Kouri Richins: Prosecutors reveal children’s book author was drowning in debt when she allegedly killed husband

New court documents peel back the layers of a woman accused of murdering her husband with fentanyl, revealing that she was in debt over her head, and allegedly took out four life insurance policies on him, KSL-TV reports.

Kouri Darden Richins, 33, wrote a children’s book about dealing with unexpected and devastating loss, publishing it almost a year to the day of husband Eric Richins’ death. Kouri told KPCW that writing it “brought peace” to her and her three sons.

Yet prosecutors now allege that while promoting her book on TV and appearing publicly as a grieving widow and newly single mother, Kouri was hiding a sinister secret: that she had allegedly murdered him, and profited from almost $2 million in life insurance policies Eric never knew she had on his life, KSL-TV says.

Police arrested and charged Kouri on May 8, 2023 with three charges of second-degree possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute, and one charge of first-degree aggravated murder, according to the warrant.

Eric was found dead at the foot of his bed on March 3, 2022, the warrant states. The medical examiner found the level of fentanyl in Eric’s body to be “approximately five times the lethal dosage,” and that it was illicit fentanyl, not prescription.

Kouri told police she and Eric had been celebrating the closure of a sale on a $2…