Kouri Richins: Behind the Facade | Full Episode | Forensic Files

♪♪ -This case is about a wife and a mother who found herself in perhaps a failing marriage --
a business in trouble. And took, some could argue, an easy way out. -I think she really wanted to improve her life
and be free and be rich, and have this facade of being the successful person that you wanted to be.
-My name is Eric. -My name is Laura, and we served as jurors in the Kouri Richins trial.
-Please have a seat. -Kouri Richins didn't seem to me like someone with a very strong moral compass.
-Eric Richins was found dead in his home on March 4th, 2022. Eric was married to Kouri Richins
and they had three children. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -The family had been alerted by Eric that if something happened to him
to look at Kouri, it was almost like they knew something like this could happen someday.
-This was in the months leading up to his death. He felt that his life could be at risk?
-Right. They suspected Kouri would take part in his death before it happened. -The state alleged that Kouri Richins killed her husband, Eric
by giving him a lethal dose of fentanyl. -A Summit County woman who wrote a children's book
about coping with grief following her husband's death, now accused of being the one that actually killed him.
-The book was to honor him, to express to these boys to remember their father. -She's accused essentially of murdering the person
who is the topic of the book. Words of Wisdom, do not write books while you're being investigated.
-As we were preparing for trial... -Kouri was 100% pure goodness and kindness. She's a good, good human being.
-She might have had these good sides to her where she was giving, but she was willing to give that part up.
-Did Kouri Richins ever ask you to purchase for her illicit drugs? -Yes. -Based upon the testimony
and the evidence we saw against Kouri, I came to see her as pretty cold and pretty calculating.
-You have to understand that the jurors did not know her. They didn't know her. -There was no smoking gun in this case.
There was never one thing in this case that was "Absolutely, Kouri did it, and there's no question."
-She basically sacrificed her husband to get what she wanted. ♪♪ -My sweet baby boys.
And as much as you've been influenced into thinking that dad was murdered and I took your dad from you,
that is completely wrong and an absolute lie. -Kouri did not just kill Eric, she attempted to kill the spirit of everyone who loved him.
She lied to his children. She lied to the world and has shown no remorse while dancing on his grave for profit.
♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -The evidence will prove that Kouri Richins murdered Eric for his money
and to get a fresh start at life. -In February of 2026, in a packed courtroom in Summit County, Utah,
Chief Prosecutor Brad Bloodworth laid out the state's case against Kouri Richins
for the murder of Eric Richins, her husband and father of their three sons. It had been nearly four years since Eric died
on March 4th, 2022, of a lethal dose of fentanyl served to him by Kouri in a cocktail, say prosecutors.
She had spent almost three years in jail awaiting trial. -More than anything... ...she wanted his money to perpetuate her facade,
of privilege, affluence and success. -Eric Richins owned a lucrative contracting business,
and Kouri worked as a real estate agent buying and flipping houses. She was facing not just murder charges,
but also insurance fraud and forgery counts. -She was absolutely convinced that she would be found not guilty.
-Greg Hall is a friend and former colleague of Kouri's. -What made her so convinced of that outcome?
-Because she knows that she didn't do it. -Initially, authorities thought Eric may have died
from an accidental drug overdose, but as investigators dug deeper, they concluded that Kouri poisoned Eric
for financial gain. -Watch out for Kouri. Watch out if something happens to me. -According to Greg Skordas,
a spokesperson for Eric's family, Eric had raised concerns about Kouri to his family.
-The night Eric died, were they immediately suspecting that Kouri took part in his death?
-They suspected Kouri would take part in his death before it happened. And so when it did happen,
it was everyone's worst, you know, nightmare come true. ♪♪ -As the state built its case against Kouri Richins,
her 911 call saying she found Eric unresponsive in bed was an integral piece of evidence.
♪♪ -The prosecution used the recording throughout the trial to call into question
whether Kouri was even trying to resuscitate Eric. -The operator repeatedly asks the phone to be put on speaker
so Kouri can listen while performing CPR. ♪♪ -But a prosecution digital forensic analyst testified
that phone receiver sensor activity showed Kouri was actually holding the phone to her ear during the call.
-There's a proximity sensor inside the device that activates the receiver. -The digital download expert could actually see
that Kouri did not put the phone on speakerphone. She was still holding it up to her ear.
That means she wasn't doing compressions. Or if she was, she was doing it with one hand.
-The 911 call was impactful for jurors Laura and Eric, who requested we not use their last names.
-Listening to the call, it didn't seem like there was much effort in the compressions themselves.
-The impression these jurors had of her resuscitation attempts didn't match Kouri's description of events,
which she texted to her friend, Chelsea Barney. Prosecutor Bloodworth read the messages to the jury.
-Some of her text messages to a friend, she said she was screaming and beating on his chest,
and the evidence did not show that. -Some of Kouri's other actions the day Eric died
puzzled the jurors we interviewed. Like her behavior on this deputy's body cam footage
shown in court. -It was strange. Right after Eric died, Kouri was holding her face with her hands.
-It certainly looks like she was trying to hide her face... uh, and her emotion.
♪♪ -And when the jurors compared Kouri's behavior in the footage to Eric's sisters,
they found the contrast startling. -Eric's sister, Katie Richins, came in. She was hysterical...
-[ Panting ] -...near hyperventilating and her first thought was, where are the kids?
Are the kids okay? And through that whole video, Kouri said, "My kids are in that room and one of them's listening."
But never did she move to go comfort those kids. -Eric's sister, Katie, testified about arriving at the house.
-On the morning that Eric died, did Kouri Richins say anything about the house that they were living in?
-Yes. She told me she was going to sell it. -According to Katie, just hours after Eric's death,
Kouri was talking real estate, how she planned to sell their home and how she needed to close on a house
she had just purchased known as the Midway Mansion. -I had just lost... ...one of the most important people
in my whole entire life... ...and she was planning on selling the house that he had just been wheeled out of...
...closing on a multi-million dollar mansion. I could not wrap my head around it.
-Prosecutors also presented evidence of something accessed on Kouri's cell phone that morning.
These GIFs seemingly celebrating coming into money. -I thought the GIFs were really odd.
If she was the one that pulled them up, which it certainly seems like that is the case,
that's just more evidence of her state of mind at the time. -It was not clear to the jurors
whether the GIFs were celebrating Eric's death or celebrating the Midway Mansion purchase.
Either way, they found the timing curious. -Still inappropriate. The day after her husband passed away
that she's accessing these. So it was strange. -Strange behavior aside, the state's case hinged
on proving Kouri intentionally poisoned Eric. That he did not die of an accidental overdose.
The prosecution contends it was Kouri who administered the fentanyl, either in a cocktail called a Moscow Mule
or in a Lemon Drop shot that she prepared for Eric. Investigators found this note in a kitchen cabinet,
which the prosecution says chronicles how Kouri killed Eric. -Notice that here she writes "drink in bed."
-And the prosecutor told the jury about something else authorities found unusual in this incident report
describing what happened that night, Kouri immediately writes about having a drink around 9:15 p.m.
to celebrate work. -Her story that night that she wrote started with Eric drinking a drink that she made.
Why would her story start then? Why wouldn't it start when she walked in the door
and found that he wasn't moving? That was just one of these really subtle things
that I thought was really important. -Also important for jurors was knowing how Kouri obtained the fentanyl.
For that, prosecutors turned to a witness who became a controversial figure in the case,
Kouri's housekeeper. -Did you ask Kouri Richins about Eric's death? -Yes, I did.
-What did you ask her? -I said, "Please tell me these pills were not for him." ♪♪
-What ma'am is your name? -Carmen Lauber. -Carmen Lauber was Kouri and Eric's housekeeper,
and she cleaned homes for Kouri's real estate flipping business. Prosecutors say Carmen also did something else.
She supplied Kouri with the drugs used to kill Eric. -Did Kouri Richins ever ask you to purchase
for her illicit drugs? -Yes. -How many times? -Four. -In a lot of ways, she is the key witness.
-Skye Lazaro had been Kouri Richins attorney before resigning from the case due to a conflict of interest.
-Carmen really was the only person who could tie Kouri to obtaining fentanyl. -Carmen testified that in the months preceding Eric's death,
Kouri asked her to get pain medication for a client, which Carmen did. Then, about two weeks before Eric died,
Kouri made another request for something stronger. Carmen says she reached out to a drug dealer friend
and told Kouri she could get her fentanyl. -I had texted Kouri back and told her that I had a friend
that could get them, but they were fentanyl pills. -How did Kouri Richins respond?
-She said, "Okay, go ahead and get 'em." -The state contends Kouri mixed that fentanyl
into the Moscow Mule, or Lemon Drop shot she served Eric. Carmen, though, has an arrest record
from drug charges and is not an ideal witness. -She had a history of drug abuse,
and although I think she's overcome that, those are who you deal with in criminal cases.
They're not always the shiniest people in the world. -The jurors we spoke with were able to look
past Carmen's history and found her credible. -I put a lot of weight on Carmen Lauber's testimony.
I found it very impactful, very important to the prosecution's case. And her testimony was corroborated
with the digital evidence. -The state's digital forensic expert testified about hundreds of text messages between Kouri and Carmen
that matched Carmen's timeline of when Kouri contacted her for drugs. Because the messages had been deleted,
investigators could only retrieve dates and times, but not the messages content.
-Between the two of them about 800 text messages. -The prosecution argued throughout the trial
that this was not the first time Kouri used drugs to try to kill Eric. Investigators learned that two weeks before his death
on Valentine's Day, Eric became ill after Kouri served him what they say was a drug-laced breakfast sandwich.
-On Valentine's Day it was a sandwich. When she murdered him, it was a drink. -As for a motive, prosecutors say Kouri needed money.
A forensic accountant testified about her money problems. -What was the amount of Kouri Richins liabilities?
Right about $8 million. -She said Kouri was in debt for nearly $8 million from her house flipping business,
some of it from the recent purchase of that Midway Mansion. And Eric, between the contracting business,
property, and life insurance was worth a lot. -On the day that Eric died, his estate was worth over $4 million.
-There was also evidence that Kouri took out an additional $100,000 life insurance policy on Eric
about a month before he died, and that Eric's signature was forged... -Those signatures were not authored by the same person.
-...a forgery, prosecutors say, committed by Kouri. -She used her business address for this policy
and made herself the beneficiary. And frankly, even as a lay person looking at the signatures,
Eric did not sign that document. -And there may have been another motive for murder.
According to the state, Kouri wanted a new life with this man, Josh Grossman, a handyman she met through her house flipping business.
They had an affair for about two years. -I don't know how much the family knew about the fact
that she had a paramour. I don't even know how much Eric knew about it. That turned out to be a helpful piece of evidence
that was discovered during the investigation. -Josh Grossman testified that after he heard Kouri had been arrested for Eric's murder,
by which time they had broken up, he reached out to Eric's family. -I was overwhelmed with guilt, sorrow, over my wrongdoings,
you know, infidelity. -With respect to Josh Grossman, he seemed like a believable witness.
I think we all felt really sorry for him at times that he was crying. -Josh told investigators about a conversation he had with Kouri
that now under the lens of murder, took on new meaning. Josh, who had served with the army in Iraq,
was asked about that conversation. -She asked if -- if I had ever killed anybody.
-Did she ask a follow up question? -Yes. She asked me how it made me feel or something along those lines.
-The jury was also shown text messages between Kouri and Josh. I mean, you see those text messages
back and forth, very lovey. ♪♪ ♪♪ I mean, you know, I don't know that that gets any closer to the reality
of what actually happened in this case. -Yeah. In hindsight, I don't think those were, uh,
probably well thought out. These coming in the way they did and the timing of them,
uh, I think certainly did not help Kouri. -Can I get exhibit 3-1, please? -Something else that did not help Kouri,
was this reservation she booked for a romantic getaway with Josh. -And did you know about a trip planned to
the Secret St. Martin's Resort? -Yes. -Kouri sent Josh the reservation she made before Eric died,
with the trip planned for April, a month after Eric's death. -The reservation for that trip was damaging to Kouri.
To me, that made it look like she had been planning something for a while, and at some point soon,
Eric would be out of the picture. -As the investigation proceeded, Kouri said the prosecution was worried about being caught.
It showed web searches Kouri made after Eric's death, including... ♪♪ ♪♪ -Kouri's internet searches questions
that were being searched led me to believe she had a guilty mind. -These searches were done
after she was handed a search warrant when they searched the home. It kind of takes the sting out of them, I think.
It's somewhat understandable. -This is after the fact. -This is after, and well after, in fact.
-She was looking for information based on what she found out after Eric died. -It was one of the points
that Kouri's own defense team made as it tried to poke holes in the entire prosecution's case.
-You know what you're never going to hear, is how that fentanyl got inside of him,
because there is zero evidence of that. ♪♪ ♪♪ -Just outside of Salt Lake City, home to famed ski resorts including Park City,
is the nearly 10-acre estate that Kouri Richins was planning on flipping. -It looks ginormous. -It's massive.
Skye Lazaro told us Kouri hoped to walk away with nearly $10 million in profit. -I think this was kind of her dream
when she got into this idea of flipping houses, was to be able to do properties like this.
-And it was that estate, said Kouri Richins defense attorney Kathryn Nestor in her opening statement,
the couple were toasting the night Eric died. -Eric and Kouri Richins were celebrating.
They were celebrating because Kouri was about to close on the biggest real estate deal
that her company had ever done. They had a lot to celebrate. They also had a wonderful family.
-Nestor showed jurors a family photo of Eric and Kouri with their three sons seemingly happy
and spoke about the love they shared for their boys. -And what's more important is that the boys adored their father,
and Kouri knew that about her sons and about her family. -Nestor asked jurors to consider why Kouri would poison Eric,
knowing the impact it would have on their three sons. -Now, after you've listened to all the evidence in this case,
you're going to have to decide if Kouri Richins intentionally and knowingly poisoned the father of her kids,
knowing that she was going to cause those little boys to feel pain every day for the rest of their life,
for the loss of their father. -Kouri's friend Greg Hall, says Kouri would never do that.
-She was loving, she was kind. She was giving. A wonderful mother. -Eric suffered from pain a lot.
-Nestor told jurors Eric Richins lived with chronic pain. -He suffered from knee and back pain related to his work.
He did hard work. -And used drugs recreationally, often taking marijuana gummies.
-These are all gummies that the police found in Eric's things. -Nestor said Eric also used pain medication.
-You're also going to hear that there was an empty pill bottle right next to him.
-The label on that pill bottle was for the painkiller hydrocodone, and it had expired in 2020.
Nestor suggested it was Eric who may have come into contact with fentanyl. -You're going to hear that just a few weeks
before Eric died, guess where he was? Mexico. Guess where the fentanyl comes into this country from?
Mexico. -One by one... -We'll proceed with cross-examination of Ms. Richins-Benson.
-...the defense challenged the state's witnesses, beginning with Eric's sister, Katie,
and her account of Kouri's behavior the night Eric died. -And you also said that she just stood there
and did not comfort you in any way? -Not that I recall. -Okay. Your honor, we'd like to play a clip.
This is State's exhibit 1-4. Okay. So that's Kouri. Freeze it right there. And that's her squatting down to comfort you
while you're on the ground, And that's y'all hugging, right? -Correct. -So your memory about that was clearly wrong.
-To be fair, it was four years ago. -Okay. -When it came to the state's key witness, Carmen Lauber...
-Good afternoon, Ms. Lauber. -Good afternoon. -...the defense pointed out that she made a deal with police
in order to stay out of prison. Defense attorney Wendy Lewis played a portion of one of Carmen's interviews with investigators.
♪♪ ♪♪ -So that's what they said to you? -Yes. -You may be getting seven years in prison on your state case?
-Correct. -But if you help them out, that's not going to happen? -Correct. -The investigators keep pushing on her,
"We need more. That's not enough." And finally, in the last interview, they basically just spell it out.
-You know, it's -- "This is your one get-out-of-jail-free card." You have to basically say it's fentanyl.
-And you are willing to do whatever it takes to save yourself from getting kicked out of drug court
and going to prison, correct? -I'm willing to go forward with the truth, yes. -I think the defense was really hammering her,
And I don't think it went over that well. -She said, "Okay, go ahead and get the fentanyl."
-That's your testimony today. -When I told her what I had, that's what she said, yes.
-Even if Carmen bought fentanyl for Kouri, the defense said there was no proof that Kouri used the drug to poison her husband.
Kathryn Nestor told the jury the cups Kouri served the drinks in were never tested that night.
-The nanny ended up putting them in the dishwasher the next morning. -I think the most powerful point the defense made
is that we don't know exactly how the fentanyl got into Eric Richins stomach. -When you have to prove murder,
you have to prove that she's the one that administered the fentanyl to him. -The defense pushed back on the state's claim
that Kouri had tried to poison Eric weeks earlier with that Valentine's Day sandwich.
Kouri's friend Aly Staking said the couple downplay that episode as Eric having an allergic reaction.
-Was everyone laughing? -Okay, and did Eric appear upset about what had happened prior
with the sandwich? -No. -And as for the financial motive that Kouri was broke, Skye Lazaro says Kouri Richins multi-million dollar debt
was typical in the house flipping business. -That's what they do for a living is they invest in homes to flip.
-So you're saying it's part of the business. Right. You get in -- in debt and then you flip the house,
you sell it, and then you make your money back. -Absolutely. -And that $100,000 life insurance policy
the state claimed wasn't signed by Eric, Nestor said there is an innocent explanation.
-I'm telling you right now, wives everywhere sign their husbands names on a lot of things.
You've got to find that she did it without his knowledge, and I don't know how they're going to prove that.
-The defense also downplayed Kouri's affair with Josh Grossman, who testified they never went on that romantic getaway
Kouri had booked for them. -Then Kouri ended the relationship, correct? -Right. -It was a little bit difficult to understand
what the situation was with Josh Grossman, because she did seem to drop him pretty quickly.
-Do you think that Josh Grossman's relationship with Kouri had anything to do with Eric's death?
-No, if that were the case after Eric passed away... ...that relationship would have continued, not been tapered off.
It doesn't make any logical sense. -On March 12th, 2026, after three weeks and 40 witnesses from the state...
-Your Honor, the state rests its case. -...the jurors say they were expecting to see defense evidence and hear from their witnesses.
-Oka, now we can hear the rest of the story. -But what happened next... -Who's defense counsel's first witness?
-...caught everyone off guard. -My mouth just dropped open. I was just like, "What?"
I was so shocked, and I was actually really disappointed. ♪♪ -State's counsel and defense counsel are present.
Ms. Richins is present. -13 days into the trial, Judge Richard Mrazek asked Kouri Richins defense team
about their first witness. -I was totally prepared for however many days or weeks
of vigorous defense. -Who's defense counsel's first witness? -Um... -Can we have just a minute? -Yeah.
We have -- we have a couple of options. -Understood. -But the option defense attorneys
Wendy Lewis and Kathryn Nestor chose was one these jurors were not expecting. -Your honor, actually at this time,
the defense intends to rest. -I was like, seriously? Now we've seen just about everything in this trial.
-I was disappointed because I'm like, you know, I felt like there was more to the story
and they denied us access to that. -I just want to make sure... ...you've consulted with your client about this.
-Absolutely. -Ms. Richins, may I ask you two direct questions? -Yes. -Do you understand that you have the right
to testify at trial? -Yes, I do. -Are you following your attorney's advice and waiving your right to testify at trial?
-Yes, I am. -I accept your waiver. I find it's knowing and voluntary. -Laura says she at least expected the defense
to present testimony about Eric's alleged drug use and what role, if any, it played in his death.
-They were just hinting ever so slightly at these things without backing it up. So I was really hoping for some testimony.
If that's really true, or are you just trying to confuse everything? -Greg Skordas, who happens to be an attorney himself,
says perhaps the defense saw no need to call witnesses because it felt there was enough reasonable doubt.
-If you think you're winning after the prosecution puts on its case, then there's no reason to put on a case
because you can only hurt yourself. So why -- why even risk putting on a witness that could hurt you?
-Laura says throughout the trial, she would sometimes look over at the defense table.
-There was really no vibe coming from her. Like, I couldn't sense whether she was upset or angry or sad.
She had a very flat affect. -Was that part of it, the likability of Kouri Richins at that point,
do you think they saw a woman who was having an affair who was in debt? -I think that's how it certainly could be taken.
There never was a real opportunity to humanize her, to make her likable, to make her seem like a person who wouldn't do that.
-Mr. Bloodworth, would you like to proceed? -In its closing, the prosecution portrayed Kouri Richins
as a ruthless social climber, chasing a life beyond what she had at her family's expense.
-Behind the facade, however... ...Kouri Richins was incompetent. Her business was imploding.
All the while, Kouri Richins was more interested in spending time with Josh Grossman than Eric,
but she did not have the money to leave Eric... ...or the money to salvage her business.
She is a risk taker. There was a way forward. Eric had to die. -The defense used its closing argument
to lay out its entire case. -They want you to look at a woman in the worst moment of her life.
-Citing several reasons why there was reasonable doubt. -The investigation in this matter was nothing but sloppy.
It was driven by bias. -Wendy Lewis told jurors the investigators developed tunnel vision early on,
driven by Eric's family's belief that Kouri was guilty. -Everything about this investigation
was led by the Richins family. -It did give me pause whether there was this bias in the entire investigation
that started with the Richins family. -What else do we find on that first day that Eric died?
-Lewis pointed to that trip Eric took to Mexico shortly before his death, and that empty pill bottle on his nightstand.
-The hydrocodone bottle. What was kept in that bottle? What might be the best way
to bring illegal pills back from Mexico? Put them a prescription bottle? So what's another explanation?
What could have happened? Maybe he thought it was something else and he accidentally got fentanyl.
Maybe had they tested that bottle, we would know... ...but they didn't. -She urged the jurors to stand with Kouri Richins.
-Kouri Richins did not kill Eric Richins. The state did not prove this case beyond a reasonable doubt.
And you have the courage, have the courage to tell them this and find Kouri Richins not guilty.
-How was Kouri feeling? Did she ever feel like this may not go her way? -No. Absolutely not. Honestly, not at all.
She was upbeat, hopeful, enthused. She was absolutely convinced that she would be found not guilty.
♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -After sitting through the three week trial, jurors Eric and Laura had no way of knowing what other jurors were thinking,
nor how long reaching a verdict could take. -I was thinking, this is going to be a very long week.
-But in the end, deliberations would only last about three hours. Laura, one of the two women on the eight person jury,
was selected as foreperson. -When we got back there, I think everyone was bursting.
I felt like I was bursting at the seams. -For the jurors, Kouri's money trouble proved to be a motive for Eric's murder.
-She was in such a position that she had to take drastic action to dig out of the financial hole that she was in.
I shared that I thought the evidence was devastating against Kouri and that she was guilty.
I think that opened the door to other people to share exactly where they stood. -And when the decision was made to vote,
the rest of the jury agreed. Not just that Kouri murdered Eric, but that she previously attempted to kill him
with that poison-laced Valentine's Day sandwich, and that she committed two counts
of insurance fraud and forgery. -Ms. Richins, please stand. -On March 16th, 2026, Judge Richard Mrazek read the verdict.
-Count one aggravated murder. We, the jury, unanimously find that the defendant, Kouri Richins, is...
...guilty of aggravated murder. -Kouri Richins was stunned as she learned she was found guilty
of all five counts related to Eric's death, says her friend Greg Hall. -Totally unexpected.
She was absolutely crushed and heartbroken. -Kouri Richins declined our request for an interview.
♪♪ -State of Utah versus Kouri Richins. -Two months later on what would have been Eric Richins 44th birthday,
Kouri Richins, now wearing a prison uniform, was back in court to receive her sentence.
Eric's family gave heartfelt statements. His sister, Amy emphasized the impact his loss has had on his three sons.
-This crime didn't just happen once. It happens every single morning when those boys wake up
and realize their father is still gone. -The boys were five, seven and nine when their world was shattered.
Today they are nine, 11 and 13, and through written statements read by each of their counselors
for the first time, the world got to hear from them. The first statement read aloud was written
by the youngest Weston. -"When someone talks about Kouri, it makes me feel hateful and ashamed.
She took away my dad. It's made me have a hard time trusting people." -The middle child, Ashton, called Kouri greedy
and said she did not properly care for him and his brothers. -"When she got hurt, you didn't even care."
-He accused her of harming the family pets. -"You wouldn't let me put my kitten in the garage
for safety at night. And we found it eaten by raccoons the next day. You wouldn't let us turn on and use the heater lamp
for the chickens and bunnies, and they froze to death." -Carter, the oldest, said Kouri was often drunk
and would lock him in his room. -"This happened pretty much daily. I feel angry that she locked me in my room.
I miss my dad, but I do not miss how my life used to be. I don't miss Kouri. I will tell you that."
-All three boys asked the judge to give their mother, whom they only referred to as Kouri,
the harshest possible sentence. -"What she did is very sick." -When it was their turn,
Kouri's friends and family pleaded for leniency. Her brother, Ronnie... -Then Kouri Richins was allowed to speak.
She did not testify at trial, but now she approached the podium and used her time to address her kids.
-I will use any opportunity I can to get a message to you. -She says she has been cut off from them
for the past two years. -As much as you've been influenced into thinking that dad was murdered, that I took your dad from you,
that is completely wrong and an absolute lie. And just because someone may not be perfect,
that's a far reach for them to be capable of murder. -Judge Mrazek had two options
when considering Kouri Richins sentence, either 25 years to life with the possibility of parole
or life in prison without parole, and he made it known he carefully considered each.
-The court's duty is to make a decision, a weighty, long-lasting decision based on the best information available today.
Accordingly, Ms. Richins, the court hereby sentences you to life without parole.
♪♪ -For Eric's family, it was the end to a years long nightmare. Greg Skordas, the family spokesperson,
says the true heartbreak is for the kids who are now living with Eric's sister, Katie.
-I can't think of anything worse as a child to lose your father... ...except to know that it was because of your mother.
I mean, think about that. ♪♪

Scared of their own mother. Why the children of convicted killer Kouri Richins want her to stay behind bars. "48 Hours" correspondent Natalie Morales reports. This episode aired on May 23, 2026. Watch more full episodes of "48 Hours" on Pluto TV.

True crime. Real justice. "48 Hours" investigates the most intriguing crime and justice cases that touch on all areas of the human experience including greed and passion. "48 Hours," which premiered in 1988, has developed a rich history of original reporting and impact journalism that has helped exonerate wrongly convicted people, caused cold cases to be reopened and solved, and along the way changed lives.

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Brief Summary

Kouri Richins is found guilty of murdering her husband Eric for financial gain, sentenced to life without parole.

Key points

The Case Against Kouri Richins. Kouri Richins is accused of murdering her husband Eric for financial gain. Prosecutors allege she administered a lethal dose of fentanyl.
The 911 Call Controversy. Kouri's 911 call was scrutinized for her lack of urgency in attempting to resuscitate Eric.
Suspicious Behavior After Eric's Death. Kouri's actions and demeanor after Eric's death raised suspicions among family and jurors.
Carmen Lauber's Testimony. Kouri's housekeeper testified about Kouri's requests for drugs, linking her to Eric's death.
Kouri's Financial Motive. Evidence suggests Kouri was deeply in debt and sought to gain financially from Eric's death.
Kouri Richins Found Guilty. On March 16th, 2026, Kouri Richins was found guilty of aggravated murder and other charges.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

She lied to his children. She lied to the world.

The prosecutor's statement about Kouri's actions after Eric's death.

3:30WatchMay 29, 2026

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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