UTAH — Kouri Richins was arrested and charged with murder in the death of her husband, Eric Richins. Prosecutors alleged she gave him a lethal dose of fentanyl on the night he died.

Kouri Richins said she found her husband unresponsive in their bed on March 4, 2022. After finding him unresponsive, she called 911 and performed CPR at the dispatcher’s instruction.

First responders arrived and attempted to save Eric Richins but were unsuccessful. First responders initially suspected that Eric Richins died of an aneurism. Weeks later, police said Richins’ death was caused by an overdose of fentanyl.

Greg Skordas, spokesman for Eric’s family, said, "He wasn't an opioid user ... This doesn't smell right." Eric Richins was 39 years old when he died.

Skordas said, "Fentanyl is many, many times more potent than oxys, and the other pain medications that we typically use. It's a very dangerous drug."

Eric Richins said, "If I die, you need to take a look at her because I think she's trying to kill me."

Kouri Richins told investigators she had made her husband a Moscow mule on the night of his death. Skye Lazaro, an attorney, said, "They have to prove that she obtained drugs and gave them to her husband ... And unless they can connect those dots, they're gonna have a hard time proving murder in this case."

Eric Richins met Kouri Richins in 2009 at a local Home Depot where she worked as a cashier and he worked in construction. Kouri Richins and Eric Richins married in 2013 and had three sons named Carter, Ashton, and Weston.

Kouri Richins operated a real estate company that bought, renovated, and sold houses for profit. At one time, she was working on an average of three houses at a time, according to Lisa Darden.

Eric Richins operated a stone masonry business. Nearly every day, he took a gummy containing THC, according to Ronney Darden, and he sometimes obtained pain pills from acquaintances, according to Lisa Darden.

Kouri Richins’s family believes Eric Richins took something unknowingly laced with fentanyl and that his death was an accident.