— This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
The nation’s appetite for true crime has descended on Utah, where a mother accused of killing her husband before publishing a children’s book about grief is on trial Monday.
Weeks after Kamas mother of three Kouri Richins published the 2023 book meant to help her kids navigate the heartbreak of losing their father, she was arrested in connection with the death of her husband, Eric Richins.
Now 35, Richins faces a slate of felony charges, including aggravated murder, insurance fraud and forgery, in the 2022 death of her husband, Eric, who was later discovered to have died from an overdose of fentanyl.
Spectators had arrived by 4:30 a.m., sitting in lawn chairs outside the 3rd District Courthouse, a Summit County Sheriff’s deputy said. Closer to the scheduled 8:30 a.m. start time, reporters were huddled under an outdoor courthouse overhang, trying to stay warm in the cold Park City morning.
As the long-anticipated trial starts, Tania Mashburn, spokesperson for Utah State Courts, said the courtroom is expected to be crowded with reporters, podcasters and documentary crews.
The proceedings have attracted sweeping attention from local and national media, along with a devoted true-crime following, Mashburn said. About five podcasters, more than 20 news outlets and at least one documentary production company are covering the trial, she said.
“The last time, I would say, we had a high profile trial of this size was the Gwyneth Paltrow civil trial,” said Mashburn, who has worked with the state courts for more than three years. A skier unsuccessfully sued Paltrow over their 2016 collision at Deer Valley Resort.
[Read more: Kouri Richins trial: Catch up with a timeline of the case]
In part to help protect the privacy of witnesses and family members, 3rd District Judge Richard E. Mrazik had put an unusual ban on the media, prohibiting them from taking photos or filming video in areas outside the courthouse that are normally considered public.
The Salt Lake Tribune sent a letter to the judge Friday, noting the “unprecedented” restriction conflicts with general state guidance about such court orders.
“It’s important to try to ensure that the rights of the press, as the eyes and ears of the public, line up with the spaces where the public can be, and that’s what we wanted to make sure we got some clarity on,” Tribune attorney Mike Judd said.
After a discussion early Monday, the judge agreed to amend the order to allow recording and photography from the courthouse parking lot before 7 a.m. and after 6 p.m., Tribune attorney Mike Judd said.
The judge said that “because of the unique circumstances of this case, the space that is typically considered public, out in front of the courthouse, no longer is,” Judd said.
But he also confirmed, Judd said, that “the circumstances that justify no cameras in the parking lot, no cameras on the sidewalk are very specific and unique to this case.”
The Tribune and other Utah media outlets “also wanted to make sure that that type of restriction doesn’t become universal, doesn’t apply in other courthouses and other trials in less extreme circumstances,” Judd said.
“And the court did suggest that its restriction was specific to this case,” he said, “and therefore, we’re encouraged by the recognition that it likely wouldn’t apply in other contexts and other situations.”
Among those chronicling the Richins trial is “Hidden: A True Crime Podcast,” based in St. George, which has been following the case since 2023, according to its Facebook page.
The show is hosted by husband-and-wife duo John and Lauren Matthias, who launched the podcast in 2020, according to their website.
The attention does not stop at Utah’s borders.
Baker Media, led by legal commentator Emily Baker — host of “The Emily Show,” where she dissects high-profile criminal cases — is also following the proceedings, adding to the growing chorus of out-of-state voices analyzing the case.
Another podcast by MK Media, launched in March 2025 by former Fox News and NBC News anchor Megyn Kelly, is signed up to watch the trial, Mashburn said.
Meanwhile, Topmark Media, a North Carolina-based outlet that provides “gavel-to-gavel” coverage of high-profile cases, is covering the trial, according to its website. In Utah, the only other case it has followed was the Paltrow civil trial.
Another high-profile Utah case that captured national attention involved parenting influencer Ruby Franke and her business partner, Jodi Hildebrandt, Mashburn said. Both were sentenced to prison in 2024 on child abuse charges. Netflix released a documentary about the case in December; Hulu released one last year.
The ongoing prosecution of Charlie Kirk’s accused killer, Tyler Robinson, has also drawn interest.
The estimated five-week trial is scheduled to run through March 26.