Utah police have revealed that the mother of accused killer Kouri Richins may have been involved in the alleged murder of her son-in-law.
Richins, of Kama, Utah, is accused of poisoning her husband by serving him a fentanyl-laced Moscow Mule on March 3, 2022.
Now, researchers have revealed a new theory that Richins got the idea from her mother Lisa Darden, 64.
In May 2023, a Summit County Sheriff’s Office detective filed a search warrant affidavit alleging that Darden was “involved in planning and orchestrating Eric’s death,” based on her previous involvement in a mysterious death in 2006.
“During the investigation into Kouri Richins’ associates, it was discovered that Richins’ mother, Lisa Darden, was living with an adult woman with whom she was in a romantic relationship in 2006,” the detective wrote in the affidavit.
“In April of that year, her romantic partner passed away unexpectedly.”
Kouri Richins is accused of poisoning her husband Eric, 39, by putting five times the lethal dose of fentanyl into a Moscow mule in March 2022.
Investigators have found evidence suggesting Richins’ mother Lisa Darden, 64, (pictured) may have played a role in Eric Richins’ death
Her partner was Gertrude Lee Moore, who died ‘suddenly’ on April 30, 2006 at the age of 49. obituaryDarden was described as “her best friend.”
An autopsy found that Moore’s “immediate cause of death was drug poisoning from an oxycodone overdose.” Fox news reported.
“Further investigation revealed that Lisa Darden had been named as a beneficiary of her partner’s estate shortly before her death,” the detective continued.
“The female had current prescriptions for oxycodone and reportedly struggled with abusing her medications. However, at the time of her death, she was not yet in a state of recovery from her addiction.
“Based on my training and experience, this would likely rule out the possibility of an accidental overdose.”
The detective suggested that, based on the proximity of Moore’s suspicious overdose death and her close relationship with Richins, Darden may have been involved in “planning and orchestrating” Eric’s overdose death.
Skye Lazaro, the attorney representing Kouri Richins, denied the detective’s suggestion and said Darden’s partner was a victim of the national opioid crisis.
“Summit County is acutely aware that opioid addiction and fentanyl overdose are a major problem across the country. According to the CDC, 150 people die every day from overdoses related to synthetic opioids like fentanyl,” Lazaro said in a statement to Fox.
Skye Lazaro, the attorney representing Kouri Richins, denied the detective’s suggestion that the mother was involved and said Darden’s partner was a victim of the national opioid crisis.
Richins is accused of poisoning husband Eric (pictured right), 39, by injecting him with five times the lethal dose of fentanyl in the drink in March 2022.
The night Eric died, the mother and daughter celebrated Richins’ recent closing on a $2 million mansion. Richins had a real estate business and her husband had a successful masonry business.
A day after his death, search warrant affidavits show Kouri signed the property’s closing papers and invited friends to a party where she drank and partied.
Richins and her husband had previously argued over her plans to buy and renovate a $2 million, 10-acre home in the days before he was found dead in their Utah home last March, according to court documents.
Prosecutors say Eric found out his wife had taken out a $250,000 line of credit and spent it, withdrew $100,000 from his bank accounts and spent more than $30,000 on his credit cards.
Kouri Richins also stole about $134,000 from her husband’s business, intended for tax payments, the documents state.
The documents state that she agreed to pay her husband back when he confronted her about the missing money.
Prosecutors allege Kouri purchased four different life insurance policies, which totaled more than $1.9 million between 2015 and 2017.
Kouri, now 35, was charged in 2023 with aggravated murder and drug possession. Authorities allege she poisoned Eric with fentanyl to collect millions in life insurance funds.
Kouri allegedly bought four life insurance policies for her husband in the years leading up to his death, totaling $2 million, court records show.
Richins and her husband had argued over her plans to buy and renovate a 10-acre home worth $2 million, pictured here, in the days before he was found dead
Prior to his death in March 2022, Eric had changed his will to make his sister the sole beneficiary of his life insurance policy and was even considering divorcing Kouri, his family said.
Family lawyer and spokesman Greg Skordas previously told DailyMail.com that Eric feared Kouri was trying to kill him after two separate instances in which he became violently ill after drinking or eating with his wife.
Darden told the broadcaster: “I believe Eric was given painkillers and didn’t realize it contained fentanyl.
‘If you knew Kouri, she would never do this. Not just for Eric, but for those guys too.”
Her brother Ronnie also told the show: ‘She loves her boys way too much to take their dad away from them.
“They were probably in the best place we’ve seen them in a long time at the time of his death.”
The family also claimed that Eric ‘loved to party’, with Ronnie adding: ‘Eric loved to party, he loved to have fun.
“The simplest answer is often the right one. It was most likely an accidental overdose.”
Darden previously said Eric, who came from a prominent Mormon family in Kamas, allegedly cheated on his wife and left her with a black eye after she confronted his alleged former mistress.
She identified the mistress as Jennifer White, 40, who, like Eric, worked in the masonry industry.
Darden said her daughter became suspicious when her husband’s home phone rang. She answered and the woman on the other end of the line immediately hung up.
Richins questioned her husband, who Darden said confessed to the affair.
It is alleged that Richins then called the alleged mistress the next day, yelled at her and demanded she leave her husband alone, the mother said.
“Eric reacted angrily, and this wasn’t the first time,” Darden said. “He would push her, he would hit her.”
Darden also claimed Eric cheated on his wife and identified his mistress as Jennifer White, 40 (pictured) – who denied the affair
Richins had written a book after her husband’s death and appeared on TV to promote it
Contacted by DailyMail.com, White acknowledged the confrontational call but said she denied the affair and that was the end of it.
Shortly after her husband’s death, the mother of three self-published a children’s book titled “Are You with Me?” about a deceased father dressed with angel wings who watches over his sons.
She promoted it on television and radio, describing the book as a way to help children grieve the loss of a loved one.
She said in an interview that she was motivated to write the book after searching Amazon and Barnes and Noble and finding “nothing” to help them “cope.”
“I went to Amazon and Barnes and Noble to try to find something to get us through the night, nights are the hardest. “I just wanted a story to read to my kids in the evenings, but I couldn’t find anything that suited them, so I thought ‘let’s write one’.”