「死別の悲しみ」を本にした妻、夫殺害で訴追　米

【ロサンゼルスＡＦＰ＝時事】米国で、夫の死後に死別の悲しみとの向き合い方を題材にした本を出版した女が、夫を殺害していたとして殺人罪で訴追された。現地メディアが８日報じた。（写真はパソコンのキーボード〈資料写真〉）
　コウリ・リチンス被告の夫エリックさんは昨年３月、夫婦の寝室で亡くなっていた。
　現地テレビ局ＦＯＸ１３によると、リチンス被告は警察に対し、ベッドに入っていた夫に飲み物を用意して持って行き、後に再び寝室に戻ると夫は「冷たくなっていた」と供述していた。
　検視の結果、エリックさんはオピオイド系鎮痛剤「フェンタニル」の過剰摂取で死亡したことが明らかになった。体内からは、致死量の５倍のフェンタニルが検出された。
　警察は、被告が知人に対し、本来は処方箋を必要とする強力な鎮痛剤の入手を依頼していたことを突き止めた。被告は最大３０錠のフェンタニルを受け取った上、夫の死の直前にも同剤を追加入手していた。
　ＦＯＸ１３が引用した捜査資料によると、エリックさんは友人に「妻が自分を毒殺しようとしていると思う」と打ち明けていた。
　被告は夫の死からほぼ１年後に「アー・ユー・ウィズ・ミー？（原題）」と題する本を出版した。父親を亡くした主人公の子どもが、「守護天使のようにそばにいる父親の存在」に気付く物語だった。
　本の宣伝文には「同じ苦悩に直面した愛情深い母親」が、「幼い心を癒やし慰めるため」に書いた「心温まる、元気付けられる」作品だと記されている。
　夫婦は９年前に結婚し、３人の男児をもうけていた。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2023/05/11-15:47）

A US woman who wrote a book on dealing with grief after the death of her husband has been charged with his murder.
Kouri Richins penned Are You With Me? in the months after Eric Richins was found dead in their bedroom in Utah in March 2022.
Richins told police she had mixed her husband a drink and taken it to him in bed. When she came back later she found he was cold to the touch, Fox 13 reported Monday.
An autopsy revealed he had died from an overdose of fentanyl, with five times the lethal dosage in his body.
Investigators found Kouri Richins had asked an acquaintance to get her strong prescription pain medication, specifically some of the Michael Jackson stuff.
Richins received up to 30 fentanyl pills.
A few days later, Eric Richins told a friend that he thought his wife was trying to poison him, investigators' documents said, according to Fox 13.
Kouri Richins obtained another batch of fentanyl shortly before her husband died.
Richins' book, which was published almost exactly a year after her husband died, is described by its blurb as heartwarming and reassuring.
Written by a loving mother who personally faced this challenge, this book is designed to offer comfort and solace to young minds.
'Are You With Me' follows the story of a child who has lost their father, but who is reminded that his presence still exists all around them, just like an angel watching over them.
The couple, who had been married for nine years, had three children, all boys.
Richins has been charged with aggravated murder and three counts of possession with intent to distribute controlled substances.
The charges come less than a year after a woman who penned a tract entitled How to Murder Your Husband was jailed for his killing.
Nancy Crampton Brophy shot her spouse twice at the culinary institute where he worked in Oregon in the hope of collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars in life insurance.
The author, whose Wrong Never Felt So Right series of novels include The Wrong Husband and The Wrong Lover, was caught on CCTV driving around the murder scene, but claimed she had no memory of being there, offering instead that she had probably been trying to get inspiration for a new work of fiction.
A movie about the killing -- called How to Murder Your Husband -- featuring Moonlighting star Cybill Shepherd, and Short Circuit actor Steve Guttenberg was released in January.