Kouri Richins, the woman accused of murdering her husband shortly before authoring a children’s book about grief, has found herself grappling with another charge of attempted murder ahead of her preliminary hearing on May 15.
This charge will add to Richins’ lengthy arrest warrant, which includes one count of criminal homicide and three counts of possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute.
The disgraced children’s author allegedly attempted to murder her husband weeks before she called 911 to report him unresponsive. The charge claims that Richins made her husband a Valentine’s Day sandwich laced with fentanyl. According to texts recovered from her phone, Richins’ husband stated that he felt ill and may need to visit the hospital, to which she responded that he should take a nap first.
The aforementioned charges from the defendant’s arrest warrant state that the couple were enjoying a house party on March 3, 2024, to celebrate her closing on a house in her real estate business. During the party, Richins made her husband a Moscow mule.
The defendant told police that she slept in one of her son’s beds because he had a nightmare. When she checked on her husband at 3 a.m., he was cold to the touch.
The warrant went on to state that inconsistencies were found in Richins’ story, such as her phone recording movement and deleted text messages during the time she claimed to be asleep.
The toxicology report conducted on Mr. Richins found that five times the lethal dose of illicit fentanyl was found in his system. After obtaining the defendant’s devices through a search warrant, an acquaintance of Mrs. Richins was found and interviewed. This individual told police that they provided the defendant with fentanyl for what they believed was back pain.
Not long after Mr. Richins’ death, Mrs. Richins authored “Are You with Me?”, a children’s book featuring what seems to be her husband as an angel in heaven. This book caught the attention of several news organizations, which were later forced to either issue retractions or editor’s notes detailing Richins’ alleged crime.
Dr. Lori Furbush, a senior lecturer of psychological science at the University of North Georgia, was “sure many parents who have read this book to their children feel hurt, angry, and betrayed.” Furbush clarified that while she was not a clinical psychologist and left the diagnosing to other doctors, she was able to speak about Richins’ case in hypothetical terms.
Furbush stated that she imagined a clinical psychologist or psychiatrist might view Richins as a case of antisocial personality disorder. This disorder is defined by Mayo Clinic as a condition in which the subject feels no regard for the concepts of right and wrong or others’ feelings.
“Antisocial personality disorder is only one possibility,” Furbush explained, “and it would take an expert in psychopathology to diagnose that. There would have to be signs and symptoms of that disorder from earlier in her life to support the diagnosis.”
The professor added that parents who have read Richins’ book to their children will have plenty to grapple with while the case develops.
