An American woman who wrote a children’s book on coping with grief after her husband’s death last year has been accused of poisoning him with a lethal dose of fentanyl, a highly potent synthetic opioid drug primarily used as an analgesic. Kouri Richins, 33, was arrested Monday on charges of aggravated murder and three counts of possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute, US broadcaster NBC News reported.
Eric Richins died near Salt Lake City in Utah on March 4 last year. Police responded after his wife called ‘911’ to report she found him unresponsive in their bedroom, according to a probable cause statement.
A court document said that before her husband’s death, the suspect had asked an acquaintance for something strong – ‘some of the Michael Jackson stuff’ – the outlet reported. The acquaintance got dozens of fentanyl pills for her, the document showed.
The accused later published a book ‘Are You With Me?’ to ‘create peace and comfort for children who have lost a loved one’, according to a description on Amazon. It said the book will help reassure children that although their loved one ‘is not present, their presence always exist and they walk through life with you as if they were here’.
Richins dedicated the book to ‘my amazing husband and a wonderful father’. It has been removed from Amazon.
“It took us all by shock. My kids and I kind of wrote this book on the different emotions and grieving processes that we experienced last year, hoping that it can kind of help other kids deal with this and find happiness some way or another,” she had told KTVX.