Housekeeper admits selling Kouri Richins fentanyl: affidavit

July 7, 2023

Kouri Richins’ housekeeper — a convicted drug dealer — has confessed to selling the Utah mom two batches of fentanyl in the weeks before she allegedly used some to poison her husband, according to newly revealed court records.

Carmen Marie Lauber, 51, was first linked over a series of text messages to Richins, the mom of three who penned a book about the grief of losing the husband she’s now charged with murdering last year, according to numerous records obtained by KSL NewsRadio.

While she has not been charged in the Richins case, Lauber confessed in May to the drug deal after being investigated for breaking court orders from a 2021 first-degree felony drug conviction, according to a warrant.

“Lauber admitted to supplying Kouri Richins with 15-30 fentanyl pills on two separate occasions, approximately one month before Eric’s death,” Summit County sheriff’s detectives said in the affidavit.

“She stated Kouri paid her approximately $900 each time she supplied the pills.

Kouri Richins in court. — Kouri Richins, pictured in court, paid her housekeeper $1,800 for “15-30 fentanyl pills,” the convicted dealer told cops.

“She provided details of the solicitation of the drugs, the pickup and drop-off locations, and other pertinent details that have been corroborated with digital forensic evidence,” the affidavit said.

Lauber had earlier been referred to in earlier documents only by her initials, “C.L.”

She was described as “a housekeeper often used by Kouri for her residential real estate business.”

Kouri Richins, left, and husband Eric, right. — Kouri Richins, left, bought the pills about a month before she allegedly used some to kill husband Eric, right.

However, Lauber was convicted in 2021 for a slew of drug crimes, including drug possession with intent to distribute, a first-degree felony, according to KSL.

She took a plea in abeyance and agreed to enter drug court. But she was reinvestigated after her name emerged in the investigation of Richie’s murder at his home in March last year.

Lauber was eyed as “likely still involved in the possession and distribution of illegal substances” as part of “an investigation regarding a death that occurred in March of 2022,” deputies wrote in an affidavit on April 26 — about two weeks before Kouri Richins, 33, was charged with murder.

Kourio Richins, who wrote a book about the grief of losing the husband she allegedly murdered. — Investigators were eyeing the housekeeper even before Richins, pictured, was charged with her husband’s murder.

A GPS tracking device was placed on the housekeeper’s car, and drug paraphernalia was found in her trash during a search, the report said.

Lauber then confessed to selling Richins fentanyl during an interview by Summit County sheriff’s detectives on May 2, KSL said.

She was released from custody on May 17 — but barred from contacting several people, including Ritchins, the outlet said.

The Richins' home in Francis, Utah. — Lauber was supposedly a housekeeper at the home where Kouri Richins is accused of murdering her husband, Eric.

The murder trial was repeatedly alluded to — but not directly addressed — when Lauber appeared in court Wednesday for allegedly violating her drug court agreement.

That included Lauber’s attorney, who was not identified by KSL, telling the court that the housekeeper wants to “move forward” and avoid any “terrible consequences.”

Kouri Richins has claimed she and her husband were celebrating her latest real estate deal the night he died. She claims she fell asleep soon after bringing her husband a Moscow Mule vodka drink — waking to find him collapsed on the floor.