New proof emerges in Kouri Richins case

Heber Metropolis Police have agreed handy over a cellphone belonging to a former worker of Kouri Richins who was allegedly requested to obtain medication for her within the weeks main as much as Eric Richins’ loss of life.

The witness, William Hayden Jeffs, labored as a handyman on a number of properties Kouri owned via her actual property enterprise, based on a search warrant signed on Nov. 6.

Summit County Sheriff’s Workplace detectives mentioned they interviewed Jeffs earlier this year, and he confirmed textual content messages allegedly corroborating his assertion that Kouri requested him to produce her with fentanyl and propofol. Jeffs offered copies of the texts to investigators, as the search warrant mentioned.

He’s the second worker the Kamas mom of three is accused of asking for medication earlier than her husband’s deadly overdose on March 4, 2022. Eric died after consuming 5 instances of the deadly dose of fentanyl, based on post-mortem outcomes.

Summit County prosecutors accused Kouri of poisoning her husband with a laced Moscow Mule and arrested her in May 2023. They allege Kouri bought illicit fentanyl from an acquaintance, who was a housekeeper she employed, a number of instances in early 2022.

Cellphone information present Kouri contacted the housekeeper a number of instances in January 2022. Nonetheless, the content material of the messages is unknown as a result of they have been deleted. The housekeeper instructed detectives Kouri referred to as or texted her asking for fentanyl, so she requested an acquaintance to introduce her to somebody who might promote her medication. The acquaintance gave the housekeeper a reputation and cellphone quantity, and a gathering was organized.

Court docket information states the housekeeper met the person at a gasoline station in Draper on Feb. 11, 2022, and bought between 15 and 30 drugs believed to be fentanyl.

“Three days later, on February 14, 2022, the defendant prepared a sandwich for Eric Richins and positioned it on the seat of his truck with a love notice. Shortly after consuming the sandwich, Eric Richins broke out in hives and had issues with respiration,” the search warrant mentioned.

Eric administered his son’s EpiPen and fell asleep. Prosecutors mentioned he believed he had been poisoned and instructed a buddy he thought he virtually died. Kouri allegedly requested her housekeeper to obtain something stronger in late February. Eric died lower than per week later.

The search warrant signed earlier this month doesn’t point out when Kouri might have contacted her handyman for fentanyl. Jeffs, 35, died in a motorcycle accident on Sept. 30. His cellphone was seized by the Heber Metropolis Police Division in a separate investigation. Officers launched it to the Summit County Legal Professional’s workplace after the warrant was served to help with the murder case.

A second search warrant was additionally signed on Nov. 6, granting legislation enforcement entry to the Richins’ Francis house. Investigators needed to gather “any and all paperwork, writings, or journals positioned on the Richins Household Dwelling property, together with in outbuildings, garages, and indifferent house places of work.”

Kouri is charged with 9 crimes, together with two first-degree felonies—aggravated homicide and tried felony murder—in addition to a number of second- and third-degree felony costs of mortgage fraud, making a false insurance coverage declaration, and forgery.

Third District Court docket Decide Richard Mrazik on Nov. 12 granted a request from prosecutors to drop two second-degree felony costs of distribution of a managed substance.

Kouri has been held within the Summit County Jail since her arrest. An aggravated homicide trial is ready for Might 2025. Mrazik denied her protection attorneys’ request to rethink bail throughout a Nov. 12 listening to.

The decision did rule to sever the 2 mortgage fraud and two felony forgery costs stemming from incidents in 2021, which means there can be a separate trial for the fraud allegations.

Kouri Richins and her household have maintained her innocence.

“With two costs dismissed and 4 others severed, the protection stands extra assured. The case in opposition to our consumer is quickly narrowing, exposing deeper weaknesses with every step,” protection legal professional Kathryn Nester mentioned in an announcement earlier this month.

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