'She's trying to kill me': Eric Richins asked family attorney to watch over Kouri Richins if he died
KAMAS, UTAH: Utah man Eric Richins allegedly killed by his author wife Kouri Richins, 33, told their family attorney to keep a check on her if he dies. The slain man also suspected his wife of having an affair throughout their marriage.
On March 4, 2022, the 39-year-old man was poisoned with a fentanyl-laced Moscow Mule. "He’d had concerns previously, and he also had reason to believe she was having a relationship and that was continuing through their marriage … apparently in person," family attorney Greg Skordas told Fox News.
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Kouri Richins: Author accused of murdering husband tried to poison him repeatedly, family says
'If something happens to me, check out Kouri'
Fearing his own safety, at one point Eric told Skordas, "If something happens to me, check out Kouri. I think she's trying to kill me." Skordas added that "some members of the family that he thought she was trying to hurt him" and he feared for his own safety. However, for the sake of his three young sons, he stayed with Kouri. "He lived for those boys. I believe he would have stayed in a less-than-desirable relationship if it meant he could do right by them," he said.
Eric believed Kouri tried poisoning him
After a Valentine's Day dinner at the couple's home on February 14, 2022, Eric told one of his friends he believed that his wife tried to poison him in connection to the family's battle for his $3.6 million estate. "His wife had tried to kill him," Eric's sister recalled him telling her of him falling ill several years ago during a trip to Greece when Kouri gave him a drink. He previously warned his family that "if anything happened to him she was to blame."
Skordas dismissed rumors of Eric suffering from a drug problem
Dismissing public speculation that the slain man overdosed himself and had a drug problem, Skordas said, "The government has alleged that the individual who sold the defendant the fentanyl, which ultimately caused her husband’s death has given them a statement and has admitted that she sold fentanyl pills to the defendant — that, in fact, she sold different types of opioids at different times."
"Everyone knew that he didn’t do opioids, he didn’t do drugs, he didn’t abuse controlled substances at all," Skordas told Fox 13. Kouri, the grief book author who is scheduled to appear again in court on May 19 has been charged with multiple counts of second-degree possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute and one count of first-degree aggravated murder, reported New York Post.