A woman charged with killing her husband with a poisoned Moscow mule gave a chilling interview promoting her children's book a month before she was arrested for his murder

• Kouri Richins, a Utah mother of three, has been charged with the murder of her husband.
• A month before her arrest, she appeared on local media to promote her children's book about loss.

Just days before she was charged with the murder of her husband, a Utah mother of three appeared on local media in a haunting interview to promote her children's book about grief and loss.

Kouri Richins appeared detached during the April 6 interview with KTVX's Good Things Utah, which aired nearly a month before her arrest, describing her motivation for writing the self-published storybook "Are You With Me?".

"So my husband passed away unexpectedly last year — so March 4 was a one-year anniversary for us — and he was 39, it completely took us all by shock," Richins told the hosts, referring to her sons — ages 10, 9, and 6. "My kids and I kind of wrote this book on the different emotions and grieving processes that we've experienced last year, and hoping that it can kind of help other kids deal with this and kind of find happiness some some way or another."

Richins was arrested on Monday on suspicion of fatally poisoning her husband, Eric Richins, CBS-affiliated TV station KUTV reported.

Investigators alleged in court documents that on the night of Eric Richins' death in 2022, Kouri Richins served her husband a Moscow mule spiked with "approximately five times the lethal dosage" of fentanyl, leading to his death. She has been charged with felony aggravated murder and three felony counts of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance.

Richins published the children's book on March 7, 2023, just over a year after her husband's death, quickly drawing praise from readers who called the story "touching and uplifting" and celebrated the author's "authenticity and relatability," according to online reviews.

"I just watched the struggle that my kids were going through," Richins said during the Good Things Utah segment, adding that she looked all over for a book to help her children sleep. "Nights are the hardest, it seems like, for everybody when you're dealing with anything, but I just wanted some story to read to my kids at night, and I just could not find anything. I couldn't find anything that really suited them or helped them find comfort and peace."

Attorneys for Richins did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment.