Life Insurance Agent Testifies About Fentanyl Overdose Talk w/ Kouri Richins

Ann Coates is a senior manager in CMFG / True Stage Life Insurance Co.'s claims department. She testified in Kouri Richins' murder trial today (Wednesday, March 4, day 8) about a life insurance policy taken out for Eric Richins a month before he died of a fentanyl overdose.

04:21 "Do you know when this application came in?"
"We received this application on February 3, 2022"

06:12 "Now, did Eric Richins have other policies? Any other policies besides this one we've just been talking about?"
"Yes."
"Wasn't there a policy of accidental death and dismemberment policy?"
"Yes."

10:07 "There are several ways that we can accept a claim. A lot of times, it's by phone from a family member or beneficiary. In this case, what we do is twice a year in the state of Utah, we would run our policies up against a Social Security death master file list, and that's how we found that he passed away."

12:20 "Now let's talk about the is there a way in which a policy owner or a beneficiary can communicate with true stage and a record is kept of that communication."

16:22 "We received a call from Ms. Richins, and she wanted the status of the claims, and so we provided the status and informed her that we received a pending death certificate, but we would also need the final death certificate."

18:02 "It provides an provision and an exclusion where the prescription would need to to have been provided by a doctor and administered on the advice of a doctor in order to be payable."

18:32 "She said that the fentanyl was not prescribed, and she also added that she doesn't know how her husband got that."

24:02 cross-exam by Alexander Ramos

25:20 "So there was a policy taken out, effective May 12, 2017 for Eric Richins and who took that out?"
"We received an application with the assumption that he took that out."
"Okay, perfect. And then which one was the next one?"
"The next one is the most recent, which became effective February 4, 2022 and was that the February 4 one. Was that one a part of Ms. Richins calling up and saying, Hey, can I get life insurance? Or was this in response to that mailer?"
"This was in response to the mailer."

Background:

Kouri Richins, 35, is accused of fatally poisoning her husband, Eric Richins, with fentanyl at their home in Kamas, Utah, in March 2022. After he died, she self-published a children's book she authored titled "Are You With Me?" about coping with grief.

Eric Richins, 39, was found dead in their home on March 4, 2022.

Prosecutors allege Kouri dropped a lethal dose of fentanyl in a Moscow Mule cocktail she prepared for him. They say she was motivated by money because she owed nearly $5 million to lenders and had changed her husband's life insurance policies prior to his death while also taking out a home equity line of credit without his knowledge. She also was in a romantic relationship with another man.

Her defense is that her husband died of a self-inflcited overdose and his family pressured police to implicate her.

You can watch the prosecution's opening statement here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zp-6-DFKVdU and the defense opening statement here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jw6cnneVhW0

Prosecutors allege she previously tried to murder him by poisoning his sandwich on Valentine's Day 2022, which her husband told a friend about.

Richins' criminal charges in Summit County, Utah, include aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder, forgery and insurance fraud.

Her trial is scheduled to last five weeks. Judge Richard Mrazik in Utah's 3rd District Court is presiding at the Silver Summit Justice Center near Park City.

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