Kouri Richins allegedly searched "what is a lethal dose of fentanyl" and "luxury prisons for the rich in America."
Kouri Richins — the Utah mom accused of fatally poisoning her husband Eric with fentanyl before writing a children’s book about dealing with grief — was denied bail on Monday due to the “substantial evidence” against her and the “uniquely dangerous nature of fentanyl,” a judge ruled.
The decision came after a hearing in which prosecutors called witnesses to testify about Richins’ phone records, including her alleged internet searches, per CNN.
Among the alleged searches on her iPhone: “what is a lethal dose of fentanyl,” “luxury prisons for the rich in America,” “death certificate says pending, will life insurance still pay,” “can cops force you to do a lie detector test” and “how to permanently delete information from an iPhone remotely.”
While the prosecution called these searches “incriminating,” Richin’s defense attorney claimed (via ABC4) she was researching the case online and “there’s nothing there that indicates guilt.”
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Paramedics responded to the home of Eric and Kouri Richins on March 4, 2022 after getting a call about an unresponsive male. EMS attempted to revive Eric, but he was pronounced dead at the scene. Last month, Kouri was arrested and accused of killing her husband after allegedly procuring a fatal amount of fentanyl from an acquaintance. According to police interviews, Eric also believed she was trying to kill him in the weeks leading up to his death.
About a month before her arrest and almost a year to the day after Eric’s death, Kouri released a book called “Are You With Me?” aimed at guiding children and families through “the difficult experience of losing a loved one.”
In interviews with police, Kouri — a realtor — claimed that while celebrating the closing on a new home, she made her husband a Moscow Mule, which he drank in bed. She said that she then went to sleep with one of the couple’s children due to them having a “night terror,” returned to the bedroom she shared with Eric around 3:00am and found him “cold to the touch.” She then called emergency services, but Eric could not be revived.
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An autopsy later confirmed Eric died from a fentanyl overdose — with the medical examiner saying the levels in his system were “five times the lethal dosage.”
This determination led to a search warrant of the couple’s home, including computers and phones. On her cell, authorities reportedly found communications between Kouri and an “acquaintance” with a background in drug possession in which she first asked about obtaining “prescription pain medication for an investor who had a back injury.” According to the docs, after he procured some hydrocodone for Kouri from a dealer, she followed up with them two weeks later asking for “some of the Michael Jackson stuff” — and requested fentanyl. She allegedly dropped $900 for 15-30 pills on February 11, 2022.
On February 14, Valentine’s Day, Eric then allegedly “became very ill” after a dinner with his wife. At the time, he reportedly “believed that he had been poisoned” and even “told a friend that he thought his wife was trying to poison him.” Kouri is then said to have reached out for even more fentanyl pills on February 26, 2022 … before Eric was found dead of an overdose six days later.
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“Law enforcement never identified or seized any fentanyl or other illicit drugs from the Family Home,” her defense lawyers wrote in documents filed last week, adding that “the State has provided no evidence that there was fentanyl found in the home. Nor have they provided any evidence that Kouri gave Eric the fentanyl at issue.”
The defense docs also painted Eric as a “partier” who “would consume alcohol and THC in any form” and “loved a good time.”
In an impact statement during Monday’s hearing, Eric’s sister Amy said her brother died “under horrendous circumstances” which leave her “tormented at the thought of what he endured.” She said she wonders whether “he realized he was in mortal danger” and what “Kouri may have said to him in his last moments” — before saying, “We have watched as Kouri has paraded around portraying herself as a grieving widow and victim while trying to profit from the death of my brother.”
Judge Richard E. Mrazik ruled she be held without bail.
“The circumstances of this case weigh soundly against granting pre-trial release of any kind,” he said in his ruling, adding that the possible punishment in a murder case “creates a powerful incentive for a defendant to resort to desperate acts that might include harming themselves, harming the members of their family or harming witnesses in the case.”
Richins has not yet entered a plea. She faces charges of criminal homicide, aggravated murder and three counts of possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute.
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