The Case Against Kouri Richins

The defense in the Kouri Richins trial built a theory that the fentanyl in Eric Richins' system may have come from someone or somewhere other than Kouri. But piece by piece, that theory has taken hits in the courtroom — the judge blocked their drug evidence, the toxicology pointed to illicit street fentanyl, and the person who knew Eric best said the drug user the defense described wasn't the man...

The Kouri Richins trial has put evidence on the table for weeks. This series puts the behavior under a microscope — and brings in two of the sharpest analytical minds working in behavioral science today to examine what that evidence actually describes about who Kouri Richins allegedly is, how she allegedly operated, and what she left behind. Tony Brueski sits down with psychotherapist Shavaun Scot...

The Kouri Richins case doesn't begin with Eric's death. It begins much earlier — in a history that, when laid next to the alleged behavior on trial, starts to look like a roadmap. And it doesn't end with a verdict. It continues with five children who are now living inside consequences they had no part in creating. In Part 3 of this three-part psychological panel series, Tony Brueski sits down with...

Detective Jeff O' Driscoll, Summit Co. Sheriff's Dept., takes the stand in the Kouri Richins Trial.  Complete coverage of the State of Utah v. Kouri Richins. She's accused of murdering her husband Eric Richins by poisoning him with fentanyl in their Kamas, Utah home in March 2022. The prosecution alleges Kouri researched untraceable poisons, secretly increased Eric's life insurance to $1.9 million...

If you want to understand the Kouri Richins case, you need to understand this letter. And understanding it means actually going through it — not just the headlines, not just the highlights, but every page and what it means. That's what this episode is. Tony Brueski takes the full Walk the Dog letter — six handwritten pages, written from jail, titled by Kouri Richins as its own destruction instruct...

Day 12 brought the moment Kouri Richins trial watchers have been waiting for. Lead detective Jeff O'Driscoll took the stand as the prosecution's final witness and read aloud the six-page "Walk the Dog" letter — found hidden inside a book in Richins' jail cell in September 2023, addressed to her mother, and never delivered to anyone. Prosecutors say the letter is a coordination document. It directs...

From the moment Eric Richins' family walked through that door the night he died, something felt wrong. They couldn't prove it. They had no legal standing. They just knew. And then they spent years and six figures trying to make the world believe them. In Part 2 of this three-part psychological panel series, Tony Brueski sits down with psychotherapist Shavaun Scott and retired FBI Behavioral Analys...

The testimony coming out of the Kouri Richins trial doesn't just build a murder case — it builds a behavioral profile. A boyfriend who did the labor and took the stand against her. A lifelong best friend who lost her entire life savings. Friends who wired money into deals that collapsed. A housekeeper drawn into a drug supply chain. According to prosecutors, every relationship allegedly served a p...

Jeff O'Driscoll, Summit County Detective, takes the stand in the Kouri Richins Trial.  Complete coverage of the State of Utah v. Kouri Richins. She's accused of murdering her husband Eric Richins by poisoning him with fentanyl in their Kamas, Utah home in March 2022. The prosecution alleges Kouri researched untraceable poisons, secretly increased Eric's life insurance to $1.9 million, and laced a...

Jeff O'Driscoll, Summit County Detective, takes the stand in the Kouri Richins Trial.  Complete coverage of the State of Utah v. Kouri Richins. She's accused of murdering her husband Eric Richins by poisoning him with fentanyl in their Kamas, Utah home in March 2022. The prosecution alleges Kouri researched untraceable poisons, secretly increased Eric's life insurance to $1.9 million, and laced a...

The Kouri Richins murder trial has generated wall-to-wall coverage. This panel discussion with Bob Motta and Robin Dreeke goes somewhere most of that coverage hasn't. As the Kouri Richins trial captures continual public attention, this panel with Bob Motta and Robin Dreeke offers a comprehensive look at the evidence, strategy, and psychology driving the case. They examine how the defense’s recent...

Carmen Lauber, Richins' Former Housekeeper, takes the stand in the Kouri Richins Trial.  Complete coverage of the State of Utah v. Kouri Richins. She's accused of murdering her husband Eric Richins by poisoning him with fentanyl in their Kamas, Utah home in March 2022. The prosecution alleges Kouri researched untraceable poisons, secretly increased Eric's life insurance to $1.9 million, and laced...

The Kouri Richins murder trial raises questions that extend far beyond what happens in that Summit County courtroom. This panel segment with Bob Motta and Robin Dreeke is built around those questions. Eric Richins reportedly knew something was wrong. His friends and family were concerned. His sister hired a private investigator. He had quietly consulted a divorce attorney. The warning signs were t...

Ten days of testimony. Dozens of witnesses. And a trial record that now names — specifically, with dollar amounts and text messages and hours logged — every person prosecutors say was allegedly used, drained, or left exposed by Kouri Richins. This episode is the complete picture: Eric secretly routing divorce attorney communications through his brother-in-law. A forged signature on a $2 million li...

Of everything presented in the Kouri Richins murder trial, what is the jury actually going to be thinking about when that deliberation room door closes? This panel discussion with Bob Motta and Robin Dreeke goes straight at that question. The retreat journal Kouri wrote in third person describing her marriage, her childhood, and the life she said she was trapped in. The text message to Josh Grossm...

The Kouri Richins trial is at a turning point. The prosecution has nearly finished presenting its case. The defense is preparing to respond. And the moves they've already made — two mistrial motions, a fight to get the full retreat journal before the jury, objections to how recorded calls were introduced — are telling a story before they've called a single witness. This panel discussion with Bob M...

Eric Richins suspected his wife had tried to poison him after Valentine's Day. He told friends. His sister hired a private investigator. He'd already consulted a divorce attorney. He knew. And he still ended up dead. That is the question at the center of this case — and it's the one that deserves the most unflinching examination. This listener Q&A is dedicated to Eric, to the warning signs tha...

Before law enforcement had finished connecting the dots in Eric Richins' death, a private investigator hired by Eric's family had already pulled the phone records, identified the key suspect, placed GPS trackers on Kouri's vehicles, and begun building the evidentiary foundation that would eventually land this case in front of a jury. Todd Gabler testified as the prosecution's final civilian witnes...

Todd Gabler, Private Investigator, takes the stand in the Kouri Richins Trial.  Complete coverage of the State of Utah v. Kouri Richins. She's accused of murdering her husband Eric Richins by poisoning him with fentanyl in their Kamas, Utah home in March 2022. The prosecution alleges Kouri researched untraceable poisons, secretly increased Eric's life insurance to $1.9 million, and laced a Moscow...

Jamye Woody, Police Detective, takes the stand in the Kouri Richins Trial.  Complete coverage of the State of Utah v. Kouri Richins. She's accused of murdering her husband Eric Richins by poisoning him with fentanyl in their Kamas, Utah home in March 2022. The prosecution alleges Kouri researched untraceable poisons, secretly increased Eric's life insurance to $1.9 million, and laced a Moscow Mule...

Matthew Throckmorton, handwriting expert, takes the stand in the Kouri Richins Trial.  Complete coverage of the State of Utah v. Kouri Richins. She's accused of murdering her husband Eric Richins by poisoning him with fentanyl in their Kamas, Utah home in March 2022. The prosecution alleges Kouri researched untraceable poisons, secretly increased Eric's life insurance to $1.9 million, and laced a...

He survived the biggest missing persons response in recent Arizona history. He has watched the press conferences. He saw the reward announcement. He knows there is a million dollars on the table, and he knows his image has been seen across the country. He is not doing nothing. This episode is about the part of the investigation that doesn't get a press conference: what a perpetrator does behaviora...

Cody Wright, Eric's former business partner, takes the stand in the Kouri Richins Trial.  Complete coverage of the State of Utah v. Kouri Richins. She's accused of murdering her husband Eric Richins by poisoning him with fentanyl in their Kamas, Utah home in March 2022. The prosecution alleges Kouri researched untraceable poisons, secretly increased Eric's life insurance to $1.9 million, and laced...

Two weeks into the Kouri Richins murder trial, the prosecution has presented a case that keeps coming back to the same place: Eric Richins knew. He warned his family she was trying to kill him. He hid his legal consultations from her. He was scared — and three weeks after prosecutors say she tried to poison him on Valentine's Day, he was found dead with five times the lethal dose of fentanyl in hi...

The prosecution's motive case is built in bank statements. Forensic accountant Brooke Karrington laid it out for the jury: by March 2022, Kouri Richins carried $7.5 million in debt. She was hemorrhaging $80,000 monthly in payments. Four payday lenders collected $2,100 from her every single day. Her business account was described under oath as "perpetually in the hole." In December 2021 alone, her...