What to Know About the Alleged Kouri Richins–Robert Josh Grossman Affair

A Utah criminal trial has netizens on the edge of their seats. The case involves a suspicious death, serious money questions, and a messy alleged affair. Prosecutors say Kouri Richins killed her husband, Eric Richins, at their home in March 2022 by slipping fentanyl into a Moscow Mule he drank.

According to the police report obtained by the AP, Richins later called 911 and said she found Eric “cold to the touch” at the foot of their bed. A medical examiner later determined Eric died from fentanyl intoxication, with about five times the lethal dose in his system.

Richins's murder trial is still unfolding in Utah, and the case has only gotten messier as prosecutors dig into her marriage, her money problems, and her alleged affair with Robert Josh Grossman.

Prosecutors say a lengthy investigation uncovered both motive and method. They argue Richins was drowning in debt and believed she would inherit more than $4 million from Eric’s estate. Investigators also say she opened life insurance policies on him totaling nearly $2 million without his knowledge. Prosecutors have also alleged a failed earlier attempt on Valentine’s Day 2022, when Eric got sick after eating a sandwich Richins had left for him.

The affair with Grossman is a huge part of the prosecution’s story. The AP reported that prosecutors showed jurors texts between Richins and Grossman about leaving her husband, getting millions in a divorce, and eventually marrying Grossman.

In one text, Richins allegedly wrote, “If he could just go away ... life would be so perfect.” Grossman later testified that he and Richins had been romantically involved. He told jurors she said she wanted him to become her husband after Eric’s death. Grossman also testified that Richins asked whether he had ever killed anyone during his military service in Iraq.

Grossman also told jurors he did not suspect anything intentional had happened to Eric before Richins was arrested. Prosecutors have used that relationship to argue that Richins wanted a “fresh start at life.”

“The evidence will prove that Kouri Richins murdered Eric for his money and to get a fresh start at life,” Summit County prosecutor Brad Bloodworth told jurors. “More than anything, she wanted his money to perpetuate her facade of privilege, affluence, and success.”

Richins has asserted that the public has the story twisted. In a 2024 audio message released through a confidant, she disputed the narrative created by prosecutors. "The world has yet to hear who I really am, what I've really done or didn't do," Richins insisted in the audio obtained by ABC News. "What I really didn't do is murder my husband."

Richins's attorneys doubled down on this assertion in court, suggesting that the trial would present enough evidence to counter the prosecution’s accusations. “Kouri has waited nearly three years for this moment: the opportunity to have the facts of this case heard by a jury, free from the prosecution’s narrative that has dominated headlines since her arrest,” her legal team said in a statement to the AP. “What the public has been told bears little resemblance to the truth.”