Harrowing bodycam footage showing the moment alleged killer Kouri Richins was told her husband was dead was aired for the first time on day one of her murder trial.
The 35-year-old Mormon mom is accused of poisoning husband Eric, 39, with a lethal dose of fentanyl slipped into a Moscow mule cocktail.
Shot by Summit County Deputy Vincent Nguyen, the video starts with the cop arriving at the palatial Richins home to find paramedics doing compressions on Eric with his sobbing wife in the background.
Richins is seen wearing a pair of checked pajamas and telling cops that her husband was ‘cold’ and ‘heavy’ and lying on his back.
She is also seen asking to call her mother Lisa Darden and is heard on the phone with Eric’s father Eugene who was the first witness to take the stand at the trial.
The moment Richins is told Eric was dead was also seen in the footage, with the mom-of-three handed the news by a female paramedic and responding: ‘Oh my god, oh my god, what do you mean? He was fine.’
The video brought the first day of the high-profile murder trial to a dramatic conclusion and followed opening statements that also saw the 911 call placed by Richins played to the jury.
Kouri Richins is pictured Monday as she stood trial for the 2022 murder of her husband Eric
She is accused of poisoning her husband (pictured together) with a lethal dose of fentanyl slipped into a Moscow mule cocktail
Dressed in a white blouse and black blazer and with her hair scraped back in a bun, she looked down at the table as the call was played while her attorney Kathryn Nester described it as the moment ‘a wife became a widow’.
A few months before her arrest in May 2023, Richins self-published a children’s book “Are You with Me?” about a father with angel wings watching over his son after dying.
Along with Deputy Nguyen and Eugene, the jury also heard from Eric’s sister Katie – who controls the trust set up by her brother – and her husband Clint Benson.
A screaming Katie is also seen in the bodycam, asking to see Eric and demanding to know where her three nephews are. All three boys now live with her.
Both Katie and Benson were extensively quizzed about their involvement in Eric’s financial affairs, and about their decision to help him hire a divorce lawyer after Richins racked up a huge debt in 2020 – although he ultimately decided not to divorce her.
They were also asked about their decision to hire a PI to investigate Eric’s death – a man called Todd Gabler who was repeatedly allowed access to the marital home following Richins’ arrest and who fed information to the official police investigation.
The defense contends Eric’s family went to ‘extreme lengths’ to ensure Richins took the hit for Eric’s death, which they say, is because as devout Mormons, they could not bear the thought that he could have willingly taken drugs or alcohol.
Richins is seen wearing a pair of checked pajamas and telling cops that her husband was ‘cold’ and ‘heavy’ and lying on his back
A few months before her arrest in May 2023, Richins self-published a children’s book “Are You with Me?” about a father with angel wings watching over his son after dying
Richins and Eric were building an enormous $2 million mansion on 10 acres of land at the time of his death
In her opening statement, Nester also said there was absolutely no evidence that any fentanyl had been in the cocktail drunk by Eric because the glasses, which remained in the sink for 48 hours after his death, were never taken or tested by cops.
Instead, both glasses were eventually placed in the dishwasher by the family nanny and any evidence inside them washed down the drain.
