Jury selection starts February 10th. Trial begins February 23rd. And the real fights — Crozier's recantation, O'Driscoll's witness texts, a timeline the defense says is impossible — are just getting started.

Judge Richard Mrazik denied the defense's second venue change motion, finding a fair and impartial jury can still be seated in Summit County. Prosecutors pointed to 830 potential jurors who said they hadn't heard of the case or hadn't followed it — nearly half the questionnaire pool. The defense claimed only 72 viable jurors remain. The court disagreed.

Kouri Richins is charged with aggravated murder in the 2022 fentanyl death of her husband Eric in Kamas, Utah. Prosecutors allege she spiked his cocktail with five times the lethal amount after a failed attempt on Valentine's Day two weeks earlier. The alleged motive is financial — her realty company owed at least $1.8 million while Eric's estate was worth roughly $5 million.

Her case appeared in a January 2026 Department of Homeland Security intelligence bulletin warning law enforcement about domestic partners using chemical and biological toxins to kill. DHS documented seventeen cases since 2014 with at least eleven deaths — substances like cyanide, antifreeze, fentanyl, and eye drops chosen because they mimic natural illness. The bulletin specifically cited Richins' upcoming trial as part of this accelerating national pattern.

What makes this case so well-known traces back to the allegations themselves. A children's book about grief written after Eric's death and before her arrest. A six-page jailhouse letter allegedly laying out fabricated testimony. Nearly $2 million in life insurance policies. And Robert Crozier — the drug source who now says under oath he never sold fentanyl at all.

Kouri Richins has pleaded not guilty to all charges and is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

#KouriRichins #EricRichins #KouriRichinsTrial #RobertCrozier #WalkTheDogLetter #SummitCountyTrial #FentanylPoisoning #JurySelection #DHSWarning #UtahMurderTrial

Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/

Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/
Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod
X Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePod

Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872

This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.

There's an irony in the Kouri Richins case that hasn't gotten nearly enough attention — and it's sitting right inside the defense's own venue change motion.

The "Walk the Dog letter" was found in Kouri's jail cell in September 2023. Six handwritten pages addressed to her mother, allegedly laying out what prosecutors describe as fabricated testimony for her brother to deliver at trial. The header read: "Walk The Dog!! But take vague notes so you remember." Prosecutors say it was witness tampering. The defense called it fiction writing. The judge allowed it into evidence.

Now, nearly three years later, the defense cited that same letter by name in their motion to move the trial — arguing it's so widely known that merely mentioning it during jury selection could trigger prospective jurors to recognize the case and disqualify themselves. The document prosecutors say Kouri allegedly wrote to manipulate the trial is now being used by her own lawyers to argue the trial can't be fair.

Judge Mrazik wasn't moved. He denied the venue change on February 2nd for the second time, finding the jury pool remains workable despite widespread case recognition. Prosecutors pointed to 830 potential jurors who were either unaware of the case or hadn't followed it.

As the trial approaches, the Walk the Dog letter remains one of the most explosive pieces of evidence the jury will confront — a window into what prosecutors allege was a deliberate attempt to rewrite the story of Eric Richins' death from inside a jail cell.

Kouri Richins has pleaded not guilty to all charges and is presumed innocent until proven guilty. Jury selection begins February 10th.

#KouriRichins #WalkTheDogLetter #EricRichins #WitnessTampering #SummitCountyTrial #JurySelection #JudgeMrazik #FentanylCase #AreYouWithMe #TrueCrime

Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/

Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/
Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod
X Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePod

Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872

This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.

Ten days before jury selection begins in her aggravated murder trial, Kouri Richins' name appeared in a place no defendant wants to be — a Department of Homeland Security intelligence bulletin sent to law enforcement agencies nationwide warning that domestic partners are increasingly using poisons to kill. The January 2026 bulletin documented seventeen cases since 2014, at least eleven ending in death, and cited Richins' upcoming trial as part of a pattern DHS says is accelerating. The substances being used — fentanyl, cyanide, antifreeze, eye drops — are chosen specifically because they mimic natural illness, and Richins is accused of using the most potent one on the list.

Prosecutors allege Richins spiked her husband Eric's cocktail with a fatal dose of illicit fentanyl on March 3, 2022, after a failed attempt two weeks earlier on Valentine's Day using a fentanyl-laced sandwich. Eric was found dead in their Kamas, Utah bedroom with approximately five times the lethal dose in his blood. The medical examiner confirmed the fentanyl was street-grade, not prescription. The alleged motive tracks with the pattern DHS identifies across these cases — financial desperation. Prosecutors say her realty company owed lenders at least $1.8 million while Eric's estate was worth roughly $5 million. She has pleaded not guilty to all charges and is presumed innocent until proven otherwise in a court of law.

What makes the Richins case a centerpiece of the DHS warning is what almost happened after Eric died. His death was initially treated as an overdose, not a homicide. In the weeks that followed, Richins wrote a children's book about grieving and promoted it on morning television. If investigators hadn't dug deeper, if the toxicology hadn't revealed illicit fentanyl at a concentration that doesn't occur by accident, this case could have closed as one more opioid statistic. That's exactly what the DHS bulletin warns about — poisoning deaths that look like something else entirely.

This episode places Richins' case alongside three convicted spousal poisoners who nearly got away with it — James Craig, Lana Clayton, and Stacey Castor — and connects them to America's collapsing autopsy infrastructure. The national autopsy rate has fallen from 19% in 1972 to 8.5%, with natural-looking deaths autopsied just 4.3% of the time. Death certificates are wrong roughly a third of the time. DHS is now telling law enforcement this is a growing threat. Kouri Richins goes to trial February 23, 2026, with jury selection starting February 10 in Park City. She is one of seventeen. Those are the ones we know about.

#KouriRichins #KouriRichinsTrial #DHSPoisoningWarning #EricRichins #FentanylPoisoning #SpousalPoisoning #ParkCityUtah #SummitCounty #AggravatedMurder #TrueCrime

Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/

Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/
Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod
X Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePod

Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872

This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.