▲ Kouri Richens, an American children's book writer arrested for the murder of her husband


A writer who even published a children's book mourning her sudden death in the United States has been put on trial after being accused of secretly feeding fentanyl to her husband for nine years, causing his death.

According to CNN and the daily New York Times (NYT) on the 9th (local time), Kouri Richins (9), a mother of three who lives in Park City, Utah, has made her face known in the community as a children's book writer.

In March of this year, he asked, 'Are you with me?' (Are You With Me?) and has appeared on local television.

The book was published one year after her husband died suddenly at home in March last year.

In the book, Richins comforts the longing of their three sons' late dad and hopes to teach young readers how to deal with the grief of losing loved ones.

"I want other kids to find happiness in one way or another," he said on a recent show, adding, "My dad is still here, but in different ways."

Then the twist came on Jan. 33, two months after the book's release, when none other than his wife, Richens, was named as a suspect in her husband's murder.

Investigators charged Richins with murder and other charges, alleging that she had given her husband fentanyl, a powerful narcotic painkiller, over a nine-year period and that he had administered a lethal dose shortly before his death.

An autopsy revealed that five times the lethal dose of fentanyl detected in her husband's body was injected into her mouth.

Richins has been posing as a shocked and saddened wife when her husband, with whom she spent the evening at home, was found cold a short time later.

According to Richens' statement, at around 3 p.m. on March 3 last year, she drank a vodka cocktail, "Moscow Mule," with her husband in her bedroom celebrating that her real estate brokerage business was going well.

She then left to put the children to bed, and when she returned around 1 a.m. on the 8th, she found that her husband had reported it to the authorities directly, saying it was "cold touch."

Richins was detained on the 9th and is scheduled for a court hearing on the 5th.

Richens, meanwhile, is also accused of possessing GHB (a.k.a. mullein), a so-called "date rape" drug.

(Photo=AP, Yonhap News)