Kouri Richins’s affair partner took the stand Wednesday in the Grief Author Murder trial. Kouri is charged with the murder of her husband, Eric Richins, who died of an overdose of Fentanyl, and prosecutors allege she poisoned his drink that night to take his money and live her life with her lover.

Kouri Richins’ Lover Testifies

Robert Joshua Grossman took the stand to tell the jury about his and Kouri’s illicit affair and the aftermath of Eric’s death. He described their relationship, which started when they worked on flipping houses together. It quickly became romantic, and the jury was presented with text messages they exchanged professing their undying love for one another in the weeks leading to Eric Richins’ untimely death.

“It’s draining to love you and pretend to be an idiot,” Grossman wrote in one message, which Kouri responded to with, “I’m in love with a man that’s not my husband.”

The two were clearly in love, and Grossman testified they were planning a trip together in April 2022, but after Eric passed away, they had stopped seeing each other towards the end of the year.

After her husband died, Kouri texted Grossman, “No words. Turning phone off. Eric passed away last night.” She later gave him small details, saying, “They think an aneurysm,” and after a month passed, she was finally ready to start her new life. “I think I want you to be my husband one day,” the grieving widow wrote to her affair partner.

Affair Partner Begins to Wonder

Grossman told the jury that Kouri asked him a strange question when the two met up for the first time since Eric’s death. “She asked if I had ever killed anybody,” Grossman said. Grossman, being a Veteran who served overseas, said that he had taken lives in Iraq. “She asked how it made me feel, or something along those lines. And then I answered her.”

When Kouri published her children’s book on grief titled “Are You With Me?” She went on a television show to do an interview, and that is when Grossman admitted he began to question what really happened to Eric. “Never for a moment did I have a clue, a hint, not a fleeting thought that something intentionally might have happened to him,” he said. “Let alone from her.”

Grossman reached out to Eric’s family to confess his relationship with Kouri, but when he did so, they put him in touch with their private investigator, who was looking into the death. “He told me that Kouri had done it, that she was guilty,” Grossman explained to the jury. “He couldn’t tell me why, but…that changed everything for me. I was blown away, and then I’m like, looking at everything in our past with a different set of goggles on, through different lenses, and I was trying to figure out if she did it.”

More Financial Gain

After Grossman’s testimony, further information was revealed, raising more suspicion about Kouri. Eric had consulted a divorce attorney in October 2022. Instead of following through with a divorce, he set up a trust for his assets, including the house the couple shared, and made his sister the trustee. After Kouri allegedly misused her power of attorney to take out a $250K credit line in his name, he could no longer trust her.

An Estate Lawyer testified to the setup of the trust, and an insurance representative also testified that in January 2022, life insurance was added into business policy for both Eric Richins and his partner Cody Wright. The beneficiary of Wright’s policy was originally Eric, but switched to Kouri, and then back to Eric. The change came from Kouri’s email, but using Eric’s login information.

Defense Counters Forensic Accountant

Day 8 of the trial really honed in on the financial troubles that Kouri’s Realty Company was facing and the amount of debt that was incurred. “As of the date that Eric Richins died, Kouri Richins was in financial distress, and her financial enterprise was collapsing, but for a significant infusion of cash and capital, it would have continued to collapse,” forensic accountant Brooke Karrington said.  

“It was imploding. Her debts and liabilities outweighed her assets. Even if she sold everything, it would not be enough to get to zero.”

Karrington proceeded to deep dive into Kouri’s personal and business financial struggles. She testified that Kouri profited from Eric’s death, receiving $1.3 million in death benefits from insurance policies and used that to settle some of her debts. However, at the end of March 2022, Kouri owed $8 million in debt, so she barely would have made a dent in repayment.

Kouri’s defense, Kathryn Nester, cross-examined the accountant, suggesting that she had not considered a private arrangement between the married couple, and stating it is possible that Eric was silently investing in his wife’s business.