Kouri Richins faces a total of nine felony counts, including aggravated murder, attempted murder and financial crimes in connection with her husband Eric Richins’ March 2022 overdose death.
Summit County investigators believe Richins used illicit fentanyl she obtained from a woman she employed as a housekeeper. Now, a newly unsealed search warrant says she may have asked another employee for drugs too.
The warrant claims 35-year-old William Hayden Jeffs, Richins’ former handyman, showed investigators text messages from his phone that detail Richins’ request for fentanyl.
Jeffs died in a motorcycle accident in September. But the Heber City Police Department had his phone, which they obtained during a separate investigation. The Summit County Sheriff’s Office served Heber police with a warrant to secure the phone.
Before his death, Jeffs was charged with multiple felonies, including possession of the drugs DMT and ketamine, but not fentanyl. The case was dismissed following his death.
Investigators allege Richins asked Jeffs for fentanyl and propofol.
But even if had given Richins fentanyl, prosecutors do not believe she used it to kill her husband.
They claim the lethal amounts of fentanyl came from 53-year-old Carmen Lauber, who cleaned houses for Richins’ real estate business. Lauber, who is on probation for drug charges herself, may be called to testify at the murder trial, which is scheduled for May 2025.
Richins has pleaded not guilty to all charges, and if convicted of murder, could spend the rest of her life in prison.
Jury selection has been expanded to include residents of Salt Lake County, not just Summit County, for the murder trial. However, per a Nov. 26 order from the 3rd District Court’s Presiding Judge Laura Scott, jury selection will occur via video conferencing, not in person.
Summit County prosecutors and Richins’ defense team had sought to question prospective jurors in person so they could gauge their response to the intense media attention surrounding the case.
