Letter from jail cell leads to witness tampering allegations against grief author accused of killing husband

According to a court filing last week, via Fox 13 nowOfficers found a handwritten, six-page note from Richins to her mother, Lisa, filled with instructions on how her mother should get her brother, Ronald, to testify on her behalf. She hoped his testimony would shift suspicion toward her late husband himself and accused him of traveling to Mexico to obtain drugs before his death, prosecutors said.

The letter reportedly began with the words “Walk The Dog!!” at the top in large letters, although the rest of the note had nothing to do with canines. Instead, according to prosecutors, she claimed that her attorney, Skye Lozaro, “wanted to link Eric getting drugs and pills from Mexico,” and told her mother, “So we need some kind of connection.”

“Here’s what I think, but you need to talk to Ronney. He’d probably have to testify about it, but it’s super short, not much. He needs to tell Skye at the meeting next week,” she wrote, before detailing what her brother was supposed to tell her lawyer.

“A year before Eric died, Ronney was watching football one Sunday and Eric and Ronney were talking about Eric’s trips to Mexico. Eric told Ronney that he was getting painkillers and fentanyl from Mexico from the ranch workers.”

She allegedly wanted Ronney to say that Eric told him not to tell her about the drugs “because I would get mad because I always said he gets high every night and doesn’t want to take care of the kids ( There are pictures of it in my phone). Eric passed out on the floor or chair. Ronney should also get a text from Eric talking about getting high.”

She went on to say she wanted her brother to testify. Eric told him he hid his medication in an allergy pill bottle in his work truck so no one would find it, before claiming that Eric would hide his medication in Kouri’s bag every time they traveled together. If they were caught, Kouri would get in trouble , not him.” She also wanted Ronney to say his sister “has never taken any pills and doesn’t like them,” prosecutors said.

“*Rephrase as necessary to clarify the point. Just add anything*,” the letter allegedly said. “There needs to be a connection to Mexico and drugs. Ronney will have the messages to prove that Eric confided in him about the intoxication issue. It can be short and succinct, but it has to be done.”

Kouri also reportedly wrote about her fears that her mother’s phone and home were being tapped and asked her mother to meet with Ronney in person. “Tell him to do this. Take me home and then we’ll get these damn bitches!” she exclaimed, prosecutors allege.

Per Daily BeastKouri also reportedly gave instructions on what some in her inner circle apparently interviewed Good morning America should say about her husband.

She allegedly instructed her mother to tell one person that Eric “would brag to her about how much he drank and took pills in high school,” as well as the allegation that he had planted drugs in Kouri’s suitcase before trips. Kouri also reportedly instructed someone to say that her late husband’s sisters were “jealous of me because anything they could do, Kouri could do better.”

“Everything she had, they wanted,” she reportedly wanted someone to say on GMA. “It’s due to jealousy, money and Eric’s parties that they don’t want to admit, and unfortunately also an accidental overdose.”

Finally, she allegedly asked her mother to buy her a box of Crest White Strips so that her lawyer could give them to her during a visit. “I will make sure they are not found in my cell,” she wrote.

In the filing Friday, the state went on to say that during another video conference with her mother, Richins held up another letter for her mother to read – adding that they believe it was washed away or destroyed. They also asked Richins to have no further contact with her mother or brother because they believed the letters were examples of witness tampering.

But Richins’ attorney said the state violated a confidentiality order in the case by submitting the letter because it believed it could incriminate the jury.

On March 4, 2022, paramedics responded to the home of Eric and Kouri Richins after receiving a call about an unresponsive man. EMS attempted to revive Eric, but he was pronounced dead at the scene. Kouri was later arrested and accused of killing her husband after allegedly obtaining a fatal amount of fentanyl from an acquaintance.

Kouri reportedly claimed in interviews with police that while she was celebrating the closing of their new home, she made her husband a “Moscow Mule,” which he drank in bed. She said she then went to sleep with one of the couple’s children because they were suffering from “night terrors” and returned to the bedroom she shared with Eric around 3 a.m. and found him “cold to the touch.” She then called emergency services, but Eric could not be revived.

An autopsy then confirmed that Eric had died of a fentanyl overdose – the medical examiner said the levels in his body were “five times the lethal dose.”

This led to a search warrant on the couple’s home, including computers and phones. Authorities reportedly found messages on her cell phone between Kouri and an “acquaintance” with a drug background, in which she initially asked about obtaining “prescription painkillers for an investor with a back injury.” According to the documents, two weeks later, after he got some hydrocodone for Kouri from a dealer, she contacted them and asked for “some of that Michael Jackson stuff” – and demanded fentanyl. She allegedly spent $900 on 15 to 30 tablets on February 11, 2022.

Then, on February 14, Valentine’s Day, Eric reportedly became “very ill” after dinner with his wife. He reportedly “believed at the time that he had been poisoned” and even “told a friend that he believed his wife was trying to poison him.” Kouri then allegedly reached for more fentanyl pills on February 26, 2022… before Eric was found dead of an overdose six days later.

In the months leading up to her arrest, Kouri was busy promoting her children’s book, “Are You with Me?”, which was released on March 6, 2023 and, according to the Amazon listing, “guides children gently through the world.” difficult experience of losing a loved one.