Police in Utah are accusing a lady of killing her husband and then buying $2 million in life insurance on him before she produced a children’s book on mourning.
Kouri Richins, 33, was accused earlier this month by police with three counts of possession of a dangerous drug with the intent to distribute and three counts of aggravated murder.
According to investigators’ testimony in court documents, Richins made her husband, Eric Richins, a Moscow Mule that had five times the fatal amount of fentanyl in it.
Police claimed that Richins paid $900 to an associate for the deadly substance, which she referred to as “some of the Michael Jackson stuff,” according to court filings.
According to NBC News, prosecutors submitted an additional document on Thursday that accuses Richins of purchasing life insurance policies on her husband before to his passing.
According to the records, Eric Richins learned in September 2020 that his wife had spent $30,000 on his credit cards, withdrawn $250,000 from their home’s equity line of credit, and swiped more than $100,000 from his bank account, according to NBC.
According to the paperwork, Richins purchased multiple life insurance policies totaling more than $2 million against her husband between 2015 and 2017, all without his knowledge, according to the site.
According to the document, Eric sought advice from a divorce lawyer in October 2020 and modified his will to name his sister as the executrix of his estate and make her the beneficiary of his $500,000 life insurance policy, according to NBC.
Additionally, according to the latest petition, Richins allegedly made prior attempts to poison her husband, as reported by NBC. According to the prosecution, Richins left her husband a sandwich and a love message in his car on Valentine’s Day. He allegedly broke out in hives shortly after eating the meal, the site stated.
“Eric found his son’s EpiPen and administered it to himself and slept,” the document says.
Eric thought his wife had tried to poison him and told a friend about his suspicion but decided to stay with her for the sake of his children, the state says according to NBC.
Richins’ children’s book — titled “Are You With Me?” — was published on March 5.
The book is meant to help children cope with the death of a loved one. While promoting the book on a local television show, Richins said it was meant to help kids “find happiness some way or another.”
“My husband passed away unexpectedly last year … it completely took us all by shock,” she said on Good Things Utah. “I’m trying to understand not only how to grieve as a widow, as a wife, but also with my kids, how to help them understand what just happened.”
The book is no longer available on Amazon, but a previous description said it was written “by a loving mother who personally faced this challenge, this book is designed to offer comfort and solace to young minds in a way that is both accessible and engaging.”