The third week of grief author Kouri Richins’s murder trial got off to a surprising start with the defense team suggesting that her late husband and his best friend were embroiled in a sexting scandal.
In a bizarre moment inside Summit County Courthouse high in the mountains of Park City, Utah, on Monday, Eric Richins’s text messages referring to an ‘open relationship’ and anal and oral sex with his longtime friend were revealed to the jury.
It was a revelation that sparked a heated debate between Richins’s legal team and the prosecution witness, private investigator Todd Gabler, as they sparred over whether the messages were just a ‘joke’ or an indication of something deeper.
Romantic texts, forbidden lovers and extramarital affairs have all taken center stage at the high-profile murder trial as prosecutors lay out their case that the mom-of-three wanted her husband out of the way so that she could start a new life with her handyman.
Last week, Richins’s ex-lover Robert Josh Grossmann gave tearful testimony about their years-long love affair as their secret texts were shown to the jury.
Meanwhile, Eric’s own alleged interest in a co-worker also cropped up in a stunning moment inside the courtroom.
Richins, a 35-year-old real estate agent, is accused of murdering her husband Eric by poisoning him with a fentanyl-laced Moscow Mule cocktail on March 4, 2022.
Eric, a 39-year-old successful stonemason, was found dead in the couple’s bedroom inside their Kamas home just hours after Richins claimed the couple had celebrated the closing of one of her real estate projects with some homemade cocktails.
Kouri Richins and her husband Eric Richins with their three young sons before his March 4, 2022 death
In a photo submitted as evidence this week, Richins is seen with Eric’s friend Bryce Knudsen and other friends – just one day after Eric was found dead
An autopsy found he died from a fentanyl overdose, with more than five times the lethal limit found in his system.
For more than a year, Richins played the grieving widow, authoring a children’s book, titled Are You With Me? about dealing with grief.
The mom-of-three even appeared on local TV to promote the book in April 2023, describing how she had wanted to find a way to help the couple’s three young sons cope with the sudden loss of their father.
But according to prosecutors, it was all an act.
Just one month after that heartfelt media appearance, Richins was arrested and charged with her husband’s murder.
According to prosecutors, it was a crime allegedly motivated by Richins’s desire to obtain Eric’s $4 million estate and to start a new life with her lover.
Richins denies the allegations and has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Now, new details about the couple’s seemingly crumbling marriage and their communications with those close to them have been revealed in court.
‘Kouri and I are starting an open relationship tonight. So I told her I’m taking you home,’ read one message from Eric to his best friend Bryce Knudsen.
Other messages that were referenced but not submitted as evidence to the court contained references to taking part in sex acts, including oral and anal sex together.
Sitting on the witness stand in a neck brace, PI Todd Gabler smiled and brushed off the messages as jokes among friends
Sitting shackled at the defense table, Richins raised her eyebrows and widened her eyes as she stared Gabler down
The crude texts between the two friends surfaced when Gabler faced fiery questions from defense attorney Kathy Nester on Monday afternoon.
The private investigator was hired by Eric’s family after his death as part of an ongoing civil case between them and Richins.
During cross-examination, Nester asked Gabler if, over the course of his extensive investigation and analysis of Eric and Richins’ cell phones, he had uncovered evidence of Eric sexting with people other than Kouri.
Gabler testified that he didn’t know what she meant by sexting but conceded that he did investigate allegations that Eric had an affair.
Shown the text message where Eric referred to an open relationship, Gabler questioned if the defense was classing that as ‘sexting.’
It was at this point that Nester alluded to messages where the two men, who had been friends since school, referred to performing oral and anal sex on one another.
Sitting on the witness stand in a neck brace, Gabler smiled as he brushed off the messages as jokes among friends.
‘It just makes me laugh. It doesn’t seem to be serious,’ Gabler testified with a big grin.
‘I don’t understand this to be sexting. I think you’re wrong about that. I resist your characterization.
Kouri Richins is accused of poisoning Eric with a fentanyl-laced Moscow Mule cocktail
‘These are two friends joking with each other. That’s what I read here.’
As well as being at odds with the defense team’s assertion, the PI’s interpretation of the ‘jokey’ messages prompted Richins to pull a face.
Sitting shackled at the defense table and wearing a black jumper and her hair in a neat bun, she raised her eyebrows and widened her eyes as she stared Gabler down.
Eric’s sister Katie Richins-Benson sat arm-in-arm with her husband Clint Benson and maintained a stoic expression during the testimony.
Knudsen’s name cropped up earlier in the trial when jurors saw photos and video of an apparently impromptu ‘celebration of life’ for Eric hours after he was found dead. In one image, Richins was seen posing and smiling with Knudsen and a handful of other friends.
During the gathering, a witness testified Knudsen ‘probably’ took off his pants at one point.
Phone calls between Knudsen and Richins were also played in court last week, in which the mom-of-three is heard sobbing and complaining about her rift with Eric’s family over his trust, which Katie was made the trustee of.
Gabler testified that there was ‘zero’ evidence to suggest Eric and Knudsen were having a homosexual affair.
Robert Josh Grossmann broke down as his texts with Kouri Richins were shown in court
Shortly after Eric’s death, Kouri Richins self-published a children’s book titled ‘Are You with Me?’
What he did find was that between January and May 2022, Richins sent hundreds of texts to Carmen Lauber – her housekeeper who testified that she provided Richins the fentanyl that killed Eric.
Eric and Richins’s mother Lisa Darden were the only people who she had contacted more within the timeframe, cell phone records allegedly showed.
Richins is charged with five felonies: aggravated murder, aggravated attempted murder, two counts of insurance fraud and forgery. If convicted, she faces life in prison.
The trial continues.
