In a case that already reads like a streaming drama pitch, a Utah mother who wrote a children’s book about grief is preparing to stand trial for allegedly causing the very loss she publicly mourned.

Kouri Richins, 35, is set to face a jury Monday on nearly three dozen felony charges, including aggravated murder, attempted murder, insurance fraud, mortgage fraud and forgery. At the center of it all is the March 2022 death of her husband, Eric Richins, at the couple’s home outside Park City.

Prosecutors allege that Richins spiked her husband’s Moscow mule with fentanyl — administering five times the lethal dose of the synthetic opioid. They contend it was not a tragic accident, but a calculated killing motivated by financial gain and a desire to move on with another man.

Richins has vehemently denied the allegations.

If convicted of aggravated murder, she faces 25 years to life in prison.

The case has gripped Utah in part because of its stark contrasts: a polished public image, three young children, a grieving widow promoting a heartfelt book — and a prosecution narrative that paints a far darker portrait.

In the months before her arrest in May 2023, Richins self-published a children’s book titled “Are You with Me?” The story centers on a father with angel wings watching over his son from heaven — a tender tribute to coping with loss. She promoted the book on local television, speaking about helping her children navigate their father’s sudden death.

Prosecutors are expected to argue that the book was not simply therapeutic — but part of a broader attempt to frame Eric Richins’ death as natural and tragic.

According to court documents, the alleged poisoning may not have been the first attempt.

Prosecutors claim that on Valentine’s Day in February 2022 — about a month before Eric’s death — Richins gave her husband a sandwich laced with fentanyl. He allegedly broke out in hives and lost consciousness but survived. One of Eric Richins’ friends has said in written testimony that Eric called him that day sounding frightened, saying, “I think my wife tried to poison me.”

The March incident, prosecutors allege, was fatal.

They say Richins mixed fentanyl into a cocktail she gave her husband while celebrating the closing of a home purchase. He was later found unresponsive. An autopsy concluded he died from a fentanyl overdose.

Financial pressure forms a key pillar of the state’s case.

Prosecutors allege that Richins had opened multiple life insurance policies on her husband without his knowledge, totaling nearly $2 million in benefits. At the same time, court filings indicate she was in significant financial distress — with a negative bank account balance, more than $1.8 million owed to lenders and a pending lawsuit from a creditor.

The prosecution argues she stood to gain financially from Eric’s death while simultaneously planning a future with another man.

Her defense team — attorneys Wendy Lewis, Kathy Nester and Alex Ramos — say the narrative that has dominated headlines bears little resemblance to reality.

“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. “What the public has been told bears little resemblance to the truth.”

The trial is expected to hinge heavily on witness credibility.

Among the most pivotal witnesses is Carmen Lauber, a housekeeper who told detectives she sold Richins blue-green fentanyl pills on three separate occasions — as many as 90 pills in total. Lauber has not been charged in connection to the case and has reportedly been granted immunity.

Defense attorneys are expected to attack her credibility. They will likely argue that Lauber never supplied fentanyl and was motivated to cooperate in exchange for protection. Complicating matters, the dealer Lauber allegedly obtained the pills from later said he was in jail and detoxing at the time he initially told detectives he had sold her fentanyl. In a sworn affidavit, he later claimed he only sold OxyContin.

No fentanyl was ever recovered from Richins’ home, according to defense filings.

Other witnesses could include family members, friends of Eric Richins, and the man prosecutors allege Richins was involved with romantically.

The trial, scheduled to run through March 26, is expected to draw intense attention.

For many observers, the story feels surreal: a mother of three, grieving publicly, publishing a children’s book about a father turned guardian angel — now accused of orchestrating his death.

The courtroom will become the battleground where competing narratives collide: one of financial desperation and cold calculation, the other of flawed evidence and prosecutorial overreach.

At stake is not only Richins’ freedom, but the fate of three children who have already lost one parent — and could see another sent to prison for decades.