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True Crime Today | Daily True Crime News & Interviews

Kouri Richins Trial: The Psychology Behind Choosing Murder Over Divorce

True Crime Today | Daily True Crime News & Interviews

Tony Brueski

News Commentary, True Crime, News

4.2612 Ratings

🗓️ 26 February 2026

⏱️ 22 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Why kill when you could just leave? The Kouri Richins case demands we answer that question.

Prosecutors allege Richins poisoned her husband Eric with fentanyl—and that this wasn't her first attempt. She allegedly stood to collect nearly two million dollars in life insurance while pursuing an affair. Exit strategies existed. Divorce was available. But according to prosecutors, she allegedly chose murder instead.

Psychotherapist Shavaun Scott joins True Crime Today to examine the psychology of partners who allegedly cross this line. With over thirty years working with both victims and perpetrators of violence, Scott breaks down the internal logic that makes murder feel rational to someone in this mindset.

We analyze the language prosecutors allege Kouri used—feeling "stuck" and "trapped" in the marriage, believing it would be "better if Eric died." What does that tell us about how she perceived her options? Was it genuine hopelessness or calculated framing?

We examine the method of poisoning itself. It's not impulsive. It requires planning, patience, and watching suffering without intervening. Multiple alleged attempts mean multiple deliberate decisions. What kind of psychology sustains that?

And we look at what prosecutors allege came after: the children's book about grief, the television appearances, the public performance of widowhood. Forensic experts describe this as performing one role while enacting its opposite. How does that compartmentalization work?

Essential psychological analysis for understanding not just what allegedly happened in this case, but why.

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This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.

#KouriRichins #KouriRichinsTrial #EricRichins #FentanylPoisoning #TrueCrimeToday #ShavaunScott #SpouseMurder #DomesticViolence #PoisoningCase #CriminalPsychology

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

This is Hidden Killers with Tony Bruske. Here now, Tony Bruske.

0:06.1

Corey Richens, we're going to be stepping inside the psychology of this case, the psychology of partners.

0:13.6

We'll allegedly choose murder over divorce using the Corey Richens case as our lens, assuming the prosecution's theory is accurate.

0:22.5

Corey, obviously, innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

0:26.0

That's what the trial is for, so allegedly in front of anything we say here.

0:29.8

We're exploring what makes someone believe killing their spouse is the better option than

0:35.4

filing some paperwork.

0:37.4

What's the internal logic?

0:39.0

How did they justify it to themselves?

0:41.9

Sivan Scott is a licensed psychotherapist over 30 years

0:45.2

working with both victims and perpetrators of violence

0:47.9

and the author of the Mind of Mass Killers and your memoir,

0:52.0

which is right here, out now.

0:55.3

Nightbird, available wherever books are sold.

0:59.0

I need the prices right music when we do that.

1:01.3

I've been watching so much prices right lately.

1:05.7

The Bob Barker years, the old ones, as an escape from the world.

1:09.0

That's good.

1:10.1

Every now when I walk around my house, I'm like,

1:12.5

what do we got behind the fridge for dinner?

1:15.2

It's a brand new lasagna.

1:19.5

You know, then I play the music and everybody, my house stares at me.

...

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