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2/11/26

Timeline of the Richins case​

Feb. 4, 2022 — Life insurance policy for Eric Richins goes into effect; prosecutors claim Richins signed an application for the policy in late January.

Feb. 11, 2022 — Prosecutors claim Kouri Richins obtained fentanyl for the first time.

Feb. 26, 2022 — Prosecutors claim Kouri Richins obtained fentanyl a second time; she allegedly said in a text message she needed something stronger.

March 4, 2022 — Kouri Richins calls police early in the morning to report her husband Eric Richins is “cold to the touch.” He dies unexpectedly at their home.


March 9, 2022 — Prosecutors claim Kouri Richins obtained fentanyl a third time.

June 9, 2022 — Kouri Richins is charged with assault, a class B misdemeanor, in connection with an altercation at her home with her sister-in-law.

March 7, 2023 — Kouri Richins publishes a book titled “Are You With Me?” It is a children’s book about dealing with grief featuring her husband and sons.

May 8, 2023 — Kouri Richins is charged with killing her husband through a fentanyl overdose and is arrested.

May 18, 2023 — Amended charges accuse Kouri Richins of fraud, claiming she took out $2 million in life insurance policies against her husband without his knowledge.

June 12, 2023 — Mrazik denies a request from Kouri Richins for bail, ruling she will stay in jail as the charges move through court.


Sept. 14, 2023 — Prosecutors claim a letter found in Richins’ jail cell titled “Walk the Dog” outlines false testimony for her mother and brother.

Nov. 3, 2023 – Mrazik denies motions to dismiss Kouri Richins’ charges based on allegations that prosecutors breached professional conduct rules in publishing the "Walk the Dog" letter. He also denied a motion from prosecutors to restrict Richins’ contact with her family and a motion from Richins to remove the Summit County prosecutors from the case.

Jan. 4, 2024 — Court documents reveal that Eric Richins’ autopsy found medications prescribed to Kouri Richins, in addition to fentanyl.

March 25, 2024 – Richins is charged with attempting to murder her husband on Valentine’s Day weeks before his death in amended charges.

May 13, 2024 — Kouri Richins is found guilty in the assault case after not following plea in abeyance conditions in the agreed upon time period.

May 19, 2024 — A newly unsealed search warrant reveals Kouri Richins’ mother had a romantic partner who also died of “suspicious overdose” in 2006.


May 20, 2024 — Mrazik allows Richins’ previous attorney, Skye Lazaro, to withdraw after her firm reported an ethical issue in representing her. This led to a delayed preliminary hearing in her case.

May 24, 2024 — Kouri Richins proclaims her innocence in voice recordings sent to national media before new attorneys — Kathryn Nester, Wendy Lewis and Alexander Ramos — are appointed to represent her.

Aug. 27, 2024 — Richins ordered to stand trial following testimony at a preliminary hearing.

Nov. 12, 2024 – Mrazik grants request from Kouri Richins to try mortgage fraud charges separately, denies request to reconsider bail.

January 23, 2025 — Officers testify about their investigation into Eric Richins’ death as Richins’ attorneys contest which evidence can be brought into trial.

February 3, 2025 — Court wrestles with questions on the jury questionnaire, concerned about how the questions are phrased in relation to jurors recollection of media coverage.


March 17, 2025 — Richins’ attorneys request her trial be moved to Salt Lake County.

April 7, 2025 — Mrazik grants a request to delay the trial for Kouri Richins previously scheduled to begin in April 2025 after denying a request to move the trial to Salt Lake County.

June 6, 2025 — Utah Supreme Court declines to consider appeal of the decision to keep her jury trial in Salt Lake County

June 13, 2025 — New jury trial set for Kouri Richins in February and March of 2026.

June 27, 2025 — A new case is filed against Kouri Richins with some mortgage fraud cases moved over from her other case and new charges.

October 8, 2025 – Prosecutors remove charges for drug distribution in Kouri Richins’ case.

Nov. 17, 2025 — Mrazik denies a request from Kouri Richins for yet another bail hearing.

Jan. 8, 2026 — Judge Richard Mrazik makes decisions on which things to allow into the trial.

Feb. 2, 2026 — Judge denies a second request to move the trial to Salt Lake County after finding there are enough potential jurors who returned questionnaires sent by the court.

Feb. 10, 2026 — Jury selection begins.

Feb. 23, 2026 — Trial for Kouri Richins scheduled to begin.
 
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2/12/26

Despite repeated requests to move it, the trial will stay in Summit County. It begins on Feb. 23 and is expected to last through March 26, 2026.

KSL will be in the courtroom following developments.

On day one of jury selection, the majority of possible jurors were passed by the judge. They’ll find out next week for certain if they’re chosen.

Many of them said they have read or seen some media coverage of the case, but didn’t know a lot of details and said they didn’t have strong opinions.

Judge Richard Mrazik instructed them to refrain from researching, reading, watching or discussing anything pertaining to the case.
 
  • #403

2/11/26

IN DEPTH: Jury for Kouri Richins murder trial selected days ahead of schedule​


KR news begins at about 2:00 min marker.
 
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Tonight on “Courtroom Insider,” the Kouri Richins trial will start Monday and we’re going through everything you need to know. Prosecutor Rachel Smith joins Nate to talk about what you can expect in the high-profile trial.

EastIdahoNews.com will have complete coverage of the trial starting Monday, Feb. 23 at 8 a.m.
 
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  • #407

2/23/26

UT v. Kouri Richins: Trial Day 1 - Opening Statements​

 
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LIVE TRIAL BLOG - DAY ONE

Feb 23, 2026


Today is the first day of the trial. It is scheduled to begin each day at 8:30 a.m. East Idaho News will be posting live written updates all day. Please excuse typos.

You can watch the livestream here. The most recent updates are at the top of this page.


 
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Nate Eaton, EastIdahoNews.com

2/24/26

LIVE UPDATES | Day 2 of Kouri Richins murder trial​


Kouri Richins, a Utah mother of three boys, is accused of fatally poisoning her husband, Eric Richins, in 2022. She is on trial in Summit County, Utah, on charges of aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder, insurance fraud and forgery.


Today is the second day of the trial. It is scheduled to begin each day at 8:30 a.m. East Idaho News will be posting live written updates all day. Please excuse typos. You can watch the livestream here. The most recent updates are at the top of this page.



8:27 a.m. We are on the record. Jury is not in the room yet. Members of the media are seated and the public is being escorted in. Judge Richard Mrazik is asking defense attorney Kathryn Nester about the chain of custody issues with a phone. Nester says they need the person who took the phone and the person who did the extraction on the phone.
 
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LIVE UPDATES | Day 5 of Kouri Richins murder trial​


2/27/26

Today is the fifth day of the trial. It is scheduled to begin each day at 8:30 a.m. East Idaho News will be posting live written updates all day. Please excuse typos. You can watch the livestream here. The most recent updates are at the top of this page.

4:04 p.m. Court is in recess. Join me tonight at 7 p.m. for “Courtroom Insider” on the East Idaho News YouTube channel.

4:02 p.m. Judge Mrazik says we are going to recess for the weekend until 8:30 a.m. on Monday. He reminds the jurors not to be exposed to anything associated with the case and not to talk with anyone about it.

4:01 p.m. No further questions from either side. Bloodworth asks to approach to discuss scheduling.

4 p.m. Ramos asks who he released the phone to. They went to Detective Root, Garaycochea believes. Ramos asks if Garaycochea analyzed any of the data. He did not – just extracted it. Ramos asks if once a phone has been extracted, would there be any other reason to extract again. Garaycochea says perhaps. Different forensic tools could yield different results.

3:57 p.m. Ramos asked how Garaycochea got the phones. Two separate phones arrived in evidence packages. He took photos of each package, took photos of the phones and then cut open the phones. He took pictures of each of the phones. He did the same process with all four phones.

3:56 p.m. Chervenak has no further questions. Defense attorney Alex Ramos will now question. He asks how Cellebrite works and if Garaycochea made sure nothing was manipulated with the data.

3:53 p.m. Garaycochea extracted data from four different cell phones. One of the phones was broken and he had to repair the phone’s screen. He explains how he fixed the phone. There was water damage and debris inside the phone. When you repair the phone, it does not change the data.

3:51 p.m. Chervenak processed and extracted data from cell phones related to the case using the Cellebrite program. Once Garaycochea obtained the raw data from Cellebrite, the data was given back to the Summit County Sheriff’s Office.

3:49 p.m. We are back. Next witness is Marcos Garaycochea. He works at the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office in the Special Investigations Unit.

3:11 p.m. Livestream will resume once the undercover officer is off the stand.

2:58 p.m. Judge says Court TV needs to stop recording and transmitting from this point forward until he says differently.

2:57 p.m. Judge calls up a representative from Court TV.

2:55 p.m. Haskell says any street-level drug deal is going to be part of a ring. The dealer on the street has gotten those drugs from someone else. There is a chain and Haskell’s unit works the chain as far as they can. Judge asks attorneys to approach.

2:53 p.m. Haskell is asked about his training. She details the academies and classes he’s participated in. Chervenak asks what a street-level drug deal looks like. He says a buyer and a seller meet somewhere – anywhere – and it’s very quick. “It’s definitely illegal and it will happen very quickly.” There’s an exchange of narcotics for cash and then the buyer and/or dealer go their separate ways.

2:50 p.m. Chervenak asks him to detail his experience with the police departments. He goes through his resume in and in Sept. 2024, he became the sergeant over special investigations. As it relates to narcotics, his unit screens all charging documents within the city. They’re an undercover unit conducting drug buys and long-term narcotic investigations.

2:48 p.m. Court is back in session. Next witness is Eric Haskell. He works with the Salt Lake City Police Department and has a very impressive beard. Prosecutor Lindsay Chervenak is questioning him.

2:30 p.m. Robert says he’s sober. Lewis says she wants him to look at the jury and she asks, “Are you telling the truth here today?” He responds, “Yes I am. No further questions from Lewis. Bloodworth follows up with a few questions about the size of the drug bags he used. No further questions from either side. Witness is released. Time for an afternoon recess. Back at 2:45 p.m.

2:27 p.m. Sidebar over. Lewis asks if he was sober when he met with prosecutors in 2025 and said he never sold Carmen fentanyl, he sold her Oxycodone. He was. Robert says he did not have access to fentanyl in early 2022. When he did start selling them, they were “almost purple.” A very dark color. Robert asks if anyone ever asked him for the “Michael Jackson stuff.” He says, “I’m sorry?” Lewis repeats the question. He says Carmen never asked her for that.

2:14 p.m. Lewis asking Robert about the mistakes in the affidavit with the OxyContin versus Oxycodone. OxyContin is much stronger than ocycodone. Lewis continues to question, Bloodworth asks for sidebar.

2:12 p.m. Robert remembers meeting someone away from the Maverik to get him the pills one time when Carmen needed them. The pills were 30mg. In early 2022, Robert says he did not have a fentanyl source and didn’t know anyone who sold it. Blues meant Roxys.

2:09 p.m. Lewis asks if Robert remembers telling investigators that he once sold Carmen drugs when a man came with her. Lewis asks Robert if he was selling Carmen fentanyl pills. “I don’t believe so, no.” Robert says everyone was scared of fentanyl in 2021-2022. People were scared of dying and it was all over the news. Robert had a prescription for 10mg of OxyCodone. That’s what he sold to Carmen, he says.

2:07 p.m. Lewis asks about Roxy 30s. Those are 30mg of Oxycodone. Robert remembers it was early 2022 – around this time of year and there was snow on the ground. Robert was charging $25 or $30 a pill. He wasn’t selling fentanyl at this time, but when he sold it, it was around the same price.

2:05 p.m. State has no further questions. Lewis will now cross-examine for the defense. Lewis wishes him a good morning. He responds, “Good afternoon.” She says it’s all a blur. Lewis asks about Robert saying the detectives were “just telling me what I’ve been doing.” Robert says he didn’t really want to get in trouble. He was already in jail and wanted to get out.

2:01 p.m. In the affidavit, Robert says he was confused and had been sober for about three weeks. Prior to his relapse, he had been clean for nine months. Robert signed the affidavit on Sept. 10, 2025.

1:58 p.m. Robert is pointing out mistakes in the affidavit. He says he has never sold OxyContin, and it says he did. He says he sold Oxycodone, but not OxyContin. Bloodworth asks Robert how he knew what was inside the pills he was selling. Robert says he knew people who had prescriptions. Robert was getting the pills from a few guys.

1:55 p.m. Robert says he has never sold oxycontin. He has sold oxycodone and M30s. Now he’s shown the affidavit and he says there are typos in it. “They certainly weren’t my words,” Robert says. But he still signed it. Bloodworth moves to admit the affidavit. No objection. We now see the first four paragraphs.

1:52 p.m. Bloodworth wants to ask about an affidavit Robert signed in September 2025. He says the affidavit was read to him and he signed it swearing that what he wrote was true.

1:49 p.m. Robert does not recall the conversation with the police. Police asked Robert if Carmen knew there was fentanyl in the pills that were given to her. Robert says Carmen bought what she wanted – whatever she asked for. Robert says the whole questioning with the cops was “kind of telling me what I had been doing.”

1:44 p.m. Bloodworth asks Robert to review a transcript showing what he told detectives in a police interview a few years ago. He is trying to clarify whether Carmen asked for Oxys, M30s or blues.

1:37 p.m. The only times Robert met Carmen was at the Maverik Draper to sell her drugs, he says. Robert recalls meeting with the Summit County Sheriff’s Office. He was in the David County Jail and detoxing so he doesn’t remember a lot of the discussion. When asked about whether Carmen requested blues or fentanyl, Robert says he doesn’t remember the conversation.

1:35 p.m. Robert sold or got pills for maybe 3-4 people around this time, he says. Bloodworth asks about the second time Robert met up with Carmen. Robert doesn’t remember how it came about. “I’m not even real clear if I met her a second time, to be honest with you. I know I met her the one time. It might have been twice but this was four years ago, so I don’t really remember if I met her more than once.” Robert says if they did meet more than once, it would have been the same thing. Not a lot of interaction – meet up, get the money, give her the drugs and leave.

1:34 p.m. The first time they met at the Maverik it was raining. They met up and he gave her the drugs and that was it. Bloodworth asks if he remembers the woman. He says she may have been Mexican and was short. Bloodworth asks how much money was exchanged. He doesn’t remember. Bloodworth asks how many pills. Robert says 30-40.

1:31 p.m. Robert got in touch with the friend, who asked for Roxys. The friend was Carmen. Robert met up with Carmen at Maverik in Draper. He was coming from Roy or Layton, he says. Bloodworth asks how many times Robert agreed to meet her at the Draper. He says he remembers once clearly, maybe twice. When asked if there could have been a third time, he says, “I don’t think so.”

1:30 p.m. Robert says his attorney told him he needed to come to court and be honest. If he wasn’t, the immunity would be void and he could be charged with a crime. Bloodworth asks who Nicole Cummings is. She’s a girl he lived with for a few months at the end of 2021. In early 2022, Nicole contacted Robert and asked if he could get some Roxys for her friend – some oxycodone.

1:28 p.m. We are back. Testimony continues with Robert Crozier. He has an attorney in the courtroom and is testifying on three grants of immunity. Salt Lake County, Summit County and the federal government. His attorney assisted him in getting immunity “as far as I know.”

1:17 p.m. Judge says he needs to handle a quick issue and jury is excused. We are going to be in recess until 1:25 p.m.

1:16 p.m. Judge asks Lewis and Bloodworth to approach for sidebar.

1:14 p.m. Robert Crozier is on the stand. Bloodworth asks if he has a criminal drug history. He says he does. He had a distribution charge in December 2022 and two possession charges in 2023. Crozier says he began dealing drugs sometime around 2020. He was dealing drugs in early 2022.

1:11 p.m. Lewis asks if Anna was sober during the phone call between Kouri and Hayden. She said they ate sushi and believes she was. Kouri would help Hayden out. Kouri asks Hayden about the Michael Jackson drug. Anna thought Kouri was asking for a muscle relaxer. Anna went into the bathroom. Lewis asks Anna if she ever heard Kouri ask for fentanyl. She did not. Nothing further from Bloodworth. Witness is released.

1:08 p.m. Anna was very upset when she got the text messages. Said it was wrong to treat someone like this who did nothing wrong. Anna said she did not want to talk with the police at all. She says she never refused to testify. Anna asked to communicate with the detective through text messages. Lewis asks Anna if she recently completed rehab. She says yes. Her drug of choice was alcohol. She says she bases her years off of Hayden being dead or not.

1:06 p.m. We see the text messages. Det. O’Driscoll messaged her to “make our life easier and answer our calls so we can prep you on what you will be asked. Otherwise the next time I knock on your door I’ll have a warrant.” Anna responded that she doesn’t need to be prepped – she can just show up. She asks for the time and date and she said she would appear.

1:03 p.m. Lewis now asks to admit two pages of text messages between Det. O’Driscoll and Anna.

12:59 p.m. The issue seems to be sorted out. The texts are between Detective O’Driscoll and a man named Travis. Anna is involved in the conversations.

12:54 p.m. The exhibit is getting reordered. Judge says to the jury, “In the meantime, temperature a little better?”

12:53 p.m. There is some confusion over the exhibit and the order of pages. Lewis and Bloodworth are at the prosecution table trying to sort it out.

12:43 p.m. Bloodworth has nothing more. Wendy Lewis now cross-examining. Lewis asks if the state reached out to her a few months ago to meet with them. She says they tried a couple times. Lewis moves to admit an exhibit showing text messages between Anna and a detective. Bloodworth objects and asks for a sidebar.

12:37 p.m. Back from lunch. Brad Bloodworth calls Anna Isbell as the next witness. She was a friend of Kouri in high school. Bloodworth asks Anna if she was with Hayden Jeffs on Jan. 22, 2022. Hayden has since died in a motorcycle crash. Anna says she was with Hayden when Kouri called and asked if he had something for a client. He went off at her and Kouri said, “Thank you.” That was all.

11:46 a.m. Jury is invited back in so the judge can explain that we will be at lunch until 12:30 p.m.

11:44 a.m. Judge tells Carmen she can not speak to anyone about her testimony between now or being called back in. Judge tells her she has to avoid talking about it and she can’t watch any of the witness testimony or read any reports about it. Carmen is free to go.

11:37 a.m. There are 932 pages of transcript combined, according to Lewis. Judge Mrazik summarizes the state’s position and the objection from the defense. He denies the request. Carmen Lauber’s testimony is done for the day, but she will remain under subpoena. She is being asked to come back into the courtroom.

11:35 a.m. Judge says there are pieces of the transcript that are admissible as a non-hearsay exhibit, but there is not foundation to admit all of the transcripts. Bloodworth says the transcripts paint a picture that Carmen has been consistent “in the arc of her interview to appreciate the consistency.” Judge asks for the page counts of each of the exhibits.

11:29 a.m. Judge says they are out-of-court statements and are not permissible. “I don’t think I have a basis to admit them wholesale,” he says. Judge says the detectives could be called as witnesses. Judge asks Bloodworth how can be overcome the hearsay problem. Bloodworth agrees they are out-of-court statements but says they are not being offered for the truth – they are being offered in to show this is the evolution of her providing information to the detectives.

11:28 a.m. Judge asks Bloodworth to explain why he wants the interviews in. He says the defense has cherry-picked certain statements to impeach Carmen. To rehabilitate her credibility, the state says all of the interviews need to be admitted so jurors can understand the entire arc. “She is being credible. While she may be confused, she is not untruthful.”

11:25 a.m. Bloodworth has nothing further. Judge says we will have the legal discussion now so jury is excused. This is not the lunch dismissal, just the discussion over the legalities of admitting the jail interview transcripts. Carmen needs to step into the lobby during the discussion.

11:23 a.m. Bloodworth moves to admit transcripts of the jail interviews. Lewis objects and says there is “loads of hearsay” in the transcripts. Judge says he is not prepared to rule, but will later because it will require some legal discussion. Bloodworth asks if that legal discussion can be held over the lunch break. Judge says yes.

11:21 a.m. Bloodworth asks if she thinks the detectives were trying to plant information in her mind. She says no. He asks if she thinks they were trying to help her recall information. She says yes.

11:19 a.m. Bloodworth asks about Carmen being told she could get a “giant get out of jail free card” and what Carmen said immediately after she was told that. Carmen doesn’t recall. Bloodworth asks for her to be shown the transcript. She looks at the transcript. She told them that even if that was the case, she still needed to step up and take accountability if this was what really happened to Eric.

11:17 a.m. Carmen says she has been clean since detectives told her Eric Richins died of a drug overdose. Bloodworth asks if her memory has become clearer since she’s become clean. She says yes. It’s become clearer as she’s had more time to process her involvement in Eric’s death. She also says her memory has become clearer since she’s reviewed Facebook messages, text messages and other items with her attorneys.

11:16 a.m. Bloodworth asks Carmen if she continued to behave like an active drug addict from the day she entered drug court until the time she was arrested. Carmen says she occasionally used drugs and an active user will lie. Bloodworth asks if she has been clean since she was arrested in April 2023. She says yes.

11:12 a.m. Bloodworth shows a letter from the US District Attorney’s Office promising Carmen immunity for her testimony in the trial. He asks Carmen about meeting with prosecutors to prepare for testifying in court. Her attorney was present with her “every single minute for every single meeting.” Bloodworth asks about Carmen’s anxiety and if she’s ever seen a doctor for it. She did earlier in drug court and was diagnosed with anxiety. She was prescribed a non-narcotic – a white oval pill.

11:11 a.m. “You have absolutely no information about what happened to Eric Richins other than what you were told,” Lewis asks. Carmen says that’s correct. She says she has no knowledge what killed Eric Richins. Lewis has nothing further. Summit County Prosecuting Attorney Brad Bloodworth will now follow up.

11:09 a.m. Lewis tells Carmen she’s not being drug tested and she “waits to see what happens following her testimony.” Carmen says yes and she’s been allowed to move to Las Vegas, but she still lives in Utah. Carmen served 23 days in jail when she was arrested in April 2023. Lewis asks Carmen if she knew what the pills were that she got from Robert Crozier. She doesn’t know.

11:06 a.m. “Kouri never asked you for fentanyl, true?” Lewis asks. Carmen responds, “Yes.” Lewis lists several dates and information that was “told to you but you don’t remember.”

11:04 a.m. Lewis brings up the letters that Kouri sent to the court saying Carmen had done community service. Carmen says she asked Kouri to write the letter. Lewis asks Carmen if it’s fair to say she can’t really recall what happened in 2022 or 2023. Carmen asks Lewis to rephrase the question. Carmen says she has a partial memory.

11 a.m. Carmen says her recollection is that while she had the ankle monitor on, she was not supposed to see her daughters. “I couldn’t go down the canyon at all.” Lewis tells Carmen she was not supposed to have contact with Nick as part of her probation and the fact he’s a witness in this case. Carmen says she does not recall that.

10:54 a.m. Lewis asks about Carmen’s current drug court and probation status. Her probation was transferred to another county. One of the conditions of her probation was not to have contact with Nick Bonsavage, Lewis asks. Carmen says she isn’t sure. Lewis shows her some documents.

10:48 a.m. Lewis asks about a detective telling Carmen, “Don’t worry, we’re going to get through this so you can get on with your life.” Lewis asks about an interview on May 13 where Carmen was told detectives spoke with Nick Bonsavage and learned the last drug purchase was March 9. Investigators then asked Carmen if it was possible she bought pills four times rather than three times, according to the transcript.

10:43 a.m. Lewis refers Carmen to another piece of the transcript where she talked with the investigators about them putting the puzzle pieces together. Lewis asks about Carmen, at one point, sharing that her daughter asking about what happened and Carmen saying she didn’t know. Judge says he’s having a hard time following this and Lewis needs to be more specific laying foundation.

10:41 a.m. Carmen says the detectives told her about the fentanyl. One of the detectives told Carmen, “The goal is to convict Kouri for aggravated murder. These parallel drug investigations are not a priority.” Lewis asks if Carmen recalls that statement. She says she does not. Lewis asks her to refer to the transcript.

10:37 a.m. We are back in court. Lewis asks Carmen to review a portion of the transcript. Lewis mentions the part where Carmen told a detective to get things laid out for her. “That’s because, up to this point, they’d been explaining to you what had happened, correct?” Lewis asks. Carmen told detectives she had a lot of cell phones and some were broken.

10:08 a.m. Attorneys arguing with each other. Judge says it’s time for a restroom break and apologizes that the courtroom is cold “like a meat locker.” He says they are working on it. We are on a break. Judge asks Bloodworth and Lewis to meet with him in his office.

10:03 a.m. Lewis asks Carmen if she told investigators that she made three purchases for Kouri Richins – one from Susan Kohler, two from Robert Crozier. Carmen says that’s correct – what she remembered at the time. One from Susan in February, one from Robert in February and one from Robert on March 9. “I know you’ve changed your story and you now say there’s another story, but this is what you told them a year after these events,” Lewis says.

9:59 a.m. Lewis asks Carmen to refresh her memory by reading a transcript. Lewis then asks if the second time she went back to Crozier, she asked for something stronger. Carmen says she’s confused. “You’re confusing,” she says to Lewis. The second time, Carmen asked for “more of the same” – nothing stronger.

9:54 a.m. Carmen admits to always driving without a driver’s license. Lewis asks about Carmen’s third purchase from Robert Crozier. Carmen tells Lewis she’s confusing her because she keeps bouncing back and forth.

9:52 a.m. Lewis now shows the selfie Carmen took with Nancy Peterson on the way to pick up the pills. Carmen says Nancy drove on the way to pick up the pills, but Carmen drove on the way back because Nancy wanted to get high.

9:48 a.m. Lewis asks Carmen what fentanyl goes for. She isn’t sure. Lewis asks if she knows it’s really cheap – at least it was in 2023, she says. Lewis asks if Carmen picked the money up on the same day she bought the pills. Carmen isn’t sure. Lewis asks Carmen if she’s aware that Kouri didn’t own the Midway home in February 2022 and had sold the home at the end of January 2022. Carmen was not aware of that.

9:46 a.m. Lewis reads from a transcript of the interview Carmen had with investigators, where Carmen said Kouri never asked for fentanyl. Kouri asked her to get “Michael Jackson stuff.” Lewis says we will come back to this so she doesn’t confuse Carmen by jumping around.

9:38 a.m. Lewis asks Carmen if she was holding back pills from Crozier for herself. She says no. Lewis asks Carmen if she asked Crozier for Roxy30s. Carmen says she asked for blues. Carmen testifies that she never asked Crozier for fentanyl. Lewis tells Carmen that she told the federal investigator that Kouri never asked her for fentanyl. Carmen doesn’t recall.

9:34 a.m. Lewis now asks about the first drug exchange with Robert Crozier. Lewis asks about the time Kouri asked for the “Michael Jackson drug.” Carmen had to Google it and learned it was propofol. Lewis asks if it can be bought on the street. Carmen isn’t sure – says she doesn’t go around asking for it.

9:30 a.m. Lewis keeps reading through the transcript and Bloodworth objects. Lewis says the story Carmen told the investigators in jail does not match what she said on the stand. Carmen says it was a lot to take in and process. Lewis says Carmen’s memory one year after the fact (when she spoke with investigators) was probably better than it is today (four years after the fact). Carmen says that is correct.

9:21 a.m. Lewis asks to approach the judge. After the sidebar, Lewis apologizes that this has been so confusing. Lewis continues her questioning about the conversation Carmen had with investigator Whistler about the time Carmen bought drugs from Susan Kohler. Lewis reading through part of the transcript between Carmen and Whistler.

9:17 a.m. Lewis asks about the point in the May 10 police interview where Carmen said the money would be in the closet, and that’s where she would leave the pills. Judge tells Lewis she needs to be much more careful and specific in how she asks the questions.

9:14 a.m. We now hear the call. Nick tells Carmen that’s the last time they could get any pills. Lewis brings up May 10, 2023, interview with the three investigators. Ms. Whistler, one of the investigators, asked Carmen how often she was using drugs. Carmen told her maybe once a month. Lewis says, “That wasn’t true. You were using a lot more.” Carmen says that’s correct. Lewis tells Carmen she wasn’t honest with Ms. Whistler. Carmen says that is correct.

9:12 a.m. The two phone calls were between Carmen and Nick Bonsavage. In the calls, Nick told Carmen they couldn’t get any more pills. Lewis moves to admit the recording. Bloodworth does not object.

9:11 a.m. Jury is back in the courtroom. Lewis wants to refresh Carmen’s recollection with some audio recordings. The judge tells Carmen to put on headphones and listen to the recordings. When she’s done, Lewis will ask her another question. We cannot hear the audio recordings.

9:04 a.m. Court is in recess for a moment.

9:02 a.m. Lewis says she needs to play a call to impeach the witness. Prosecuting attorney Brad Bloodworth needs to listen to the call before Lewis plays it. Judge dismisses the jury briefly to get the audio system set up.

8:58 a.m. Lewis asks if Carmen used someone else’s urine for drug testing. Carmen says she has never used anyone else’s urine. Lewis asks Carmen about a way she figured out a way to “game the system” when it came to drug testing. Carmen says she and Nick never figured out anything. “It was a random phone call every day,” Carmen says of the timing of the drug testing. Lewis asks if Carmen was selling drugs in 2022 to support her habit and if she pulled some of the drugs out from Robert to use for herself or to sell. Carmen says that’s not correct.

8:54 a.m. Carmen says she has never seen the letters giving her immunity in the case. She says the letters may have gone to her attorney. Lewis asks Carmen about the last time she used drugs. Carmen says it was four years ago. She’s been clean for a little over four years. Lewis responds, “The last time you used is February 2022? That’s not correct.” Carmen says she needs to think about the dates. Lewis says Carmen told investigators the last time she used was July 2022. Carmen isn’t 100% sure.

8:51 a.m. Lewis shows Carmen a text she wrote to Nick. We see it on the screen. She says she can’t lose her drug court, and she’s worked so hard. Lewis reminds Carmen she was very nervous about meeting with federal agents. Carmen says she was. On May 10, 2023, Lewis says two US assistant attorneys and a federal government agent came to meet with Carmen in jail. At this point, Carmen had immunity from federal prosecution, Lewis says.

8:47 a.m. Lewis asks about a call Carmen had with her friend Nick. During the call, Carmen told Nick she was going to meet with the US attorneys, and she was nervous about meeting them. Carmen says she doesn’t recall the details. Lewis presses Carmen about not telling the truth. Carmen texted Nick something to the effect, “I absolutely can’t lose my drug court,” Lewis says.

8:43 a.m. Lewis asks about an interview Carmen did with detectives while she was in jail on May 4, 2023. She points Carmen to a transcript from the interview. The detectives asked her if she had talked to anyone about what had been going on. She told police she hadn’t told anyone – she’s just said she was in jail on a drug court violation. Lewis says, “That wasn’t a true statement because you had been telling people in detail that you were cooperating with law enforcement.” Carmen says she doesn’t recall. Lewis says she told Nick Bonsavage. Carmen says she spoke with Nick “a little bit here and there” but not that she was cooperating.

8:40 a.m. Lewis mentions the $1,300 check Kouri wrote to Carmen on March 6. Carmen says Kouri wrote the check on March 9, and she picked it up on March 9. Eric died on March 4. Nick and Carmen were paid $25 an hour to clean the Midway mansion. Judge pauses testimony because someone needs a pair of reading glasses.

8:37 a.m. Jury is seated. Lewis begins by asking about Carmen working for Kouri and her aunt cleaning their homes. Lewis asks if Carmen mostly communicated via text. She says phone and text. Lewis asks about Carmen cleaning the Midway mansion. Carmen went over and cleaned it up for an open house. Lewis mentions Nick Bonsavage, Carmen and two others cleaning the home. Kouri paid Nick through Venmo.

8:20 a.m. Carmen Lauber is back on the stand this morning as defense attorney Wendy Lewis continues cross-examination. Carmen is the house cleaner who testified that Kouri Richins asked her to purchase illicit pills for her four times around the time Eric Richins died. She was on the stand for around four hours yesterday and is considered a key witness in the trial.


 
  • #413
  • #414

LIVE UPDATES | Day 10 of Kouri Richins murder trial​

Published at 8:24 am, March 9, 2026 | Updated at 5:37 pm, March 9, 2026

Afternoon:

Today is the 10th day of the trial. It is scheduled to begin today at 8:30 a.m. East Idaho News will be posting live written updates all day. Please excuse typos. You can watch the livestream here. The most recent updates are at the top of this page.

4:40 p.m. Court is over for the day. Jury does not need to report until 9:30 a.m. because the judge and attorneys need to take care of some legal matters beforehand at 8:30 a.m. Join me tonight on “Courtroom Insider” at 7 p.m. MDT on the East Idaho News YouTube channel. A lot to talk about!


4:37 p.m. Nester is done. Bloodworth asks if there is any evidence of Bryce and Eric engaged in a homosexual affair. Gabler says there is no evidence of that. Bloodworth asks about the guidelines Gabler has to follow when doing his investigation. He says he conducted his investigation within the guidelines he is bound to. No further questions from either side.

4:33 p.m. Nester brings up more texts between Eric and Bryce. Gabler says the messages appear to be jokes. Nester asks about the number of sext messages. Gabler says he doesn’t see it as sexting – these were two friends joking with each other. He says he doesn’t remember all of these messages. Nester asks if he reviewed all of the text messages. He did, but nothing stuck out. Nester asks if they repeatedly talked about having sex acts with each other, oral sex and anal sex. Gabler doesn’t recall, but interprets it as joking.


4:30 p.m. Nester asks about documentation showing Eric talking about an open relationship. She shows a text on the screen for Gabler to review. He says it’s a joke. Nester asks about a text between Eric and a friend, Bryce, that said, “Kouri and I are starting an open relationship tonight, so I told her I’m taking you home.” Nester asks Gabler if he saw sexting between Eric and Bryce. He doesn’t recall – says there were hundreds of thousands of texts, and he can’t recall them all.

4:26 p.m. Nester asks Gabler if he ever made any calls or trips to Mexico. No. Kouri called Gabler on Jan. 19, 2023, and he stopped her – said it would be unethical and inappropriate for him to talk with her without the presence of her lawyer. Gabler then contacted her lawyer. Gabler says Kouri was very angry that he had contacted one of her business associates. After that initial call, Gabler made repeated requests to talk with Kouri. Nester asks if he’s aware that the trust is seeking over $10 million from Kouri for the wrongful death of Eric. Gabler says he didn’t know that – it’s irrelevant to him.

4:23 p.m. Nester refers to an invoice record from Verizon. Nester asks about a call Eric made on Feb. 14, 2022, at 12:23 p.m.


4:20 p.m. Nester asks about some fentanyl cases in Summit County around the time Eric died. He found no relationship to the Richins case.

4:18 p.m. Nester asks if Gabler found evidence of Eric sexting with people other than Kouri. He doesn’t recall that. Gabler did investigate allegations of an affair regarding Eric. Nester says that’s not what she asks. She repeats and asks if he found evidence of sexting. He says he isn’t sure what she means by sexting, so the answer is no.

4:17 p.m. Nester needs a moment. Gabler remains on the stand smiling. He glances back and forth between Kouri and the jury.

4:14 p.m. Nester asks about Gabler having access to Eric’s text messages and how much time he spent reading through Eric’s texts. He doesn’t recall exactly – “a number of hours.” Gabler has spent 936.3 hours so far in the case. Gabler charges $125 an hour, but when he did computer forensics, the rate was higher. Gabler made over $100,000 on this case, he says.

4:12 p.m. Nester asks if Gabler was given access to law enforcement folders. He says no. He provided them with links to his folders. Nester asks if he gave them access to Eric’s phone content. Gabler says police already had access to his phone.

4:09 p.m. Nester pulls up an email he sent to Detective Woody. Gabler tells Woody that “now would be a really good time to interview Carmen Lauber because she’s on the ropes in drug court.” Gabler told Woody that Carmen would likely comply with law enforcement at that point.

4:07 p.m. Gabler says he also tracked Carmen Lauber’s vehicle, and he gave that information to law enforcement. When he learned it wasn’t Carmen driving the car, he removed the device. Nester asks how many times Gabler met with law enforcement. He says it’s not relevant to him. Nester says it’s relevant to her. He says 5-6 times.

4:04 p.m. Nester plays the video of the computer she says Gabler went through in the office. Gabler says that it is his laptop and he was scanning documents. It’s not a computer he removed from the office. Nester asks about Gabler sitting outside Kouri Richins’ house and watching her. He says that is false. Gabler put GPS devices on Kouri’s car, her mother’s car and her brother’s car. Gabler tracked them and turned over the information to law enforcement.


4:01 p.m. Nester asks about a safe Gabler removed from the house. He says he took it and then brought it back. The safe was in the master closet, and he removed it at the request of Clint Benson. He took it to a locksmith. Nester says, “Then you busted into the safe.” Gabler says he did not “bust” into the safe. Gabler says a rubber mallet was used to get into the safe. Nester says, “There was no law enforcement there.” Gabler responds, “I don’t need law enforcement to babysit me.”

3:59 p.m. Nester says there is video of Gabler searching a computer in the office at the home. She wants to play a portion of video without sound for the witness. Gabler says he is having difficulty keeping his head up. He puts a brace around his neck.

3:56 p.m. Gabler left the video on the master bed. He didn’t know police were going to come for it. Nester asks if Gabler often moved other things around the house. He says that isn’t true. She asks if he moved a computer and put it in his Tesla. Gabler asks if she’s talking about the C&E computer, that’s not what happened. Gabler says Becky picked up the computer from the house after Eric died. Becky gave the computer to Katie, who them gave it to Gabler.

3:54 p.m. Nester asks about a letter Gabler found called the “babycakes” letter from Eric to Kouri. She asks if he moved the letter. He doesn’t recall moving it. On video, he found the letter on May 10, 2023, in the bottom drawer of Eric’s side of the bed. He looked at it, didn’t think it was relevant, and put it away. On Aug. 9, 2024, he photographed the letter on the bed. He doesn’t recall whether the letter was on the bed, or he retrieved it from the vanity.

3:51 p.m. Nester asks if police ever told Gabler to stop calling. He says they did not. Gabler says he was following the instructions of the client to turn over anything of value for the civil case. That’s why he was hired. He says if he found something of evidentiary value, he would let the police know. He says even if the police told him to stop, he would not. Gabler recalls finding an audio recorder in the dresser drawer that he pointed out to law enforcement.

3:49 p.m. Gabler never went in the house between March 4, 2022, and May 8, 2023. Nester asks how many times the police had searched the home. He does not know. Nester asks about Gabler calling police back to the house when he found something. Gabler says that happened 4-5 times. “Police never get anything. Ever. That’s true in every case I’ve ever handled,” Gabler says. Nester says she won’t argue with him on that.

3:47 p.m. Gabler says Clint Benton had knowledge of his presence at the home. Nester says there are hours and hours of video of him alone going through things in the home. Gabler says he has already testified of that. Nester asks when Gabler got access to the home. Gabler says the house was released from the Summit County Sheriff’s Office on May 8, 2023. That triggered the search. Nester says Kouri was arrested on May 8. Gabler doesn’t know the date Kouri was arrested.

3:44 p.m. Back from break. Defense attorney Kathryn Nester is questioning Gabler. She begins by saying he is not enforcement and the rules between law enforcement and private investigators are significantly different. Gabler says he does not agree with that in every circumstance. He says if he’s hired by an attorney, he is bound by their ethics. Nester says if Gabler wanted to go search for a house for six days, he could. Gabler got a key from Clint Benson to use at his discretion. Nester says there were times he went to the house by himself without Clint being there. Gabler says that’s true.

3:31 p.m. Any item that Gabler considered to be evidence was removed by the sheriff’s office, not him. Bloodworth has no further questions. We are taking an afternoon recess. Back at 3:40 p.m.

3:25 p.m. Gabler took photos, video, scanned thousands of documents and documented everything. Bloodworth asks if Clint Benson was present every time Gabler searched. Gabler says he was never in the house without Benson’s authorization. Gabler always recorded with his GoPro the entire time, other than once when he was called over and recorded with his cell phone. Gabler never brought anything into the house. During his May searches of the house, Gabler found a bunch of documents between Kouri and her lawyers and bill records from her lawyers. Gabler says that would be unethical for him to read, so he put them in a manila envelope. At the end of his search, he took the envelope to the attorney’s office. He also removed a few things from the house pertaining to the boys.

3:23 p.m. Gabler noticed Carmen had an extensive criminal record involving drugs. Carmen tested positive for drugs in drug court around the time of Eric’s death. “I was very concerned about the high number of contacts and the criminal history for Carmen, and I alerted the sheriff’s office about that,” Gabler says. Gabler says he first searched the Richins’ home on May 8, 2023. That was the day it was released by the sheriff’s office. Kouri’s lawyers showed up as soon as the sheriff’s office departed. Gabler had arranged for the sheriff’s office to have security on site. One of Kouri’s attorneys accompanied Gabler to do an inventory of assets on the home. That lawyer stayed a few hours and Gabler never saw them on the search of the property. Gabler searched for 4-5 days initially.

3:20 p.m. Billing records don’t reveal content, just records of calls and texts. The highest number of contacts was from Kouri’s phone interaction with her mom. Kouri’s mom was a “high weight” because there were many contacts. Gabler is interested in how many times you contact a person, what time of day, and the type contact (text, voice call, etc.). Gabler says there were hundreds of texts between Kouri and Carmen Lauber, the house cleaner, between January and May 2022. The only two people ahead of Carmen was Kouri’s mom and Eric.

3:18 p.m. Gabler analyzed Eric and Kouri’s cell phone records. They were being paid for by C&E Masonry. He obtained the billing records from C&E. He got two sets of records – January to May 2022 and May 2022 to February 2023.

3:15 p.m. Gabler always records his interviews. He then types up and summarizes the interviews into a sheet. Gabler conducted around 40-50 interviews for this investigation. Gabler always identified himself. Gabler interviewed friends and associates of Eric, friends and associates of Kouri, Eric’s business and personal acquaintances, Eric’s family members. He tried to interview members of Kouri’s family, but was not successful in getting interviews.

3:11 p.m. Gabler had no contact with the Summit County Sheriff’s Office before Kouri’s arrest. Gabler gave two hard drives to the county attorney’s office. Gabler says two hypotheses needed to be looked at: Eric accidentally overdosed or Kouri Richins surreptitiously had Eric ingest a massive amount of fentanyl and killed him. All of his data fed into the two competing scenarios.

3:10 p.m. Gabler says the flow of information was one way – him giving the sheriff’s office information. He tried to get the 911 call, and all his requests were denied. He says it’s common for police agencies to be one-way streets.

3:08 p.m. The Bensons paid Gabler. Gabler provided his information to the sheriff’s office. He says it would be a crime for him to have any file materials go to anyone else other than his client without his client’s permission. He would discuss his findings with his client and then turn things over to the sheriff’s office.

3:05 p.m. Gabler met with Clint and Katie Benson in April 2022. He told them about the procedures he follows when investigating cases. He said he needed to get ahold of phones, computers, etc. “‘You’re hiring me to find the truth. The truth is sometimes very difficult for us to accept. The truth is half what you most fear what it is and half what you desire it to be. You cannot separate the two.’ I told them they would have to accept the truth about what happened to their brother. If he took his own life, they would have to accept that. If someone was responsible for his death, they would also have to accept my investigation and accept that truth. They agreed.”

3:02 p.m. Gabler has worked on 100 homicide cases and they have all been for the defense. “I have always sat on that side of the room with the defense.” He has never testified for the state – always for the defense. Gabler was contacted in 2022 by an attorney who suggested he speak with Katie Richins-Benson about the death of Eric Richins.

3 p.m. Next witness is Todd Gabler, the Richins family’s private investigator. He is sworn in. Gabler has a cane and explains that on Jan. 13, his neck was fused together with titanium rods. He has not taken any prescribed pain medication today for the purpose of clarity of mind and testimony. He took a Tylenol this morning. Gabler has been a private investigator for 34 years.

2:57 p.m. Sidebar over. Nester asks about Woody interviewing Kouri on the day of Eric’s death. She asks if Woody ever asked Kouri how long she was in the bed with Eric before realizing he was cold. Woody says it was almost immediately. Nester asks if Woody listened to the 911 call. She says she might have at one point, but she doesn’t remember it. Kouri told Woody that Eric was healthy. Nester has nothing further. She tells Woody to “enjoy the dog.” Woody is dismissed.

2:53 p.m. Sidebar over. Nester moves to admit an exhibit. She asks Woody if she ever provided the private investigator with reports of people being arrested for fentanyl in Summit County. Woody says that does not sound familiar. Nester asks if Woody knew Kouri was represented by an attorney on April 13 – the time they searched the home. Objection – relevance. Judge sustains.

2:49 p.m. Nester asks how often Woody spoke with the Richins family and about a timeline Katie sent Woody. She did receive a timeline. Nester asks about reports in Summit County saying fentanyl was found in marijuana. Woody is not familiar with it. Sidebar.

2:46 p.m. Nester asks if there was a dog in the house. Woody says they must have put the dog away because she didn’t know anything about a dog. Nester asks to what extent they looked through Eric’s phone. “There was a couple of investigators trying to figure out what it all meant. I was pretty confusing,” Woody says. Woody looked through call logs, but not the “guts” of the phone.

2:42 p.m. Nester asks if an e-warrant was obtained while in the house. Woody says they didn’t know if a crime had been committed. Nester asks about the search on April 13, 2022, and if Woody was in charge. Woody says she doesn’t believe she was in charge, but she was there. Nester asks if Kouri knew the search was happening. Kouri was detained for about 10 minutes on the day of the search so officers could explain what was happening. Kouri was upset. Woody told Kouri that Eric died of a fetanyl overdose. Nester asks if Woody has reviewed the website searches. She has not.

2:40 p.m. Nester asks if Kouri gave permission for them to search the home. Woody says she gave them permission to check the garbage can in the kitchen and the bathroom. Nester asks Woody if she ever checked about the housekeeper coming to the house to clean that day. Woody doesn’t recall. Nester asks if an empty hydrocone bottle was seized next to Eric’s bed. Woody says photos were taken and the bottle was empty. Nester asks where the bottle is today. Woody doesn’t know.

2:38 p.m. Nester asks Woody if it’s fair to say that, before she walked in the door, she had reason to believe it could be a murder crime scene. Woody says yes. Nester asks if Woody had any crime scene tape available. Woody doesn’t remember. No crime scene tape was put up, but someone was posted at the bedroom door. Nester asks if crime scene investigators came in to work the scene. Woody says Chelsea Gipson and someone from the medical examiner’s office came in. There was also a patrol deputy on scene. Woody can’t remember that deputy’s name.

2:33 p.m. Sidebar over. Bloodworth asks Woody if the phones were sent to the lab for downloading. They were. The search was complicated by deletions in Kouri Richins’ phone, Woody testifies. The private investigator provided detectives with information he gathered. In March 2023, Woody began working with a K-9. She had wanted to work with a dog for years. Detective Jeff O’Driscoll then took over as lead detective. Kathryn Nester will now question on behalf of the defense.

2:20 p.m. Kouri’s phone and Eric’s phone were seized during the warrant. THC products were also seized. Sidebar.

2:16 p.m. Within the two weeks after Eric died, Katie Richins-Benson, another sister, gave Woody Eric’s health records. Those were given to the medical examiner. After getting toxicology results, Woody learned Eric had died of fentanyl intoxication. Bloodworth asks about Woody then getting a warrant to search the Richins’ home and Kouri’s car. No fentanyl was found in the home or automobile.

2:14 p.m. Woody searched the immediate scene, but did not have a warrant to search the entire house. She asked for consent to search beyond the immediate death scene and look into the kitchen garbage because that’s where he had been for the last part of the night. Someone else searched the garbage and found no evidence of illicit drugs. Woody did not ask for consent to search the rest of the home because there wasn’t anything that said it was a crime, and she wanted to be mindful of the family that was grieving.

2:11 p.m. Kouri told Woody that Eric had complained of chest pains that night. He had COVID twice but didn’t like to take drugs. Kouri did not mention street drugs. Bloodworth asks if anyone told Woody that Eric may have died from an aneurysm. A paramedic or medical person told Woody that. There was no sign of drug use or drug paraphernalia around the house. The garbage cans were empty. Woody asked why. Kouri said her housekeeper emptied them. Woody asked Kouri her housekeeper’s name. Kouri said she couldn’t remember the housekeeper’s name.

2:08 p.m. Jury is back in the courtroom. Bloodworth asks Woody about meeting Amy Richins in the driveway. “Did what she told you suggest that Kouri Richins may have been involved in Eric’s death?” Woody says yes. She then went into the house, interviewed people and spoke with Deputy Nguyen. Woody also spoke with Kouri. She said they were celebrating something, and they had a shot of alcohol. They went to bed around 9 p.m. Around 9:30 p.m., one of their kids woke her up with a nightmare. She stayed there until 3 a.m. and then went back to her bedroom. Eric was ghost-white and cold. When she nudged him, he didn’t appear to be breathing, so she called 911.

2:01 p.m. Nester asks Woody if she did an investigation to find out if Eric had made that statement. Woody says she spoke with Kouri but did not speak with anyone else about it. Nester has nothing further at this point. Judge asks to speak with attorneys at bench.

1:57 p.m. Sidebar over. Judge says there is a legal issue that needs to be discussed. He excuses jurors to take a walk. Bloodworth asks Woody what Amy told her in the driveway. Woody says, “Amy said that Eric told her that he thought Kouri was going to kill him.” Judge asks Nester if there is anything she wants to ask Woody about the exchange. Nester says based on Woody’s report, there were two conversations with Amy. Nester asks when Amy spoke with Woody, which of the conversations did she mention that Eric thought Kouri was going to kill him? Woody says in both conversations. Nester asks what Amy told Woody in their second conversation. Woody says Amy told her that Kouri was erratic when she was drinking, and Eric and Kouri had been fighting a lot, and Eric said that Kouri threatened to kill him.

1:53 p.m. Woody recalls arriving at Eric’s house on March 4, 2022. She saw Amy Richins, Eric’s sister, in the driveway at Eric’s house and spoke with her. Bloodworth asks what she said. Defense attorney Kathryn Nester asks judge for sidebar. Bloodworth and Nester approach judge’s bench.

1:49 p.m. The call ends. Next witness is Summit County Sheriff’s Office Detective Jayme Woody. She is currently a K9 officer and was the lead detective in Eric Richins’ death. She has assisted in death investigations prior to Eric’s death. Prior to this case, the biggest case she had investigated was a rape case.

1:46 p.m. Dispatcher asks if the front door is open. Kouri says it’s locked. A few seconds later, she says it’s unlocked. Dispatcher tells Kouri to keep her on the phone and go continue CPR. We hear a male voice in the background saying, “Ambulance is en route.” Kouri says, “He’s doing CPR. Oh my God. Oh my God.” Dispatcher asks if a paramedic took over CPR. The man says, “Paramedics haven’t arrived yet. We’re in the back bedroom.” Operator asks Kouri who is with her. A lot of inaudible statements and Kouri crying.

1:45 p.m. Dispatcher says she needs to get Eric on the floor. Kouri says he’s on the floor. Dispatcher tells Kouri to listen carefully and she will tell her how to do CPR. She tells Kouri to put her hands in the center of the chest and start pumping the chest as least twice per second and 2 inches deep. Dispatcher tells Kouri to start counting out loud so they can count together. 1-2-3-4. They start counting.

1:42 p.m. Dispatcher says she needs to move Eric to the floor. Kouri says he’s too heavy. Dispatcher says if there’s a sheet or blanket, can she use that to pull Eric to the floor. “Pull the sheets toward you and slide them off the bed. Don’t worry about him falling – we need to help him now,” dispatcher says. Kouri tells her kids to get out. Kouri tells the dispatcher he’s dead weight. “I can’t. Can you please send somebody.” Dispatcher asks Kouri how old her husband is. Kouri says 39. Dispatcher asks if she was able to pull Eric off the bed. Kouri responds, “I’m pulling.”

1:40 p.m. Dispatcher asks Kouri if she can lay him on the floor now. She says she can’t, she’s shaking. Dispatcher says, “You can do it. I need you to help him. Take a deep breath with me. I’m here with you.” Kouri says he doesn’t have a pulse. “There’s no pulse. There’s no pulse.” Dispatcher tells Kouri she’s going to guide her through CPR and she can put her on speaker. Kouri says, “OK, I’m ready.” Dispatcher asks Kouri if she can move him to the floor. “I don’t know what’s happening. I don’t know what’s happening,” Kouri responds.

1:37 p.m. Prosecuting attorney Brad Bloodworth says the 911 call will be admitted and published. We hear Kouri crying, saying her husband is cold. Dispatcher asks what happened. “I don’t…I don’t know. I was sleeping in with my kids and I just came in our bed and he’s cold. He’s just cold.” Dispatcher asks Kouri twice, “He’s not breathing? I need you to confirm it for me he’s not breathing.”

1:35 p.m. Back from lunch. Prosecution plans to admit the 911 call before the next witness. No objection from the defense. Jury is invited back in.

12:28 p.m. Questioning is done. Lunch break until 1:30 p.m.
 
  • #415

LIVE UPDATES | Day 10 of Kouri Richins murder trial​

Published at 8:24 am, March 9, 2026 | Updated at 5:37 pm, March 9, 2026

Morning:

Today is the 10th day of the trial. It is scheduled to begin today at 8:30 a.m. East Idaho News will be posting live written updates all day. Please excuse typos. You can watch the livestream here. The most recent updates are at the top of this page.


12:23 p.m. Nestor asks Throckmorton if he looked at closing documents for the Midway mansion. He did not. Defense has nothing further. Prosecution asks Throckmorton how many times he’s testified in court for forensic handwriting cases. 48 times. Bermester asks forgery. There is no evidence Eric signed the document.

12:17 p.m. Nester asks about the Mike Princess letter. It was two pages of writing written by Eric. Throckmorton reviewed the letter, but after reviewing the prior document. Nester asks if Throckmorton reviewed other insurance documents to see if they had forged signatures. He says he looked at a number of documents.

12:13 p.m. Nester is struggling with a cough. She refers to a national report that handwriting analysis needs improvement and lists concerns about conclusions made by forensic examiners. Throckmorton believes he has read the study. Nester asks about the error rate in forensic examiners. Error rate is 4 out of 100 – 4 in every 100 cases, the examiners make an error in their judgment.

12:10 p.m. Nester asks when Throckmorton stopped working with Salt Lake City Police. He says around 2020. She asks if it was because he was falsifying documents. Throckmorton says no. Nester asks if he was subjected to an internal affairs investigation for falsifying documents. Throckmorton says yes, but he was cleared. He was falsely accused by somebody who had been a law enforcement officer.

12:09 p.m. Throckmorton can’t say that Kouri signed the document. Nester asks if he has any personal knowledge that Eric gave Kouri permission to sign the document. Throckmorton has no knowledge of that and it was not part of the examination. Nester asks Throckmorton if his wife ever signs her name on anything. Prosecution objects. Judge sustains.

12:04 p.m. Nester says that not every forensic evaluator is going to come to the exact same opinion as him. Throckmorton says that’s right. Nester asks about Throckmorton using a copy versus the original and the term that Eric “probably did not” sign the document.

12:01 p.m. Nester asks about the difference between being a certified forensic examiner and a forensic examiner. Throckmorton says you pay to become certified. Nester asks about different boards and associations of national examiners. They’re all groups that provide ways for people to become certified. Throckmorton says there are a lot of organizations people can join, even if they don’t have any training. Nester says Throckmorton has never sought certification or joined these groups. He says that’s correct.

11:58 a.m. Throckmorton can not absolutely eliminate that Eric didn’t sign it for sure because he was dealing with a photocopy, rather than the original document. He also could not determine who was authoring the signature. Burmester has nothing further. Nester will now cross-examine.

11:56 a.m. Throckmorton steps down from the stand and approaches the monitor to explain how Eric signed his name – like a pen lift between letters. The document had a single, one-stroke signature and did not match Eric’s normal signature.

11:53 a.m. On this document, Throckmorton says, “There was no evidence that Eric authored the signature and he probably did not. It appeared to be a simulated forgery written by somebody who had access to his writing in an attempt to copy, draw or duplicate his signature and try to pass it off as a genuine signature of Eric.”

11:50 a.m. Burmester shows a document on screen showing the questionable signature at the top with 10 samples below showing the known signatures.

11:48 a.m. Throckmorton also received handwriting samples from a mission journal and other digital PDFs. He reviewed 86 signatures and 24 sets of initials. He compared the questionable handwriting samples to the known samples. After he came to his conclusion, he sent it to a woman in Colorado for verification.

11:43 a.m. Recess is over. Jury is back in the courtroom. Burmester references the exhibit and Thockmorton goes through it. These were the undisputed known samples and signatures that Throckmorton received from Katie Richins’ attorneys. Thockmorton was originally hired by the trust attorneys and received $900 to help. Throckmorton is now working for Summit County on this case. There were canceled checks, driver’s licenses, tax documents, a trust, a will, and other documents Eric had signed.

11:33 a.m. Judge says he needs to take a quick break and apologizes. Jury is dismissed. We are in recess until 11:40 a.m.

11:29 a.m. Burmester admits a document. It’s a PDF copy of a document signed by Kouri Richins. Throckmorton says originals are best to work with, followed by photocopies, followed by PDFs. He explains what happens to PDFs and copies – they become pixelized and finer details in originals can be lost.

11:24 a.m. Throckmortion just looks at the evidence in front of him, nothing else related to the case. He explains the standards and guidelines of how he evaluates handwriting samples.

11:22 a.m. Thockmorton compares the questionable sample versus the known sample and looks for differences, similarities, etc. He is looking for evidence that will show the handwriting was authored by the same person or two different people.

11:20 a.m. Throckmorton explains that nobody can write exactly the same and cites studies that show everyone’s handwriting is different. Burmester asks Throckmorton how he compares handwriting samples. He receives question documents and undisputed documents and then compares them.

11:13 a.m. Throckmorton testifies about his experience, training, leadership and classes he has taught. Throckmorton has worked on over multiple cases and testified in court. Throckmorton says no two people write the same way and everyone has different writing habits.

11:10 a.m. Next witness is George Matthew Throckmorton. He has been with Salt Lake City Police for 27 years and is a crime scene technician. He is a handwriting expert and has been evaluating documents forensically for 30 years. Prosecutor Fred Burmester is questioning Throckmorton.

11:07 a.m. Jury is back in courtroom and Cody Wright is back on the stand. Nester asks Cody how often Eric used THC gummies. He has no idea. She asks where Eric got his gummies. Cody has zero idea. “So that’s a part of his life he didn’t share with you,” Nester asks. Cody says that’s correct. She has nothing further. Prosecution has nothing further. He is released from subpoena.

11:03 a.m. Prosecution is back. Bloodworth says the state is comfortable with the court’s ruling. Judge says the ruling will stand and Nester has not provided a basis to strike Cody’s statement that he’s never been told Eric Richins used illicit street drugs. Jury will now come back into courtroom.

11 a.m. Judge asks Bloodworth if, for the sake of appeal, he wants to get on the record the drug question. Bloodworth says he needs to confer with his team and they leave the courtroom. Court is now off the record until prosecution returns.

10:58 a.m. Nester argues with the judge and says they have an expert who will testify about red devils. Nester says there is a key question of whether Eric Richins had a drug problem and if he did, “Ms. Richins is innocent.” Nester says the witness has changed his story and said in the prelim that Eric used drugs but now says he did. Nester says this is a huge impediment to the fairness of the trial.

10:53 a.m. Judge says the case has to be charged based on admissible evidence. He says he’s required to apply the rules of evidence. Judge says nothing in Cody’s preliminary hearing testimony or what he said outside of the presence of the jury contradicts what he said on the stand in front of the jury. Judge says Cody did not change his testimony. Nester adamantly disagrees and says the defense should be able to impeach Cody. She moves to strike all of his testimony. Judge cuts her off, “Wait a minute, whoa!”

10:51 a.m. Cody is excused from the courtroom. Nester says this whole case is about a pill addiction and whether Eric voluntarily ingested a pill or was given it by his wife. Nester says this is a critical part of the case and wants to impeach Cody based on what he said in the preliminary hearing versus what he just said on the stand. Bloodworth says the state disagrees with everything Nester says, and any relevance to what happened in high school doesn’t play into the case. It was 20 years ago.

10:46 a.m. Cody says what he’s been told about Eric is throughout his life. He doesn’t know the specific timeline and was told that Eric used them in high school. Nester asks again if Eric used illicit street drugs. Cody says he does not know what illicit street drugs entail. He knows Eric had used drugs at some point. Nester has nothing further. Bloodworth asks if he has heard of Eric using other drugs in high school other than red devils. That’s it. Cody says he heard Eric had popped pills. Nester asks if there were drugs after high school. Cody says he doesn’t know exact times and days. Eric popped pills in high school is what I have been told, Cody says. He does not have any knowledge that he popped pills after high school. Cody has knowledge that Eric took THC gummies after high school.

10:40 a.m. Back from recess. Judge says best course of action is to voir dire Cody and ask him the questions. Cody is invited back in. Jury still out of the courtroom. Nester asks Cody if anyone had ever told him that Eric used illicit street drugs and his understanding of the question. Cody says he’s not in the drug world and doesn’t know what most drugs are categorized as. Nester asks if Cody spoke with anyone outside in the hall while he was waiting. Cody says he did not. Nester asks if Cody was aware of Eric using pain pills in high school. Cody was told Eric did, but he has no idea where Eric got the drugs. Nester asks if it was Cody’s understanding that Eric was using the pain pills in high school illicitly, without a prescription. Cody says he learned about this later on in life and he learned he had taken pain pills in high school. Nester asks Cody if he knew what red devils were. Cody says he learned later and believes they were Sudafed. “I’m not a drug person, I’m sorry.”

10:27 a.m. Defense is getting a transcript. Court is in recess for five minutes.

10:24 a.m. There is a debate over illicit street drugs versus pain pills. Nester interrupts and judge says, “Please don’t speak over me so we have a clean record.” Nester apologizes. Back and forth over “red devils” and illicit street drugs and use in high school.

10:18 a.m. There is a discussion between defense and prosecution about drugs. Nester believes she can impeach Cody because he did not tell the truth about Eric’s drug use. Judge says if he in fact said something impeachable, she can – but he isn’t sure that Cody has said anything impeachable. Nester is referring to a transcript from what Cody said in the preliminary hearing and something about “red devils.”

10:16 a.m. Court is taking a recess. Some tech issues are being sorted out. Judge asks Wright to step outside as there will be a discussion he can’t hear about.

10:15 a.m. Bloodworth asks Cody why he sat with the Richins family in court hearings. Cody says he loves the Richins and Eric was one of his best friends and he wants to be a support where he can. Nester asks for a sidebar.

10:11 a.m. Nester asks questions about Eric hunting in Mexico. No further questions. Bloodworth follows up. Asks Cody if people told him Eric used THC edibles. Cody says yes. Bloodworth asks if anyone ever told him that Eric used illicit street drugs. No. Bloodworth asks about Eric being investigated for a wildlife incident. Cody was brought in for questioning. The incident involved not having an elk tag. Bloodworth asks why Cody provided incriminating evidence instead of covering for his friend. He says Eric knew what he did was wrong and Cody wanted to do the right thing.

10:07 a.m. Nester asks about Cody being close with Eric’s family since Eric died. He has become close with them and gone to court and sat with them during hearings. Nester asks Cody if he was aware that Eric and Kouri had personal life insurance policies with New York Life. He was not aware of that. Nester asks Cody if C&E was paying for a personal life insurance policy for Eric through AutoOwners or Integrated Insurance Solutions. He is not awrae of that. Nester asks about Cody hunting in Mexico because Eric couldn’t hunt for a while in the U.S. Eric went to Mexico in February 2022 and went hunting.

10:03 a.m. Nester asks if anyone asked Cody about searching the truck before he picked it up. Cody says no. He still has the brown pickup truck. Nester asks about Eric’s personal red truck. C&E owned the truck. After Eric died, there was an instruction that the truck should not be driven. He got a call from the Ford dealership saying it was ready to be picked up. Cody had the truck picked up from the dealership. “It is a C&E-owned vehicle. There are ramifications for an accident for someone not working for C&E so it would be proper to make sure the truck isn’t being driven.” Nester asks where the truck is. Cody says the truck is at Katie Richins.

10 a.m. Nester asks about other doctor visits on Valentine’s Day. Cody isn’t aware. Nester asks about March 3, 2022, the day before Eric died. Eric and Cody went to lunch at the Mirror Lake Cafe. Nester asks about Cody sending Becky Lloyd to pick up Eric’s C&E computer within a few days after his death. Cody says he did. Nester asks about a private investigator going to talk with Cody about the computer. Cody authorized the computer to go to the private investigator, before law enforcement went through the computer. Nester asks about Cody sending someone to pick up Eric’s work truth – a brown Ford pickup.

9:56 a.m. Nester asks if Eric worked on Valentine’s Day. Cody says they are always getting calls and “working.” Nester admits a photo of a home that is apparently Eric’s. The next photo is of another house. Cody doesn’t recognize it. Another photo is shown to Cody. He doesn’t recognize this one either. Nester asks about Eric going to the doctor on Valentine’s Day. Eric told Cody he had gone with his son to get an allergy shot.

9:54 a.m. Nester asks about Cody and Eric hunting together. She asks about the hunting violations Eric had committed while hunting. Cody was brought in and asked questions about the violations. Eric ended up going to jail. Nester asks if Eric and Cody had a falling out because of the hunting issue. Cody asks for clarification. Nester says they stopped going on family vacations and if the relationship became more tense. Cody says Eric didn’t like it, it was upset with Cody.

9:50 a.m. Nester asks about Eric having back pain and if he would still work. Cody says he would drive around his truck, but wouldn’t be lifting heavy things. Nester asks about Eric having knee pain and having surgery. Cody doesn’t remember that. She asks about Lyme’s disease. Nester asks if Cody subscribes to the faith of the Church of the Latter-day Saints. Cody says he is LDS. Nester says as part of the faith, it’s not proper to drink or take drugs. Cody says if you are an active member and believe that, you can follow that. Nester asks about Eric drinking or using marijuana gummies. Cody says Eric never offered him a drink and he never saw Eric take gummies. “Eric would be ok telling me some of those things. He would tell me but in the light that I am his good friend, he would tell me things but not be proud of that.” Nester responds, “So he did share with you that he used drugs?” Bloodworth objects.

9:49 a.m. Cody says the policy said if Eric was to die, he was to pay Eric’s family the life insurance money. When Eric died, Cody paid the money to the family trust, which was what the court told him to do. Nester stresses that Kouri didn’t get the money. Cody says he doesn’t know where the money went.

9:46 a.m. Nester asks about Cody and Eric’s buy-sell agreement. She inquires about the beneficiary change on the life insurance policy made on Jan. 1, 2022. Nester says the change was made on Cody’s policy, not Eric’s. Cody doesn’t recall the exact wording used. Nester says, “Well, think about it. You remember everything else, not this?” Cody says the wording was tricky. “What I was told is that there was a change made to the beneficiary; somebody had gone in and changed it. I do not recall whose name it was or anything like that.”

9:44 a.m. Nester asks if Cody engaged in house flipping through C&E or any other business. Bloodworth objects. Judge sustains. Nester asks about the $200,000 loan C&E made to Richins for a property for her to rehab. Cody says they got all the money back plus interest. Nester asks how much. Cody doesn’t recall. Nester asks about the buy-sell agreement, where partners in the business buy a life insurance policy on each other.

9:43 a.m. Judge sustains the objection. Nester asks if the company had planned for growth and if they would have been financially stable for the future. Cody says yes. Nester asks about Kouri being on the payroll and how much she made every month. Cody doesn’t recall. Nester asks if when Eric passed away, Kouri asked to be removed from the payroll. Cody doesn’t believe she asked to be removed. They continued to pay her for some time after Eric passed. Cody says they continued to pay her for a couple of months.

9:40 a.m. Sidebar is over. Nester asks Cody what he personally made in 2021. Cody doesn’t have the numbers in front of him and doesn’t recall. Nester asks if it was more than $500,000. Cody says no. Nester asks about tax returns that indicate Eric declared $700,000-$900,000 that year and if that number would be off. Bloodworth objects. Judge calls for sidebar.

9:36 a.m. Nester asks about C&E and how things were split 50/50. Nester asks how much money Cody made in 2022. Bloodworth objects based on relevance. Judge asks attorneys to approach the bench for sidebar.

9:35 a.m. Cody received a call from Eric on Valentine’s Day. He says there was fear in his voice and a sense of urgency. The only other time Cody has heard Eric like that is when Eric’s mom died in the hospital and when Eric had been rear-ended in a serious accident. Bloodworth has nothing further for Cody. Kathryn Nester will now ask questions on behalf of the defense.

9:32 a.m. Bloodworth brings up the photo shown the other day of a group of adults at the Celebration of Life held the night Eric died. Bloodworth asks if Cody’s wife, Alley Wright, is in the photo. She is not. Bloodworth asks if he has ever seen Eric sick or injured. Cody has seen him when Eric had COVID, Lyme Disease, a cold, back injuries and other sicknesses. “He’s a cowboy. He’s a go-get-em, he’s not going to sit at home because he’s sick, he’s not going to not show up because he’s feeling under the weather, he’s very tough-spirited, rough-hearted as far as not being a wimp goes.” Cody has never seen Eric use over-the-counter or prescription drugs. He has never seen Eric use illicit drugs.

9:28 a.m. Cody collected documents containing signatures from a company called Integrated Solutions. He also requested documents from Big D Construction containing Eric’s signature. The signatures were then given to Katie Richins, Eric’s sister.

9:26 a.m. Bloodworth asks Cody about a series of beneficiary changes made to the New York Life Insurance policy in January 2022 that was for Cody and Eric. Cody did not make the changes and did not make any changes to Eric’s policy. Bloodworth gives Cody some handwriting samples to review.

9:21 a.m. C&E had an American First Credit Union account. Eric and Cody shared a company email address. Cody recalls a time when Eric said K. Richins Realty needed a loan from C&E to pay for projects. Cody says it was a loan, not an investment. This was in October 2020. C&E agreed to provide K. Richins a $200,000 loan.

9:18 a.m. Eric and Cody’s business relationship was a 50-50 split. In early 2022, C&E employed around 90 people. When Eric passed, Cody remembered counting 47 projects they were currently working on. They had a great business outlook in early 2022. The company was growing. Eric wanted to keep growing the company, but Cody was more conservative and comfortable with where the company was at. Eric was motivated to grow bigger and better. C&E both had home offices. Eric used a C&E computer he kept at his home office.

9:16 a.m. Eric came from a background of hard work and was serious when it came to business. He wanted to make sure things were done right and wanted to grow his business. Cody helped teach Eric’s son how to pitch baseball. Eric was dedicated and competitive as a father, Cody says. Eric wanted his kids to be the best on the team.

9:14 a.m. C&E Masonry stands for Cody and Eric. They ate lunch together a few times a week. In the fall, they saw each other a lot in the mountains or hunting or spending time together. They spoke nearly every day on the phone. They would travel together to hunt. “Eric’s fiesty. Eric’s working. Eric’s the life of the party. Eric’s funny. He can be very fun to be around. Very comforting at times, and also he can tell you what you’ve done wrong and make sure you know it was wrong.”

9:12 a.m. Cody says Eric was a good friend of his and his business partner. They both loved hard work and hunted together. They spent a lifelong of events together. Shortly after they met, Eric came to work in his family business. They both went on LDS missions, came home, and worked together through the family business. In 2010, they decided to start their own masonry company together.

9:10 a.m. The video was actually admitted during Allie Staking’s testimony. We now see the video. It’s a few adults drinking, laughing, etc. Cody Wright is now called as a witness. He is sworn in.

9:08 a.m. Jurors are back in the courtroom. Bloodworth talks about Chelsea Barney’s testimony and her referencing video of a celebration of life. The state was blurring children’s faces from the exhibit and is now ready to admit it as evidence.

8:43 a.m. Cody Wright will be the first witness on the stand. One juror has not yet arrived so we are in recess for five minutes.

8:40 a.m. Summit County Prosecutor Brad Bloodworth says Jeff O’Driscoll will likely be the state’s last witness. He is the lead investigator on the case. Defense has filed a motion for a mistrial. Mrazik says the state needs to respond and asks when they can have it ready. Bloodworth says prosecution can respond right now orally. Mrazik wants it in writing. Bloodworth says he can have a written motion by tomorrow morning.

8:38 a.m. Court is in session. Jury is not in the room. Prosecution says there are a handful of witnesses who will still be called. Judge Richard Mrazik says a discussion needs to be held about the jail calls prosecutors want to admit. Defense has objected to the calls.

8:24 a.m. Week three of Kouri Richins’ murder trial begins today and Eric Richins’ business partner, Cody Wright, is expected to take the stand. Prosecutors have said they intend to rest on Monday or Tuesday. The defense will then present Richins’ defense.


 

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