TV anchor who interviewed Utah grief author mom reveals creepy moment she found out Kouri Richins was suspected of murdering her husband with fentanyl-laced Moscow Mule – after claiming he died from Covid

A Utah TV news anchor who interviewed the mother of the griefer accused of killing her husband with a fentanyl-tainted Moscow Mule has spoken about the moment she received an email alleging Kouri Richins was a killer.

Deena Manzanares, who hosts KTVX’s Good Things Utah, interviewed the 33-year-old mother of three last April to discuss the book she wrote for her sons about coping with the loss of their father.

But when the cameras stopped rolling, Manzanares said Richins blamed her husband’s death on Covid.

The day after the interview aired on the local TV station, the entire news team received an email response stating: “You know, she killed her husband!!! »

Deena Manzanares and Surae Chinn, the hosts of KTVX’s “Good Things Utah,” spoke with Richins about his book on the show April 4 of last year – before he became the prime suspect in the trial for murder of her husband.

Richins is accused of poisoning her husband Eric (pictured right), 39, by slipping him five times the lethal dose of fentanyl into the drink in March 2022.

After her husband’s death, the mother of three self-published a children’s book called “Are You With Me?” » about a deceased father wearing angel wings who watched over his sons.

Talk to Data line this weekend, Manzanares recalled the conversation.

“She said my husband died of COVID and he had a lung problem.”

Yet Richins had told everyone in town how her husband had died of a brain aneurysm.

“I arrive at work the next day, I open my computer, I check my email, and there’s an anonymous message coming through the entire station.

“I opened it and everything written on it is capital letters and a lot of exclamation points are ‘You know, she killed her husband!'” Manzanares said.

“That’s when things get so surreal. It was really scary, it was really weird, but we didn’t really think about it after the first “woah!”

Former real estate agent Richins, who is also Mormon, has been held in the Summit County Jail since she was arrested May 8 and charged with criminal homicide, aggravated murder and three counts of possession of a controlled substance.

Prosecutors say she killed her husband of nine years, Eric Richins, with a poisoned cocktail on March 3, 2022, before publishing an illustrated children’s book about an angelic father watching over his sons.

Richins is seen promoting his book on a local Utah station in April of this year. “We have three little boys,” she told the interviewer. “And my kids and I kind of wrote this book about the different emotions and grieving processes that we’ve been through over the past year.”

Eric’s family told investigators shortly after his death that they suspected his wife of killing the father of three.

The 39-year-old farmer was found dead at the foot of his bed at their home in the town of Kamas, near Park City, on March 4 last year.

Richins first contacted Good Things Utah to ask to be a guest on the show in an email that Manzanares said was “all about promoting her children’s book” — adding that she “seemed like” excited to get these 15 minutes of fame.”

Manzanares described Richins’ behavior on set as “cold” and “stumbling” – but the hosts attributed this to the fact that she was struggling with grief.

“She was a little cold, she wasn’t very emotional, but we’re trained to show our guests in the best light, we were trying to be on their side, and I think, she’s probably numb, it’s due .this only happened a year ago,” she said.

“She was nervous, she was stumbling over her words, I thought it was nervous being on live TV – but now I think she was nervous because she was lying.”

The host said she thought the email warning was “weird” and “didn’t think anything of it” because she was used to receiving “occasional crazy emails”.

“I never thought all of this would happen in the coming months,” Manzanares said. “It’s really shocking.”

The day after the broadcast, the entire news team, including Deena Manzanares, received an email from an anonymous source stating, “You know, she killed her husband!!!”

When the cameras stopped rolling, Manzanares said Richins blamed Covid for her husband’s death when other people thought he died of a brain aneurysm.

Initially, the news channel staff did not pay attention to the frightening message.

Richins, who has three sons – Carter, 9, Ashton, 7, and Weston, 5 – allegedly killed her husband of nine years on March 3 last year and was promoting her grief book at 14.99 $, Are You With Me? the month before his arrest on May 8 this year.

Police believe she gave Eric, who was a rancher, a lethal dose of fentanyl disguised in a Moscow Mule – a cocktail made with vodka, ginger beer and lime juice.

An autopsy determined that Eric died of a fentanyl overdose and that the level of the drug in his system was five times the fatal dose.

A medical examiner indicated the drug used was “illicit” and not medical grade and was likely ingested orally, a charging document states.

Prosecutors said that in the preceding months, Richins attempted to become the sole beneficiary of her husband’s life insurance policy.

But Eric had changed his will and power of attorney to give full control to his sister, Katie Richins-Benson, 38, because, according to a police warrant, he feared his wife would “kill him for money.”

In May, DailyMail.com exclusively revealed that Kouri had launched litigation against his family weeks after his death to secure an estate valued at more than $3.6 million.

She claimed Eric attempted to “defraud” her by secretly transferring the family home, all personal property and interest in the masonry business he ran with his friend and partner, Cody Wright, into a trust owned to his sister in November 2020.

Richins also took out several life insurance policies worth nearly $2 million and attempted to “break into his safe” just 48 hours after his death, his family said.

She also allegedly attempted to poison him on several other occasions, including in February 2022, when Eric broke out in hives after consuming a sandwich that Richins had placed on the seat of his truck with a love note on the day of Valentine’s Day.

In the days before Eric’s death, the couple had also argued over Richins’ plans to buy and sell a $2 million home in the days before, according to court documents.

A forensic pathologist said he found five times the lethal dose of fentanyl – a painkiller 100 times more powerful than morphine – in Eric’s body after his death on March 4 last year. In the photo: Richins and Eric with one of their sons

Kouri Richins, a Utah mother of three who authorities say fatally poisoned her husband, Eric Richins, and then wrote a children’s book about grief, appeared in court earlier this month.

On March 4 — the day before the alleged murder — Kouri signed closing papers for the 10-acre property and invited her friends to a party at her home where she drank and partied, according to search warrant affidavits.

Richins also faces a lawsuit seeking more than $13 million in damages for alleged financial wrongdoing before and after his death.

The lawsuit filed in state court by Katie Richins, Eric Richins’ sister, accuses Kouri Richins of taking money from her husband’s accounts, misappropriating money intended to pay his taxes and obtaining a fraudulent loan, among other things, before his death.