Kouri Richins, convicted in her husband’s fentanyl death, offered chilling advice to her sons before receiving life without parole.
A Utah mother convicted in the fentanyl poisoning death of her husband offered her three sons a chilling piece of advice right before she was sentenced, telling them to “be like your dad.”
Kouri Richins, described as a children’s book author and a mother of three, made the remark in court as she faced sentencing for the killing of her husband. She was ultimately convicted of aggravated murder and received a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Richins’ comment was directed at her three sons, who were present as the case was heard in a Utah courtroom. The report stated that she told the boys, who she shares with her husband, “Be like your dad,” a line that immediately underscored the emotional weight of the proceedings.
During the same hearing, the boys’ paternal grandfather urged the judge to impose the strongest sentence available.. He told the court that Richins deserved life without parole so the grandsons would “never have to live with the fear” that the person responsible for taking their father could harm them again.
The case centers on her husband’s death in March 2022, when a jury found Richins guilty of aggravated murder. Prosecutors said she used a poisoned cocktail laced with fentanyl, which they described as a lethal dose—reported as five times what would be considered fatal.
The prosecution also pointed to additional conduct beyond the husband’s death. A Utah jury additionally found Richins guilty of attempted aggravated murder for an earlier attempt on Valentine’s Day in 2022, when she allegedly tried to kill her husband using a fentanyl-laced sandwich.
Alongside the criminal charges tied directly to the poisonings. the jury also found Richins guilty of insurance fraud and forgery connected to her husband’s life insurance policy.. Taken together. the findings portrayed a case in which investigators and prosecutors argued the harm to her husband was paired with attempts to benefit financially.
Prosecutors said Richins was planning to leave her husband for another man when she killed him. framing motive as tied to an upcoming relationship change.. That claim. delivered through the logic of the case presented in court. helped shape the narrative that the poisoning was not impulsive but deliberate.
Her sentencing has now placed her facing life imprisonment without parole. with the court hearing the voices of family members affected by the outcome.. In the wake of the ruling. the remark she made to her children has drawn renewed attention because it landed in the most fragile moment for the family—when a judge was determining how much time could ever separate her from the consequences of the crimes.
For many observers. what makes the moment particularly hard to reconcile is the sharp contrast between the courtroom’s seriousness—centered on fentanyl poisoning. an alleged earlier attempt. and related insurance crimes—and the instruction Richins gave to her sons.. The paternal grandfather’s plea. calling for a sentence that would prevent future fear. underscored the direction the family hoped the legal system would take.
In the end. the case rests on what the jury determined: that Richins killed her husband with a fentanyl-laced drink. also attempted to poison him before that death. and committed insurance-related crimes tied to his life insurance policy—then. in the sentencing moment. told her children to “be like your dad.”
Kouri Richins sentencing Utah murder case fentanyl poisoning life without parole children’s book author aggravated murder