Kamas woman allegedly purchased $1,800 worth of fentanyl pills before husband’s overdose death

Photo: Unsplash // Hal Gatewood

KAMAS, Utah — A Kamas woman arrested Monday in connection with the death of her husband allegedly purchased $1,800 worth of fentanyl pills from an acquaintance in the months leading up to his death caused by an overdose.

Kouri D. Richins, 33, was arrested by the Summit County Sheriff’s Office on Monday, May 8. She was charged by Utah’s Third District Court with criminal homicide, aggravated murder, a first-degree felony, as well as three counts of possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute, a second-degree felony, in the 2022 death of her husband, Eric Richins.

According to charging documents, Kouri reached out to an acquaintance at some point between December 2021 and February 2022 and asked if the acquaintance could procure prescription pain medication for an investor with a back injury. The acquaintance procured hydrocodone pills from a dealer, and Kouri told the acquaintance to leave the pills at a house she was flipping in Midway.

Two weeks after purchasing the hydrocodone pills, Kouri contacted the acquaintance again wanting something stronger, and according to charging documents, asked for “some of the Michael Jackson stuff.” She specifically requested fentanyl. The acquaintance procured 15-30 fentanyl pills from a dealer on February 11, 2022, and delivered them to Kouri’s Heber home, where she paid $900 for the pills.

On February 14, 2022, Kouri and Eric Richins had a Valentine’s Day dinner together at their Kamas home. Shortly after the dinner, Eric became very sick and told a friend he believed that his wife was poisoning him.

Two weeks later, Kouri contacted her acquaintance again and asked for more fentanyl pills. She asked the acquaintance to leave the pills at the outdoor fire pit at the Midway house, where there was $900 in cash waiting for them.

Six days later, on March 4, 2022, Eric was found dead of a fentanyl overdose. The medical examiner determined that he had consumed illicit-grade fentanyl and had five times the lethal dosage of the substance in his system at the time of his death.

Earlier this year Kouri self-published a children’s book entitled “Are You With Me?” that follows a child as they deal with the loss of their father. Since Kouri’s arrest, the book has been removed from Amazon’s website.

On Tuesday, the Summit County Sheriff’s Office released a statement regarding Kouri’s arrest,

“At this time, in order to preserve the integrity of the process and the accused’s constitutional rights to the presumption of innocence and to a fair and impartial jury, we will not be releasing any further information beyond what is contained in the public record relating to this matter,” said the statement from the SCSO. “The defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Kouri’s next court date is scheduled for May 19 at 3 p.m. for her detention hearing.