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Kouri Richins, a Utah mom of three and children’s book author accused of murdering her husband in 2022, allegedly texted her lover on the night of her husband’s death.
Authorities in 2023 charged Richins, now 35, with aggravated murder and drug possession, alleging she poisoned her husband, Eric Richins, on March 3, 2022, with illicit fentanyl as a means to collect millions in life insurance funds. Now, she is facing a new attempted murder charge for allegedly poisoning her husband on Feb. 14, 2022, as well.
“It seems that the [Summit] County Attorney’s Office and the Summit County Sheriff’s Office are continuing their investigation, and … they’ve been able to discover more and more about what happened prior to the time Eric was ultimately killed,” Greg Skordas, an attorney representing Eric’s family, told Fox News Digital. “I think it’s entirely appropriate that they’ve continued that investigation … and that it’s brought more charges.”
Prosecutors also allege in new charging documents that Kouri texted her “paramour” on the night of Eric’s murder.
Darden’s partner, Lazaro said, “was one of the millions that suffered from, and ultimately succumbed to, opioid addiction,” which “is hardly ‘suspicious.’”
“It is tragic, and unfortunately, quite common,” the attorney said.
The house where Kouri Richins and Eric Richins lived is shown on May 11, 2023, in Francis, Utah. Kouri Richins is the woman who wrote a children’s book about grief after her husband’s death and was later arrested on accusations of killing him. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
In May 2022, about two months after Eric’s death, Darden allegedly told Kouri that a witness — who told police Kouri contacted him for fentanyl in January 2022 — was “running his mouth,” the new charging documents state.
Skordas said “getting information from” Darden’s phone “has directed law enforcement toward her … and her involvement in this.”
“It’s just a natural product of some of the search warrants that follow the investigation being done here to bring Lisa Darden into the equation,” the attorney said.
Skordas added that it is “not a concern” to his team that “new charges are being brought and new evidence is being investigated” in the case ahead of a preliminary hearing for Kouri.
