Kouri Richins: Boyfriend details texts and relationship as Day 8 trial testimony turns personal
kouri richins was in court in Park City as her former boyfriend, Robert Josh Grossman, testified Wednesday about the text messages and conversations they shared before and after Eric Richins’ death. Grossman told jurors he verified numerous messages shown in court, at times lowering his head or wiping tears as private exchanges were displayed publicly. Kouri Richins is accused of fatally poisoning her husband on March 4, 2022, and the testimony focused on the relationship timeline, the messaging in the days around his death, and how Grossman says things shifted afterward.
Day 8 testimony centers on Grossman’s texts with Kouri Richins
Grossman described meeting Kouri Richins in South Carolina around 2017 and later helping her flip homes. He testified their romantic relationship began around 2020 after he moved to Utah to continue that work, saying he would live in homes she was flipping and that she would occasionally pay him.
Jurors heard messages that prosecutors used to frame the relationship’s intensity and strain. In one exchange less than a month before Eric Richins’ death, Grossman read a message where Richins asked, “If I was divorced right now and ask you to marry me tomorrow, you would?” Grossman replied, “Yes. In Love with Y O U! Of course I would. ” In another message a few days later, she texted she wanted a future with him.
Other texts shown in court included a message stating, “If he could just go away and you could just be here! Life would be so perfect!!!” and a December 2021 message in which Richins wrote: “I really enjoy my relationship and love for you.. but (you’re) right.. we both know this love triangle can’t go on forever. You don’t deserve it, I don’t deserve you. I can’t expect you to sit around for the day the trigger gets pulled. ”
Key moments around Feb. 14 and March 4, 2022, and what Grossman says he understood
Grossman testified that on Feb. 14, 2022, he and Richins had plans to spend the day together. Prosecutors have alleged Kouri Richins slipped drugs into Eric Richins’ food on that date, making him sick.
Grossman also described messaging during the week Eric Richins died, testifying that plans had been made to meet on a Friday for brunch to celebrate the signing of closing documents on a mansion. He read a text from Richins a few days earlier: “Can I try Friday? Give me a few days? Hang in there until then please?” Grossman told jurors he never took that to mean Eric Richins would be “out of the picture” by Friday.
Grossman read his own message sent at 5: 51 p. m. the day before Eric Richins died, describing how he wanted to celebrate with balloons and champagne and be present for the “news. ” He testified it took time for Richins to reply, and that later, around 8: 30 p. m., she texted: “I’m not mad at you, at all. Just haven’t had a second to text.. give me a few.. love you. ” He said they did not text again until the following morning when he asked what was happening and she replied, “Eric passed away. ” She also wrote “talk later, ” and later told Grossman they thought Eric Richins died from an aneurysm.
Immediate reactions in court: payment recollection and the Uinta Mountains conversation
Grossman testified that after Eric Richins died, Richins came across as sad, and that when he saw her it appeared she was “bent out of shape. ” He said he saw her less often after the death and that she changed in “normal ways anybody would be different after something of that magnitude. ” He also testified that Richins ended the relationship and that it was the first time he had seen her since they broke up in late 2022 or early 2023, adding that after the breakup, the text messages stopped.
Under questioning, Grossman said he remembered being paid $25, 000 for a house they flipped together, though he did not recall the exact timing. He also testified Richins told him in a text message that she got a life insurance policy, and he said she seemed surprised and did not expect it.
Grossman testified that about two weeks after Eric Richins’ death, he and Richins went into the Uinta Mountains and talked about the death for the first time. In additional testimony, he described the discussion as touching on life and death, Richins’ boys, God, shooting a bow, and “supernatural stuff, ” adding that at the time it happened, the talk was not surprising.
Quick context
Kouri Richins is on trial in Summit County, Utah, on charges that include aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder, insurance fraud, and forgery. Robert Josh Grossman testified Wednesday about his relationship with Richins and the text-message record shown to jurors.
What’s next for kouri richins in court
Court action in the case is scheduled to resume at 9: 30 a. m. ET, after Grossman was released from the stand and the court recessed. As testimony continues, jurors are expected to hear further evidence and questioning tied to the timeline and communications surrounding Eric Richins’ death and the allegations against kouri richins.
