Two Utah news anchors have said they feel ‘duped’ and ‘sickened’ after interviewing grief author Kouri Richins who is now accused of murdering her husband with fentanyl-tainted Moscow Mule.
Deena Manzanares and Surae Chinn, the hosts of KTVX’s ‘Good Things Utah’, also revealed the 33-year-old Utah mother-of-three had blamed Covid for his death during her ‘cold’ and ‘stumbling’ on-air conversation with the channel in March.
Mormon former real estate agent Richins has been held in Summit County Jail since she was arrested on May 8 and charged with criminal homicide, aggravated murder and three counts of possession of a controlled substance.
Prosecutors claim she killed her husband of nine years Eric Richins with a cocktail laced with poison on March 3, 2022, before publishing an illustrated children’s book about an angelic father watching over his sons.
The 39-year-old ranch farmer was found dead at the foot of his bed at their home in the town of Kamas, near Park City, on March 4 last year.
Mormon former real estate agent Richins, pictured with her late husband, has been held in Summit County Jail since her arrest on May 8 charged with criminal homicide, aggravated murder and three counts of possession of a controlled substance
Her illustrated children’s book about an angelic father watching over his sons, Are You With Me? was on sale for $14.99
Manzanares and Chinn told Fox News they felt disturbed by their interview with the grief author on April 4 last year in light of what has unfolded since.
‘I definitely feel like we were duped, in a sense,’ Chinn said. ‘I’m sickened now that she sat on our couch and talked about grieving.
‘We showed so much compassion and empathy for what seemingly looked like a mourning widow.’
Richins first approached Good Things Utah requesting to be a guest on the show in an email which Manzanares said was ‘all about the promotion of her children’s book’ – adding she ‘seemed ‘excited to get that 15 minutes of fame’.
Manzanares described Richins’ demeanor on set as ‘cold’ and ‘stumbling’ – but hosts put this down to her struggling with grief.
‘She was a little bit cold, she wasn’t super emotional, but we’re trained to show our guests in the best light, we were trying to be on their side, and I’m thinking, she’s probably numb, this has only happened a year ago,’ she said.
‘She was nervous, she was stumbling over her words, I thought it was nervous to be on live TV – but now I think she was nervous because she was lying.’
Manzanares added that when the camera stopped rolling, she asked Richins what she thought happened to her husband – whose cause of death was then ambiguous – and she replied: ‘Oh, we think it was Covid-related, he had a lung issue’.
Eric’s family told investigators shortly after he died they suspected Richins had killed the father-of-three. Pictured: Kouri and Eric Richins with their three children
The Mosow Mule ‘killer’ Kouri Richins who wrote a book for children about coping with grief after her husband’s death reportedly Googled ‘luxury prisons for the rich’ after his murder
Kouri Richins, the mother-of-three accused of poisoning her husband in Utah, appeared calm as she listened to the arguments for and against bail
Shortly after the interview aired, the show received messages warning them that Richins was ‘not everything she appears to be’, with an anonymous email telling them: ‘You know she killed her husband?’
The hosts said they thought the warning was ‘bizarre’ and they ‘didn’t think anything of it’ because they are accustomed to receiving the ‘occasional crazy email’.
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‘I never in a million years would have thought this was all coming over the next months,’ Manzanares said. ‘It’s truly shocking.’
Richins, who has three sons – Carter, 9, Ashton, 7, and Weston, 5 – allegedly killed her husband of nine years on March 3 last year, and was promoting her $14.99 grief book, Are You With Me? the month before her arrest on May 8 this year.
Police believe she gave Eric, who was a ranch farmer, a lethal dose of fentanyl disguised in a Moscow Mule – a cocktail comprising vodka, ginger beer and lime juice.
According to a search warrant, Kouri procured the drugs by texting a friend asking for ‘the Michael Jackson’ stuff in an apparent reference to fentanyl, claiming they were for a real estate investor who had a back injury.
Jackson was killed in 2009 by a cocktail of prescription drugs like OxyContin and Demerol.
Prosecutors have said that in the months before, Richins tried to make herself the sole beneficiary of her husband’s life insurance policy.
But Eric had changed his will and power of attorney to give his sister, Katie Richins-Benson, 38, full control, because according to a police warrant he had been worried his wife might ‘kill him for money’.
In May, the DailyMail.com exclusively revealed that Kouri launched a legal dispute against his family within weeks of his death to secure an estate valued in excess of $3.6 million.
She claimed that Eric had tried to ‘defraud’ her by secretly transferring the family home, all personal property and interest in the masonry business he ran with friend and partner, Cody Wright, into a Trust owned by his sister in November 2020.
Richins also took out multiple life insurance policies on him worth close to $2 million, and attempted to ‘drill into his safe’ just 48 hours after he died, his family has said.
Deena Manzanares and Surae Chinn, the hosts of KTVX’s ‘Good Things Utah’, spoke with Richins about her book on the show on April 4 last year – before she became the main suspect in her husband’s murder trial
A medical examiner said they found five times the lethal dose of fentanyl – a painkiller 100 times stronger than morphine – in Eric’s system after he died on March 4 last year. Pictured: Richins and Eric with one of their sons
Prosecutors say Eric found out that his wife had taken out a $250,000 home equity line of credit and spent it in the months leading up to his death
Richins and her husband had been arguing about her plans to purchase and flip a 10-acre $2 million home, pictured here, in the days before he was found dead
She also allegedly attempted to poison him on several other occasions – including in February 2022 when Eric broke out in hives after consuming a sandwich which Richins had placed on the seat of his truck alongside a love note on Valentine’s Day.
In the days before Eric died, the couple had also been arguing about Richins’ plans to purchase and flip a $2 million home in the days before, according to court documents.
On March 4 – the day before the alleged murder – Kouri signed the closing papers on the 10-acre property and invited her friends over for a party at her house where she was drinking and celebrating, affidavits for search warrants show.
This week, Richins broke down in tears in court as she claimed that prosecutors had no evidence against her.
Third District Judge Richard Mrazik ruled that she posed a ‘substantial danger’ after prosecutors called a series of witnesses arguing that she had committed a ‘disturbingly calculated’ murder.
