Morbid - Episode 287: The Murder of Betsy Faria Part 1

Episode Date: December 31, 2021

Betsy Faria was known to her friends and family as such a beautiful soul. She had life-long friends who just loved to be around her because she always loved to have a good time and make those around her feel happy and loved. In addition to all those amazing friends, Betsy had a husband and two beautiful daughters who loved her endlessly. When she was diagnosed with Cancer all of those friends and family banded around her to make sure she had all the support she needed. One of those friends, Pam Hupp, took a special interest in taking care of Betsy. In fact, she was the last person to see Betsy alive. Not because Betsy had passed from Cancer, but because two days after Christmas on December 27, 2011, Betsy Faria was found stabbed to death in her own home. Article that Ash mentioned and used during the research process: https://www.stlmag.com/longform/pam-hupp/ written by  Jeannette Cooperman As always, thank you to our sponsors: Thirdlove: Right now, you can get 20% off your first order at THIRDLOVE.com/MORBID Scribd: Go to try.scribd.com/MORBID for your free trial!  Shopify: Go to shopify.com/morbid ALL LOWERCASE, for a FREE fourteen-day trial and get full access to Shopify’s entire suite of features See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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So the next time you have a home project, just Angie that and start getting the most out of your home. Download the free Angie mobile app today or visit Angie.com. That's ANGi.com. Hey weirdos, I'm Alena, I'm Ash and this is morbid before the new year, I didn't think it's not, but it's like the penultimate before the new year. Yeah, yeah, I like that. Yeah, sounds, sounds official. It's pretty fancy. Yeah, I don't know if you know, but also just real quick, thank you guys so much for the

birthday messages. That was really sweet and everybody was so nice and I'm still getting them and it's not even my birthday. So I appreciate it. A humble brag that you're not gonna humbley brag about Keith Morrison, wish Elena a happy birthday. Thank you and good night. Oh, you better believe I was gonna humbley brag about that.

Are you shitting my dick? Are you shitting my dick? I, so John got me to Keith Morrison in case she didn't see it on social media. John got me a Keith Morrison cut out like life size. It was the funniest thing because Elena was distracted doing something else. And we put the cut out behind her and she turned around and was like, Oh, I was like, oh Keith! It was the funniest thing.

Oh, Keith. What's up? Hey, hey. And now Keith is just standing in our living room now, which is fun, because every time we walk into the kitchen we're like, oh, and we think it's somebody standing in the living room. It's fun, which is funny too, because it's like you're like, you get scared, but then you're like, oh, it's key.

But then you are immediately warmed and comforted, like a nice blanket, because it's Keith Morrison. He's keeping the place. Yeah, he wished me a happy birthday and it was like pretty much the best thing ever. Yeah, that's life changing. We're best friends now. I don't know if anybody knows, but we're gonna hang out all the time now. We're gonna talk. Oh, I have a famous friend now too, since you got me that cameo from Bill Mosley.

Oh, yeah, Bill Mosley. Like, we're actually best friends now. We have lots of famous friends now, guys. Yeah. Yeah, I got Asha cameo from Bill Mosley. I shot. He's amazing. I am reading no funny books, Mama.

And he said, I read no funny books, Mama. He said, run, run, rabbit. He said, everything we needed him to say, it was so wonderful. T.Y. Otis. Yeah, you're the best, Bill Mosley. And again, we're friends with all of them, obviously. Yes, duh. But no, it's just really cool. It's very cool that Keith Morrison said, happy birthday, that made my day.

Yeah, that would make my century. Yeah, so, and you guys have been so sweet and so amazing. And again, I Keith Morrison said happy birthday, that may my day. Yeah, that would make my century. Yeah, so, and you guys have been so sweet and so amazing. And again, I want to thank you even more for like the Bailey stuff. I'm still getting messages about that. I know. And it's like really been helpful

because people are sharing their own, still like, like, their pups and their kiddies and their other animals. So, thank you so much. And I love you guys, and you made me so happy when things have been so shitty. You guys have propped us up a little bit. Yeah, things have been truly something.

But honestly, you know what? It won, it could always be worse. Always. Because we're gonna talk about many things that are much worse in a little bit. And perspective is very important. And you know what, we got through it because everyone is COVID free, COVID free house.

We got through it everybody. I'm doing a snappy dance. We got through it, including myself. I was COVID positive and didn't even realize it for a while because I was completely asymptomatic because I got my booster and I totally attribute it to that. It also just makes sense that you were asymptomatic because of who you are as a person.

Like everybody like corn, I'm not getting symptomatic. Yeah, you're like Elena, it's like Elena does it all, including be asymptomatic from COVID. No, I was very lucky. John is just getting his taste, like starting to get his taste back and even just being witness to somebody losing their taste is.

I felt so bad. A horrible and you know everyone else's got through it. Everyone has come out the other side and thankfully we were all vaccinated. Yeah, I think my business for that. Yeah, I never got it. But we're out we're out of it and we're moving forward and you know we we got Bailey back home with us.

Yeah, she's on the mantle. So Bailey's on the mantle looking at all of us. We love her. We got her little paw prints, little little nose boot and everything. It's amazing. But she's there and it feels whole now. It feels better. Now that she's here. Everything feels like it's kind of starting to fall back in the past. Yeah so we're just feeling a little more, ooh, like everybody can breathe. But again, I could have always been worse. So thanks for bearing with us through that whole thing and being so great and so supportive. You guys are like, seriously, like a million best friends. You really are. It really is like, I know like it probably sounds like super hokey saying that, but like it's the truth. It's like really true.

Like when I see a mess that's like, oh my god, like I'm so sorry about B. But I'm like, thank you, friend. Yeah, I'm just like, like thank you so much. Oh, that's true. So you guys rule. And I can't wait for the next year, just, you know, I'm not claiming it. I'm not saying like new year, new me or anything.

I'm just saying, don't even anticipate. It's just coming. No, you know, it's just like January 1st, even if it's not like new year, new me. It's like a nice, we talked about it. Like a nice reset of just like getting your shit organized and like getting back into a routine of some sort. Oh yeah, I'm excited for that.

I have a couple of, what are they called, resolutions? Yeah, but they're not even like resolutions. They're just things that I need to do to like that. That's literally it. In fact, one of my, you'll appreciate this. One of my resolutions is simply to moisturize. Thank you. Because I don't moisturize.

I only moisturize my face. I don't like moisturize anything else. Is anyone else like freaking out right now? Alaina lost it. I'm like, I have like soft skin. Like I'm not really. I put it in the least. Thank you.

But you did not moisturize. Oh, but now, okay, so I've always had like pretty soft skin, like just like, you know, but now I moisturize with some of Vino. Oh yeah, you didn't know what soft skin was. You thought. You thought. Listen, my skin is still very soft.

But not moist red. But now it's soft. I mean, I've always smelled good soft skin was. You thought. You thought. Listen, my skin was still very soft. But not moist red. But now it's soft. I mean, I've always smelled good too, but it smells good. It's just too normal. No, no, no, no. I didn't want to be like, I smelled that. I've always been soft, and I've always smelled good. But I haven't.

I can always be better. Yeah, but anyways, it's soft and happy. And now we have to move on to some really dark stuff. Yeah, this is something we just had to talk to you guys about. There's not a ton of information right now, so we didn't want to jump right into an episode to give half information to. No, but it's definitely something that the word needs to be spread out. Yeah, not seen it enough.

And this is like a really weird thing that's happening in a really tragic thing that's happening. Absolutely. So a Bridgeport Connecticut woman, her name is Lauren Smith Fields. She was found unresponsive in her apartment on December 12th and she died days later, like days before Christmas. Yes. And she had an unidentified older white man over before in her apartment. She had met him through Bumble and he was the last person to basically see her alive.

He contacted police saying that they needed emergency services and Lauren later died. Yeah. And this is, I can't imagine like being her family and going through this around the holidays, like days before Christmas. Days before Christmas, they lose their daughter. And they said that she was a beautiful child with the world at her feet.

And it looked like she had everything going for her. Oh yeah, I mean, the thing is the med... The autopsy is done. But the medical examiner, nothing has been released. Investigators aren't saying a thing. Which I hope is a good thing. I would hope so, but I have no idea. It does not sound like...

I was gonna say there's been some good cooperation with coming from the investigator side to the family. I think the family is really getting the shit out of the stick here. So her father said in an interview, he is 100% sure that she did not do drugs. She was not partaking in anything like that. So he really doesn't look like it could be something related to that because of course, when it's like and something like this You always are and no one was there except one person and you're like, okay

Well, if they're not pinning it on that person like that would be something that people would think but that is not the case here No, he actually said without a doubt We know that my daughter was not a drug user and that and he had a second autopsy paid for out of pocket Themself because they were so uncomfortable with how they were being treated. Yep. And so, yeah, it's ridiculous. And her father actually said that the only contact that they've had with police was, quote, very insensitive, condescending, and arrogant, in an arrogant detective.

Oh, yeah, because a detective, I believe, told her brother that, because they were like, what about this guy that was with her? Like, this is the last person to see her before she died. Like, he was, it sounds like he might have been there when it happened. So, like, something must have happened where she became unresponsive, and they were told this family who lost their child days before Christmas was told that this guy's a nice guy who doesn't need to be investigated. And it's like, I'm sorry, what?

He was the last person to see her alive. This guy's a nice guy who doesn't need to be investigated. And it's like, I'm sorry, what? He was the last person to see her alive. Like, I don't care if he hands out popsicles to, like sad youth. He needs to be investigated. I mean, John Wayne Gacy was a nice guy to cops. He offered them sandwiches. He let them right into their house to use the potty.

Like, that's how they've got them. Like Ted Bundy was known as a nice guy to people around him. I'm not murdering this. Saying this is like a serial killer of that level or anything like that. But I'm saying, come on. You're not going to investigate the last person who saw somebody alive.

And I'm sorry. What person found out a crime scene who would be the first person to look at is not gonna be a nice guy to you place like anybody who you call in and are like, Hey, you're the one who called this in. We need to talk to you. Do you think they're going to be an asshole? No, they're going to be a nice guy. Yeah. That doesn't mean he's a nice guy. Of course, we know nothing about this man. He might be a nice guy, but no matter what, he needs to be investigated. And

also give the family some more here. I mean, Jesus. Well, to be like arrogant and rude to people that lost their child. Well, they also, they also told the family to stop calling. Yeah, stop calling us. That's their child's and they're not getting any information.

Of course they're gonna keep calling. Can you imagine like I, receiving that, like stop calling us? No, I really could, receiving that, like, stop calling us? No, I really could. I'd be like, oh no, I'm gonna call you so much more now. I'm literally gonna call you every hour on the hour. I'm gonna find your home phone number in the yellow pages. No, they're not calling to be assholes.

They're calling to find out about what happened to their child days before Christmas. So when someone else who they don't know was there, right? I would be out of my mind. And her, her poor mother watching her on that interview, like sobbing and she even said, I don't know who I'm going to be after this. And because that is the most like gut wrenching statement, because I can't imagine. No, and like, I don't know. She doesn't like, you have children. Like, she doesn't know who she's gonna be after this

Because this is gonna fundamentally change her family forever like you lose your child Yeah, nobody should ever have to bury a child and you know what Lauren was known as a track star in high school She was attending Norwalk community college. She was interested in physical therapy and cosmetology She had a bright future ahead of her and It was snuffed out and she had a side business and was putting herself through everything. Yeah, she was paying for, you know, like she was doing her thing. So it's like, I just, I don't know, a lot of it seems fishy. Of course, we have no idea what's really going on, but it's definitely not being handled great. For their part, the Bridgeport Police Department did release a statement. They

said the Bridgeport, the Bridgeport Police Department takes these concerns very seriously. The command staff of the Detective Bureau is reviewing the handling of this case to ensure that best practices were and are being followed. It is imperative to note that the cause of the death of Lauren Smithfields remains an ongoing investigation. Our department extends its deepest condolences to the family of Lauren. Sorry, I just tripped all over that. That's okay. But to me, I think I was tripping over it because I kept thinking in my head.

I was like, ongoing investigation. So I'm like, I don't, there has to be something here. Well, like the whole thing of, like best practices, like we're trying to ensure that they were and are being used, they already weren't. Well, no, it's like, this family was told to stop calling. Yeah, that's not a best practice. Yeah, that's not a best practice to treat

murder victims family or excuse me, I shouldn't say a murder victim. A mysterious death victims family like that. Yeah, that's actually the worst practice I would say. So this is a mysterious death victims family like that. Yeah, that's actually the worst practice I would say. So this is a mysterious death. It has not been labeled a murder yet. Or maybe it won't. I mean, there's no good outcome here at all.

Of course not. I mean, Lauren is gone and that's horrific. But at the very least, this family... I want to know more. I want to know what's going on. I want that family to know what's going on. The family deserves to know what happened to the daughter. So make sure you're following that story because I'm sure more will come out or I hope more will come out soon.

And we're going to keep up with it. Yeah, we'll try to keep updating as much as we can. But yeah, that seed perspective. Absolutely. That is a horrific thought right before, right before Christmas too. Hey there, fellow podcast listener, it's Elena. And Ash, and we're taking you back to the days before streaming services.

Whoa. You know, when you would come home from high school, and it was only a few hours until that TV show, everyone was watching was about to come on. Well, in 1999, that show was Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In our podcast with Wondery, the re-watcher Buffy the Vampire Slayer, we take it back to 1999. So get out your knee-high boots and paste that poster of Angel on the Wall. It's time to enter the Buffyverse. Some of you avid morbid listeners already know what we've gotten store. Join us. Join us as we sway our way through Buffy's drama,

action and romance. Episode by episode. Slacy, follow the rewatcher, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen early and add free on the Amazon music or Wondery app. Darn, ee-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e up. What makes a person a murderer? Are they born to kill? Or are they made to kill? I'm Candice D long and on my podcast Killer Psychie Daily, which you can find exclusively on Amazon Music, I share a quick 10 minute rundown every weekday on the motivations and behaviors of the criminal masterminds you read about in the news.

I have decades of experience as a psychiatric nurse, FBI agent, and a criminal profiler. On Killer Psychie Daily, I'll give you my expert perspective on cases like the mysterious New York City drugings, Breaking Down Lori Vallow, aka Mommy Doomstays stays motives, and what drove Caitlin Armstrong to murder? I'll also bring on expert guests who add even more insight into these criminal minds. I promise you won't regret adding these 10 minutes to your morning routine. Hey Prime members, listen to the Amazon Music exclusive podcast Killer Psychie Daily in the Amazon Music app. Download the app today. And this case is really not going to make you feel any better at all.

No, sorry, but so we're not in the business of making people feel better all the time. We're really not. So we today are going to be talking about the murder of Betsy Faria. She was born Elizabeth K. Meyer on March 24th, 1969. Her parents were Kenneth and Janet Meyer. She grew up with three sisters and she was better known to her family as just Betsy. But you I love the nickname. Yeah, that really is adorable. I've never known a Betsy. I didn't like me either actually. Perfect. Well, her friends described her as friendly, fun-loving, bubbly, sweet. One of them said that she could get a party started wherever she went.

Amazing, Betsy. Amazing, Betsy. And also, that was a great quality for her to have because not only did she work for an insurance company by day, but her side hustle was that she ran her own DJ business. That's amazing because when you first said that, you were like, well, that's a great quality for her to have because she She worked on an insurance business. I don't see the correlation, but I was like a The DJ that's awesome. I love the idea of her just like one day being like you know what?

I want to start a DJ business. Yeah, like I love that idea and it's like she's like Richard Gilmore and Gilmore girls It's like insurance people are boring which I'm not saying there but Richard Gilmore did sorry about it and Gilmore girls is like insurance people are boring, which I'm not saying they are, but Richard Gilmore did, sorry about it. Yeah, a fictional character. He's a fictional character, you can't yell at him, but he's always talking about how boring and their drones and all this,

and then she's a DJ, and it's such a dichotomy of her personality, I love it. It truly is, and she would do all kinds of events, she would do her friends weddings, cookouts, holiday parties. Get it, Betsy. And everyone who knew her was just like, you know what, she was a fun time. So she also had a third job because she was a mama.

She had two daughters that she had from a previous marriage. So she had her plate loaded when she met a man named Russell Faria, better known as just Russ. Okay. So Russ didn't mind at all and stepped up to the plate and became a huge part of Betsy's children's lives. Yeah, he considered them his own children.

Love them. And they considered him like a father figure in their lives. I love that. Yeah. So in 2000, after dating for a while, Betsy and Russ decided to get married and they set the date for a January wedding. Now over the years, Betsy and Russ' marriage definitely had its highs and lows, obviously like every marriage.

But during their early years together, Betsy encouraged Russ to go back to school and he did and ended up getting a better job. He got a great IT job, so that was when things were higher. But during one of their lowest points, they did decide to separate. So the separation lasted about a year. And when it was kind of like at the end, they looked at each other and they were like, no, like, why are we doing this? We love each other.

We want to be together. I mean, not to connect it to the same thing over and over again, but Oh my God. Yeah. Emily Gilmore. This is sounding exactly the same. Truly is. They separated like their separation was heartbreaking.

It was, but they got at the end. They were like, what are we doing? What are we doing? And that's what happened. That's the enrusted. So the shitty thing about the fact that they got back together, like the shitty timing is that not long after getting back together Betsy was actually diagnosed with breast cancer. Oh yeah. So when she shared the news with her friends and family, everybody rallied around her, especially Russ. He made sure that she was rusted when she needed to be, that she always had a ride to and from her chemo appointments,

which really wasn't a problem because she had a shit ton of friends. Like a lot of her friends were like lifelong friends. I love that. People that she met at work, like it seems like she had a friend in every aspect of her life. That tells you about her. Absolutely. It tells you a lot about her.

When you see her eyes, she has the kindest eyes. Oh really? You gotta look up a picture about her. Absolutely. Tells you a lot about her. When you see her eyes, she has the kindest eyes. Oh really? You got to look up a picture of her. I want to be her friend. Now, interestingly enough, one of those friends who really stepped up to the plate was a woman named Pamela Hupp. Now, they had met about 10 years earlier, working at State Farm, which just makes me think of a guy named Jake. It does always. Yeah, but they lost touch over the years, but then Pam ended up finding out somehow that Betsy had cancer and they reconnected. And Pam was like, I want to help you in any way I can.

Like, I will drive you anywhere you need to go. I will be your shoulder to cry on. I will be your rock throughout this. And most of the time, Pam was the one to drive Betsy to and from her chemo appointments. She was always available. So Pam Hupp was born on October 10th, just to give you a little bit of background on Pam.

1958 was the year she was born to parents Shirley and Victor Newman, which makes her Libra. Now, generalization here, because some, but not all Libras are said to care a lot about their reputation. And someras are said to care a lot about their reputation and Some are also said to lack humility. How dare you generalize everybody. Yeah, you know, it's just like every fucking Libra How dare you Some Libras, but that's just a little something to put in your back pocket. Yeah, so Pam's father

He was a union guy and her mother was a teacher. So they were like a super middle class family Okay, Pam and her three siblings Were brought up Catholic in the area of Delwood, a Delwood, Missouri. Excuse me. So Pam was like not the most amazing student Which like same, but she did have a lot of friends and they all said that she was like very fun loving She was a good time and she's like you Totally don't do good in school, but I love to have a good time. Fun love and last meet. No, during her senior year, Pam started dating one of her fellow classmates, but shortly into the relationship, she found out that she was pregnant. Okay. Now, she and her boyfriend quickly got married,

and while all of their friends were heading off to college and like moving on with their lives, they dove headfirst into parenthood and adulthood. So Pam started waitressing to bring in some extra dough. And even though they tried to make things work after having their daughter, it just, they were different people, they could not be together. But they tried for six years.

Wow. Because they really given it the old college try. It's given it like more than the old college try. So they got to have worst when their child was six. And the ex was off, excuse me, ordered to pay child support. I was gonna say offered to pay child support. He was offered. You were like, do you wanna do that?

You wanna do that? He's like, yeah, sure. No, he was ordered too. And he did. But he would, Pam would make him appear in court with the canceled checks all the time to prove that he was paying child support. Like she was trying to make it seem like he wasn't,

but he would show up with a stack of checks and be like, no, I did, no, no, I did. Like it was just like, I don't really understand why she wanted to do that, but she just, you know, but she did to do that. And apparently she was very focused on money. One of her friends later said, quote, when it comes to money, she short circuits. Ooh, which I'm like, that's odd. That's a very bad quality to have. Truly is. Now, after divorcing her first husband, Pam met a man named Mark Hup.

He was in the minor leagues. He played for the Texas Rangers. Oh. But he didn't get drafted, so then he just went back to carpentry. Yeah. So they hit it off, they got married, and they had a son together.

In 1989, they moved to Naples because Pam's father was living out there. They wanted to like take care of him, whatnot. But he actually passed away in 2001. And so the two of them moved back to Missouri. And it was around that time at that Pam and Betsy met at the Life Insurance Agency, and then you know the rest. Okay. So flash forward about 10 years. Betsy and Pam reconnected. Betsy's going through her cancer treatments and Pam's behind her every step of the way. Now at one point or another, Betsy actually got the news that her cancer was in remission. Hell yeah! Which was so exciting, like I can't even imagine that feeling. So she and Russ decided to have

a celebration of life cruise with some of their closest friends and family. I'm obsessed with that. And this is the sweetest thing you will ever hear. One of Betsy's dreams in life was just swim with the dolphins. Like, she always wanted to do that. That's so pure. So Russ had it arranged as an excursion for their trip and like, surprised her on the cruise. And she got...

That's really sweet. Yeah, she got to live out her dream. Aww. So the cruise was all set for November. And in the meantime, obviously, Betsy had to keep up with appointments to make sure that everything was A-OK. And unfortunately, at one of those appointments in October, which was just a month before the cruise they went on, she found out that her cancer was back.

Oh no. Not only back, but it had also spread to her liver. Oh man. And at that point, she was told that she only had three to five years to live. Oh. Which my entire body just chilled like I know I say I can't imagine a lot, but I Cannot no that's just not something anybody can even begin to fathom no and if I was a very not position I feel like I'd be like don't tell me like don't tell I don't I can't even fathom it no

I literally can't and that was a month before she was going on a celebration of life cruise. Like that's what they were calling it. So they still went on the cruise, like I said. Of course, I mean, now it really is a celebration of what you have left here. Oh, yeah. And by all accounts, Russ was quote, inconsolable. Like that's how everybody described him.

Oh my God, my heart hurts. I know. He didn't want to think about living without his wife. No, like course, not horrible. But they wanted to make the time that they had left to the best think about. No. Living without his wife. No. So of course not, it's horrible. But they wanted to make the time like that they had left to the best possible time. Yeah. And the doctor said it would be okay

for Betsy and Resta to go on the cruise and then Betsy would have to start treatment back up in December. Okay. So that's what happened. But when they got home, things were like not really cheerful. Because Betsy's appointments were constant

and they left her exhausted. If you have ever gone through chemo or like you know somebody that's gone through chemo, it's soft to you for seriously getting through it, man. It takes everything out of somebody. Yeah, just like watching my mom go through it has been like, you know, ranging. It's got ranging, yeah, it's horrible. But she's doing great now. She is doing great.

She is. That's off got changing. Yeah, it's horrible. She's doing great now. She is doing great. She is. That's off to ma. Yeah. But her friend Pam was there to help. Like I said, she was going to be her rock. She'd drive her to the chemo and then she'd get her settle at home because Russ was working obviously. Pam was actually not working anymore.

She was collecting disability. There's like a lot of different reasons why she was collecting disability that have been mentioned. She had been in like or a work-related injury or lies. But lies. The weird thing was that Pam wasn't really Betsy's closest friend. Like, Russ himself was like, I can think of at least a dozen other people that she's closer with, but she was kind of shoe-horning herself.

Exactly. That's the perfect way to describe that. But I think Betsy was like, you know, like, she's trying to help me. And then I think over the time that they were spending together, because like I said, Pam would sit with her through the appointments, and they can be like hours. Oh, yeah. So I think they were starting to talk more

and become closer with each other. And one day, the topic of life insurance was brought up. Oh, no. And Betsy confided in Pam that she was worried about Russ being the beneficiary of her life insurance policy. Because allegedly she said that she was worried that he would piss it all away.

Okay. And now this is obviously according to Pam. According to Pam, correct. And she could have named her daughters, but she had two daughters, but they were still young at the time. I believe one was in their early 20s and one was still a teenager. And she was like, you know, I just don't want them

to be left with a huge sum of money. Like, they can't become dangerous. So Pam said, I am definitely responsible enough to handle such a task. And I'll make sure that the money goes to the right places. Oh, who isn't responsible enough to handle a large sum of money? Yeah, absolutely. So on December 23, 2011, Betsy and Pam went to the local library together, and they changed the beneficiary of Betsy's $150,000 life insurance policy, naming Pam the beneficiary.

I just, these kind of things, you're like, no, whenever somebody wants to be the beneficiary of your life insurance, it's no good. The red flags are just shooting out of everywhere. Like I wanna name somebody who doesn't wanna be the beneficiary. Yeah, I want somebody to actively be like, please don't. Or like, yes.

Maybe I'll just name somebody and never tell them. Just give it all to children's hospital or something. Boom. Like, oh, I just, I wanna go down there and just be like, no. I know. Now apparently they had the librarian at the time be the witness to the change and she copped to that.

She was like, yeah, they did. And I was just like, okay, sure, I'll be your witness. Yeah, I mean, like what are you gonna say? Yeah, I think she was like younger too, and she was like, I don't know. I feel like if I was the librarian, I would also be like, do you wanna do that? Maybe you don't wanna do this, like think she was like younger too, when she was like, I don't know. I feel like if I was the librarian, I would also be like, do you wanna do that? Maybe you don't wanna do this, like think about it.

The thing that sucks is like, like if Pam was a good friend, she would know that Betsy was under such heavy medication and stress, and stress, and just like sadness, like you don't make a big decision like that. No, if she was any kind of friend, she would have not taken advantage of this. I'm so afraid of that. I'm not she would have not taken advantage of this.

No friend would do that. Absolutely not. A friend would sit there and say, you know what? In fact, a friend would have sat there and said, your concerns are valid if that's how you feel. But you know what? I will be here. I will help make sure that Russ is in the right mind.

He's going to be upset. But I'll be here to kind of support him and make sure that the girls are taken care of. I'll be your friend after this is over. And I would say if I was her friend, you should talk to a lawyer about this. Exactly, and I'd be like talk to, talk to a lawyer, talk to a lawyer, have a meeting,

have a sit down. But a friend would sit there and say, it's gonna be taken care of. Right, don't worry. Not, you know, like, name me, name me. Not, we'll all take it. gonna be taken care of. Don't worry. Not me, not me. We'll all take it. Okay.

Oh, how sweet of you to sign up to take $150,000 by ticket? Yeah, she wins. What a selfless warrior you are. Such a hero. Now the problem too with this whole entire change rule was that nobody knew anything about this change. Betsy didn't tell anybody about it. Oh no. And she didn't tell anybody about it. Oh no.

And she wouldn't have time to, and unfortunately this policy would go into effect much sooner than the three to five years that Betsy had been given. Because four days after the change on December 27th, two days after Christmas, 2011, Betsy had a chemo appointment. So she spent the night before at her mom's house

because it was closer to where her appointment was. And she had told Pam actually that she didn't need a ride from her that day because her mom's friend Bobby Wann was going to be taking her and she was going to sit with her throughout the appointment. Now Bobby was actually Betsy's babysitter back in the day. So she was like, oh you know what, I'm really looking forward to spending some time with her. And her exact text to Pam said, quote, Bobby is gonna, excuse me, Bobby is going and I want to spend someone on one time with her. And Pam texted back, bummer, which I'm like, no, I'm like excited to see my babysitter.

Bummer, I can't come to your chemo appointment. Come on. Yeah. You know what you say, that's great. Right, I hope you have a great, like come sit and chat. I'm sitting and chatting. I hope it distracts you and it's a great time.

See you soon. Heart bummer. Bummer, like fuck off. Why are you making this about you like, I'm sitting and chatting. I hope it distracts you and it's a great time. See you soon. Heart bomber. Bummer. Like, fuck off. Why are you making this about you? I was just going to say that's a, oh, bummer for you. Like, okay. She's going to her chemo appointment.

Yeah, I'd be like, yeah, my chemo appointment is a huge bummer. Thanks for the recommendation. Yeah, I'm for you. Now, clearly, because she responded, she received that message. Sure it is. Usually how that works. But not long after getting that text,

Pam showed up at Betsy's mother's house and acted confused when Betsy wasn't there. And Janet, Betsy's mother said, oh, like Bobby is taking her. I thought she texted you. And Pam was like, oh, I didn't get the text. So bummer. So bummer.

So at that point, if maybe you didn't get that text and you just had a lapse of time in your life and you maybe you didn't get that text and you just like had a lapse of time in your life and you thought you didn't get that, at that point you would go, I should go home. Yeah, because it's taken care of. Because she's at her appointment. They've told me what is going on. Not only has Betsy told me now what's going on,

apparently I forgot, but now I've had a second person say, no, no, it's all set, okay? She didn't do that though, huh? No, she didn't do that. She actually showed up at the chemo appointment with Bobby and Betsy just like sitting right there. And Betsy was like, what? I thought I told you that Bobby was taking me today

and I wanted to spend some one-on-one time with her. And like she needs this bullshit drama at her fucking chemo appointment. Exactly. Let the woman sit there and deal like my god. And do what she needs to do. I hate when people make shit about themselves. So when it's like when someone else is going through

something like that, you're like, just let them have a moment. Let her do whatever she needs to do. Whatever she wants to be with, whatever she, however she wants to do, it just leave her alone. Right. Exactly. She doesn't need her alone. She doesn't need a stage five clinger friend.

No, nobody needs a stage five clinger friend at any part of their life. Certainly not now. And Bobbi said Betsy was quote unquote quite surprised. But Betsy was like not a meanie. She was like, OK, like whatever. Like, yeah, you're here. So the three of them chatted throughout the rest

of the appointment and Pam told Betsy that she would drive her home. And she was like, okay, well, like you're here, so you fucking might as well. So Betsy thanked Bobby for coming and she texted her husband Russ because the original plan was that Russ was going to pick her up from her mom's house after the appointment. But it sounds like Pam is not having any of this. No, no, Pam is really like insistent that she be the one to take her home. And she had told her earlier, like, oh, you know, it's a longer drive for you.

Like it's gonna be an hour round trip. So like, it's much shorter for Russ to just take me and like, Bobby's gonna, it's all set for today. It is all set for today. Yeah. And you know what, I'm assuming, because I know this name. I know.

I don't know exactly the details of what is about to happen here. I assume something bad is going to happen here. I just get vibes, I don't know exactly the details of what is about to happen here. I I assume something bad is going to happen here. I just get vibes. I don't know probably and to me Pam is making this very obvious that she is planning to do something and I'm like in what at what time does your brain go? Wow, I'm really I'm really stretching here. Like, it's not gonna look good.

Never. Exactly. Ham's brain never says that. Because I'm like, already, I'm like, what are you trying to do? Like, even if I didn't know anything about that, I'd be like, what's, what's Pam up to? Why is she so obsessively doing it?

I've never in my life been this obsessive about picking something up from anyone up from anything. No, like, I don want to go anywhere ever. No. Pam can't stop, won't stop. Yeah. But she's not rocking to the rhythm. No, she's not.

She's doing the exact opposite. So she's like, okay, let me text Russ, tell him that he doesn't need to come get me. Like you're going to bring me home. Thanks so much. What the fuck's going on? So she texted Russ and he's like, okay, like sounds good. And then Betsy told Pam on the ride home that she had gotten bad news that chemo that day. Her white blood cell count was low and she needed to rest more.

Like the doctors are like, you really need to rest. Because even though she had cancer, she was still like running around doing things. She was playing tennis. Because she's probably trying to get the most out of every day here. Absolutely, but they really do got a, you really have to slow down. So around 7 p.m., she called her friend who she was actually supposed to play tennis with the next day and she was like, I'm so sorry, I have to cancel, I gotta get some rest.

So she canceled that. And then after that call, she and Pam called, Pam's husband Mark and he didn't pick up the phone, but they left him a voicemail and Betsy sang on the voicemail, Mary Christmas and Happy New Year. Like in a sing-song voice. And so that was timestamped. And then finally, Betsy spoke with one of her daughters who was on the way to upgrade her phone.

And she said, oh, Mom, you have to speak with the people on the phone to kind of authorize the charge if you ever upgraded your phone, you know the deal. And Betsy was like, oh, yeah, I'll be around. I'm just planning on co-zying up on the couch and just hang in. Yeah. So she was like, okay, cool. I'll call you when I get there. So Pam got Betsy home, got her settled, and then made her way back to her own home. And Betsy's daughter called from the cell phone store a couple of times and wasn't getting an answer. So Pam also called Betsy on her way home at 727

and she didn't get an answer either. So at that point, she was worried that Betsy was upset with her for not like staying longer and hanging out. So she called Betsy's mom Janet. And she was like, have you heard from Betsy because I can't get in touch with her? Like I just left, but I'm worried that she's mad at me. Yada, yada, yada.

And Janet was like, oh no, like I haven't heard from her, but you know, she did get that news today that she needs to rush. She might just be tired. Maybe she fell asleep. Maybe just leave her the fuck alone. Yeah, it's like, go home, Pam. So Pam was tired too. And when she got home, she took a shower

and she settled in for the night heading to bed shortly after. So Russ earlier that night had been home, but he had a weekly game night with his friends every Tuesday, and this was a Tuesday night. He left her on 5pm to head to game night, so he missed Betsy by a couple of hours. Now on his way to game night he made four different stops, and this is directly from court transcripts. So, quote, from 516 to 520, he stopped to get gas at a conoco station in Troy, Missouri. From 531 to 532, he stopped to buy cigarettes at you gas and Wensville.

At 552, he bought a bag of dog food at Green's County, a country store in Lake St. Louis. And from 556 to 558, he was in Ophalen, Missouri, quick trip buying two bottles of iced tea. His first, second, and fourth stops were recorded on camera, and he had a time stamped receipt from Greens. Okay. So he finally made it to his friend Michael Corbin's house at around 6 pm. And instead of playing games that night, they used to play like role-playing games, but one of the guys was like sick or something and couldn't come so they didn't have enough players for this certain game, but they still all wanted to hang out so they were like, oh, like, let's watch some movies.

So they watched some movies, they all smoked some weed together, they were just kind of like having a hang session and they ended up calling it a night around 9pm. Now on the way home, Russ stopped at Arby's for a couple of cheeseburgers. He got two, so I have to assume that he was bringing home one to Betsy. And he made it home around 9.40. When he walked inside, he did not find Betsy, cosy'd up on the couch. Instead, he found her slumped over on the living room floor with a knife sticking out of her neck. Holy shit! A knife sticking out of

her neck. He immediately called 911 and through sobs he told the operator that his wife had finally gone through with something that she had talked about in the past. Suicide. Oh! Now Betsy obviously, like we were just saying, has gone through a lot recently. She's diagnosed with a life-threatening disease given years to live. Obviously, all of that would certainly warrant such deep feelings of depression, so it wasn't shocking that she had made comments or attempts of suicide in the past.

Yeah. But when the first officer, Lincoln County deputies Christopher Hollingsworth arrived on scene, he was like, oh, no, no, no, this is a homicide. So he immediately took Resphuria out of the home. When the fire captain checked Betsey's body, he thought that she probably had to have been dead for at least two hours,

because the body was cold and extremely stiff. And when he tried to move like her arm, her entire body moved. Oh, wow. Right. So he was like, yeah, she's definitely been dead at least two hours. Now, most on scene agreed with him,

and they were like, oh yeah, like Riggermort has definitely set in. And one of them noted that the blood around her body was dark, so it had clearly been sitting for a little while. They also found another knife underneath a pillow on the couch, and they took note of that. And then they took note of that, and

then they took note that the family dog was chained up outside. But looking closer to Betsy's body, they saw what looks like a paw print on her leg, meaning that the dog must have been inside at one point or another while Betsy was home, stepped in blood, and then stepped on her leg. So they took note of that, and then putting two and two together later on in the investigation, they believed that whoever had done this must have known the dog because their family dog was known to like not be super friendly to people that he didn't or he or she didn't know. Okay. So they were like, if this person was able to get the dog outside, the dog must have

known this person. Yeah. So Russ immediately was taken to the station for questioning. They noted that his clothing didn't show any signs of blood. And later when they took fingernail clippings and they checked his clothing, none of Betsy's DNA or any blood was found on his clothing or underneath his fingernails. Okay. There was also no blood in his car when they searched that. So they asked him about his wearabouts for the night. And he explained that he had worked home that day. He hadn't seen Betsy because she had stayed with her mother and then had her chemo appointment. And that was Tuesday.

He explained, you know, that's the night of the week where I go play these games with my friends. We play games, we have a movie night, whatever. He said, I stopped at a few places and I mentioned earlier, like that was a lot of places to stop. Okay, thank you. Because I was gonna say it earlier and I was like, I don't want to be like two. No, it's a lot of places to stop.

It's a lot of play. And if I'm, I don't know, I'm just saying, upon first glance of this, you are always gonna look at the person closest to them, which is the husband. You're always gonna look at the person who finds them, which happens to be the husband. And if they were trying to stop the show, then they would, they might make that silly mistake of stopping at too many places to get too many. Sure. Thanks. And again, not saying that this is like a guilty verdict here.

I'm just saying. Of course not. Because it doesn't help. Because you're not looking at this through tunnel vision. No. Other people might have. So they were like, okay, but like, why did you stop at like four places for all these things when you like some of these things, like you stopped at two different gas stations.

Why didn't you condense? Well, a lot of those things could be done at one place, like, like, whatever they like, iced teas or something. There was cigarettes, gas, gas cigarettes. That can all be at the same place. And then like, dog food.

Yeah. So they were like, why so many stops, buddy? And Russ explained that he always bought his cigarettes at the second place he stopped because they were 60 cents cheaper there. Okay. Fair. Now, when I heard that, I was like, okay,

so if the cigarettes are cheaper there and they also have gas, why when I heard that, I was like, okay, so if the cigarettes are cheaper there and they also have gas, why didn't you just get gas and cigarettes there? I don't know exactly what the explanation was for that. He might have gotten gas and then was like, oh, shit, I'm out of cigarettes. Also, maybe he was super low on gas and he was like, I got to stop at the first place I hit. Exactly. Because maybe he was at the point where he was like, I'm on fumes. That's true. You know what? I'll just go to any gas station if I'm on fumes.

That would say. And if it's, if he does have that thing where he's like, I just always get my cigarettes here. Yeah. And that makes sense. Sure. And he said the reason why he stopped and got dog food on the way was because like they needed it.

And the place where they got dog food, they always went to that place because they had a rewards card. Okay. And they like had money problems and the past and stuff like that. So he was like, you know, they have a rewards card. Yeah, he's like cigarettes are 60 cents cheaper. Like I'm fucking budgeting here, okay? I love my rewards cards for my grocery stores.

I am obsessed with my rewards cards. If I don't have it, I like panic. And I would much rather go to like big Y than Roach Brothers, if I have the rewards card for big Y. Absolutely, because do you know how much money, you say $5 does a lot. It is. And I'll go out of my way.

Me too. Yeah. So fair enough. Yeah. The other four men present at game night were also questioned and they all confirmed that Russ had been there the entire time and that he had left when he said he did. Okay, yeah.

I mean, that's pretty solid. Pretty fucking solid. So overall, Russ had been questioned for 10 and a half hours that night. And then the next day around 2 p.m., they said, hey, would you be willing to take a polygraph test? And he said, absolutely.

So he agreed. And when the polygraph wrapped up, it had determined that Russ had failed the polygraph test. All right. He specifically showed deception when they asked, did you kill Betsy or do you know who did? So right then and there, Russ was arrested for the murder of his wife.

Damn, yep. They were able to hold him in the county jail for the next 24 hours, but when that time was up, they were going to need a sign off on a probable cause statement to keep him any longer. Yeah, because they can't just be like, well, you failed a polygraph. So you definitely did it. Like I think that they were hoping that they would get the sign-off on that probable cause, and then they would keep him for the whole time. But they did not get the sign-off on

that probable cause because they just didn't have enough yet. No, exactly. So Russ was free to go for the time being. Now the day after Betsy was found murdered, the investigators also wanted to speak with Pam Hup, knowing that she was the last person to see Betsy alive or presumably one of the last people. So investigators got to Pam's house around 6'40 in the morning

and she answered the door with wet hair. Clearly she had just showered. I mentioned that. She had showered the night before. Because she told them that when she got home the night before she had also taken a shower. It's very weird to me to take a shower at night and then take one like a couple hours later in the morning. I'm sure a lot of other people do that. Yeah, in a mature investigation it makes my ears. I don't. But yeah, it makes it like ding ding ding. Yeah, exactly.

Now while they talked to Pam, she made a, I'll say a couple of conflicting statements when she first spoke with police in this interview. Okay. She told them at first that she had not gone into the house when she dropped off Betsy. But later on in her story, she said that she did go inside.

Now by that point, they had seen that Pam had called Betsy at that at 727. I told you she called her. Yep. And they were like, why did you call her so soon after dropping her off? And Pam first said she called Betsy when she got home. But then later, she said, oh, I called her when I was almost home. And then she said that she actually didn't know the route to Betsy's house back to her own house. So she called Betsy when she made it to the point that she remembered, which she said she was home free at that point. Okay. Now, like, I don't know if this caused your ears to go ding, ding, ding, again. It's really interesting to me that she drove this woman to and from a bunch of

chemo appointments, but didn't know the route back to her house from this woman's house. Yeah, like she spends all this time at her house and presumably goes back to her own house often. Yes. And she doesn't know how to know. My like, your guilty senses are tingling. And also like, it's 2011, like GPS is a thing. Yeah, sure is.

Okay. Yeah. So when they asked about Russ and Betsy's marriage, Pam told them that she actually really didn't know Russ that well. And honestly, she'd be surprised if he was the one who was responsible for doing this. But then she was like, actually, wait a second. Their marriage was like on the rocks and come to think of it. Betsy told me that she was afraid of Russ. Recently, actually, and she kept bringing up this quote unquote document. She kept calling it a document.

At one point, she called it an email, but she was like, sorry, I'm a document. And they were like, okay. Okay. She said that she would, or excuse me, she said that they would be able to find that document on Betsy's computer. And she said that it described a pretty alarming situation

in which Russ had put Betsy in recently. She said that if they found this document that they should totally try to find, they would read this account from Betsy about Russ putting a pillow over her face while she was sleeping, and when she woke up and began to struggle, he threatened to kill her and said to her, I wanted you to know what it would feel like to die. Oh, I mean, that sounds horrific, if that was the truth. When she was like, you guys have to find that document. But that's also like a very far cry from like, I don't really know him well, and I don't know their marriage.

That's like, kind of a way to actually know this really horrific, intimate detail about their marriage that I totally forgot. And they were like, oh, Pam, it's okay. Oh, yeah, it's hard to remember that kind of thing. Yeah. So that's what? Finally, Pam, it's okay. Like, it's so frustrating. Yeah, it's hard to remember that kind of thing. Yeah. So that's what? Finally, the life insurance policy came up.

And Pam explained, you know, Bessie was worried that Russ was going to spend it all. Her daughters are too young. So she named me the beneficiary. I don't know. She just named me. And they were like, all right. So once the investigators wrapped up with their questions,

they thanked Pam for her time and they headed out. So at that point the report from the medical examiner had come back and it was determined that Betsy had most likely been dead for two hours like they thought and she had suffered 55 stab wounds. 55? A lot of which were post-mortem because the medical examiner concluded that her heart had actually stopped pretty early on in the process. Holy shit! 55 times.

And these were methodical stab wounds. There were no like, it wasn't like rigid or wiggly at all, like these were like in out, in out 55 times. And that to me says more leading away from Russ, because if he called and said, I think she did it. Like I think she finally killed herself. He would know. If he knew what he had done, if he knew he had inflicted 55 stab wounds on someone.

Or even 10. Then you know that's not gonna fly. Like you know that's not gonna fly. So you would make up the story of someone came in here and did this. You wouldn't immediately be like she did it. Oh, she killed herself. So the fact that he went there to me says that he didn't. I mean, it says that likely he didn't, in my opinion.

Wow. Yeah. That's brutal. But when the investigators went over the report, they were like, oh, this was a rage killing. Yeah. And that only made investigators look more toward Russ, especially because of the account that they had heard from

Pam about him, like threatening to kill her. It all leads there. I get. I go to lead back to Russ at this point. And the evidence back at the house didn't help Russ out too much either. His slippers were found in the closet of the master bedroom with Betsy's blood on the tops of them. There was blood found on a light switch in the master bedroom, and when Luminol testing was done on the scene, it showed that someone with blood on their hands

had opened the towel drawer in the kitchen. And there wasn't a lot of other areas in the kitchen that showed a lot of Luminossense. It was just that kitchen drawer, so it was like clearly somebody in the room. Somebody knew the towels were. Yeah, they didn't have to open more drawers. So it was just going straight there. Exactly. Now the Lumenall also showed drips of blood leading to the back patio door, so their suspicion was right,

the dog had been in the house and then let out most likely. Like that's kind of what that picture painted. So there was not any sign of a break in either. And with all those things paired together, all of the suspicion that was already on Russ was like heavily handed on Russ at this time. Yeah. I mean, you tell me there's blood on his slippers in the closet. And that's your bedroom light switch.

That's right. Somebody went to the tower door. Straight to that drawer. Yeah. To me, that doesn't look good at all. Absolutely. And they also said that they had all these pictures. There was like 132 pictures taken of this lumenol testing that they had done with Blue

Star, but unfortunately the pictures didn't develop. Huh. There was a malfunction and they didn't develop. Oh. But Russ was officially arrested on January 4th, 2012, the day after Betsy's funeral. Oh. And his bail was immediately set at $250,000, which they did not have the money to cover. Like, he didn't know anybody. That could help him out with that.

That's a lot of money. Eek. He was unable to post it, so he had to wait in the county jail for his trial to begin. So that would be one year, 10 months, and 14 days spent in jail waiting for this trial. Damn. And I mean, that evidence doesn't look good. No, it does not. So Russus Cousin immediately hired him in attorney, Joel Schwartz, who ASAP Rocky began

sifting through all the details in the evidence in this case. And Schwartz was shocked that Pam Hup wasn't also being looked into as a suspect. He said, well, that's a thing. I understand why wasn't also being looked into as a suspect. He said, Well, that's the thing. I understand why my client is being looked into. For sure. He's the closest person to her. The evidence is like not awesome, but like why see the only person being looked at?

Why are we not investigating the last person who probably saw this person alive? That's the thing. Like, why are we solely focusing on the husband? Yeah. Because Pam had, at that point, made multiple conflicting statements. Again, she was the last person to see Betsy alive. She had no alibi for the time that Betsy would have been being killed other than driving home where nobody could see her.

Yeah. And she had just become the beneficiary of Betsy's life insurance four days before Betsy was murdered. Well, that alone and the lies and the different stories. It's like that. That she give you at least a little bit of like, pause. Let's look into this because also,

and obviously like we know how it turns out, but it's like, also, how do you know they're not working together? Thank you. Maybe start talking to her and see, especially when she's like, I don't know him. Like, what? Like, I'd be like, all right, we need to look at her.

Exactly, in my mind, I would look at this and be like, well, she was really shoe-horning herself into Betsy's life. Uh-huh. Like, maybe they are working together. Maybe they're having some kind of a fair. Yeah, that. They were trying to get rid of Betsy sooner. You should, I mean, as investigators,

they should be thinking this way, like, any possibly out of the box. And being like, like you said, if you're really trying to be in this person's life, maybe there's something else you're trying to get. Mm-hmm. You know, and if you're getting the money from this, that's a huge thing. And maybe you're getting the money because you know you want to move in the house.

And absolutely. That's what I would have thought looking at this right away. Yeah. But they didn't feel that way. And for one reason or another, Pam's clothing was never tested. They never took anything. Oh, my God. Her car wasn't tested. And then Joel was like, there's all the evidence that they're trying to pin on Russ. Let's look a little further into all of this.

For sure. The bloody slippers did not have blood on the bottoms of them. And there was not any bloody prints from these slippers found at the scene. So when short saw the slippers for himself, it actually looks like they had been dipped in blood. There was no presence of blood splatter on them.

No blood, like you can Google a picture right now actually. No blood splatter, just like a large blood stain on the top of each one. Okay. So blood splatter would certainly be present on those most likely if he had stabbed her 55 times while wearing those shoes. So shorts was like, okay, that's weird. And then he turned his attention to the polygraph test that rest allegedly failed.

And he wondered why Russ would have been given a polygraph test after having been up for 36 hours, and they knew full well that he had smoked weed with his friends that night. He's not in his right frame of mind. What kind of examiner would just administer a test to somebody under those conditions? So he said, hey, can I have the audio in the video from that polygraph test?

And he was told that the video camera was broken. Wow, so not only has the camera broken with the luminal testing on it. It's also broken with this polygraph test. You guys should really get a fundraiser going. I was just gonna say, you wanna, should we throw you a gala? Should we do a charity? A charity masquerade ball to get you some cash here? Like, do you guys need some help?

Why is all your shit falling apart? I mean, I go fund me. I'm no expert, but I feel like these things are pretty imperative to an investigation, and if they're literally always failing. One might say, get some new shit. Get some new shit. Get some new shit.

So he was like, okay, did they do a faux polygraph test? Because that's actually legal. But you need to put a report, but it was a faux polygraph, not a real one. And he found no such report. And he asked around and they were like, nah. So Russ informed his attorney that he had also offered to take a second polygraph test. He was like, you know, my wife had been murdered like 36 hours before that.

So I might have been a little nervous. Yeah. I was still pretty nervous, but I was like, you know, give me a second chance. For sure. And all of the people that he was with that night, his friends were like, we'll take a polygraph. Oh, wow. But the prosecutor, you know, Tony Leah Aske, Cheney told them, no were like, we'll take a polygraph. Oh wow. But the prosecuting attorney, Leah Ascii, Cheney told them, no, no, no, that's not necessary.

We have exactly what we need. So I'm sorry, people are literally offering up being like, this can help. Like I'll take a polygraph, I will help you in any way. So you're happy to take the botched failed polygraph as evidence of a crime, but you're not willing to take people literally offering up to prove an alibi.

No, okay, just check it. They were CD characters because they smoked weed. Come on, wait, come on. So Russ is trying to, it sounds like you said role playing games. They were probably doing like dungeons and dragons. Thank you. Is it like trail, just trail man, talisman?

Trail man, talisman. Talisman? Is that the role playing game? I don't know, but it's like trail trail man, talisman talisman? Talisman? Is that the role playing game? I don't know, but it's probably not trail man, but I would imagine it's talisman sounds like it would be in that like genre. Yeah, I think when I was reading about the games, they played that was one of them.

Yeah, that wasn't like important enough to write to me. No, but it's like, it sounds like that's what they were doing. That's exactly what they were doing role playing games. That's not like Oh, and sweetie, that will come back later what they were doing. Roll playing games. That's not like, Oh, and sweetie, that will come back later to worry. Wow, playing games. Okay. So Russ's trial began November of 2013.

And Leah Aske-Chainy was the prosecutor on the case. And her argument was that Russ had a temper and that he and Betsy fought often because Betsy's daughter's testimony did confirm that they did have frequent arguments. One of their daughters said it was not the Brady Bunch. All right. But you know, like arguments happen in a marriage. But you know, when you're wanting to use murderers, it's like, oh shit. When one of you is murdered in this evidence,

they could point that way. You got to look at it. Relevant. So Leah Ascii Cheney believed that the reason there was no blood on Russ's clothing was because he had had sex with Betsy before killing her. And she felt this way because during the autopsy they were able to confirm that eight sperm cells had been found in Betsy's body. So there's also an argument to be said on the other side that sperm can stay in the body for 72 hours. And Russ had said that they were intimate together on Sunday. So this is Tuesday.

It makes sense that there's still eight sperm in her body. Yeah. It makes sense. Also, like, what a bummer that like she's, you get murdered and then like this is the kind of shit that has to be like aired out. It sucks. And it's like you need to know like the last time they were intimate together. Yeah, of course you need to know that. Oh, it's very relevant. But it just fortunately sucks. But you just are like, man, like that. Like if I passed away, I would not want people to know that the last time I had sex. Yeah, I know it's just kind of sucks.

I know it's necessary, but like, I was gonna say, again, very relevant to what's going on if it helps or, you know, but man, that sucks. But in this one, it really doesn't help because it's like, this is not black and white, this is like, they could have had sex on Sunday or they, like, it could have been what Leah said. Like, he had done it one last time before killing her.

Yeah. And she said that he was angry with Betsy and he still thought that he was the beneficiary of her life insurance policy, so he was going to kill her. And she said that he had been planning this for months with all of those friends from Game Night because this would be, quote unquote, the ultimate roleplay. I knew you were going to go there. That's so fucked up. Yeah. She painted a picture for the jury

that Russ got this idea, presented it to all of his friends, and they were all in. They were like, let's role play murdering your wife. What the fuck? So I just don't like when they bring that shit into it. It's like, I'm sorry. Like any Dungeons & Dragons player that I know is a lovely person. Uncle Billy? Uncle Billy.

Hello. There you go. I did role-playing stuff in high school. So like, I was all about that shit. So I can't, that's shitty. So like just put that directly because that's what they like to do in their leisure. Yeah, exactly.

So when they were all in for this ultimate role play, they were like, we have to wait for the perfect time to do this. And Leah said, well, that would have been the perfect night because Pam was bringing Betsy home. And she said that Russ pretended like he was going to game night, made a bunch of stops so that he would be caught on surveillance camera because he knew that he would be, which like not really sucks because he did make a lot of stops. He did. And when he got to game night, he left his phone with his friends and then drove back

home to kill Betsy after having sex with her to quote unquote, control her one last time. Now, once he killed her, she said he took a shower, got all the blood off of him, changed into those clothes, or back into the clothes that he had been wearing, let the dog out when he saw that the dog had made the pauper in on her, like, got him away from the body, quickly cleaned up and called 911. And when he was on the phone with 911, she said that he realized his slippers had blood on them, so he tossed them in the closet, not realizing that he had left blood on the light switch in the process. And during all of that, before he called 911, one of his friends came back with his phone

and a receipt from Arby's that he tossed in the car, so it would look like he had this perfect alibi. Okay. It's a good argument. Part of that is a good argument. that he tossed in the car, so it would look like he had this perfect alibi. Okay. It's a good argument. Part of that is a good argument. Yeah, some of it. Some of that I'm like, all right.

Yeah, that could have 100% happened. My main thing here is like the friends. Like what's their role besides just like being right there? Like you're saying they all play in this together, but it doesn't sound like the friend. The friends are just like, we'll bring you from back to you and get some Arbise to a star. We'll get some Arbise.

Like that's, why would they agree to that? Like that's a weird, it's, cause role play. Like he would be like, I'm gonna murder my ailing wife. Yeah. And you guys are just gonna buy some Arbise for me. And they were like, yeah, this sounds great. Yeah. That's not, no. I'm glad't see that way. I don't see that one. I'm very glad you feel that way because Russ's lawyer felt that way too and he was stunned at how

far-fetched that part of it was. Yeah that part just doesn't connect for me. Because she had just implicated four people in a murder case where they were only prosecuting one person. Right? If that was the case, why would they not be prosecuting the other three people as fucking attachments to the crime? I feel like what is the word? I'm so aga- A complice. Attachments to the crime.

Attachment. Like it's a PDF and where you're making an attachment. You can charge a dies being an attachment to a crime. Well, you're literally making up a narrative for them. You're saying that they stopped at Arby's. They didn't, you have no proof of this. Right, you have camera footage that says that, like, why is it?

Well, that's the other thing. Arby's definitely has a security camera. And you can't just bullshit and say it was them, unless you have something to back, you bring out receipts. Oh, and they don't have any because they didn't even bother to map out all the towers that cell, that Ressa's cell phone would have panked. They didn't have that done. Yeah, see, and that don't have any because they didn't even bother to map out all the towers that cell that Ressa's cell phone would have panged

They didn't have that done. Yeah, see and this is that's just sloppy They also didn't look into Pam's cell phone activity that night either. Yeah, the fact that they're just straight up This woman tunnel vision is really wild to me because again if you are now here's the thing you have implicated because again, if you are now, and here's the thing, you have implicated three other people who are just playing D&D. Yeah, by all accounts. Right. Have no actual physical or even circumstantial evidence

to suggest that they weren't. No, except for you being like, oh, they offered you a polygraph, so they probably didn't. Like what? And one of the men there that night was actually like somebody's nephew and they were like, I read this really great article

that I'm gonna link in the show notes and the woman who wrote it. Was like, why would this random guy's nephew be like, yeah, totally, I just showed up here for game night. Let me help you murder your wife. Right, that's like, and that's, so there's that. So you're ready to implicate these four, you know, role-planned dudes for no reason without any evidence. Yeah.

But there is ample evidence to suggest that Pam Hupp is at the very least fucked up with her relationship to Betsy. Yeah. And has lied, been caught in different stories, has mode of being the beneficiary of the newly changed life insurance. And you're not willing to think

that maybe they teamed up Yeah, but instead you're gonna say that he teamed up with four of his D&D friends to do it. Yeah Why does that make sense? Why wouldn't you just do the same shit you're doing to these guys? Do it to Pam exactly now just claim that she stopped at our bees and shit like just but like make that whole thing up right Like you at least have a little more to go on. Honestly, you'd probably get further with that one. You would get further. You sure she did it. So thank you.

You would get further, but they never bothered to look into any of her shoes. That's really wild. Now luckily, Schwartz had the idea, like, let's bring a fucking expert in to who can map out, not Pam's, because we can't just get her phone, but we can at least get Russ's like phone pings. So he brought in Greg Chatton of forensic computer services

who was an expert and he testified that at 9.25 pm, Russ's phone was 10 miles from his home and his phone showed that he arrived home at 9.37 and called police at 9.40. Okay. Which is perfect, like it makes sense. Yeah, I mean, yeah. Now, with that time frame, Schwartz said,

Russ would have had nine minutes to do everything that the prosecution had laid out. That's not a lot. Nine minutes. And because Pam had, quote unquote, no direct connection to the case, Schwartz was not able to bring up the fact that her phone's locations that night

had never been mapped out. He was not able to present the life insurance payout to her as a possible motive for her to kill Betsy, or anything that would have implicated her as the killer, because Leah Cheney made it so that he couldn't bring any of those things up because they weren't looking for other possible suspects. This was Russ's trial.

Wow. Yeah. That's wild, because it's like, I can understand understand why Russ was looked at I can understand why a trial happened I can they could even you know the fact that he didn't know that he wasn't the beneficiary anymore is not great for him Because like you said it makes it look like he had They had some financial stuff going on he even mentioned like we have a roards card here. I'm frugal so I wanted to go there like, you know, a payout would have been a change.

So I get why that is at least a thought in everyone's show. I totally understand that. You gotta look at Pam too. You gotta look at this as maybe, I'm not saying they are, I'm just saying like, they should have looked at it as a team at least, at the very least. At the very least, but also,

how would this man have murdered his wife and not had a single shred of his wife's DNA on him? Well, that's, yeah, that's nothing. That's shocking. What? And it's like, I don't think he had like, hazmat suit. No, probably not.

They didn't find one. Yeah. But like I said, like Schwartz wasn't able to bring up anything that would have pointed to Pam as a suspect, but he did file for emotion to ask her about the life insurance while the jury was out of the room because at the very least, like the judge had this knowledge. Absolutely.

But it didn't really matter because the jury didn't get to hear about it. And Pam had a doctor sign off that she was unable to do a polygraph test because of that random medical condition that was never named and it affected her memory. And she didn't know what it was called. She was like, I don't know, it affects my memory. Yeah, she was like, I don't know.

I remember what it's called. She also said at one point in time that it was menopause that was the reason why her memory was so fucked up, which like fair, but like, that's, you can't testify about that. That can't you, that can't you out of a polygraph. Yeah, I'm sorry, that doesn't justify murder.

No. It's like, it, that doesn't justify murder. No. It's like, it's truly mind boggling. It'd be so, she didn't do a polygraph, she didn't do any of that when she got asked about the life insurance money, the jury was out of the room, so it literally didn't matter. And when shorts asked her in front of the jury

about her multiple inconsistencies, she just blamed that memory loss. Oh wow, this is a convenient medical. Yeah, it's crazy. So in his closing argument, Schwartz told the jury that, no, this actually wasn't a rage killing. It was set up to look like one. He reminded them that there were no irregularities in the stab wounds.

He reminded him that his client had an alibi and that the timeline the prosecution was trying to set up simply wouldn't have been possible. Yeah, and they just fucking made it up. They literally just made it up. That like, I can't believe they just like made up, and they were allowed to just conjecture about what happened.

Like they literally like just like pulled it out of the game. Like I understand like theorizing about what could have happened. Sure. But involving people who aren't on trial and conjecturing that they had a very heavy hand in this with no evidence to that fact at all, it's like really wild.

And how is that not defamatory? Well, that's, I'm like, how were you allowed to do that? How did you get away with that? Just wait. Oh, man. But the jury, a lot of them on the jury, a lot of the people said, you know, it just seemed weird to us that he had that airtight alibi

and made so many stops and we couldn't pass that. I get it. I get it. And then they have all this evidence. I do, I get it. to us that he had that airtight alibi and made so many stops and we couldn't pass that. I get it. And then they have all this evidence. I do, I get it. I wouldn't be able to say either way. Yeah, so they deliberated for four and a half hours. And when they came back, they convicted Russ

of first degree murder. Wow. And with that, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder of his own wife. Holy shit. And Pam Hup got her money. I would have honestly thought there was going to be like a hung jury.

I would think I would absolutely think so. With all of that, I understand why they were looking at it and saying I can't get personal. He didn't do it. But I would have been like, I also can't 100% say he did. But they're saying they have all this lumenall testing and like they testifying, you know, like the camera didn't develop, but like, I'm an officer and I'm testifying to you.

And I saw this with my own eyes. I know, I can see why that would sway people, but like me, I would be like, yeah, I can't sign off on this. Like, I can't say beyond reasonable doubt, either way. No, of course not. And that's where we're gonna wrap up. Fuck, fuck. No, of course not. And that's where we're gonna wrap up the first one. Oh fuck.

Sorry. Fuck. But part two is coming like, A-Sat. Part two is literally coming out like, probably tomorrow. Yeah. So you only have to wait like 12 hours. I have like, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I have so much to tell you in this too. Oh man. Like, and it's so sad. It's so sad because nobody wins except Pam. That's the thing. And it's like, what the hell? Why the hell does she get to win? She doesn't.

She doesn't. Spoiler alert. Spoiler alert. I think you could realize that she doesn't. No, she better not. But part two is common. So we hope you keep listening. And we hope you keep it.

Weird. But not so weird that any of this is yours. I don't know. That's so weird that you just like make sure you make Shit up and bring like four random dudes into a murder trial for no reason Hey, Prime Members! You can listen to Morvid, Early, and Add Free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today, or you can listen to morbid, early, and ad-free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today, or you can listen ad-free with Wondery Plus and Apple podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at Wondery.com slash survey.