Grief author’s young sons beg judge to jail mom for life for poisoning their dad’s Moscow Mule – as their chilling letters reveal the locked-door mystery from the night he died

Grieving young children’s author Kouri Richins pleaded with a judge to never release her from prison, expressing fears that their lives and those of her family members could be in danger after fatally poisoning their father with a Moscow Mule.

Richins’ three sons, now aged 13, 12 and nine, said in heartbreaking letters to Judge Richard Mzarik on the eve of their mother’s sentencing that they were afraid of the 35-year-old, who revealed chilling new details about the night he killed their father.

The youngest child, who was only five years old when he lost his father, said: ‘I would be very scared if he went out.’

‘When he is gone I will feel happy, I will feel safer and more comfortable and I will trust people more. ‘He took my father away from me.’

Richins killed her husband, Eric Richins, by giving him a Moscow Mule cocktail containing a lethal dose of fentanyl at the family home in Kamas, Utah.

For more than a year, the real estate agent played the grieving widow and starred in Are You With Me? He published a children’s book titled. and even appears on local television to promote it and share her seemingly heartbreaking story of dealing with grief with her sons.

But in May 2023, that image collapsed and Richins was arrested and charged with Eric’s murder.

At an explosive trial in March, jurors heard how the real estate agent was motivated by a desire to seize Eric’s $4 million estate and escape their marriage to start a new life with her handyman lover.

Kouri Richins listens to closing arguments in her husband Eric’s murder trial

It took the jury just three hours to return a guilty verdict on all five felony charges of aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder, two counts of insurance fraud and forgery.

Now, on Wednesday, on what would have been Eric’s 44th birthday, Richins returns to Summit County Court in Park City for sentencing.

He faces 25 years to life in prison without the possibility of parole on the most serious charge of aggravated murder.

In a sentencing memorandum filed Monday, Summit County Attorney Brad Bloodworth asked the judge to impose the maximum sentence, arguing that the mother of three should “never be hidden among the rest of us again.”

Bloodworth said the children shouldn’t have to worry about “someday running into him again,” and also cited documents from the Utah Division of Child and Family Services alleging that Richins physically and emotionally abused his eldest son following his father’s murder.

In their own words, Richins’ sons, who were just five, seven and nine years old when their mother killed their father, shared their desire for her to be sentenced to life imprisonment in heartbreaking statements in which they referred to Richins only as ‘Kouri’ and not as their mother.

“I won’t feel safe if Kouri is outside,” the couple’s middle child wrote.

‘With Kouri in prison, I will be able to continue to feel safe and live a happy and successful life without fearing that she will harm me or anyone I love.’

Eric and Kouri Richins’ three young sons wrote letters to the judge begging him to jail their mother for life

Kouri Richins poisoned Eric Richins with homemade Moscow Mule cocktail laced with fentanyl

The 12-year-old also revealed what really happened the night his father was murdered; He detailed his mother’s lies and showed how she implicated her children in the criminal case.

Richins had claimed to law enforcement that the then-seven-year-old boy was having nightmares, so he slept in his room on the night of March 3, 2022.

She claimed that when she returned to the couple’s bedroom in the early morning hours of March 4, she found Eric dead in his bed.

He used his middle child as an alibi with his lies, which meant the now 12-year-old could be called to testify at his trial.

However, the young boy explained that he would have a very different account of what happened, detailing the strange, unusual activities in the house that night.

He said his mother did not stay with him that night.

Instead, children were put to bed early without bathing; This was an unusual situation.

The boy, who was just three weeks away from turning eight at the time, said he tried to get into his parents’ bedroom but found the door locked and the television playing loudly inside.

Kouri Richins parties during ‘Celebration of Life’ one day after killing her husband

Shortly after Eric’s death, Kouri Richins asked, ‘Are you with me?’ He published a children’s book titled.

When he tried to use a broom to knock the door key on the ground from a high place to get in, his mother heard this and shouted at him from the bedroom door to leave.

Richins later came to his room but said he pretended to be asleep.

The youngest son, who was only five years old at the time, then tried to enter his parents’ room and found it also locked.

Due to his age, the little boy has very few memories of his mother and father, but he remembers wetting his pants that night out of fear.

The now nine-year-old said she felt ‘hatred and shame’ when she thought of Richins and would be ‘scared’ and ‘worried’ if Richins was released from prison.

These fears were also voiced by the couple’s eldest son, now 13.

‘I’m afraid that if he gets out he will come after me, my siblings, my whole family. “I think he’ll come and get us and not do good things like hurt us,” he said.

‘I miss my father, but I don’t miss my old life. I don’t miss Kouri, I’ll tell you that.’

Kouri Richins is seen in her mugshot after her arrest for the murder of her husband in May 2023

The boy, who was 9 years old at the time of the murder, described his father as a ‘good person’ who helped those in need.

Stating that he was abused by his mother after his father’s death, prosecutors said that the child now wears Eric’s clothes to school in his memory.

The children, who live in the care of one of Eric’s sisters, also talked about everything they miss about their father and will continue to miss without him in their lives.

The middle son said, ‘My father can no longer be my coach and cannot be in any of my matches.’

‘It won’t be on my birthdays. He can’t teach me how to drive. ‘It won’t be at my graduation.’

In the memo, prosecutors also asked the judge for a protective order banning Richins from contacting their son or other members of Eric’s family.

“Given the tremendous trauma and turmoil caused by defendants in their childhood, this Court must ensure that it does not harm their adulthood,” Bloodworth wrote.

Prosecutors did not seek the death penalty in the case, which featured extramarital affairs, financial troubles, family disputes, drug deals and a children’s book about grief. Life imprisonment without the possibility of parole is the maximum sentence.

During 13 days of emotional testimony, much of the trial depended on the state’s star witness, maid Carmen Lauber.

Lauber testified that he sold drugs to Richins four times around the time of Eric’s death, including supplying the fentanyl used to kill Eric.

Eric Richins’ sister Amy shed tears as the verdict was read in court in March

Richins faces life in prison for Eric’s murder. He also faces a separate trial on a number of financial charges.

The initial plot to fatally poison Eric was revealed on Valentine’s Day 2022, when Richins tied the laces of a sandwich she had bought for her husband from a local diner. Eric became ill and allegedly told friends that he was afraid his wife was trying to poison him.

Following this failed plot, Richins allegedly demanded stronger fentanyl and asked Lauber for ‘Michael Jackson’s stuff’.

Days later, Eric died.

Another key moment was when Richins’ boyfriend, Robert Josh Grossmann, took the stand and broke down in tears as he recounted the shocking conversation in which Richins asked how it felt to kill someone in the military just days after Eric’s death.

Richins’ explosive internet searches for “Utah women’s prison,” “how to delete cell phone data” and “what to say on a death certificate if someone is poisoned” were at the center of the case, as were the lovers’ text messages.

In closing arguments, prosecutors described Richins as a ‘black widow’ who was motivated by money and an affair and tried to kill her husband.

In addition to the sentence Richins received for Eric’s murder he also faces a separate trial on a number of financial charges.