Unsealed search warrants indicate the Summit County Sheriff’s Office began investigating Kouri Richins’ mother Lisa Darden as early as May 8, 2023, when Kouri was arrested for the murder of her husband Eric.
Court documents show investigators allege Kouri poisoned Eric with a lethal dose of fentanyl. They later learned Darden’s romantic and business partner died of an opioid overdose under similar circumstances years earlier, according to a warrant.
Gertrude “Trudy” Moore overdosed on oxycodone in 2006 at the age of 49. Darden and Moore lived together and operated Mountain Crest Personal Cleaning.
A search warrant states Darden “had been named as the beneficiary of her partner’s estate a short time before her death.” Investigators said Kouri tried to make herself the beneficiary of an existing life insurance policy and took out new policies on Eric’s life before he died.
One difference is that Moore was prescribed oxycodone. Eric wasn’t prescribed fentanyl, and Utah’s medical examiner found that the fentanyl that killed him was illicit.
Moore also “reportedly struggled with abusing her meds,” according to the warrant. But it states she was not in a state of recovery from addiction when she died.
That cast suspicion on Darden, who was at Kouri and Eric’s house March 4, 2022, the night Eric died.
When Summit County deputies arrested Kouri, they also searched Darden’s home and truck. Investigators have obtained a warrant for doorbell camera footage from the night Eric died.
“There have been reports of other people coming to the home the night of the death that were not reported by Kouri or her mother,” one search warrant states.
Investigators also wanted to see when Darden left the Richins home around the time of Eric’s death.
Darden did not respond to multiple requests for comment in time for this report. She has not been charged in connection with the alleged murder.
Darden has previously said her daughter is innocent of murder, including during an interview with CBS’s “48 Hours.”