Utah Mom Who Wrote Children's Book On Grief After Allegedly Killing Her Husband: Police Focusing On WILD Cell Phone Search History

Whoa. The children’s book author who allegedly murdered her own husband is finally in court, and the evidence prosecutors have unearthed is shocking!

If you haven’t been following this wild true crime story, Kouri Richins has been accused of murdering her husband Eric Richins, 39, on March 3, 2022, by lacing his Moscow Mule with lethal amounts of fentanyl. Five times the lethal amount! He drank the cocktail while celebrating a recent real estate deal and was pronounced dead just hours later.

The couple had three children. The accusations were a shocking twist as Kouri had achieved a minor amount of celebrity for writing a children’s book about grief to help her kids process the loss of their father. The book, titled Are You With Me? was released about a year after her husband’s death. It has since been pulled from Amazon, for obvious reasons. She was reportedly working on a second book titled, Mom, How Far Away is Heaven?, per KCPW News.

To prove how mind-boggling this case is, authorities claim Kouri threw a party at the couple’s house the day after the murder! WTF?! She was ultimately charged with one count of first-degree aggravated murder and three counts of possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute in connection with the death.

Sadly, according to family members, Eric said he believed his wife had tried to poison him previously. He even had her removed as a beneficiary of his will and life insurance policy before he died, replacing her with his sister, after she allegedly tried to change a life insurance policy and withdraw money without his knowledge. Similarly, he suspected Kouri may have been having an affair.

That’s already a lot to show a jury. But it gets worse. Police also searched her iPhone for evidence — and what they found is jaw-dropping.

Ahead of her detention hearing in Park City, Utah on Monday, authorities released her alleged cell phone history, featuring some harrowing searches ahead of the killing. Obtained by CNN on Friday, the iPhone search history features articles about fentanyl, life insurance payments, and murder investigations. Prosecutors called the searches “incriminating” as they allegedly include phrases like: “can cops force you to do a lie detector test,” “Luxury prisons for the rich in America,” “death certificate says pending, will life insurance still pay,” “If someone is poisoned what does it go down on the death certificate as,” and “How to permanently delete information from an iPhone remotely.” Yeesh! Those certainly seem like specific searches. You can read them all HERE.

As to be expected, Kouri’s legal team is clapping back in court. Per CNN, her defense wrote in a motion that “law enforcement never identified or seized any fentanyl or other illicit drugs from the Family Home,” adding:

“The State has provided no evidence that there was fentanyl found in the home. Nor have they provided any evidence that Kouri gave Eric the fentanyl at issue.”

They went on to claim prosecutors “worked backward in an effort to support” the notion she killed her husband, local network WJW reported. That said, officials have previously revealed they found dozens of texts between Kouri and an acquaintance she was allegedly buying drugs from, per previous court docs.

The seller claimed she purchased hydrocodone from them some time between December 2021 and February 2022 before reaching out weeks later looking for “some of the Michael Jackson stuff.” She allegedly obtained 15 to 30 fentanyl pills worth $900 in February 2022.

Per Law & Crime, C.L., a woman who “from time to time over the years, provided housekeeping services for Kouri and was paid by check for doing so,” allegedly bought the drugs that killed Eric. She is now cooperating with the police and her testimony was used on Monday; Kouri’s team argued it wasn’t trustworthy. They’ve said all the evidence thus far is circumstantial. The controversial writer’s attorneys went on to request she be released on bail during the trial while. A judge denied the request. We wonder if her iphone searches included articles about “extradition”… Kouri has not entered a plea yet, but the way her defense is going it’s a sure bet she’s going to plead not guilty, right?