The Faria Murder - The Case, The Twists, The Fraud

Russ is finally FREE! Congratulations to him, his family, and his very supportive friends.


***Some Updates Available Below***

I was contacted by a Facebook friend to check out a murder case that has recently garnered a whole lot of attention - including an episode on Dateline (see below). He is interested in alerting as many people as he can about the details of this case. Ya see, my friend is also friends with the man who is being accused of murdering his wife.

The man is Russ Faria and his wife was Betsy.


A cursory view of this murder case left me with some mixed feelings. At first this sounded like a typical crime of passion. Husband kills wife, says he's "out with friends," tries to clean-up evidence, pretends he wasn't there when the murder happened - a slam dunk. Most everyone understands (especially police), that crimes like this always point to the spouse. It's just common sense.

The 911 phone call was rather odd as well. Certainly you would expect a man coming home to find his wife a bloody mess to be distraught but there was a phrase that stood out, a typical sign that authorities note as someone being guilty. "Why did she do this to me?" An innocent person almost never thinks of themselves or their own feelings. Russ also admitted his wife was dead during the call, another indication of guilt. Innocent people are rarely able to accept the death of a loved one, rather they will scream for help and insist on medical treatment avoiding all niceties. Now add to this the fact that Betsy was stabbed over 50 times and Russ stated he believed Betsy had killed herself. Huh?

Yet, as the story unfolds and a time line begins to take form, it becomes more and more clear that Russ is an innocent man. As of now, he was convicted and he has been sentenced to a life in prison.

So many questions...how did this happen? If Russ didn't kill his wife, who did and for what purpose? Was this really a crime of passion or was this a killing that was planned and executed? Did someone stand to benefit from Betsy's death?

Allow me to start with the night of the murder...

2011 Dec 27 Tuesday

Betsy had a chemo treatment on this day - yes, she had cancer and was told she did not have long to live. She then was reported to have gone to her mother's. Russ was supposed to pick her up but according to him, Betsy told him not to bother because she was going to have a friend bring her home.

According to surveillance cameras, Russ had gone to at least two gas stations around 5:15 PM. The first one he stopped to get gas, and another station he bought cigarettes, dog food, and a couple of ice teas.

Russ then made his way to a friend's house (about 35 mins away), where four other people (3 male, 1 female), were present. This group of friends routinely enjoy a night of gaming once a week in order to stay in contact and have fun without spending a bunch of money. According to Michael Corbin, who hosted this game night, had this to say:

We'd been doing game night for about 3-4 years previous to Betsy's murder and the rest of us still play game night to this day.  Every Tuesday we would get together and play one of a couple of board games or old-fashioned pen and paper role playing games. We've added a few more games to the list than we had when Russ was with us, but we still all enjoy to get together and play.  Betsy never came to game night...but not everyone likes sitting around playing boardgames or rpg's.  We'd had a number of other players come and go over the years, but Russ and the rest of us were the core that were always around.

Russ' friends have all stated without a doubt that Russ was with them that night. According to them, he had arrived about 6 PM or just before that time. Cell phone records also confirm that Russ' phone was pinging at a tower that was near Corbin's home confirming his location.

Russ left Corbin's home between 8:45 PM and 9:00 PM and he also has a receipt from an Arby's that is located near his friend's home. The time stamp was 9:09 PM. Russ then would have drove straight home and at around 9:40 PM the 911 call was placed.

On the other side of this equation, our soon to be murder victim Betsy was with a friend of hers named Bobbie or Bobby. Betsy had texted another friend Pam Hupp at some point telling her she did not need a ride home but Pam showed up anyway. This woman would state that she dropped off Betsy at her home and then drove home, leaving Betsy alive and alone. Based on phone calls and statements and the fact that nobody says they saw Russ home, the time of Betsy's arrival to her home is placed around 7:00 PM or a little after.

It should be noted that Betsy has two daughters from a previous relationship. There names are Leah and Mariah Day. One of the daughters indicated that she had spoke with her mother and was expecting to speak with her soon after however calls from her daughter made at 7:21, 7:26, and 7:30 PM all went unanswered.

Pam Hupp leaving the Lincoln County Justice Center. Fox 2 / Dave Sharp.

There is a phone call from Pam made to her husband that went unanswered at 7:04 PM. After Pam left Betsy (again, around 7:00 PM), she made a phone call to Betsy at 7:27 that went unanswered. Pam told the police she thought she called to let Betsy know she made it home however cell phone pings would reveal she was still near Betsy's home. Pam lived about 30 minutes away.

Source

Russ leaves his friend's house around 9:00 PM and stops at an Arby's. He then makes his way home. When he arrives, he discovers Betsy has been killed. He sees slashes on her arms and a knife in her neck. 

Russ called the police and they came to the house to investigate. Here is a rundown of what was discovered during the investigation:

1) Betsy's body is already cold and stiff.

2) Betsy had a knife in her neck and had been stabbed over 50 times, yet Russ claims he did not see all of the wounds. In fact, most of her wounds are covered and it is confirmed that many of the stabs were made after Betsy was already dead.

4) The police take out the plumbing and it's discovered that nobody had recently showered or rinsed off; there's no blood in the drains.

5) Russ does not have any blood or DNA on him. In fact, he's wearing the same clothes that he was spotted on camera wearing at the gas stations he visited before going over to his friend's house for game night.

6) It is discovered that Betsy and Russ did not have a perfect marriage. It is reported that both had cheated on one another. Like other couples they went through their problems. There were mixed reports and feelings from friends and family concerning the possibility of Russ being involved. While some believed it to be true immediately others stated it was not likely or possible.

7) At the time of the murder Betsy had been diagnosed with cancer for a second time and was essentially given a death sentence. Her cancer had previously gone into remission and then came back. The chemo therapy was done for the purposes of lengthening her life as much as possible.

8) Blood was found on a light switch. There was another male DNA profile discovered and Russ' profile was ruled out.

9) Russ' slippers had blood on them and they were thrown in the master bedroom closet. No other prints were found.

10) Eight semen cells were found inside of Betsy that belonged to Faria. This is very consistent with what Russ told police - that him and his wife were intimate on Sunday night.

Bloody shoes hap-hazardously thrown in master bedroom closet for all to see, because apparently Russ was too stupid to figure out that police would search the house after he called them. Sounds legit.

...and the kicker to this all...

11) Just four days before Betsy was killed she changed the beneficiary on her life insurance policy worth 150 thousand dollars. Who did she list as the new beneficiary? Pam Hupp - the last person to see Betsy alive.

Yet, police never really focused on Pam. They considered her to be cooperative. They asked her for the clothes she wore that day and she provided them however, there was no one else to really confirm if those were indeed the clothes she had worn. There is no reference to her home or car being searched.

The police seemed to have immediately pointed the finger at Russ and anything that did not seem to support his involvement was dismissed.

Pam was also eager to badmouth Russ to the police. According to her statements she told them that Russ was mean and would play games with Betsy; he would put a pillow over her face and told her, "this is what it feels like to die." Nobody else could confirm this ever happened.

Pam revealed something else to police as well - a motive. She claims that Betsy was going to tell Russ that night she wanted the family to move in with her parents and they would rent out the home they were currently living in. Pam said Betsy wanted to be closer to her family and closer to the location she was receiving her chemo treatments. Betsy told Pam she was anxious about telling Russ this news because he was going to be upset; he was tired of moving around and would have no interest in moving into her family's home.

Who exactly is Pam Hupp? 

In my interview with Michael Corbin, I asked him if he had discussed Pam with Russ? What did Russ know about Pam? Here's what he said:

 In my last visit to see Russ, I asked him how well he knew Pam and he told me he had met her once, maybe twice.  Certainly not a best friend to Betsy.

In the reports I have read and listening to recorded parts of Pam being interviewed, it has been stated that Pam knew Betsy for about 10 years and they had met through work in the insurance industry. Pam is about 9 years older than Betsy and there are reports that Betsy had complained to another friend that Pam was smothering her.

Pam is married and I am unsure at this point how many children she has but, it does appear she is a mother. I have been told that her and her husband own a few businesses but, it seems as though the husband is who takes care of most the endeavors. This I cannot confirm or deny. Pam told the court in her deposition that she collects $800 per month for disability. I guess she has problems with her back, legs, and her fat ass, etc.

Well...what about this insurance policy? Tell me more! 

I'm glad you asked. This is where Pam's story becomes more and more questionable. The police dropped the ball completely on these details and only now we are finally discovering the lies that Pam told police during their original investigation.

The daughters of Betsy are suing Pam Hupp for the life insurance money. Pam has refused to give them any amount.

Let's go back to the time just before the murder... 

4 days before...We know that Pam and Betsy had visited the Library in Wing Haven. The purpose of going there was to have a librarian witness the signature of Betsy who in turn signed over her life insurance policy to Pam Hupp.

The library assistant is a woman by the name of Lauren Manganelli. So far, I can find no connection with Lauren and Pam. Lauren said during her deposition on 2014 July 22 that she saw Betsy and Pam come into the library and were there about a half hour organizing papers and then approached her in order to ask her to witness the signature. She says the date was 2011 Dec 23. Pamela did most of the talking during this exchange. Pam told Lauren that Betsy a.k.a. Elizabeth Faria was getting a divorce from her husband Russ and because of this she wanted to sign over her policy to her best friend Pam. Either Pam, Elizabeth, or both did mention that Elizabeth had children and the money would be used for them.

Lauren specifically says that she did not ask either woman for identification. This is in  direct contrast to what Pam Hupp has told the court. She claims her and Elizabeth had both shown their ID's to Lauren.

In an early statement given to police by Pam she confirms that Betsy wanted her to be the beneficiary of the life insurance policy because she wanted to make sure that her daughters get the money when they are older. She was concerned that they would blow through the money and/or her family would do the same. Pam was to take the money and disperse it to them later on.

Just days later, Betsy is killed and Pam is all too willing to work with the police. She immediately goes into attack mode and goes after Russ, telling police all the nasty things about Russ and how Betsy was afraid of him; she even told them Betsy was hiding a knife for protection from Russ. Pamela is asked about the insurance policy at some point but she never mentions that her name being listed as the beneficiary is written in still very fresh ink.

Russ is arrested for Besty's murder and a case is being worked against him. However, despite Pam's claims to police about her intention of giving the daughter's money from the insurance policy, Pam had yet to even put the funds into a trust for them. Instead she deposited the funds into a joint checking account with her ball-less husband.

The trial for Russ is soon approaching and the police call Pam down to the station. They express a concern that she has yet to put the funds from the insurance policy into a trust for the girls. Pam is not at all phased. She tells the police she has every intention of doing so. She told Betsy's father that she did set up a revocable trust for the girls in the amount of 100 thousand dollars.

Where is the other 50 thousand? Well, apparently Pam took it upon herself to take that money and give it to another woman's daughter who was 12 years old. Supposedly this other woman died of cancer and Pam is using money intended for Betsy's daughters to help this other girl and her family. The story does not make much sense and Pam does not provide any real details here. She is very vague and offers no explanation for how she arrived at this decision - to just change the wishes of her "best friend" who had just been murdered - according to Pam by her own husband.

The Trial and Verdict

Russ Faria is convicted of his wife's death. Despite his seemingly air tight alibi, the judge decided to suppress all of the information pertaining to the insurance policy. According to this article the judge justified this decision because the state of Missouri has some law that states the defense is not allowed to use the "some other dude did it" defense. Even worse the judge insisted that there was no direct link to the crime scene and Pam - wasn't she the last person to see Betsy? 

Since none of this information about the insurance policy was allowed, Pam was free to testify and not answer any questions pertaining to her being listed as the beneficiary, nor when she became the beneficiary.

The jury was originally spit 6-6 but, according to some on the jury who had agreed to be interviewed by media outlets, they were not all fully swayed by the alibi witnesses. A closer look at how the prosecution closed their case with might have something to do with this confusion.

Without any warning the prosecution decided to present their theory of how Russ was able to kill his wife. The prosecutor insisted that Russ' friends were all in on the crime. Russ drove out to Corbin's home so he could leave his phone in order for it to ping off the towers 35-40 minutes away from his home. He then drove back home, got naked, had sex with his wife (because those chemo treatments always make a woman feel sexy afterwards), killed her, washed off (though there's no indication of that happening), had his friend stop at Arby's to get a receipt because I guess he knows there's no cameras there, and then the friend drops off the phone for Russ so that he could then call the police and of course nobody witnesses any of this because his friends have supernatural powers that allow them to travel invisible to the naked eye. Just before police get there, Russ sees some blood on his slippers and throws them right into the master bedroom closet where no policeman would ever go to look. Ever.

Yep. Sounds legit.

Hold on there sparky! 

I thought the police were saying this was a crime of passion? Pam said that Betsy anticipated Russ to be angry about having to move in with her relatives and renting their home out? Or was Russ going to be angry about being removed as the beneficiary? Or was it because Betsy was getting a divorce?

What the prosecutor did was present an entire story that shows premeditation. So what exactly was Russ so angry about if he had yet to hear any of this "bad news" that Pam claimed Betsy was going to tell him that night?

The prosecution wants this both ways. They are telling us that Russ got angry about something yet, that something did not ignite his temper immediately, that something would have festered and culminated to a man planning the killing of his wife and going through great pains to establish several alibis, even including his phone pings, not to mention he was able to avoid being spotted by anyone.

It doesn't matter whether Russ was naked or not during the killing, it would have been necessary for him to wash off but where? He couldn't be so careless to clean off at home and it's clear he didn't since the pipes were checked and it was established that nobody had showered. Even IF he and Corbin worked something out, he couldn't take the chance of washing up over there because if you're going to go through all these pains to cover up you would not take that risk since you would assume the police would look at your alibis.

Russ would have had to have enlisted the help of another person as well. There is no indication of this at all. It's fairly clear that around 7 Betsy was still alive and the unanswered phone calls seem to point to her being killed between 7 and 7:15 PM.

For whatever reason the jury did not understand and rather than being prudent in their decision, they convicted Russ.

Worse yet, the four alibis have all been flippantly accused of being accessory to murder however, they have not been charged. While the prosecutor was allowed to slander them in court, the four friends insist they are not involved in anyway. They have come forward to demand the prosecution do something. They refuse to abandon their friend in his time of need because they know it's simply not possible for him to have killed his wife.

I will also note here that a jury member got a phone call from a friend who worked at the courthouse. She told her friend after the verdict that Russ was innocent and proceeded to tell him she was privy to the information that was withheld from the jury.

Turning Up the Heat on Pam Hupp 

After trial, Hupp revoked the trust set up for Mariah and Leah, Betsy's daughters.

She is now completely denying that the money was ever for them. In fact, her story NOW is Betsy told her she didn't want anyone in her family getting any money. Betsy wanted Hupp to have all of the funds. She also claims that she never told anyone that she was going to give 50 thousand to another girl who lost her mother to cancer. She may have but hasn't yet.

Hupp also tried telling the court that Betsy had frequently changed the beneficiary on her account. This is untrue. In fact, the policy appears to be about 10 years old and has only ever listed Russ; there are no records of Betsy changing the policy at any time - even during rough times where the couple had split for a bit of time.

Pam Hupp has told different people different things about dropping off her friend that day. In fact, she told Betsy's mother and/or father that she did not go inside the home yet, when she spoke with police, she had different stories. Initially she did not go in the house. Later she said she did go inside and Betsy turned on the hall light. She left Betsy on the couch, lying down because she was going to watch a movie and "it all happened really fast." Pam also said it's possible that Betsy walked her to the door.

Please make note that that hallway light is one of the locations blood was found and what exactly happened really fast? Anyone listening to Pam as she explains this to the police can visually see a woman trying to keep her story straight. She knows that another male DNA profile is on that light switch. She also knows that she left Betsy on that couch - dead. People always have a habit of drawing attention toward things they do not want people to know about. It's just Psychology.

It has also been discovered that Pam had created a flyer for another friend who was dying of cancer - Laura Murphy. This flyer was used to collect money for her friend. Laura has since passed but her husband James was confronted with the flyer by Chris Hayes, because it seems our sweet Pam was actually going out and collecting money for Laura and her family. While James confirmed the picture on the flyer was indeed him and his family, he had no clue Pam had created this, collected money, and he never saw a dime of the money collected.

Here is the Dateline episode

In my interview with Corbin, he relays this:

I cannot imagine why Betsy would sign over her insurance policy to Hupp.  To this day I really just don't get it...I don't know anyone that would do something like that when they are surrounded by family.

Indeed. What kind of woman would want to deny her own children money from a life insurance policy? Why have one at all, if that's the case? There is no indication that Betsy's relationships with her daughters were strained or unusual. The purpose for having the life insurance is to ensure that your family has enough money to take care of funeral arrangements and to cover the cost of bills that remain. Certainly a woman going though chemo treatments will leave behind some medical bills. A very large policy can also help their family supplement income for a time period.

One hundred fifty thousand dollars is a very modest policy. I have yet to find any other information concerning another policy that Pam spoke of to the police. According to her statement, she had knowledge of another policy (she refers to it as the universal life policy), in the amount of one hundred thousand dollars that was placed in her cousin's name - Linda. No other reference has been made and I don't know if this Linda did receive anything.

Oh, and something else about Pam... she had told police she had no motive as far as money was concerned since she was planning on collecting a half a million after her mother passed away. Later, when she made her deposition for the pending action against her from Betsy's daughters, she stated her mother did die only a few months after Betsy did and she did not receive five hundred thousand at all. She denied ever saying that in the first place. She even stated her mother died from Alzheimer's. Well, this story says otherwise.

Shirley Neumann is Pam's mother and she actually...

... fell through the third-floor balcony railing of her apartment to her death Thursday afternoon at a retirement home near Fenton, police say.

If you click through to Shirley's online obituary, you will find:

Neumann, Shirley (nee Russell) on October 31, 2013. Beloved wife of the late Victor Joseph Neumann Jr. Loving Mother of Michael (Alexis) Neumann, Sheri (Mark) Wasserman, Pam (Mark) Hupp and Dan (Juliann) Neumann. Grandmother of Sarah, Nina, Emily, Ashley, Erik, Travis, Max, Nicholas, Abby, Janeann, Olivia, and Isabella. Great-Grandmother to three. Dear Sister of Joyce (Ed) Moore and Judy Russell. Sister-in-law of Bernice Losse. Aunt to John, Pat, Tim, Vicky and Jill. Shirley was preceded in death by parents Roy and Bertha Russell. She was a graduate of Florissant Valley Community College and the University of Missouri St. Louis. ...

Yes, you read that right. Pam's mother died from falling to her death. One must wonder if this aged woman riddled with Alzheimer's was actually given a slight push from behind?

 Police said there was damage to several vertical bars of the balcony railing but that the top horizontal bar was not damaged.

We are all hoping the police catch on before another "accident" happens around Pam Hupp.

**Updates will be posted here. I am still working on posting more information concerning this case but I want to get this published as soon as possible. Please comment and feel free to contact me with your updates or if you have anything you would like to add.

Resources and  Links:

***Russ Faria New Trial Ordered***
This is good news for Russ Faria.

More than a dozen witnesses were called to testify today, but were not called to the stand. Mike Corbin was one. Corbin is one of four people who said they were with Faria during the time of the murder. He`s been outspoken about his Russ` innocence since Russ` 2013 conviction. After court today he said, ‘For the past two years almost, we`ve been watching this whole thing play out. I can`t believe what`s happened, but I`m just so overjoyed by what`s happening today. Russ will be vindicated in this new trial and the whole world will be able to see he didn`t kill his wife.’

Pam Hupp was sued for the insurance policy money, that went to her, by Betsy's children. During her deposition, Pam changed her story completely claiming that Betsy never wanted her children or her family to get the insurance money.

This is NOT what Pam told police when she was originally questioned. Her statement was very clear in communicating with police that the purpose of Betsy signing over the policy to Pam was for the sole purpose to ensure that Betsy's daughters would indeed get the money because (according to Pam), Betsy was concerned that Russ would spend the money. It is painstakingly obvious that this woman cannot keep her story straight and that's interesting since she was the very last known person to see Betsy alive.


UPDATE: Motion for judgment of acquittal: https://localtvktvi.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/skmbt_60113121615560.pdf 



https://www.facebook.com/FreeRussFaria?fref=ts

https://www.facebook.com/FreeRussFaria/notes#

https://www.change.org/p/missouri-attorney-general-chris-koster-free-russ-faria-who-was-wrongly-convicted-in-the-murder-of-his-wife-betsy

https://localtvktvi.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/skmbt_60113121615560.pdf

http://fox2now.com/2013/11/22/secret-court-evidence-revealed-in-faria-murder-case/

https://localtvktvi.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/temporary-restraining-order-of-pamela-and-mark-hupps-assets.pdf

http://fox2now.com/2014/11/03/with-150000-on-the-line-a-murder-witness-changes-her-story/

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/russell-faria-s-wife-was-stabbed-times-but-was-he/article_dd93f262-594e-5b88-b53f-097fc10033c8.html

http://www.gofundme.com/7or96o

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/article_0efd5c3a-d8ee-5f4c-8509-03b17b3acc3e.html

My friend Russ Faria is serving in a maximum security prison for the rest of his life plus 30 years for a crime that he could not have committed.  Four upstanding individuals, with no criminal records sat within 8 feet of Russ from 6pm-9pm on December 27, 2011 a full 30 miles from his home in Troy Missouri.  As much as Lincoln County and the State of Missouri want to claim that we weren't doing what we say, they can never take the truth away from us--we own it and will go to our graves knowing that Russell could not have murdered his wife.  I pray that reason, common sense and justice will prevail and that my friend can come back home and grieve his wife's death with family and friends...something he's been denied for 3 years and counting. ~Michael Corbin 2014 Nov 6