SUMMIT COUNTY, Utah (Scripps News Salt Lake City) — There’s a new person allegedly involved in the case of Kouri Richins, a Utah woman accused in the overdose death of her husband.
But this witness won’t be called to the stand, as he died in a motorcycle accident just two months ago.
Kouri Richins, a Utah mother of three who wrote a children’s book about coping with grief after her husband’s death and was later accused of fatally poisoning him, looks on during a hearing Monday, Aug. 26, 2024, in Park City, Utah. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, Pool)
Kouri Richins is facing multiple charges including aggravated murder for allegedly poisoning her husband, Eric Richins. Eric’s autopsy showed fentanyl in his system at five times the lethal dose. The medical examiner said the fentanyl was illicit and not medical-grade, and it appeared that he ingested it orally. Prosecutors claim Eric was poisoned by a cocktail laced with a lethal dose of fentanyl.
The newly-revealed witness was William Hayden Jeffs, who worked as a handyman for Kouri on properties she owned. According to a search warrant, Jeffs was identified as someone with whom Kouri communicated around the time of Eric’s death. Investigators contacted Jeffs, and he told them that Kouri asked if he could get her fentanyl and propofol (an anesthetic) — just weeks before Eric’s death.
Police say Jeffs showed them text messages that corroborated this account, and he provided copies of the messages to investigators.
Jeffs died in a motorcycle accident on Sep. 30, according to his obituary. He was 35 years old.
According to the warrant filed earlier this month, Jeffs’ phone is in the custody of Heber City Police. The Summit County Sheriff’s Office asked to seize it for the Richins investigation. The documents did not state whether Jeffs provided her with any drugs, but other “acquaintances” were mentioned from whom she did allegedly purchase fentanyl.
Kouri’s trial is scheduled for four weeks next year, starting at the end of April. Her next pre-trial conference is Dec. 12.
This story was originally published by Scripps News Salt Lake City, an E.W. Scripps Company.
