You Might Also Like: RedHanded

**Saruti Bala** (0:11)
In April 2023, a 33-year-old woman named Kouri Richins was invited onto Good Things Utah, a segment on Salt Lake City, ABC.
She was there to promote her new book, Are You With Me? It was for children to help them cope with the loss of a parent. Kouri explained that she and her three boys had written the book together to process the grief they had all endured after losing her husband and their father, Eric Richins, a year before.

**SPEAKER_1** (0:38)
Joining us now is author of Are You With Me? Kouri Richins to share her three Cs to helping kids cope with grief. And Kouri, I want to start with your story. What happened in your personal life?

**Kouri Richins** (0:50)
So my husband passed away unexpectedly last year. So it's March 4th was a one year anniversary for us and he was 39 It completely took us all by shock.

**Hannah** (1:03)
Everyone had been shocked that 39-year-old Eric had died so suddenly. But for Kouri, the real shock was yet to come.
Because one month after this TV appearance, Kouri Richins was arrested for being a terrible writer, but mostly the murder of her husband, Eric.

**Saruti Bala** (1:29)
Yeah, man. This case is pretty wild. I have been following this story for years. When I was writing this script, I was like, has it been years? It has been years. It has been years. It was the rest in 2023 I was like, oh my god, this case has been going on for such a long time. And last week, in March 2026, Kouri Richins was convicted.
But did the jury get it right?
Given that they deliberated for barely three hours on five charges including aggravated murder, some people aren't so sure. I'm not one of those people, but some people aren't so sure.

**Hannah** (2:09)
Well, some people think we owe Casey Anthony an apology, so.

**Saruti Bala** (2:12)
Some people are going to, you know.

**Hannah** (2:14)
Be wrong.

**Saruti Bala** (2:15)
Be wrong. Sometimes it do be like that.
But the trial, whatever you think about the outcome, certainly delivered when it came to drama. It was just as shocking as I expected it to be in a case about a woman who allegedly murdered her husband to get her hands on his millions to run off with her lover, not to mention then publish a children's book about grief to cash in yet further. A book, as the trial revealed, she didn't even write.

**Hannah** (2:45)
Books are hard.

**Saruti Bala** (2:46)
They are hard, but no one made you do it, Kouri. No one made you do it except your greed.

**Hannah** (2:53)
Was the book called Grief Greed?

**Saruti Bala** (2:55)
That was the working title. And then her ghostwriter was like, no, no, no.
No, no, no. But I'm Saruti.

**Hannah** (3:01)
I'm Hannah.

**Saruti Bala** (3:01)
And this is RedHanded, Today, we are going to take a big, long, filthy look at the case of Kouri Richins.

**Hannah** (3:08)
When you were in the loo just now, I was explaining what we have to do with the files and which ones have to go first for our lovely sound friend in the box behind us. I was like, well, we've got a big longie first that has to go. And he was like, oh, I love a big longie.

**Saruti Bala** (3:17)
Who doesn't?

**Hannah** (3:18)
Don't we all?

**Saruti Bala** (3:18)
Hope you guys do too. Strap in.
This story, if it were made into a movie, it would be absolutely panned for being completely absurd. From the drug peddling housekeeper, the handyman lover, the collapsing business empire, the bizarro 911 call, and of course, my personal favorite part of this story, that walk the dog letter. If you know this case, then you will likely agree with me when I say that this walk the dog letter is possibly the most damning self-inflicted evidentiary wound I have ever seen from a defendant. Let's get into it.

**Hannah** (4:00)
Eric and Kouri Richins met in 2009
Eric worked in construction, and Kouri was a cashier at Home Depot. I know that's how it is in my head because I've only ever heard Americans say it, but I know the correct pronunciation is depo, but I can't. Sorry, I'm losing my shine. My British shine is rotting away. Let them have it. Eric loved Home Depot. He was there all the time, and that is how they met each other.
Eric had actually wanted to ask Kouri out for weeks, and finally, one day, he got his mate to get her number for him. That's a blast from the past, isn't it? It is. That doesn't happen anymore.