Two Utah news anchors say they feel “duped” and “sickened” after interviewing Kouri Richins, a Utah mom and children’s book author accused of murdering her husband last year.
Deena Manzanares and Surae Chinn, the hosts of KTVX’s “Good Things Utah,” interviewed Richins in March about her children’s book after she wrote in to the show.
“I definitely feel like we were duped, in a sense,” Chinn said.
Richins’ book “Are You With Me?” was listed on Amazon for $14.99 and described as “a must-read for any child who has experienced the pain of loss, and for parents who want to provide their children with the emotional support they need to heal and grow.”
“Sitting down with her, we both felt… she was a little bit cold. She wasn’t super emotional. But again, we’re trying to show our guests in the best light. We’re trying to be on their side,” Manzanares explained.
Deena Manzanares and Surae Chinn, the hosts of KTVX’s “Good Things Utah,” interviewed Richins in March about her children’s book after she wrote in to the show. (Fox News Digital)
Manzanares added that after the interview with Richins, she asked the now-murder suspect what she thought happened to her husband, Eric Richins, and Kouri said she believed it was “COVID-related” and that her husband had a “lung issue,” which contrasts starkly with what prosecutors are alleging.
Manzanares and Chinn said Richins described her husband’s death as sudden but didn’t expand on his cause of death, which they thought was unusual, even more so now that she has been charged in his death.
Utah prosecutors are accusing Kouri Richins, 33, of poisoning her husband Eric Richins, 39, with fentanyl last year at their home in Kamas, outside of Park City, while their three young sons were sleeping. (Facebook/Kouri Richins)
“How were you able to take care of your kids; write a book, too; grieve with your kids; and then come on a show to promote the book that you also wrote?” Chinn recalled wondering at the time.
Eric Richins had five times the lethal dosage of fentanyl – an opioid that is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine – in his blood. (Facebook/Kouri RIchins)
After the formal charges against Kouri were announced in May, the hosts were shocked.
UTAH MAN ALLEGEDLY POISONED BY AUTHOR WIFE BELIEVED SHE WAS HAVING AFFAIR: FAMILY SPOX
“I’m sickened now that, OK, she sat on our couch, she talked about grieving, and we showed so much compassion and empathy for what seemingly look like a mourning widow,” Chinn said.
The next day, Kouri allegedly closed a deal on the Wasatch County mansion “alone,” after her husband had been pronounced dead.
She was denied bail during a Monday hearing in a Summit County courthouse.