Warrant: Utah murder victim told family if anything happened to him, his wife was to blame

KAMAS, Utah (KUTV) — A recently discovered search warrant in the death of Eric Richins spells out how family members immediately suspected his wife, Kouri Richins, of murder.

Richins was arrested Monday on charges of murder and possession of a controlled substance for allegedly lacing Eric Richins’ drink with fentanyl and killing him in March 2022.

Richins later wrote a children’s book on surviving grief and loss.

RELATED STORIES

• Utahn who published book on grief 1 year after husband's death charged with his murder
• Utah children's author charged with husband's murder sued for fraud in 2020 home sale
  
• Family friends shocked by Utah author's arrest for husband's murder

2News has uncovered a search warrant from April of 2022 in which investigators say they interviewed family members of Eric Richins. Those family members allegedly implicated Kouri in his death.

“While investigating the death I was told by Eric’s family member that they suspected his wife had something to do with his death,” an investigator wrote in the warrant. “They advised he warned them that if anything happened to him she was to blame.”

The warrant references a trip that Eric and Kouri Richins took to Greece and how Eric told a sister about an alleged attempt on his life.

“According to a sister, Eric and his wife went to Greece a few years ago and after his wife gave him a drink he became violently ill and called his sister saying he believed his wife had tried to kill him,” the warrant reads. “On Valentine’s Day of 2022, his wife brought him a sandwich, which after one bite Eric broke into hives and couldn’t breathe. He used his son’s epi-pen as well as Benadryl before passing out for several hours.”

The warrant also states Eric Richins had recently changed his will and life insurance to make his sister a beneficiary and not Kouri.

“According to the family, Eric never disclosed to his wife that he had cut her out of the will,” the warrant reads.

The warrant states toxicology reports revealed Eric died of a massive overdose of fentanyl and that there was no indication from friends or family that Eric was a drug user or that he had any behavioral changes to indicate drug use.