Why Kouri Richins jurors decided Utah mom was a killer

In February 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. BRAD BLOODWORTH (in court): The evidence will prove that Kouri Richins murdered Eric for his money and to get a fresh start at life. It had been nearly four years since Eric died on March 4, 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. BRAD BLOODWORTH (in court): 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 Richins worked as a real estate agent, buying and flipping houses. She was facing not just murder charges, but also insurance fraud and forgery counts. Greg Hall : She was absolutely convinced … that she would be found not guilty. Greg Hall is a friend and former colleague of Kouri's. Natalie Morales : What made her so convinced of that … outcome? Greg Hall : 'Cause 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. Greg Skordas : "Watch out for Kouri, watch out if something happens to me." According to Greg Skordas, a spokesperson for Eric Richins' family, Eric had raised concerns about Kouri to his family. Natalie Morales : The night Eric died … were they immediately suspecting that Kouri took part in his death? Greg Skordas : 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. KOURI RICHINS TO 911 (crying): My husband is not breathing. He's cold. As the state built its case against Kouri Richins, her 911 call -- saying she found Eric Richins unresponsive in bed -- was an integral piece of evidence. 911 OPERATOR: If you need you to put me on speaker, put me on speaker – I'm going to guide you through CPR, OK? The prosecution used the recording throughout the trial to call into question whether Kouri was even trying to resuscitate Eric. 911 OPERATOR: Start counting out loud so I can count with you, OK? The operator repeatedly asks the phone to be put on speaker, so Kouri can listen while performing CPR. 911 OPERATOR: One, two, three, four -- am I on speaker? KOURI RICHINS: Yes. 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. CHRIS KOTRODIMOS (in court): There is a proximity sensor inside the device that activates the receiver. Laura | Juror : The digital download expert … could actually see that Kouri did not put the phone on speaker phone … 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. Eric | Juror : 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 Richins' description of events, which she texted to her friend, Chelsea Barney. Prosecutor Bloodworth read the messages to the jury. BRAD BLOODWORTH (in court): "His lifeless body on my bedroom floor. … I pumped so damn hard, so hard screaming at him to come back to life that I needed him." Eric | Juror : 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 a deputy's bodycam footage, shown in court. Laura | Juror : It was strange right after Eric died. Kouri was holding … her face with her hands … Eric | Juror : It certainly looks like she was trying to hide her face, and her emotions. DEPUTY (bodycam): -- where are your children now? KOURI RICHINS: One's asleep in that room. Two are awake with their ear to the door. And when the jurors compared Kouri's behavior in the footage to Eric's sister's, they found the contrast startling. Eric | Juror : Eric's sister Katie Richins came in. She was hysterical ... near -- hyperventilating. And her first thought is: Where are the kids? Are the kids OK? And through that whole video, Kouri said, my kids are in that room. And one of 'em's listening. But never did she move to go comfort those kids. Eric's sister, Katie, testified about arriving at the house. BRAD BLOODWORTH (in court): On the morning that Eric died, did Kouri Richins say anything about the house that they were living in? KATIE RICHINS BENSON: 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." KATIE RICHINS BENSON (in court): 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 multimillion-dollar mansion. I could not wrap my head around it. Prosecutors also presented evidence of something accessed on Kouri's cellphone that morning -- GIFs, seemingly celebrating coming into money. Eric | Juror : 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. Laura | Juror : It's 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 a note in a kitchen cabinet, which the prosecution says chronicles how Kouri killed Eric. BRAD BLOODWORTH (in court): Notice that here she writes "drink in bed." And the prosecutor told the jury about something else authorities found unusual. In the incident report, describing what happened that night, Kouri immediately writes about having a drink around 9:15 p.m. to celebrate work. Laura : 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. BRAD BLOODWORTH (in court): Did you ask Kouri Richins about Eric's death? CARMEN LAUBER: Yes, I did. BRAD BLOODWORTH: What did you ask her? CARMEN LAUBER: I said, please tell me these pills were not for him. 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. BRAD BLOODWORTH (in court): Did Kouri Richins ever ask you to purchase for her illicit drugs? CARMEN LAUBER: Yes. BRAD BLOODWORTH: How many times? CARMEN LAUBER: Four. Skye Lazaro : 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. Skye Lazaro : 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. CARMEN LAUBER (in court): I had texted Kouri back and told her that I had a -- a friend that could get them, but they were fentanyl pills. BRAD BLOODWORTH: How did Kouri Richins respond? CARMEN LAUBER: She said, OK, 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. Greg Skordas : 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. Eric | Juror : I put a lotta 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 texts messages between Kouri and Carmen, that matched Carmen's timeline of when Kouri contacted her for drugs. Because the messages were deleted, investigators could only retrieve the dates and times, but not the messages' content. CHRIS KOTRODIMOS (in court): 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. BRAD BLOODWORTH (in court): On Valentine's Da