When Kouri Richins’ husband Eric died suddenly in March 2022, she struggled to explain the loss to their three little boys.

Channelling her own grief into writing a children’s book called Are You With Me?, Richins said she hoped to bring peace and comfort to any children who’d lost a loved one.

"It completely took us all by shock," Richins previously said of her husband’s death as she gained widespread support and sympathy.

"[I've been] explaining to my kids just because he's not present here with us physically, doesn't mean his presence isn't here with us."

She even dedicated the book to Eric, calling him an "amazing husband and a wonderful father."

Now, on Tuesday March 17, Richins has been found guilty of murdering her husband through a lethal dose of fentanyl.

Watch: 5 Things About Grief No One Really Tells You. Story continues below.

During the trial, which was cut short last week when Richins waved her right to testify, the prosecutors claimed that the mum-of-three slipped five times the lethal dose of fentanyl into her husband's cocktail.

They argued that Richins was millions of dollars in debt and incorrectly believed she would inherit her husband's estate when he died. Prosecutors also argued that she was planning a future with another man.

A digital forensic analyst testified that Richins' search history included: "what is a lethal.dose.of.fetanayl (sic)," "luxury prisons for the rich America" and "if someone is poisned (sic) what does it go down on the death certificate as."

Richins pleaded not guilty to all charges. Her defence attorney claimed that Eric was addicted to painkillers and had asked his wife to procure opioids on his behalf. But Richins had previously told police that Eric had no history of illicit drug use.

After deliberating for about three hours, the jury convicted Richins of aggravated murder, as well as attempted aggravated murder for a failed attempt to poison Eric with a fentanyl-laced sandwich, weeks earlier on Valentine's Day.

Richins was also found guilty of forgery and for fraudulently claiming insurance benefits after her husband's death.

She faces 25 years to life in prison, sentencing is scheduled for May this year.

This conviction comes over two years since Richins was arrested.

After her husband Eric died, in March 2022, his autopsy indicated he had over the lethal amount of fentanyl in his system.

At the time, court documents alleged Richins was in communication with an "acquaintance" who’d previously been arrested on alleged drug charges between December 2021 and February 2022 to request pain medication for a client with a back injury.

She then got in touch again requesting something stronger, allegedly asking for fentanyl and referring to it as "one of the Michael Jackson stuff."

Just three days later, after enjoying a romantic Valentine's Day dinner at their home, Eric who fell ill and broke out in hives.

"Eric believed that he had been poisoned," court documents read. "Eric told a friend that he thought his wife was trying to poison him."

Concerned, Eric then secretly replaced his wife as the beneficiary of his will and as Power of Attorney.

One of Eric's sisters later told authorities he was concerned his wife might "kill him for the money."

Then two weeks later – after records showed Richins bought an alleged $900 worth of Fentanyl again - she rang emergency services at 3am saying she had found her husband "cold to the touch."

She initially told police she'd made her husband a Moscow Mule vodka cocktail before heading to one of their son's bedrooms to sleep because he suffered from night terrors.

When she returned to their bedroom in the early hours, she found her husband unresponsive. Richins then allegedly stole $25,000 USD cash from his pyjamas.

Shortly after Eric's death, one of his sisters went to the police station, alleging Eric told her Richins had previously tried to poison him while on holiday in Greece years ago.

Eric had "warned them that if anything happened to him she was to blame."

According to prosecutors, at the time of Eric's death, Kouri owed creditors more than $2 million and planned to make up the difference from five life insurance policies in Eric's name, worth about the same amount.

Before her arrest, Richins appeared to be the loving, grieving wife as she posted to Facebook about her loss.

"Life is just so…hard without you here,” she wrote in a tribute to Eric, according to The Washington Post.

"The cards I have been dealt seem like a game that just can’t be played."

Feature Image: Supplied.

This article was originally published in September 2023 and has since been updated.