An employee of Eric Richins’ company testified Thursday that Kouri Richins once told her that things would be better if her husband were dead.
Becky Lloyd, an employee of C&E Masonry, a company owned by Eric Richins, described a conversation she had with Kouri Richins on Dec. 17, 2021 — two and a half months before Eric Richins’ death. Lloyd, who had recently divorced, said Kouri Richins talked with her about her marriage problems and about her worries that she would lose their kids if they divorced.
Lloyd testified that she remembers Richins saying “in many ways it would be better if Eric was dead.”
A recording of an interview was played for jurors in which Lloyd said she wasn’t positive that that was what Kouri Richins had said, and she was not sure enough to testify about it in court. But Thursday, Lloyd said she is now positive that is what Richins told her. She also said they weren’t joking, and said Richins had spoken that day in a serious, heartfelt tone.
“I know she said that. I don’t want to say it, but I know she said it,” Lloyd testified.
Richins is on trial for aggravated murder in the March 2022 poisoning death of her husband, Eric Richins.
Jurors were also shown text messages between Richins and her best friend, including one that said if she died, her husband would have killed her.
That text was sent in October 2020 after Richins told Chelsea Barney about taking a $250,000 home equity line of credit out on their home to use in her real estate business.
Barney, who identified herself as Richins’ best friend, testified about her friend’s finances and response to her husband’s death. Jurors also heard a phone call that Barney was present for between Kouri Richins and Bryce Knudsen, Eric Richins’ best friend, after her husband had died where Kouri Richins talked about how much she wanted the home that was in a trust overseen by her husband’s sister. She said she was not interested in the money and agreed that it should go to the children.
Richins insisted she was not a bad mother, despite what Eric Richins’ family members had claimed.
In the call, Richins said her sisters-in-law were attacking her for no reason and wouldn’t agree to give her any money until they got the autopsy report.
In June 2022, Richins and Barney texted about accusations from Eric Richins’ family members that Kouri Richins was involved in his death. Barney called the accusations “ridiculous.”
Barney purchased a home Richins had flipped from her, paying her a downpayment and then continuing to pay the mortgage that was in her friend’s name. But after Richins’ arrest, Barney told jurors she lost that house after it went into foreclosure, and another person purchased it. Barney had signed a deed to have the house in her name, but it was never recorded, and Richins took a loan out on the home.
Poisoned sandwich?
Joshua Kaze, a friend of Eric Richins, testified Thursday about a call from Eric Richins on Valentine’s Day in 2022. He said his friend was unusually somber, serious and sick.
He said he asked Eric Richins if he was going to go to the hospital and if he was OK. This was the day prosecutors allege that Richins attempted to kill her husband, and that he got sick after eating a sandwich she had purchased for him.
Allie Staking, another woman who testified she was Kouri Richins’ friend, said that month she was with both Kouri and Eric Richins, and Eric Richins jokingly said he thought his wife had poisoned him on Valentine’s Day, but he did not seem upset about it. Kouri Richins said he had just suffered an allergic reaction.
Upon hearing of his death a month later, Staking said she flew to Utah. She said Kouri Richins’ behavior did not seem unusual to her.
Richins, 35, is charged with aggravated murder and attempted aggravated murder, first-degree felonies, two counts of insurance fraud, a second-degree felony, and forgery, a third-degree felony. She also has a separate case with additional financial charges.
Thursday, the ninth day of the trial, is also the final trial day of this week. Jurors will return on Monday. Deputy Summit County attorney Brad Bloodworth said they anticipate calling detective Jeff O’Driscoll, who is their final witness, either Monday or Tuesday.
Watch the trial streamed here:
This story will be updated.