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An innocent man spent years in prison for his wife's murder. Now prosecutors say ...
Morning Mix
An innocent man spent years in prison for his wife’s murder. Now prosecutors say her close friend framed him.
Pamela Hupp, who became the sole beneficiary of Betsy Faria’s life insurance policy four days before her death, is serving life in prison for another murder case.
Pamela Hupp was sentenced to life in prison in 2019 for the murder of a disabled man, which prosecutors have alleged she committed to redirect the growing suspicion against her for Betsy Faria’s death back to Faria's husband. (St. Charles County Prosecuting Attorney's Office/AP) (AP)
By Katie Shepherd
July 13, 2021 | Updated today at 9:47 a.m. EDT
After Pamela Hupp drove her close friend Betsy Faria home from chemotherapy treatment on Dec. 27, 2011, police identified her as the last person to see Faria alive. Later that evening, someone repeatedly stabbed Faria in her home in Troy, Mo., as she rested on the sofa, leaving the knife lodged in her throat.
Police and prosecutors initially suspected that Faria’s husband had killed her. Hupp told investigators that Faria’s husband had a violent temper and urged them to check her friend’s computer, where police discovered a document claiming that she feared her husband might kill her. Russell Faria was ultimately convicted in his wife’s death — and spent three years in prison.
Now, prosecutors say that the case was badly mishandled — and that it was Hupp who committed first-degree murder. ... “I came to the conclusion that, beyond a reasonable doubt, Pamela Hupp killed Betsy Faria,” Lincoln County prosecutor Mike Wood said at a news conference Monday. “And I believe her motivation was simple: for greed.”
The charges come as Hupp, who became the sole beneficiary of Faria’s $150,000 life insurance policy four days before the murder, is serving a life sentence for another murder that prosecutors say she orchestrated to shield her from being considered a suspect in Faria’s death. Prosecutors will seek the death penalty for the new murder charge against Hupp.
{snip}
By Katie Shepherd
Katie Shepherd is a reporter on The Washington Post's Morning Mix team. Before joining The Post, she was a staff writer at Willamette Week in Portland, Ore. Twitter https://twitter.com/katemshepherd
An innocent man spent years in prison for his wife’s murder. Now prosecutors say her close friend framed him.
Pamela Hupp, who became the sole beneficiary of Betsy Faria’s life insurance policy four days before her death, is serving life in prison for another murder case.
Pamela Hupp was sentenced to life in prison in 2019 for the murder of a disabled man, which prosecutors have alleged she committed to redirect the growing suspicion against her for Betsy Faria’s death back to Faria's husband. (St. Charles County Prosecuting Attorney's Office/AP) (AP)
By Katie Shepherd
July 13, 2021 | Updated today at 9:47 a.m. EDT
After Pamela Hupp drove her close friend Betsy Faria home from chemotherapy treatment on Dec. 27, 2011, police identified her as the last person to see Faria alive. Later that evening, someone repeatedly stabbed Faria in her home in Troy, Mo., as she rested on the sofa, leaving the knife lodged in her throat.
Police and prosecutors initially suspected that Faria’s husband had killed her. Hupp told investigators that Faria’s husband had a violent temper and urged them to check her friend’s computer, where police discovered a document claiming that she feared her husband might kill her. Russell Faria was ultimately convicted in his wife’s death — and spent three years in prison.
Now, prosecutors say that the case was badly mishandled — and that it was Hupp who committed first-degree murder. ... “I came to the conclusion that, beyond a reasonable doubt, Pamela Hupp killed Betsy Faria,” Lincoln County prosecutor Mike Wood said at a news conference Monday. “And I believe her motivation was simple: for greed.”
The charges come as Hupp, who became the sole beneficiary of Faria’s $150,000 life insurance policy four days before the murder, is serving a life sentence for another murder that prosecutors say she orchestrated to shield her from being considered a suspect in Faria’s death. Prosecutors will seek the death penalty for the new murder charge against Hupp.
{snip}
By Katie Shepherd
Katie Shepherd is a reporter on The Washington Post's Morning Mix team. Before joining The Post, she was a staff writer at Willamette Week in Portland, Ore. Twitter https://twitter.com/katemshepherd