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

[Zoe]

I’ve been following this case from the beginning. But I do not recall where the prenup was first mentioned.

Who told the story of the prenup being presented on their wedding day?

If this information came from Kouri, then that’s highly suspect as to the truth of it.

And if it could have possibly been nullified, wouldn’t that have been done at least within this last year, if not before?

Thank you for reposting the information.

I cannot find the article where the story of the prenup being presented on their wedding day was told, but here are some links to mention of the prenup and the dates associated with it:

Eric Richins 'killer wife' thought she would get $3.6m from his death

DailyMail.com can reveal that Kouri Richins was due to get access to Eric's estate valued at $3.6million after his death, according to the terms of a prenup.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Part of the info has Exhibit A, Summary of Significant Separate Property of Husband, dated June 14, 2013, a Friday.

This link

Kamas woman accused of killing husband took $2M in life insurance policies, police say

Amended charges against a Kamas woman accused of killing her husband with fentanyl now allege she owed millions in debt and took out almost $2 million in life insurance policies on her husband before his death, without his knowledge.

ksltv.com

reports The Richins created a premarital agreement on June 15, 2013...

This link

Alleged financial motives for Kouri Richins to murder husband, petition asserts

A motion was filed to disqualify a man’s widowed wife, Kouri Richins, from his estate on grounds of homicide. The petition included several alleged financial motives for the murder of her hus…

www.abc4.com

reports Eric married Kouri on June 15, 2013...

 

[Herat]

I went down the rabbit hole looking at her RE transactions. I only got through 2 counties and can't figure out what's what and there are all kinds of weird lenders involved. I assume they've had a forensic accountant digging thru that mess. I did see she got default notices for 2 Summit County properties on 5/12/23.

I've been thru Summit County and Utah County - if anyone else wants to look, here are the links

Property Page | Summit County, UT - Official Website

Find Property Records such as Deeds and Property Values. Links to GIS maps are also available on this page.

www.summitcounty.org

Web Access to Utah County Land Records

I was really hoping someone would do this, thanks.

There has got to be a financial trail that shows non-payment of mortgages and loans.

 

[Herat]

I cannot find the article where the story of the prenup being presented on their wedding day was told, but here are some links to mention of the prenup and the dates associated with it:

Eric Richins 'killer wife' thought she would get $3.6m from his death

DailyMail.com can reveal that Kouri Richins was due to get access to Eric's estate valued at $3.6million after his death, according to the terms of a prenup.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Part of the info has Exhibit A, Summary of Significant Separate Property of Husband, dated June 14, 2013, a Friday.

This link

Kamas woman accused of killing husband took $2M in life insurance policies, police say

Amended charges against a Kamas woman accused of killing her husband with fentanyl now allege she owed millions in debt and took out almost $2 million in life insurance policies on her husband before his death, without his knowledge.

ksltv.com

reports The Richins created a premarital agreement on June 15, 2013...

This link

Alleged financial motives for Kouri Richins to murder husband, petition asserts

A motion was filed to disqualify a man’s widowed wife, Kouri Richins, from his estate on grounds of homicide. The petition included several alleged financial motives for the murder of her hus…

www.abc4.com

reports Eric married Kouri on June 15, 2013...

She was not only asking for the $3,600,000 she claimed from his estate under the pre-nup, she also was likely anticipating the uncontested disposition of ~$1,900,000 from those 4 or 5 undisclosed life insurance policies she had on him.

Did she not think there would be an investigation and the very first thing LE would look at would be their finances and any outstanding life insurance policies?

AFASIK: I assume she has not collected on one penny of any of this purported $5,500,000.

 

[cocomod]

According to the affidavit, his cause of death was determined a month after his death.

The valuation of C&E Stone Masonry per the 2013 prenup, 50% of the business interest was cited at $2.5M.

It follows that the mutual life insurance policies were valued at about $2M since they are intended to buy out the interest of the late partner. I recall the actual business policy was said listed in a recent probate petition but I've not seen the petition in MSM as of yet and waiting patiently. (I'm not willing to pay for the document from Utah Court XCHANGE).



No, the value of ER's personal life policy Eric changed w/o KR's knowledge was $500K per the post below.




I believe your estimate on the business policy was correct. The personal policy was $500K.

Thank you! I am sorry I mixed up the amounts! I should have looked it up before I posted. :/

 

[azure]

I’ve been following this case from the beginning. But I do not recall where the prenup was first mentioned.

Who told the story of the prenup being presented on their wedding day?

If this information came from Kouri, then that’s highly suspect as to the truth of it.

And if it could have possibly been nullified, wouldn’t that have been done at least within this last year, if not before?

Thank you for reposting the information.

I fully agree with what you're saying and was going to add a caveat to my own post about this, but I fell asleep. Kouri is most likely the only source we have for this info, and she's unreliable at best.

The document dated the day before their wedding is interesting, though.

 

[Herat]

I fully agree with what you're saying and was going to add a caveat to my own post about this, but I fell asleep. Kouri is most likely the only source we have for this info, and she's unreliable at best.

The document dated the day before their wedding is interesting, though.

Yes, I find it highly favors Kouri over Eric.

I'm very skeptical that his mother demanded this. I would think Kouri would be the once calculating how to get the most our of Eric. Especially his business. She really, really wanted that. So badly she tried to defraud the company and the insurance company by changing the beneficiary.

 

[windrower]

Is the prenup, no matter how it is viewed legally, a moot point now, since, if convicted of Eric’s death, she shouldn’t profit from her crime?

And all the realty business shenanigans? (Okay. I can’t help myself. Was one of the “weird lenders” @Gardenista mentioned above by any chance named Forge, ala Alec/Alex Murdaugh?)

What a tangled web she wove. An evil, tragic web.

 

[Seattle1]

PS If anybody interested, her attorney Skye Lazaro appeared on an episode of STS ( she was there to talk about Lori Vallow but..) Also Greg Skordas was on the show again this last week ( currently acting as Richins family spokesman)

^^rsbm
A guest on the later show, Dr. Roger Rhoades, a Senior Therapist at the P.A.C.E. Center in Greenville, South Carolina specializing in dysfunctional relationships, offers a good explanation of why ER would stay and/or not take better precautions against KR.

 

[NeverPersonal]

Oh I'm fully expecting her attorney's to attempt character assassination on him at trial. The physical and forensic evidence is so strong against her, their only real shot is saying one of two things - both disgusting:

1. He was an abusive husband and father and she feared for her own safety so in a panic her friend who gave her the drugs told her he had something to stop him from abusing. She's so naive and trusting that she did it to make him stop and as it turns out it poisoned him. She didn't say anything to police out fear for her life.
2. He was suicidal and she bought the drugs to help him commit suicide because she loves him so much, etc. She hid in her children's room while he self-administered the fentanyl because she couldn't bear to watch her poor husband suffer. The book was a way to help her cope with the fact she helped him commit suicide.

Again, neither one are remotely true but I'm thinking like a defense attorney. You have to direct the jury in different ways than the evidence because the all evidence says one thing - she did it and cold blooded murdered him.

Don't give her attorney any ideas...

 

[neesaki]

Regarding KR stealing money from ER’s bank accounts… are those considered community property? Or, if he had the accounts prior to their marriage, not community property? I have no idea about community property laws in Utah, but in my state, all income as as well as real estate, investments, etc., are considered community property, UNLESS they were acquired prior to the marriage by one of the parties. I hope I’m making sense.

 

[al66pine]

I’m more curious, not about rebound, but whether KR offed the first wife by staging an accident.

@RickshawFan Doubtful, imo. Why not?
IIRC, Eric & first wife divorced approx. two yrs before Eric met & started dating Kouri, then cashiering at big box home improvement store. Sorry, no link, but MSM story from interview w Kouri's ex-co-worker re meeting at store.

Any possibility KR's actions led to or was somehow involved in death of first wife?

Let me crank up my imagination to full speed.
Say, ^ sequence of events was not true, that Eric (still married, maybe not so happily) & Kouri were an item, that he was policyholder of life ins policy on first wife, even after they divorced, that then Kouri learned of life ins policy & decided the opp. was too good to pass up, and a couple yrs post-divorce staged the vehicle accident, so Eric (& she) would receive $$$ death benefit from policy?

Is it possible?
Maybe, but w initial version of sequence of events,
no/little reason to think Kouri would have ---
1. thought first wife, still living, was a "threat" to her (ETA: or ER & KR marriage)
2. the smarts to arrange a fatal vehicle collision, and
3. sufficient influence over a person to agree to participate?
Also w no children (<-- my assumption ) of first marriage, who in Erik's shoes would continue paying premiums on life ins. policy of ex-wife for a couple yrs?

I tried to imagine it. Maybe possible but pieces do not fit readily together, imo.

 

[Seattle1]

Thanks Seattle1

Now just to get the insurances straight:

1. C&S Masonry and Stone had $2,000,000 owner life insurance policy payable to the other owner in the event of the other owner's death. This was the policy that Kouri attempted to change to name herself as beneficiary instead of Cody Wright, in January 2023. Do we know if this policy has paid out to Cody yet?

2. Eric Richens had his own personal life insurance policy for $500,000 payable to his Trust which had his sister as the trustee, and did not name Kouri as a beneficiary.

3. Eric Richens unknowingly had 4 (or 5) life insurance policies taken out on him between 2015 and 2022, all naming Kouri as the beneficiary. Totalling something like $1,900,000. The last policy for $100,000 was made by Kouri in January 2023. Eric knew nothing about these policies, is this correct?

No, we don't know if Cody Wright has made a claim on the policy yet or if it's been paid.

No, according to the amended complaint, Eric had no knowledge of the policies KR took out on his life.

In situations such as in this case, a suspicious death-- and the underwriter already on advance notice that KR made a fraudulent attempt to change the beneficiary once before and now an alleged suspect in ER's death, the underwriter typically goes the investigation route-- delaying any disbursement of death proceeds.

Also, I wouldn't be surprised if Cody Wright has personally been sitting on this and has not yet made a claim on the policy. Unlike the wife, I'm sure he's grieving the loss of his friend and probably wanted to avoid any dealings with KR.

Nonetheless, it's also not unusual for the Insurer to file a petition (generally in Federal Court) for the court to accept and hold the death proceeds and make any distribution of the death benefit when the court deems it appropriate. JMO

 

[Lore Listener]

@RickshawFan
IIRC, Eric & first wife divorced approx. two yrs before Eric met & started dating Kouri, then cashiering at big box home improvement store. Sorry, no link, but MSM story from interview w Kouri's ex-co-worker re meeting at store.

Any possibility KR's actions led to or was somehow involved in death of first wife?

Let me crank up my imagination to full speed.
Say, ^ sequence of events was not true, that Eric (still married, maybe/maybe not so happily) & Kouri were an item, that he was policyholder of life ins policy of first wife, even after they divorced, that then Kouri learned of life ins policy & decided the opp. was too good to pass up, and a couple yrs post-divorce staged the vehicle accident, so Eric (& she) would receive death benefit from policy?

Is it possible?
Maybe, but w initial version of sequence of events,
no/little reason to think Kouri would have ---
1. thought first wife, still living, was a "threat" to her,
2. the smarts to arrange a fatal vehicle collision, and
3. sufficient influence over a person to agree to participate?
Also w no children (<-- my azz-uming) of first marriage, who in Erik's shoes would continue paying premiums on life ins. policy of ex-wife for a couple yrs?

I tried to imagine it. Maybe possible but pieces do not fit readily together, imo.

Plus, the guy who killed her was a total dumpster fire who was mentally ill and off his meds, addicted, and said he hadn't slept in a week at the time of the crash. Prosecutors in the case called him a ticking time bomb.

So I think poor ER just had the misfortune of an unhappy first marriage to a woman who then died in a tragic crash, and then an unhappy second marriage to an abusive, greedy, and eventually homicidal spouse. Some people just have terrible luck. *Not that I would put it past KR.

Man once called ‘time bomb’ asks for parole in 2011 death of woman

Shane Roy Gillette, sentenced to prison for a fiery crash that killed Julie Ann Jorgenson in 2011, had his first parole hearing this week.

www.deseret.com

 

[Seattle1]

Regarding KR stealing money from ER’s bank accounts… are those considered community property? Or, if he had the accounts prior to their marriage, not community property? I have no idea about community property laws in Utah, but in my state, all income as as well as real estate, investments, etc., are considered community property, UNLESS they were acquired prior to the marriage by one of the parties. I hope I’m making sense.

IMO, I think what matters here is that she agreed to repay the funds to ER. KR probably wouldn't make such an agreement if she believed she was legally entitled to take and use the money. JMO

 

[cocomod]

Regarding KR stealing money from ER’s bank accounts… are those considered community property? Or, if he had the accounts prior to their marriage, not community property? I have no idea about community property laws in Utah, but in my state, all income as as well as real estate, investments, etc., are considered community property, UNLESS they were acquired prior to the marriage by one of the parties. I hope I’m making sense.

I wouldn’t think they were community property IF they were business accounts. He had a partner, so she wouldn’t be entitled to simply take money out of the business. She agreed to pay it back, so she knew it wasn’t her money to take

 

[al66pine]

Kouri APPLIED for Multiple Life Ins Policies on Eric's Life. And?

"The prosecution laid out new information about financial troubles Richins.... Summit County attorneys said Richins applied for at least four different life insurance policies for her husband dating back to 2015...."

Do we have confirmation re life ins. policies Kouri applied for?
1. Were they all actually issued?
2.Were they in force at time of Eric's death?
3. After Erik's death, did Kouri submit a claim for death benefits $$$ for each one?
Link, pls?

_________________________
May 19, Utah murder: New docs allege insurance scheme, drug connections"

 

[Cindizzi]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1659695204662935552

Thanks for posting this Motion to Stay the civil case between KR and sister in law KRB.

First time I’m reading about KR obtaining a second mortgage on the family home by using a fraudulent power of attorney.

Of course, with all her other crimes I may have just missed it.

How in the world did she pull some of this off- and how did she think she wouldn’t be caught?
If she forged a POA document it would need to be notarized, correct?

Pages 3 and 6 of the Motion:

 

[Seattle1]

Seems like Eric and Julie were on good terms at the time of her death since he’s mentioned in the obit.

Agree. They were also only 2 yrs apart in age and married too young, IMO. Seems she was a junior when they married and graduated from college the following year 2006. (All per the obit).

 

[Seattle1]

Kouri APPLIED for Multiple Life Ins Policies on Eric's Life. And?

"The prosecution laid out new information about financial troubles Richins.... Summit County attorneys said Richins applied for at least four different life insurance policies for her husband dating back to 2015...."

Do we have confirmation re life ins. policies Kouri applied for?
1. Were they all actually issued?
2.Were they in force at time of Eric's death?
3. After Erik's death, did Kouri submit a claim for death benefits $$$ for each one?
Link, pls?

_________________________
May 19, Utah murder: New docs allege insurance scheme, drug connections"

Given the policies were laid out by the prosecution and detailed in the criminal complaint, I think it safe to say KR applied for the policies.

From the previously linked amended complaint:

 

[Gardenista]

Is the prenup, no matter how it is viewed legally, a moot point now, since, if convicted of Eric’s death, she shouldn’t profit from her crime?

And all the realty business shenanigans? (Okay. I can’t help myself. Was one of the “weird lenders” @Gardenista mentioned above by any chance named Forge, ala Alec/Alex Murdaugh?)

What a tangled web she wove. An evil, tragic web.

Haha, not Forge.

One thing I forgot. I'm not 100% sure, but Kouri's mom may have signed her own house over to her on 3/20/2023. If you search the Summit Cnty link I posted above for K Richins, you can see it.