Utah Mom Who Wrote Book To Help Kids Grieve Dad She Allegedly Killed Is Writing Another In Jail

Kouri Richins, the Utah mom who allegedly killed her husband before penning a book for her kids on how to deal with the grief of losing their dad, has decided to write another tome while behind bars, CNN reports. While this one is being classified as fiction, it’s clear she’s treading some dangerous territory here.

1. It didn’t take police long to file charges against Kouri. That’s because details about her husband’s death just didn’t add up. While she initially claimed he had a drug overdose in the few moments when she went upstairs to put their children to bed, authorities later discovered that Eric Richins was deliberately poisoned and that Kouri had been procuring illegal drugs from a dealer at extremely high doses. Kouri, however, has always maintained her innocence.
2. Kouri Richins’ new book isn’t going to be nonfiction. According to the accused murderess herself, she’s working on a “fictional mystery book” while behind bars. However, there will be elements of truth as she’s loosely basing it on her own life story. She’ll be penning the entire new book from her jail cell in Summit County, Utah. The new book will be set in a jailhouse, but since Utah isn’t a very exciting location, so she’s moving her book to Mexico.
3. Not everyone is thrilled with the new book. Many believe it’s in extremely bad taste, while others are worried that her partly biographical novel will end up revealing things that will work against Kouri Richins in court. However, her brother, Ronney Dardin, insists that it’s “loosely based on what’s going on, but definitely fiction.”
4. The novel might just be a distraction from what Kouri Richins has been up to while awaiting trial. Earlier in September 2023, a six-page note was found in her cell that prosecutors say shows proof of “tampering” with witnesses. The note was written to Richins’ mother and has been filed as evidence showing that Richins wanted Darden to “testify or inform falsely.”
5. Richins lawyers’ are trying to keep the letter from being entered into evidence. They claim that prosecutors filing the letter is a breach of the “gag order” all lawyers in the case are under. They described it as “an extrajudicial statement made for the apparent purpose of influencing the court of public opinion.”