Eric Richins was planning on telling Kouri Richins that he didn’t want to sign the closing papers for the property, records state.
After Eric’s death on March 4, 2022, Kouri told police that the night prior, the two of them had been celebrating her closing on a house for her business, the affidavit states. Kouri had made her husband a Moscow mule, which he drank in bed. She went to sleep shortly after, and awoke around 3 a.m. to find Eric cold to the touch, she told police.
In 2021, Eric Richins had secretly changed his will and power of attorney from his wife to his sister Katie Richins-Benson, according to another search warrant affidavit. According to his sisters Benson and Amy Richins, Eric had told them he was worried that “Kouri would kill him for money and he wanted to make sure the kids were taken care of financially,” the document states.
Eric had wanted a divorce, according to the affidavit. Following his death, a probate dispute over his estate, as well as a separate dispute over his trust, ignited in civil court between Kouri Richins and Eric’s sister Katie Richins-Benson, court records show. The sister also filed a motion Wednesday in the estate case that requested that Kouri Richins be disqualified from receiving any benefits under Eric’s estate, “otherwise preventing Kouri from in any way profiting from Eric’s death.” The motion cited the ongoing homicide case.