Kouri Richins showed little emotion for much of the hearing, where the judge ruled she would not be eligible for pre-trial release as she awaits trial for allegedly murdering her husband, Eric Richins.
The Mormon mother who released a children’s book about grief in the wake of the death of the husband she is now accused of murdering appeared in court for the first time on Monday.
Kouri Richins showed little emotion for much of the hearing, where the judge ruled she would not be eligible for pre-trial release as she awaits trial for allegedly murdering her husband, Eric Richins.
This comes as the two hosts of "Good Morning Utah" tell Inside Edition about their interview with Kouri when she released her children's book a year after her husband's death.
"I thought she seemed a little cold. I didn't think there was a lot of warmth or a lot of feeling behind what she was saying," Deena Manzanares tells Jim Moret. "But at the time I thought, you know I don't know how people grieve, it's very personal."
Manzaneras and her co-host Surae Chinn also reveal that after the interview their received an anonymous email that read, in all capital letters, "You know she killed her husband."
"It is really chilling," says Manzanares. "You do feel like we've, you know, gotten fooled in some way and it is very chilling. We want to protect the integrity of our show so it is a lot to process emotionally and mentally."
Meanwhile, prosecutors provided new details about the case in a brief filed ahead of Monday's hearing, including Kouri's search history after her husband's death.
"The State’s analysis of the Defendant’s electronic devices is ongoing, but the State has discovered incriminating internet searches on an iPhone that was found in the Defendant’s dresser drawer on her side of the bed during the second search of her home on the day she was arrested," reads the brief. "Some of the internet searches the Defendant performed on her second iPhone include:
• “can you delete everythjng [sic] on an icloud account”
• “can you delete evertginv [sic] off an old iphind [sic] without actually having ut [sic]”
• “can you chance the password remotely of a lost cell phone”
• “can deleted text messages be retrieved from an iphone”
• “what information can cbtained [sic] from a cell phone”
• “women utah prison”
• “can cops.uncover deleted.messages iphone”
• “how to lock my.icloud”
• “how to erase a phone data permantely [sic] with emi [sic] number”
• “how to.permanently delete information from an iphone remotely”
• “can cops force you to do a lie detector test”
• “what are you allowed inside utah jails”
• “death certificate says pending, will life insurance still pay?”
• “luxury prisons for the rich in america”
• “if someone is poisned [sic] what does it go down on the death certificate as”
• “FBI anyalsis [sic] of electronics in an investigation”
• “can fbi find deleted messages”
• “Can the cause of death be changed on a death certificate”
Police said Kouri initially told officers she brought her husband a Moscow mule in bed to celebrate the fact that the couple had closed on the house on March 4, 2022, and then went to sleep with one of their three sons because he was having a "night terror," according to a warrant obtained by Inside Edition Digital.
She told police that when she returned to her bedroom, her husband was cold to the touch, according to the warrant.
The warrant says that investigators became suspicious when a search of her phone showed movement during the time Kouri claimed to be sleeping in her son's bed and revealed that text messages had been deleted from the device.
Investigators eventually determined that Eric's death had been caused by a fatal dose of fentanyl that was "ingested orally," according to the warrant.
The warrant alleges that Kouri had purchased fatal quantities of hydrocodone and fentanyl prior to her purchase of the fentanyl she allegedly used to spike his drink on the night of his death.
An acquaintance of Kouri told police that after she requested "some of that Michael Jackson stuff," he provided her with $900 worth of fentanyl twice in February 2022.
On Feb. 11, 2022, Kouri allegedly procured between 15 and 30 pills from the dealer, according to police.
"Three days later, on February 14, 2022, Eric and defendant had a Valentine’s Day dinner at their [Kamas, Utah] home," the warrant alleges. "Shortly after the dinner, Eric became very ill. Eric believed that he had been poisoned. Eric told a friend that he thought his wife was trying to poison him."
Kouri allegedly received the second batch on Feb. 26, 2022, according to the warrant. Eric died on March 4.
She later went on to write a children's book about grief, which included an illustration of her husband with angel wings on the cover.
Kouri is charged with aggravated murder and three counts of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance.
Her attorney Skye Lazaro denies Kouri poisoned her husband and said prosecutors have not provided any evidence to prove otherwise.
