five times the lethal amount of fentanyl in his system—he had overdosed. This discovery immediately raised police suspicions.

Publicly embracing the role of a grieving widow, Kouri began navigating life as a single mother. She earned admiration when she channeled her grief into a children’s book, designed to help young readers cope with the loss of a parent.

The book featured gentle illustrations of Eric as an angel and offered guidance for children struggling with grief. Kouri would often read it to her sons at bedtime, reassuring them that their father was now watching over them from heaven.

The self-published book quickly became a hit on Amazon, earning glowing reviews from parents who praised its comforting message.

Soon, media outlets took notice of the inspirational woman who had transformed a harrowing personal tragedy into something meaningful for others.

Kouri seemed to revel in the attention, remarking that Eric “would have been proud” of her.

But unbeknownst to Kouri, time was running out. Her book had caught the attention of investigators, who were quietly beginning to build a case against her.

When detectives requested all electronic devices from the family home, Kouri complied—but sensing that she was becoming the prime suspect in Eric’s death, she redirected their attention to Eric’s business partner, Cody Wright.

After Eric’s passing, Cody had taken possession of Eric’s laptop for business purposes, and Kouri encouraged investigators to speak with him.

In recent years, the friendship between Eric and Cody had soured following a hunting incident in which Eric killed a bull elk—a protected species. Cody had reported Eric to the authorities, resulting in a hunting ban.

Though they remained business partners, the trust between them was irreparably damaged, and their interactions were marked by tension.

Police eventually retrieved Cody’s laptop, but it contained nothing to implicate him in Eric’s death. The trail went cold—until Kouri’s book brought investigators back into the picture.

Once again in the public eye, Kouri drew attention—and with it, a flood of anonymous tips to police, many labeling her as “suspicious.” Around the same time, investigators discovered incriminating search history on her devices, including:

On May 8th 2023—just over a year after Eric’s death—Kouri Richins was arrested and formally charged with the murder of her husband.

Prosecutors allege that in late 2019, Kouri began stealing money from her husband’s bank accounts and taking out large loans in his name—actions that, unknown to her at the time, Eric had noticed.

When the couple married in June 2013, Kouri had signed a prenuptial agreement stipulating that she would have no rights to Eric’s income or assets unless he died.

By 2020, however, Eric had begun quietly taking steps to protect his estate from his wife. Behind her back, he met with a lawyer to ensure that his sister, Katie, would become the sole beneficiary of his estate in the event of his death. Step by step, he was preparing to cut Kouri off financially.

It was later revealed that Kouri was not only deeply in debt but was also having an affair with another man, with whom she envisioned a future. To secure that future, she needed her husband out of the way—and, as far as she believed, she would inherit his masonry business, the sprawling family home, and his substantial net worth. She stood to gain everything from Eric no longer being around.

After taking out a $2 million life insurance policy on Eric, Kouri initially attempted to poison him with a sandwich on Valentine’s Day 2022. Although he became ill, he survived. Two weeks later, she would succeed when she laced his cocktail with fentanyl.

As of February 2026, Kouri continues to maintain her innocence. She remains in custody awaiting trial, and if convicted, she faces the death penalty.