Mother of Kouri Richins under investigation for 2006 death of her partner

Lisa Darden during an interview with 48 Hours. Darden, who is the mother of Kouri Richards, is now under investigation for the death of her partner in 2006. Richards is accused of murdering her husband at their home in Kamas. Photo: 48 Hours Interview

PARK CITY, Utah — A recent development has emerged in the case of Kouri Richins, the Kamas mother of three, accused of poisoning her husband with a lethal dose of fentanyl at their Kamas home in March of 2022.

A newly disclosed search warrant said the Summit County Sherriff’s office started investigating Richins’ mother, Lisa Darden, in May of 2023. It was then when they learned Darden’s business and romantic partner, Gertrude Moore, died of an opioid overdose under similar circumstances in 2006. Moore was 49 years old when she died. 

The warrant also disclosed that Darden had been named the beneficiary of her partner’s estate a short time before her death. Similarly, investigators say Richins took out new policies on her husband’s life before he died and she tried to make herself the beneficiary of a policy he held.

The similarities between the deaths of Moore’s and Eric Richins’ deaths place suspicion on Darden, who was at the Richins’ house March 4, 2022, the night Eric died.

This comes after a recent interview with CBS’s 48 Hours during which Darden and Richins’ brothers staunchly defended her innocence. 

“For anyone who knows Kouri, she could not have done this,” Darden said. 

An autopsy found Eric Richins’ body had a lethal amount of fentanyl, suggesting an accidental overdose would be unlikely. 

During the CBS interview, prosecutors said that Eric Richins told family and friends that if he died they needed to take a look at her (Kouri) because he believed she was trying to kill him. 

Defense attorney, Skye Lazaro, maintained finding Richins guilty will be a tall task. 

“They’re going to have to prove that she got the drugs and that she somehow gave them to him. And unless they can connect those dots, they’re going to have a hard time proving murder in this case,” Lazaro told CBS.