A Summit County courtroom froze as prosecutors laid out a chilling timeline during a pretrial hearing on December 10, 2025, painting Kouri Richins as a calculated killer who poisoned her husband Eric not once, but twice—for money and freedom.
Richins, the Kamas mother and children’s book author accused of murdering Eric Richins in March 2022, faces trial starting February 23, 2026. Prosecutors allege she first attempted to kill him on Valentine’s Day 2022 by lacing a sandwich with fentanyl, causing a severe reaction he survived by using an EpiPen. Weeks later, on March 4, she allegedly spiked his Moscow mule cocktail with a lethal dose—five times the fatal amount—while celebrating a business deal.
The timeline, presented in amended charges filed October 2025, includes text messages where Richins reportedly told her lover life would be “perfect” if Eric “could just go away,” and searches for stronger fentanyl after the failed attempt. Motive: financial distress from her home-flipping business and $2 million in life insurance policies she altered to benefit herself.
Richins, held without bail since May 2023, denies the charges, with her defense citing a key witness’s recantation and arguing circumstantial evidence. The hearing, amid motions over jury venue and witness credibility, underscored the case’s complexity, with Judge Richard Mrazik noting “substantial evidence” for trial.
As the courtroom absorbed the dual-poisoning narrative, the gravity settled: a story of betrayal masked by grief literature, now heading to jury deliberation in 2026.
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