Kouri Richins, a children’s author who penned a book on coping with grief after she allegedly murdered her husband, is ready to fight for her kids.
“You took an innocent mom away from her babies. And this means war,” Richins told NBC’s “Dateline” in a string of statements she recorded behind bars.
The mother of three has been in prison since last May, when she was arrested and charged with aggravated murder among several other counts in connection with the death of her husband, Eric Richins. Prosecutors said Richins mixed up a deadly Moscow Mule for her husband the night of March 3, 2022. She allegedly added five times the lethal dose of fentanyl before giving it to Eric, who was in bed at their home in Kamas at the time. Then, Richins left him alone and slept with one of their young children, but when she returned around 3 a.m., he was unresponsive.
Eric was pronounced dead a short time later.
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Prosecutors have said she carried out the killing because she was drowning in debt and her life was spiraling out of control. They have also noted that she fraudulently obtained a nearly $2 million life insurance policy on her husband prior to his death.
“I’ve been silent for a year, locked away from my kids, my family, my life, living with the media telling the world who they think I am, what they think I’ve done or how they think I’ve lived,” she said in another statement to Dateline. “And it’s time to start speaking up.”
Her comments come just days after a judge granted her lawyers’ request to withdraw from her defense. The head of her legal team cited an “irreconcilable and nonwaivable situation.”
In response, Richins said: “Although I am extremely disappointed where we’re at right now with this case, I’m anxious. I’m anxious to prove my innocence. I’m anxious to get to trial.”
In the months between her husband’s death and her arrest, Richins wrote a children’s book called “Are You with Me?” about the angel of a deceased father watching over his sons. She promoted it on television and radio, describing the book as a way to help children grieve the loss of a loved one.
