Utah
Mom of Utah author accused of poisoning husband possibly 'involved in planning' his death, police say
FIRST ON FOX — To an outsider, Kouri and Eric Richins had it all: nine years of marriage, three sons, successful careers and a decent-sized roof over their heads in Kamas, Utah.
But after Eric, who owned a successful masonry business, died unexpectedly of fentanyl poisoning at age 39 in their home on March 3, 2022, Summit County authorities and prosecutors began to uncover a darker image of the seemingly perfect family.
Authorities in 2023 charged Kouri, now 35, with aggravated murder and drug possession, alleging she poisoned Eric with the illicit drug as a means to collect millions in life insurance funds.
The same night Eric died, authorities say he, Kouri and her mother, Lisa Darden, were celebrating Kouri’s recent closure on a $2 million mansion under construction in Wasatch County. The then-33-year-old, who owned a real estate company, wanted to finish building the mansion and sell it for a profit, a warrant states.
UTAH MAN ALLEGEDLY MURDERED BY AUTHOR WIFE TOOK ‘HIGHLY UNUSUAL’ STEPS TO BOOT HER OUT OF WILL
An obituary for Eric Richins describes him as an “avid outdoorsman and dedicated hunter.” He enjoyed helping his family’s cattle ranch and growing his “successful” masonry business. The obituary also describes him as a dedicated family man. (Facebook/Kouri Richins)
After her husband’s death, Kouri went on to write and sell a children’s book about a father’s death titled, “Are You With Me?”
Now, a recently unsealed search warrant reveals what could be an even darker picture of the family.
UTAH MOM KOURI RICHINS GOOGLED ‘LUXURY PRISONS FOR THE RICH’ AFTER ALLEGEDLY KILLING HER HUSBAND: DOCS
In May 2023, a Summit County Sheriff’s Office detective submitted a search warrant affidavit expressing his belief that Darden may have been “involved in planning and orchestrating Eric’s death,” based on her own connection to a suspicious death in 2006.
Kouri Richins, a Utah mother of three who authorities say fatally poisoned her husband, Eric Richins, and then wrote a children’s book about grieving, looks on during a status hearing on Sept. 1, 2023, in Park City, Utah. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer/Pool)
“In investigating Kouri Richins’ associates, it was discovered that in 2006, Richins’ mother, Lisa Darden was living with an adult female with whom she was having a romantic relationship. In April of that year, her romantic partner died unexpectedly,” the Summit County detective wrote in the affidavit for a search warrant obtained by Fox News Digital.
An autopsy revealed that Darden’s partner’s “immediate cause of death was a drug poisoning from an overdose of oxycodone.”
UTAH AUTHOR ACCUSED OF MURDERING HUSBAND ALLEGEDLY CAUGHT TRYING TO STEAL HIS LIFE INSURANCE BENEFITS
Charges filed against Kouri Richins are based on officers’ interactions with Richins and an unnamed acquaintance who apparently told authorities that she sold fentanyl to the mother of three. (Facebook/Kouri Richins)
“Further investigation showed that Lisa Darden had been named as the beneficiary of her partner’s estate a short time before her death,” the detective continued. “The female did have current prescriptions for oxycodone and reportedly struggled with abusing her meds. She, however, was not in a state of recovery from addiction at the time of her death. Based on my training and experience, this would likely rule out the possibility of an accidental overdose.”
“This would likely rule out the possibility of an accidental overdose.”
The detective further stated that based on Darden’s “proximity to her partner’s suspicious overdose death,” as well as her close relationship with her daughter, “it is possible she was involved in planning and orchestrating Eric’s death.”
READ THE AFFIDAVIT
Skye Lazaro, the attorney representing Kouri Richins, denied the detective’s suggestion, saying Darden’s partner was a victim of the national opioid crisis, which killed 112,000 Americans between May 2022 and May 2023, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
“Summit County is well aware that opioid addiction and fentanyl overdose is a rampant problem throughout the country. According to the CDC, 150 people die every day from overdoses related to synthetic opioids like fentanyl,” Lazaro said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
UTAH CHILDREN’S BOOK AUTHOR HAD ‘PERFECT’ MARRIAGE WITH HUSBAND BEFORE ALLEGED MURDER: FRIEND
Lazaro continued: “Not only was Summit County the first Utah county to file a lawsuit against ‘Big Pharma’ Opioid Manufacturers and Distributors, in 2022 Park City Police, the Summit County Sheriff, Summit County Attorney and Park City School District issued a joint statement to its citizens warning they’re finding an increasing amount of fentanyl, a drug fueling a surge in accidental overdoses nationwide.”
Kouri Richins, left, a Utah mother of three who authorities say fatally poisoned her husband, Eric Richins, then wrote a children’s book about grieving, speaks with her attorney Skye Lazaro during a status hearing Friday, Sept. 1, 2023, in Park City, Utah. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, Pool)
Darden’s partner, Lazaro said, “was one of the millions that suffered from, and ultimately succumbed to, opioid addiction,” which “is hardly ‘suspicious.’”
“It is tragic, and unfortunately, quite common,” the attorney said.
In a November 2023 interview with ABC’s “Good Morning America,” Darden insisted upon her daughter’s innocence.
“I do not believe in my heart Kouri could ever … kill Eric, but kill anything or anyone,” Darden said, adding later that Kouri and Eric were “a couple, they were very much in love” and “very happy.”
Kouri Richins is shown during her bail hearing on June 12, 2023, in Park City, Utah. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer/Pool)
But court documents suggest otherwise.
Prosecutors allege Kouri purchased four different life insurance policies on Eric’s life totaling more than $1.9 million between 2015 and 2017.
UTAH CHILDREN’S BOOK AUTHOR ACCUSED OF MURDERING HUSBAND TOOK OUT $2M IN LIFE INSURANCE PRIOR TO HIS DEATH
Eric Richins’ estate-planning attorney, Kristal Bowman-Carter, said he “made and requested several unusual to highly unusual choices and provisions to his estate plan” prior to his sudden death, including the decision to take Kouri off his will and made his sister and father the beneficiaries instead, court documents state.
Kouri Richins, left, a Utah mother of three who authorities say fatally poisoned her husband, Eric Richins, sits with her attorney, Skye Lazaro, during a status hearing on Sept. 1, 2023, in Park City, Utah. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer/Pool)
His family told authorities he had been in fear for his life after Kouri allegedly tried to poison him several years ago in Greece and again on Valentine’s Day in 2022.
Bowman-Carter said Eric approached her in 2020 to discuss his estate planning.
UTAH CHILDREN’S AUTHOR SUES HUSBAND’S ESTATE AFTER ALLEGEDLY POISONING HIM
“At our meeting, he told me he had two primary goals. His first goal was to protect him in the short-term from fairly recently discovered and ongoing abuse and misuse of his finances by his wife Kouri Richins. … His second was to protect the three young sons he and Kouri had together in the long-term by ensuring that Kouri would never be in a position to manage his property after his death,” Bowman-Carter wrote.
Utah author Kouri Richins allegedly tried to steal her husband’s life insurance benefits before his death in March 2022. (KPCW via AP/family handout)
Eric believed that designating someone other than his wife “to manage his property after his death would protect his sons from Kouri’s poor financial choices and decisions,” she added.
Eric also made clear that, while he wanted his children to be the primary beneficiaries of his estate, Kouri should only “benefit from the minimum amount he was required to leave her and that she could not control either” her share or her children’s share of Eric’s estate. He went on to choose his sister and father as his successor trustees, his lawyer wrote.
On Jan. 1, 2022, months before Eric’s death, Kouri “surreptitiously and without authorization changed the beneficiary for his $2 million life insurance policy to herself,” the document states. Eric received a notification about the change and switched the beneficiary back to his business partner.
Utah children’s book author Kouri Richins had a contentious relationship with her husband wrought with financial disagreements before she allegedly killed him with fentanyl. (TownLift, Will Scadden/Facebook)
Three months later, Kouri allegedly spiked her husband’s Moscow Mule with fentanyl, an opioid that is lethal in small doses, while they were celebrating Kouri’s purchase of the $2 million Wasatch County mansion, which had apparently been a subject of disagreement for the couple. The next day, Kouri allegedly closed a deal on the mansion “alone” after her husband was pronounced dead.
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Skye Lazaro, Kouri’s defense attorney in the murder case, said during a bail hearing last summer that making poor financial decisions does not make her client a murderer, according to KUTV.
Kouri Richins looks on during a bail hearing on June 12, 2023, in Park City, Utah. A judge ruled to keep her in custody for the duration of her trial. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer/Pool)
When authorities contacted Bowman-Carter asking her to explain the details of Eric’s will to Kouri, the lawyer said the defendant “became extremely upset” and started yelling, according to court documents.
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“Kouri shouted, ‘What’s wrong with you people?’ and ‘How could you do this to me?’ and ‘This is my house,’” Bowman-Carter said. “I explained to her that the Trust owned the house and told her, ‘This is not your house.’”
The Summit County Sheriff’s Office referred Fox News Digital to the Summit County Attorney’s Office. The attorney’s office declined to comment on the affidavit.
Fox News Digital reached out to Darden and Greg Skordas, an attorney representing Eric Richins’ family.
Utah
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(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Jazz fans celebrate as the Utah Jazz pick Darryn Peterson in the 2026 NBA Draft during a watch party at The Shops at South Town in Sandy, on Tuesday, June 23, 2026.
Utah
Utah mother charged with international kidnapping claims she was saving kids from ‘end of times’
SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah mother, who believed she was saving her kids from “the end of times,” is facing federal kidnapping charges after she fled to Croatia with her four children.
Elleshia Anne Seymour, 35, of West Jordan, is accused of traveling to Europe with her four children without court approval or permission from the fathers of the children. On Jan. 28, she was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of international parental kidnapping and passport fraud. She made her initial federal court appearance Monday.
West Jordan police started urgently searching for the four kids in December after Kendall Seymour — father to the three oldest children — realized something was wrong when they didn’t show up to daycare. He had last seen the children a week prior when he dropped them off at school the week of Thanksgiving, which was the start of the mother’s scheduled custody time.
“Seymour did not notify the father of her intent to travel internationally with the children as required by the custody order,” federal prosecutors said.
The father told police he believed Seymour may have taken the children out of the country and forged his signature on the passport applications because he found passport-related envelopes in the trash at her apartment and other evidence that indicated she had left the country.
Elleshia Seymour was charged in 3rd District Court on Dec. 16 with four counts of custodial interference, a third-degree felony. A warrant was issued for her arrest as, according to charging documents, she “recently discussed obtaining passports and leaving the country, expressing concerns about biblical events and the ‘end of times’” with her ex-boyfriend.
Investigators located surveillance footage at the Salt Lake airport showing Seymour and the kids boarding a one-way flight to Croatia with a layover in Amsterdam. In a voicemail to her other ex-husband — the father of the youngest child — she claimed she was in France looking for a permanent residence.
“Seymour reminded him she had to get the children out of the country because the ‘end time is coming.’ Seymour allegedly told her ex-husband and father of the fourth child she wanted him to join them and asked him not to let the three children’s father know where she was,” federal prosecutors said.
Kendall Seymour said he was initially unaware of any of these beliefs and was concerned “she’s not in the right mind.” While there were no signs of the “doomsday” beliefs when they were married, he found a TikTok account where she was posting increasingly extreme religious messages.
With posts titled “Urgent Word,” “Brace Yourself,” “Zombies,” and “US Decimated,” she spoke of darkness consuming America, urged followers to “get provisions,” and warned that Salt Lake City would soon be destroyed. Police said witnesses they spoke to indicated Seymour had “previously suffered from emotional breakdowns and hallucinations.”
On Jan. 16, Seymour was arrested by Croatian authorities. The children were found in a state-run Croatian orphanage.
“It sounds like she met this other American citizen in Croatia under the pretense that she was bringing the kids here legally,” Kendall Seymour said. Once the American citizen living in Croatia heard the news about the children, the police were called, and their mother was taken into custody by Croatian authorities, the father said.
He was then contacted by Croatian police, who were holding the kids in a children’s home in the country. Croatian police at first would not release his children until documentation from the U.S. had been checked and rechecked. He stayed in the country for eight days trying to get them released.
On Feb. 1, he announced on a GoFundMe* that he and the four children were on their way home.
Seymour was extradited to Utah from Croatia on June 12 and was booked into the Davis County Jail. She has a detention hearing scheduled next week in federal court and an initial appearance for the state charges on July 13.
“The safe return of the children remains our highest priority. We are deeply grateful to our federal and international partners for their tireless efforts in bringing about this successful outcome,” said U.S. Attorney Melissa Holyoak for the District of Utah. “Our work is not finished — we will continue to pursue justice in the case against Seymour.”
*KSL.com does not assure that the money deposited to the account will be applied for the benefit of the persons named as beneficiaries. If you are considering a deposit to the account, you should consult your own advisers and otherwise proceed at your own risk.
The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.
The Utah Jazz are just hours away from the 2026 NBA Draft to determine who will be their franchise’s next cornerstone piece to add into their exciting core with their second-overall pick on the board.
And in the lead-up to the Jazz’s selection, there’s been tons of buzz surrounding who will be the one landing at that No. 2 slot. Between AJ Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson, and Cameron Boozer, each has seen various connections to Utah as being the guy they’ll end up with.
However, as we continue to get closer to when the Jazz are on the clock, we’re starting to get some clearer intel on who their selection ultimately might be. And in reality, it might just be a two-man race, rather than three.
Darryn Peterson Remains in the Driver’s Seat at No. 2
ESPN‘s Jeremy Woo recently released his final 2026 mock sorting out how each of the draft’s 60 picks are going to go. When it came to the Jazz, the pick would be none other than Kansas guard Darryn Peterson; someone that Utah has reportedly shown “strong interest” in leading up to the draft.
If Peterson ends up going first to the Washington Wizards, though, AJ Dybantsa seems like the most likely outcome for the Jazz at two.
“Sources say the Jazz have shown strong interest in Peterson throughout the process, and the expectation from rival teams has been that Utah will pick whichever of Peterson or Dybantsa falls to them,” Woo wrote.
“Peterson’s initial decision to only visit Washington was more reflective of his confidence in his security as a top pick and desire to hear his name called first.”
Despite the noise that had surrounding Peterson, his canceled workout, and any possible disinterest in landing with Utah, that buzz has since been shut down in the days leading up to Tuesday night’s first round.
Not only did Peterson confirm he has met with the Jazz before coming to New York following his canceled draft workout, but he also made it clear at Monday’s media day that he’s not dodging any team that’s willing to select him.
That, of course, would include the Jazz. So no worries on that front.
But even if Peterson does end up going ahead of the Jazz’s slot in what would be a surprise pickup for the Wizards at the first pick, Utah’s decision looks like it could be a relatively simple one. BYU’s AJ Dybantsa would be sitting up for grabs, and would be an ideal fit on the wing to Utah’s two-guard spot for the future.
So if Woo’s intel is a sign of anything, it seems like, even with the appeal that might be had in Duke’s Cameron Boozer as a potential option at number two, he’s looking more and more like the odd man out when it comes to being the guy for Utah.
Both Peterson and Dybantsa have a projected ceiling that tops what Boozer brings to the table, and fits better with this current Jazz core as their future two-guard. In a draft where all three prospects are seen as franchise-changing talents, those factors might just be what’s narrowly separated the top two as the targets to watch for Utah.
All of the chatter that’s ensued before the draft surrounding who the Jazz are going to take with their highest pick on the board in over 40 years will officially come to an end Tuesday night. But with the time quickly approaching before that decision becomes final, the writing might be on the wall for who they’ll be landing on.
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