Kouri Richins’ House: Midway Mansion, Francis Home, and Insurance Money

The Kouri Richins house story is really two houses: the family home in Francis, Utah, where Eric Richins died on March 4, 2022, and the 22,000-square-foot unfinished mansion in Midway that Kouri closed on the very next day. Prosecutors put both properties at the center of their murder case, arguing that a collapsing real estate business and roughly $7.5 million in debt gave Kouri a financial motive to poison her husband with fentanyl.¹

The Midway Mansion at 106 North Legacy Way

The property that came to define the case is a massive, unfinished estate at 106 North Legacy Way in Midway, Utah. Construction began in 2017 under developer Doug Roylance, who planned a communal rental with eight bedrooms, 12 bathrooms, two kitchens, a swimming pool, a golf simulator, and a rock climbing wall on 10 acres. Permitting problems and an unattended death on the property stalled the project in 2019, and by year’s end all construction had stopped.²

The house sat on the market for nearly two years before Kouri Richins moved to buy it. Eric’s family later said he believed the property was too expensive and had planned to tell Kouri they weren’t going through with the purchase.³ Kouri closed on the property on March 5, 2022, one day after Eric died.

The Closing Date the Prosecution Called No Coincidence

Summit County prosecutor Brad Bloodworth told the jury Kouri had originally been scheduled to close on March 4 but “hedged” the date because she needed to be certain Eric was dead before proceeding — she needed immediate access to his money to finalize the deal. Digital evidence reinforced the point. Images of the Midway mansion were accessed on Kouri’s phone at 8:29 p.m. on March 4, which prosecutors said was the exact minute deputies signed out of the house after responding to Eric’s death.⁴

The financials of the purchase were themselves damning. Forensic accountant Brooke Karrington testified that Kouri bought the mansion for $2.9 million with a $3.2 million loan, leaving nothing for the estimated $3 million in renovations still needed. The day after closing, Kouri’s net worth was negative $1.6 million.¹

Two weeks after Eric’s death, Kouri listed the unfinished property for roughly $4.8 million and later relisted it at $3.75 million.³ She defaulted on the mortgages in September 2023. Kirk Harns, an engineer from southern California, bought the mansion at the $3.75 million listing price. Harns described the transaction as a “straight business deal” unrelated to the criminal case and said he intended to finish the home as a single-family residence and eventually flip it.⁵

The Family Home in Francis

The house Eric died in was a very different property. Located at 282 Willow Court in Francis, Utah, near Park City, the family home was purchased in late 2012 for $400,000 from Eric’s sister, Katie Richins-Benson. Legal title was held solely in Eric’s name. The couple raised their three sons there. Kouri stayed in the house after Eric’s death and continued paying the mortgage, insurance, and utilities until she was arrested and charged in approximately May 2023.⁶

The title question became a bitter civil fight. Kouri sued Eric’s estate to force the sale of the home, claiming it was now worth at least $1.9 million and that she was entitled to half the equity as a marital asset. In August 2024, Judge Richard Mrazik ruled that Kouri did not own the home because her name had never been on the title. He ordered that if the family sold the property, the proceeds be set aside until the court determined who was entitled to them.⁷

The title arrangement wasn’t accidental. In 2020, after discovering that Kouri had stolen money from him, Eric created a trust, transferred the family home and other assets into it, named his sister Katie Richins-Benson as trustee, and cut Kouri out of his will.⁸

A Real Estate Business That Was Imploding

The two houses fit inside a much larger financial picture. Karrington testified that under her company K. Richins Realty, Kouri went from one home purchase in 2019 to five in 2020, 15 in 2021, and then the Midway mansion in early 2022. By March 2022, she owed approximately $7.5 million and was carrying $80,000 a month in debt service. She had four payday loans that each required $2,100 daily payments. In December 2021 alone, her accounts logged 77 overdraft or insufficient-funds transactions and $2,000 in bank fees.⁹

Karrington also testified that Kouri had written over $300,000 in bounced checks to contractors by late 2021 and had misrepresented her business to creditors, claiming more than 100 employees and over $1 million in earnings from recent deals. The forensic accountant found no evidence supporting those claims. Her conclusion: the business was “imploding,” and even a full asset sale would not have brought Kouri to a zero balance.¹

The Insurance Money That Was Supposed to Save It All

Eric Richins held approximately $2.2 million in life insurance across several policies.¹⁰ Prosecutors alleged Kouri had forged an application for one policy that took effect on February 4, 2022, one month before Eric died, naming herself the beneficiary and using her business address on the paperwork.¹¹ In January 2022, she also tried without authorization to change the beneficiary of Eric’s $2 million policy to herself.¹²

Kouri received about $1.4 million of the proceeds after Eric’s death, with the rest placed into a trust. The money came in three payments between June and September 2022. By September 19, 2022, every dollar had gone to debt payments. Her account balance was $802.¹ The defense used those same numbers to argue against motive. Attorney Wendy Lewis told jurors that Eric “was worth so much more to Kouri alive,” pointing out that Kouri remained in debt even after the insurance paid out.⁴

Estate Lawsuits and Frozen Assets

The property fights didn’t end with the criminal case. Three weeks after Eric’s death, Kouri sued his trust for money and other assets. The estate answered with a $13 million lawsuit alleging money theft, fraudulent credit card charges, misappropriation of Eric’s likeness for Kouri’s self-published grief book, and wrongful death; the suit also sought to hold K. Richins Realty jointly liable.¹³

In August 2023, Judge Mrazik ruled that trustee Katie Richins-Benson was entitled to a $2 million payment from a buy/sell agreement tied to Eric’s contracting business, C&E Stone Masonry, rejecting Kouri’s claim to those funds.¹⁴ In November 2023, the judge froze Kouri’s assets — including those held by her realty company — under Utah’s “slayer statute” to preserve them in case of a conviction. The $13 million civil suit was paused indefinitely because of its overlap with the criminal case.¹⁵

Where the Houses Are Now

The Midway mansion belongs to Kirk Harns, who bought it in November 2023 and planned to finish it as a single-family home.⁵ The family home in Francis remains tied up in the estate proceedings under Judge Mrazik’s August 2024 ruling that any sale proceeds be held pending a court decision on entitlement.⁷ Kouri Richins was convicted on all five counts in March 2026 and sentenced in May 2026 to life without the possibility of parole, with consecutive sentences on the remaining counts.¹⁶ Her appeal is pending before the Utah Court of Appeals.¹⁷

1
Park Record. Financial Expert Testifies That Kouri Richins Used Money From Life Insurance Policy to Pay Off Growing $7.5 Million Debt
2
Townlift. The Story Behind Midway’s Unfinished Mansion
3
KPCW. The Grand Home: Kouri Richins’ Plywood Mansion in Midway Could Have Buyer
4
East Idaho News. Verdict Reached in Kouri Richins Murder Trial
5
Townlift. Kouri Richins’ Unfinished Mansion Has a New Owner
6
Law & Crime. Kouri Richins Sues Estate to Force Sale of Family Home
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KPCW. Judge Rules on Ownership of Eric and Kouri Richins Home
8
Court TV. Estate of Eric Richins Files $13 Million Lawsuit Against Kouri Richins
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East Idaho News. Forensic Accountant Testifies About Kouri Richins Finances
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CNN. Kouri Richins Trial Key Revelations
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CBS News. Kouri Richins Trial
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ABC 4. Kouri Richins Complete Timeline in Murder Case
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ABC 4. Eric Richins Estate Files $13 Million Lawsuit Against Kouri Richins
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KPCW. Eric Richins’ Family, Not Kouri, Gets Insurance Money From Eric’s Business
15
KPCW. Court Freezes Kouri Richins Assets Ahead of Murder Trial
16
CNN. Kouri Richins Murder Sentencing
17
Park Record. Kouri Richins Appeals Aggravated Murder Conviction, Will Get New Attorneys