Deputies found four white pills, a metal funnel, a cashier’s check and chemical testing equipment at the Richins’ Francis home, a recently unsealed warrant shows.
The revelations come days before Kouri Richins is due in court for a hearing where Third District Court Judge Richard Mrazik will decide if there’s enough evidence for her to stand trial.
Prosecutors charged Richins with aggravated murder in May 2023, alleging she poisoned her husband Eric Richins with five times the lethal dose of fentanyl in March 2022.
The Summit County Sheriff’s Office initially seized evidence from the house when she was arrested.
They returned with another warrant five months later after Eric Richins' family, which had control of the property, discovered a safe in the master bedroom closet.
The warrant also cites conversations between Richins and her mother, Lisa Darden, as cause to search the house again. On Oct. 24, 2023, Darden allegedly asked why the defense team couldn't let her in the house, and “Kouri could tell me exactly where it is I’m looking for.”
Kouri Richins is heard replying in agreement, the warrant states.
The sheriff’s deputies said the exchange could indicate Richins thought more evidence was in the house. Darden didn’t respond to requests for comment Monday afternoon.
The warrant does not list the type of pills found, just that they were white. In separate court filings, prosecutors say some of the fentanyl pills she allegedly purchased in February 2023 were light blue-green.
Previously, investigators found hydrocodone pills in the house and autopsy results found other medication prescribed to Richins in her husband’s system.
Two other newly public documents show investigators also seized two copper cups and two copper stirs the same week they searched the safe. Eric Richins' family had found them in a cupboard above the basement refrigerator.
Richins told first responders the night her husband died she’d made him a Moscow Mule, a cocktail commonly served in copper.
Prosecutors haven’t said that drink was spiked—only that Eric Richins orally ingested the fentanyl that killed him. So far investigators haven’t said publicly whether fentanyl was found anywhere in the home.
Kouri Richins' preliminary hearing begins at 9 a.m. Wednesday at the Silver Summit Justice Center. Her attorney did not respond to a request for comment Monday afternoon.
