Kouri Richins, a Utah realtor who published a children's book about grieving following her husband Eric's death, was found guilty of fatally poisoning him as part of a plot to bail herself out of debt with his $4 million estate and run away with her handyman lover on Monday (March 16), the New York Post reports.

The Park City jury handed down the guilty verdict after about three hours of deliberations on Monday, which concluded a three-week trial stemming from an incident in which Eric Richins consumed a fatal dose of fentanyl in a Moscow Mule made by his wife on March 4, 2022. Kouri, 35, was found guilty of aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder, insurance fraud and forgery, as well as attempting to poison Eric one month prior to his death with a fentanyl-laced sandwich that resulted in him breaking out in hives and blacking out.

Robert Josh Grossman, 43, an Iraq War veteran and handyman, revealed his months-long affair with Richins, as well as her asking if he'd ever killed anyone days after Eric's death, during testimony in her case on March 4 via KSL. Richins allegedly asked Grossman the question while they were discussing her husband Eric's sudden death for the first time.

“We sat there and talked for quite a while… I had never seen her that way, obviously, and it was a heavy conversation, and I’m not used to that with her. She’s not used to being open like that,” Grossman told jurors. “She asked if I had ever killed anybody … She asked me how it made me feel or something along those lines. And then I answered her.”

Grossman confirmed to Richins that he had taken a life while serving in the Iraq War, at which point she asked him "how it made me feel or something along those lines," according to his testimony. The conversation took place about 10 days after Eric Richins died after consuming a Moscow mule cocktail laced with four ties the lethal dose of fentanyl.

Richins self-published books to help her sons and other children cope with the grief of losing a parent following her husband's death. Summit County prosecutor Brad Bloodworth claimed that Richins was $4.5 million in debt and falsely believed she would inherit an estimated $4 million from her husband's estate if he died. Prosecutors also claimed that she was planning a future with Grossman prior to her husband's killing.

“The evidence will prove that Kouri Richins murdered Eric for his money and to get a fresh start at life,” Bloodworth said. “More than anything, she wanted his money to perpetuate her facade of privilege, affluence and success.”

Richins faces up to 25 years in prison during her sentencing scheduled for May 13.

Simon Conway