A Utah woman who wrote a book about helping children deal with the grief of losing a loved one was charged with the murder of her husband nearly a year after he died.
Last year, Kouri Richins, 33, told police that she had made her husband, Eric, an alcoholic beverage and took it to him in their bedroom.
Later that night, she said she found Eric in their room and he was "cold to the touch."
An autopsy showed Eric had died from an overdose of fentanyl.
The medical examiner claimed the level of the drug in his system was approximately five times the lethal dosage.
During an investigation into Eric's death, court documents show that an acquaintance of Kouri's told police that she had asked to get "some prescription pain medication for an investor who had a back injury."
After getting Kouri hydrocodone pills, the acquaintance said she was asked to get something stronger, specifically "some of the Michael Jackson stuff."
Court documents state that Eric and Kouri had dinner at their home three days later. After Eric became "very ill," he reportedly suspected he had been poisoned.
"Eric told a friend that he thought his wife was trying to poison him," the documents read.
Kouri asked the acquaintance for another batch of fentanyl pills about two weeks later, court documents say.
Six days after Kouri received the new pills, Eric was found dead.
An obituary said that Eric and Kouri had been married for nine years at the time of his death and that the couple had three children.
"Eric did absolutely everything in his power to provide his family with every possible opportunity to learn, grow, and have fun," the obituary reads.
Kouri is the author of the book "Are You with Me?," which, according to the description on Amazon, "follows the story of a child who has lost their father, but who is reminded that his presence still exists all around them, just like an angel watching over them."
The book was released on March 7, 2023, nearly a year after Eric died.
This story was originally published by Jeff Tavss on fox13now.com.
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