PARK CITY, UTAH – In a courtroom moment that left jurors, spectators, and millions watching the live feed stunned, Robert Josh Grossman – the secret lover of convicted killer Kouri Richins – broke down sobbing on the witness stand, his voice cracking as he recounted the damning texts where she wished her husband Eric would simply “disappear” so they could build a life together. “She said, ‘If he could just go away and you could just be here! Life would be so perfect!!!’” Grossman testified, head in hands, tears streaming. “I was really happy thinking she was going to divorce him… but not like this. Not like this.”

The emotional meltdown came during day eight of the explosive March 2026 trial, where Grossman – the Iraq war veteran and handyman Kouri hired for her house-flipping empire – took the stand as the prosecution’s star witness. For hours, he read aloud their intimate, gushing messages exchanged from late 2021 through the weeks after Eric’s March 4, 2022 death – texts that prosecutors say reveal Kouri’s motive: escape the marriage without losing the millions, using fentanyl to make Eric “go away” permanently.

Grossman, 43, shifted uncomfortably, muttering “oh boy” under his breath as prosecutors projected the messages on courtroom screens. One particularly gut-wrenching exchange from before Eric’s death: Kouri allegedly typed that she wished Eric would vanish so she and Grossman could be free. Grossman admitted he believed she was planning a divorce – not murder. “I thought she was going to leave him the right way,” he said, voice breaking. “I never imagined… not like this.” At one point, he put his head down, wiped tears, and the judge halted proceedings for a break so he could compose himself. “I don’t know what I need,” Grossman told the court, overwhelmed.

The testimony painted a vivid picture of a passionate, secretive affair that began innocently enough. Grossman met Kouri in South Carolina after answering an ad to help flip houses. Sparks flew; he moved to Utah to work with her full-time. By 2021, they were declaring love, planning vacations, fantasizing about a future. Texts showed Kouri calling him her “best friend,” Grossman responding he loved her deeply. They discussed marriage, living in her Midway mansion, escaping the drama.

But the shadow of Eric Richins loomed. Kouri complained about fights over money – her real estate debts topping $4.5 million, Eric’s stonemason success keeping the family afloat. Prosecutors say she secretly bought fentanyl through a housekeeper, stockpiled it (much hidden in the family kitchen), and tested a dose on Valentine’s Day 2022 – Eric fell ill, later warning friends: “If I die, look at her.” He survived that attempt.

Then came March 3-4, 2022. While Eric was still alive in their Kamas home, Kouri and Grossman texted about meeting up that day. Prosecutors allege she spiked his celebratory Moscow Mule with five times a lethal fentanyl dose. Eric collapsed; Kouri called 911 at 3 a.m., claiming she found him unresponsive after tending to a child. He was dead by dawn.

Grossman testified that two weeks later, they met in the Uinta Mountains – the first time discussing Eric’s death openly. Their relationship soured by early 2023 after a falling out; he cut contact. When Kouri was arrested in 2023 after writing her infamous grief book “Are You With Me?” – Grossman heard about it on the radio, researched, and was “blown away.” Guilt over the affair overwhelmed him; he contacted Eric’s family private investigator, then police, sharing everything – including Kouri’s chilling question: Had he ever killed anyone during his Iraq service? What did it feel like?

“I was overwhelmed with guilt, sorrow over my wrongdoings, infidelity,” Grossman said on cross-examination. He insisted he knew nothing of any poison plan. “I never suspected something intentionally might have happened to him… let alone from her.” Prosecutors used his testimony to hammer motive: Kouri wanted Eric gone for the money (secret policies worth millions, estate she thought she’d inherit fully), the freedom, and Grossman – without messy divorce.

Defense attorneys grilled him: no direct proof Kouri administered the drug, missed search opportunities in the home, possible other sources. But Grossman’s raw emotion – wiping tears, head down, voice trembling – proved devastating for Kouri, who sat stone-faced throughout. Jurors convicted her March 16 on all counts: aggravated murder, attempted murder, fraud, forgery. Life without parole looms at May sentencing.

Eric’s family, who suspected foul play from day one, finally got answers. The three boys lost their dad to alleged greed; now their mom is behind bars. The book that made Kouri a “grief guru”? A cruel irony – written by the woman prosecutors say orchestrated the grief.

Grossman’s collapse on the stand humanized the horror: a man who loved deeply, believed in a future, only to learn his lover allegedly killed to make it happen. “Not like this,” he repeated – words echoing the nation’s shock. While Eric gasped his last, Kouri dreamed of paradise with another man. That dream died in court, exposed in tears and texts.

The Utah mountains stand silent tonight, but the betrayal roars on – a lover’s heartbreak, a husband’s murder, a family’s devastation. Kouri Richins’ web of lies unraveled in the most heartbreaking way: through the man who once believed her every word.