UT - Kouri Richins, 33, Author, wife, mom, charged in husband’s “unexpected” death last year, May 2023

[fred&edna]

I guess it's just me but...

There's some kind of substantial strangeness on both sides of this case.

I don't think I fully understand... What was going on with Eric & Kouri? What kind of family are the Richins?

I feel as if Kouri is very likely complicit in Eric's death but I have questions.

Maybe it's not as complicated as I'm thinking... but I would like to know more about what's been going on in this marriage and this family.

jmo

 

[TheLoadedGoat]

I have read very, very little about Kouri's background, family dynamics, where she grew up, etc. That is what I want to know. Have friends or family spoken out in defense of her?

 

[neesaki]

I guess it's just me but...

There's some kind of substantial strangeness on both sides of this case.

I don't think I fully understand... What was going on with Eric & Kouri? What kind of family are the Richins?

I feel as if Kouri is very likely complicit in Eric's death but I have questions.

Maybe it's not as complicated as I'm thinking... but I would like to know more about what's been going on in this marriage and this family.

jmo

No, I’m also picking up on something, just not sure exactly what.
But it seems clear that Eric’s family didn’t trust KR from the very beginning. It is strange that his mother, not him, presented the prenup, and on their wedding day at that! Maybe KR was already coming across as a gold digger, who knows.

Also, that ER and KR didn't seem to be on the same page at all when it came to money matters. If she was so unhappy that she allegedly had boyfriends on the side, why on earth did she have three children with him.

And of course thinking the best option was murder is way beyond the pale!

 

[Seattle1]

It's possible there are still liens on the property from unpaid construction bills or others, right? It appears property is not complete. Did the title search(es) show that there is not clear title to said property? moo

Hearing is scheduled for 3:00 pm MT tomorrow.

^^BBM

No, it's highly unlikely given KR purchased the property with a clean title and listed the property for sale less than a month later when she learned she was cut out of her husband's trust and will. (See the previous deed posted).

The potential purchase was never a done deal -- they were looking for backup offers all along. Given the seller (KR dba KRR, LLC) has since been arrested and is possibly in bankruptcy, any prudent buyer would likely wait and buy the property from the bank or trustee at a considerable discount. The millionaire buyer is wealthy for a good reason!


She held a gathering at the family home that day too, and according to search warrants, it was then that Kouri learned she’d been cut out of Eric’s will, “making her financially unstable.”

Two weeks after Eric died, Kouri put the home was back up online with an asking price of about $4.8 million, and now there’s a buyer.

Realtor Mike Malmrose has been the property’s listing agent since at least March 2022, before Summit County authorities made the murder investigation public. He confirmed the mansion is now under contract. The asking price is $3.75 million.

The next step, he said, is to hold the buyer’s due diligence meeting Monday. After that, he’ll have a better sense of if the deal will ultimately go through.

‘The Grand Home’: Kouri Richins’ unfinished Midway mansion could have buyer

 

[Cindizzi]

 

[neesaki]

The boys being back in their home might be a good thing, I get. But with whom? The woman who is an alleged murderer? Idk, what do you guys think about that.

 

[arielilane]

Kouri Richins’ detention hearing, which was scheduled for Friday, May 19, was postponed due to amended charges which included new insights into the case.
New revelations on Kouri Richins’ alleged motives for murder; Hearing postponed

https://twitter.com/x/status/1659343512729419777

New information on Richins’ alleged murder case; Hearing postponed

Kouri Richins’ detention hearing, which was scheduled for Friday, May 19, was postponed due to amended charges which included new insights into the case.

www.abc4.com

5/18/2023

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (ABC4) — Kouri Richins’ detention hearing, which was scheduled for Friday, May 19, was postponed due to amended charges which included new insights into the case.

Richins was charged on May 8 with criminal homicide, aggravated murder, a first-degree felony, two counts of possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute, second-degree felonies, and one possession of a controlled substance. The last charge was amended May 18 to include intent to distribute.

Her amended charges included all new information on the events leading up to the murder of Kouri’s husband, Eric Richins. Her detention hearing has been postponed to June 12.

 

[arielilane]

How Kouri Richins learned she was cut out of her husband’s will

New filings in the trial of Kouri Richins for her husband Eric's murder reveal more about the life insurance policies she stood to benefit from, and the will that she didn’t.

www.kpcw.org

5.18.2023

New filings in the trial of Kouri Richins for her husband Eric's murder reveal more about the life insurance policies she stood to benefit from, and the will that she didn’t.​

New court filings indicate Kouri Richins learned two days after her husband’s death she was not named in his will.

On March 6, 2022, after Eric died from a fentanyl overdose, Kouri hired a locksmith to drill her husband’s safe. The new filings by the prosecution claim it held over $100,000 cash.

It was then that Eric’s sister told Kouri she was the trustee, suggesting Kouri had no right to get into the safe. Eric made his sister, not Kouri, the beneficiary of his $500,000 personal life insurance policy without his wife’s knowledge.

Prosecutors say Kouri was “enraged,” and punched her sister-in-law in response. She was subsequently charged with assault and pleaded no contest to a class B misdemeanor.

The new filings do not mention whether the assault happened during the gathering she held at the family home after Eric’s death, as is described in search warrants police obtained during the investigation.

 

[arielilane]

Utah murder: New docs allege insurance scheme, drug connections

Lawyers for Richins requested more time before the hearing.

www.newsnationnow.com

5/18/2023

Hearing for Utah author accused of murder postponed​

• Kouri Richins was arrested for allegedly killing husband by lacing drink
• Richins then wrote a children's book about grief
• A judge will decide soon if she can be released on bond

(NewsNation) — A detention hearing for a Utah woman accused of killing her husband has been postponed.

Kouri Richins was scheduled to appear in front of a judge to see if she can be released on bond, but her lawyer has pushed for more time in the latest development in a case that has shocked the nation.

The Richins’ family home has been deadly quiet for the past few weeks. In the remote, upper class neighborhood surrounded by mountains, a lone package addressed to Richins sat on the front step, an indication of how quickly the family’s lives were turned upside down.

Richins is accused of killing her husband before writing a children’s book about helping kids cope with grief.

“He was 39. It took us all by shock. We have three little boys, 10 9 and 6, and we kind of, my kids and I kind of wrote this book about the different emotions and grieving processes that we’ve experienced last year,” Richins said in an interview promoting her book.

 

[Countem]

Kouri Richins’ detention hearing, which was scheduled for Friday, May 19, was postponed due to amended charges which included new insights into the case.
New revelations on Kouri Richins’ alleged motives for murder; Hearing postponed

https://twitter.com/x/status/1659343512729419777

New information on Richins’ alleged murder case; Hearing postponed

Kouri Richins’ detention hearing, which was scheduled for Friday, May 19, was postponed due to amended charges which included new insights into the case.

www.abc4.com

Wow. Just wow. From the article above:

Unknown to Eric Richins, between 2015 and 2017, Kouri Richins purchased at least four life insurance policies on Eric Richins’ life with aggregate death benefits of $1,947,000. […] In late January 2022, Kouri Richins applied for a new $100,000 life insurance policy on Eric Richins’ life. It was issued on Feb. 4, one month prior to his death.

Prior to March 1, 2022, Kouri Richins’ outstanding state and federal tax liability was $189,000 and she owed a hard money lender at least $1,847,760. She also owed Eric Richins at least $514,346.

 

[Herat]

WOW - It's far worse than I thought.

Kouri took out 4 separate life insurance policies on Eric, totalling just under $2 million. Then she bought another one for $100,000 a month before his death.

A month before his death, she owed a "hard money lender" (whatever that is) at least $1,847,760 and she still owed Eric more than $500,000.

I cannot imagine the atmosphere in that home.

I wonder if she has taken out life insurance on her children? I don't think they should be returned to her. She is too freakin' desperate.

 

[Gardenista]

Holy crap. This chick is toast.

 

[arielilane]

New information has been exposed about a possible financial motive in the case of a children’s book author accused of murdering her husband with a poisoned cocktail. @jessecordweber joins Dan to break down what made police so suspicious.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1659017038029791233

https://twitter.com/danabramslive

 

[fred&edna]

Wow. Just wow. From the article above:

With this info, I'm kind of surprised poor Eric managed to live as long as he did. Amazing she didn't off him sooner

 

[Gardenista]

Kouri Richins’ detention hearing, which was scheduled for Friday, May 19, was postponed due to amended charges which included new insights into the case.
New revelations on Kouri Richins’ alleged motives for murder; Hearing postponed

https://twitter.com/x/status/1659343512729419777

New information on Richins’ alleged murder case; Hearing postponed

Kouri Richins’ detention hearing, which was scheduled for Friday, May 19, was postponed due to amended charges which included new insights into the case.

www.abc4.com

5/18/2023

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (ABC4) — Kouri Richins’ detention hearing, which was scheduled for Friday, May 19, was postponed due to amended charges which included new insights into the case.

Richins was charged on May 8 with criminal homicide, aggravated murder, a first-degree felony, two counts of possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute, second-degree felonies, and one possession of a controlled substance. The last charge was amended May 18 to include intent to distribute.

Her amended charges included all new information on the events leading up to the murder of Kouri’s husband, Eric Richins. Her detention hearing has been postponed to June 12.

I wonder if her new business was going to be drug dealing. This happened after the murder

On March 9, 2022, at 10:24 a.m., phone records state that C.L. contacted an acquaintance and asked her to drive her to Draper to purchase fentanyl. C.L. said that she was driving to Kouri Richins’ house in Francis where she wrote C.L. a $1,300 check for fentanyl. The check from Kouri Richins was dated March 6.

On either March 9 or 10, after C.L. procured the pills, which she understood to be fentanyl, she left the pills for another acquaintance, not Kouri Richins, in the firepit of the backyard of a vacant house in Midway that Kouri Richins owned and was in the process of selling.

 

[arielilane]

WOW - It's far worse than I thought.

Kouri took out 4 separate life insurance policies on Eric, totalling just under $2 million. Then she bought another one for $100,000 a month before his death.

A month before his death, she owed a "hard money lender" (whatever that is) at least $1,847,760 and she still owed Eric more than $500,000.

I cannot imagine the atmosphere in that home.

I wonder if she has taken out life insurance on her children? I don't think they should be returned to her. She is too freakin' desperate.

Hard Money Loan Definition

A hard money loan is a short-term loan based chiefly on the value of the property used as collateral and not creditworthiness.

www.investopedia.com

A hard money loan is a type of loan that is secured by real property. Hard money loans are considered loans of "last resort" or short-term bridge loans. These loans are primarily used in real estate transactions, with the lender generally being individuals or companies and not banks.

 

[Herat]

My impression is that she was not really doing well in real estate at all. Probably because she was looking for the Big Strike, and not spending her time working hard for smaller home sales. Like a gambler, she fancied herself just around the corner from the Big One. And that huge empty house must have looked like the Big Strike.

She owed at least $1.8 million to some other person and does not seem to have had the personal or business assets to pay that.

I don't think she needed Eric's signature on the purchase documents, I think she needed the money from the life insurance policies, so the only solution to get her Big Strike was clearly to murder Eric.

So where did the money for the purchase price of the Big Strike come from? It would take months for the life insurance. Did she have a loan lined up that Eric had to sign?

I wonder if her very expensive lawyers are going to have a change of heart when they hear she still owes ~ $2.3 million and has no real chance of paying their fees as the Big Strike home won't be sold for quite some time.

 

[watergirl62]

Wait. She wrote a check for drugs?
She was clearly short on cash, but a check?

 

[Gardenista]

Wait. She wrote a check for drugs?

High priced pills and writing checks for them, just like Murdaugh.

 

[Cindizzi]

Wow. Just wow. From the article above:

Omg

On March 6, 2023, Kouri Richins arranged for a locksmith to drill Eric Richins’ safe, which contained between $125,000 and $165,000 in cash. When Eric Richins’ sister Katie suggested Kouri Richins did not have the authority to open his safe because there was a trustee. Kouri Richins allegedly punched Katie in the face and neck. Deputies responded and called Eric Richins’ estate planning lawyer, and this is when Kouri learned of the existence of the Eric Richins Living Trust.