Latest / The conspiracy / 3 Murder Cases With Shocking Twists That Changed Everything

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3 Murder Cases With Shocking Twists That Changed Everything · The conspiracy

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Think about the person that you trust most, the person
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: that knows all of your secrets, who sees you when
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: you're vulnerable and comforts and smiles.
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: Now picture them sitting quietly across from you, nodding and
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: laughing while secretly deciding how they're going to end your life.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: No break-ins, no warning, just betrayal, all wrapped up in
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: a familiar face. Because sometimes the last thing you see
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  Speaker 2: isn't the danger coming toward you, it's the person you
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: thought would never hurt you. And once you realize the truth, well,
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: it's already too late.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: Conspiracy, cults, serial killers, and murder, all things that I
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: love to consume and I know you do too, you sick,
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: intellectually twisted, beautiful-minded freak. And today, we're getting into some M.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: Night Shyamalama Ding Dong true crime twisted stories. So without
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: further ado, let's unbuckle our seat belts, go Mach 5
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: down the highway, slam on the brakes, and bust through
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  Speaker 1: this windshield into these twisted true crime cases together. David
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: Castor lived a life that most people would consider quite ordinary.
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: He was born in Syracuse, New York in 1957. And
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  Speaker 1: David just had this overall steady presence. And he built
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: his entire world around him with good old hard work.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: He owned his own heating and air conditioning business and
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: was pretty successful with it. And he would fill his
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: free time with outdoor activities like boating, snowmobiling, and anything
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: to feel the cold wind come across his face. So
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: all was well with David, but he was missing something
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: in his life, and that was Stacey. And when he
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: met Stacey, everything just felt right and whole. And like
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: David's life already, being with Stacey just felt comfortable and
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: practical because Stacey was really organized and reliable. David had
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: a really regimented life and she fit perfectly into that.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: So Stacey basically had everything that seemed to complement the
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  Speaker 1: life David had already built for himself. So they would
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: get hitched and marry in August of 2003. Now Stacey
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: had two daughters from a previous relationship. So when they
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: got hitched, He moved Stacy and her two daughters, Ashley
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: and Bree, into his own life. Though it was not
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: without friction, because David had a life with no kids
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: and not any sort of responsibility in that way. And
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: now he had two teenagers that were, well, teenagers. So
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  Speaker 1: David's relationship with the girls was rocky to say the least.
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  Speaker 1: And like I said, David had a very regimented life.
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  Speaker 1: So when he became a new stepfather, he was pretty
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  Speaker 1: strict demanding that they follow all of his rules without
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  Speaker 1: any sort of question. And as we know with teenagers,
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  Speaker 1: they don't really respond to that very well. It's like
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  Speaker 1: me when I was a kid with my stepdad, I
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: would just be like, you're not my dad. That was
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: me slamming the door. Jay put in a door slam.
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: But still, from the outside looking in, this family seemed
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  Speaker 1: pretty stable. You have a hardworking man like David and
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: a very supportive wife like Stacy, and just this big
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: blended family just trying to figure things out. But beneath
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: the surface, a darker reality was starting to take shape.
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  Speaker 1: Because on August 22nd, 2005, Two years after David and
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  Speaker 1: Stacey got married, Stacey would place a very frantic 911 call.
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: And David, she said, had locked himself in their bedroom
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: after an argument and he wasn't answering. And when the
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  Speaker 1: police arrived, Sergeant Robert Willoughby knocked on the bedroom door.
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: But nobody would answer, so he would bang louder and louder,
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  Speaker 1: but there was no response from David. So with nobody
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  Speaker 1: answering and him being worried that something's wrong with David,
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  Speaker 1: he would force himself in opening the door. And what
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  Speaker 1: he would find would look like David had just taken
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  Speaker 1: his own life. Because when he busted through the door
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  Speaker 1: and into the bedroom, he would find David just laying
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  Speaker 1: across the bed, sprawled out, completely naked. And And on
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  Speaker 1: the nightstand sat a glass of bright green liquid alongside
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  Speaker 1: a bottle of apricot brandy, cranberry juice, and on the floor,
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  Speaker 1: an open container of antifreeze. And it was just lying
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  Speaker 1: there almost like too casually. And after the sergeant broke
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  Speaker 1: in and examined the area, obviously Stacy came into the
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  Speaker 1: room and would see David's body sprawled across the bed.
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  Speaker 1: And Stacy would just be beside herself and collapse into hysterics.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, her brand new husband was now dead. So
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  Speaker 1: she would just be screaming and sobbing, just unable to
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  Speaker 1: control her emotions. and telling the officers that she didn't
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  Speaker 1: understand what happened, but she did say that he was
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  Speaker 1: very depressed and had been drinking very heavily recently. And
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  Speaker 1: the scene told the same story that Stacey was putting forth.
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  Speaker 1: There was no sign of any sort of struggle in
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  Speaker 1: the room, no bruises, no wounds, just a mand and
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  Speaker 1: a drink. So an investigative team would be called and
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: they would start combing through the bedroom. But as they
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  Speaker 1: were combing through the bedroom, they would start finding tiny inconsistencies. Naturally,
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  Speaker 1: they would test for fingerprints on the antifreeze glass, given
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  Speaker 1: that that's how they assumed he took his own life,
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  Speaker 1: but they couldn't find his fingerprints on the glass. And
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  Speaker 1: they also found that there weren't any of David's fingerprints
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  Speaker 1: on the antifreeze either. And the only fingerprints that they
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  Speaker 1: could find were Stacy's fingerprints, but it was her room.
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  Speaker 1: So they weren't thinking much of it yet. But then
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  Speaker 1: they found the turkey baster. Yes, the turkey baster. So
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: while investigators were searching the rooms and the rest of
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  Speaker 1: the house, they would start digging through the kitchen's garbage.
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  Speaker 1: And investigators would find a turkey baster. And on the inside,
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  Speaker 1: they would see a substance and they would find out
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  Speaker 1: that it was just sticky with antifreeze. And the tip
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  Speaker 1: was covered in David's DNA. And this just painted a
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  Speaker 1: horrifying picture. Someone had clearly taken this turkey baster and
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  Speaker 1: forced it into David's mouth, just force feeding him poison
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  Speaker 1: until he passed. And investigators suspicions would deepen when they
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  Speaker 1: looked into Stacy's past and found another husband. And her
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  Speaker 1: previous husband would be Michael Wallace. And he actually died
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  Speaker 1: five years previous under mysterious circumstances. But his death was
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  Speaker 1: just written off as a heart attack at the time.
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  Speaker 1: And an autopsy was requested, but Stacy would deny it. Hmm, strange.
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: And she would just say that she was satisfied with
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: the doctor's heart attack diagnosis. I bet you were. In 2007,
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: Stacy actually invited her oldest daughter, Ashley, to join her
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  Speaker 1: for drinks. And this would be an early celebration for
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: her 21st birthday. So Stacy and her eldest daughter sat together,
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  Speaker 1: just laughing and relaxing and talking. And then Ashley, naturally
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  Speaker 1: trusting her mother, drank what she was given. But 17
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  Speaker 1: hours later, Ashley was found unconscious in her bed and
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: she would be discovered by her sister, Bree. And beside
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  Speaker 1: Ashley would be a slower slide note. And on the note,
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  Speaker 1: it would be just a long rambling confession taking blame
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  Speaker 1: for the murders of both Michael Wallace and David Castor.
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  Speaker 1: And Stacey would make another frantic call to the police.
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  Speaker 2: How old is your daughter?
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  Speaker 1: 20. She clashes. Yes, she's making noise. Is she breathing normally? No.
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  Speaker 2: An entire bottle of vodka, Ashley. Is that her?
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  Speaker 1: Oh, she's throwing up. She left a letter.
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  Speaker 2: She left a letter? That's a no.
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  Speaker 1: Oh my God, this is not... And she was scared
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  Speaker 1: that her daughter had died, but her daughter hadn't actually died.
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  Speaker 1: Ashley luckily survived and unluckily for Stacey. So when Ashley
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  Speaker 1: woke up in the hospital, confused and terrified, she swore
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  Speaker 1: she had no memory of writing any such note. And
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  Speaker 1: forensic analysis later proved that that note had been typed
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  Speaker 1: up at the time when Ashley had been sitting in class,
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  Speaker 1: miles away from the family computer. And the note also
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  Speaker 1: included mispronunciation for antifreeze as anti-free, which was noted earlier
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  Speaker 1: in the police interview. Girl's just giving herself up. So
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  Speaker 1: the truth was now unmistakable. Stacey Castor had poisoned her
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  Speaker 1: own daughter trying to stage a slower slide and forged
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  Speaker 1: an entire confession, all to frame her eldest daughter for
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  Speaker 1: her other crimes. So given all this information, investigators would
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  Speaker 1: exhume Michael's body, Stacey's previously deceased husband, and forensic testing
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  Speaker 1: would uncover crystals of ethylene glycol, which is the chemical
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  Speaker 1: found in, let's all say it together, Antifreeze! Antifreeze! And
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  Speaker 1: it was preserved in his tissues. So two husbands, same woman,
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  Speaker 1: same poison. Needless to say, it wasn't a coincidence. It
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  Speaker 1: was an M.O. So detectives set up surveillance on Stacey,
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  Speaker 1: tapped her phones, and watched her every move. And during
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  Speaker 1: a police interview, Stacey made a critical slip. She started
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  Speaker 1: to say she poured her husband the anti- I mean,
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  Speaker 1: cranberry juice. How could you that up, you dumb bitch?
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  Speaker 1: I mean, I'm glad you did, but. So it was
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  Speaker 1: a simple stumble, but in a murder investigation, it was
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  Speaker 1: like a gunshot. And they made note of this interesting mispronunciation.
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  Speaker 1: And in September of 2007, Stacey would be arrested. And
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  Speaker 1: at her trial in 2009, Stacey would actually stand in
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  Speaker 1: her own defense. And she would even claim innocence, just
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  Speaker 1: spinning stories, trying to sow doubt. But the evidence was
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  Speaker 1: just stacked against her. From the fingerprints, to the turkey baster,
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  Speaker 1: to the toxicology reports, to the forged note. And it
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  Speaker 1: would take the jury less than two days to find
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  Speaker 1: her guilty. Thank God. And Stacey Castor would be sentenced
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  Speaker 1: to 51 years to life in prison. But this wouldn't
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  Speaker 1: be a sentence that she would ever... complete. Because in 2016,
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  Speaker 1: while serving her time at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, Stacey
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  Speaker 1: would die of a heart attack. And she would never confess.
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  Speaker 1: And she never apologized. She just slipped away. The same
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  Speaker 1: way her husband's had, and the same way she almost
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  Speaker 1: claimed her own daughter. So the woman that everyone once
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  Speaker 1: saw as the perfect wife had been hiding in plain sight.
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  Speaker 1: A predator, a manipulator, a killer. And I say... Good riddance. Bye-bye.
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  Speaker 1: Waste of oxygen. And with that, let's move on to
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  Speaker 1: the next story. Travis Victor Alexander didn't have the type
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  Speaker 1: of childhood you'd expect from someone who would grow up
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  Speaker 1: to inspire people. He was born in 1977 in Riverside, California.
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  Speaker 1: And let's just say Travis's early life was rough. The
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  Speaker 1: kind you survive and not live. Because his parents both
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  Speaker 1: struggled with severe addiction. So his home life was just
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  Speaker 1: utter chaos all the time. So by 11 years old,
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  Speaker 1: Travis just had enough. And he would move in with
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  Speaker 1: his paternal grandparents. And throughout his childhood, he would just
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  Speaker 1: search for something his birth home just couldn't give him,
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  Speaker 1: which was stability. So it was in that new home,
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  Speaker 1: under the strict but loving care of his grandmother, that
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  Speaker 1: Travis found two things that would define him, ambition and faith.
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  Speaker 1: So eventually he would become a very devoted member to
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  Speaker 1: the Church of the Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints.
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  Speaker 1: And from there, he would just start to dream big.
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  Speaker 1: And he would succeed at most things that he did.
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  Speaker 1: And by his early 20s, he was a rising star
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: at the prepaid legal services. So he was a part-time
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  Speaker 1: salesman and he was also a part-time motivational speaker. Just
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: pulling people left and right into his orbit with his
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: sheer charisma. And people would say Travis was funny, ambitious,
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  Speaker 1: and charming, and that he always just wanted to make
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  Speaker 1: something of himself. So he had become very successful in
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  Speaker 1: his job. And one day he would have to go
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: to a conference in Las Vegas. And this was in 2006.
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  Speaker 1: And at this conference, he would meet Jody Arias. And
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  Speaker 1: that's when his whole life turned upside down and everything changed.
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  Speaker 1: And Travis's close friends say that their chemistry was instant.
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  Speaker 1: Jodi was beautiful and magnetic, and Travis was just hooked
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  Speaker 1: from the start. So right after that conference, they would
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  Speaker 1: start a long-distance relationship, stretching between Mesa, Arizona, and Palm Desert, California.
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  Speaker 1: But eventually, they didn't want to do long distance anymore,
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  Speaker 1: so she would move to Mesa to be closer to him.
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  Speaker 1: And Jodi would even go so far as to convert
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  Speaker 1: to Mormonism, and Travis himself would even baptize her. So
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  Speaker 1: they were in love and happy, but that wouldn't last
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  Speaker 1: forever and cracks would begin to show. Friends of Travis
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  Speaker 1: would notice how Jodi just clung to Travis all the time.
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  Speaker 1: She's very codependent. And not only was she codependent, she
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  Speaker 1: was also very jealous and very possessive of Travis. And
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  Speaker 1: Skye Hughes, one of Travis's closest friends, last remembered warning him,
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  Speaker 1: quote unquote, I'm afraid we're gonna find you chopped up
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  Speaker 1: in her freezer. Whoa, that's not good. And it was
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  Speaker 1: just a joke at the time, but unfortunately it wasn't
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  Speaker 1: a joke for too long. So their relationship would get
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  Speaker 1: a little rocky and they would kind of be off
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: and on through the years. But they would never really
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  Speaker 1: sever ties, even when they broke up. They would continuously
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: keep talking and sleeping together. So it was almost like
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  Speaker 1: a friends with benefits situation when they weren't actually together.
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: But it was at some point during this weird friends
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: with benefit relationship thing that Jodi's behavior kind of went
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  Speaker 1: off the rails. She kept popping up uninvited and reading
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  Speaker 1: his emails and quite literally stalking him. And Travis's friends
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  Speaker 1: were terrified because Travis was telling them what was happening
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  Speaker 1: and they're like, run, what the are you doing? So
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  Speaker 1: Travis was just in the middle here, caught between guilt
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  Speaker 1: and affection, especially because Mormonism forbid premarital, but it couldn't
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  Speaker 1: seem to pull him away from Jodi. But no one,
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  Speaker 1: not even Travis, could have guessed just how far things
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  Speaker 1: would go. So on June 9th, 2008, after days of
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: unanswered calls and missed meetings, Travis's friends broke into his
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  Speaker 1: home because they didn't know where he was. And the
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  Speaker 1: scene inside the home was their friend's worst nightmare. They
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: would get into the house and they would see a
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  Speaker 1: blood trail that led to the master bedroom. So they
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  Speaker 1: would follow the blood trail into the master bedroom and
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  Speaker 1: that's where they would find Travis slumped in a very
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: awkward position in a pool of blood. inside of his
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: own shower. And at this point, he had been dead
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  Speaker 1: for days. So naturally, the friends would call the police.
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: And when the police arrived, even seasoned investigators were shocked
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: at the sheer violence of the whole scene. Because Travis
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: had endured 27 stab wounds, a throat so deeply cut
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: it was nearly severed, and a bullet wound to the head.
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: just overkill, beyond overkill. So whoever had done this wasn't
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: just trying to kill Travis, they were trying to destroy him.
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: And friends were obviously very quick to point fingers at Jodi.
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: So they would tell police about Jodi's obsessive behavior, the break-ins,
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: and the pure jealousy that was just constant in their relationship.
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: But at the time, it just sounded too obvious because
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: wasn't it always just the crazy ex? So police would
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: tread carefully and open up an investigation carefully. So they
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: would go on and examine the house and they would
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: actually find a damaged camera in Travis's washing machine. And
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: they were actually able to recover photos from the camera.
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: And the images that they would see from this camera
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  Speaker 1: were so disturbing because the images would show Travis in
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: the shower alive. And not just alive, but right before
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  Speaker 1: he was murdered in the shower. And through searching the house,
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: DNA evidence would pop up as well. They would actually
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: find a bloody palm print on the wall and it
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: would contain two DNA profiles. One was Travis's and the
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: others was, you guessed it, Jodi's. And this would obviously
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: be enough to bring her in. So investigators would bring
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: Jodi in and they would interview her. And when questioned,
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: Jodi just played it cool as a cucumber. First, she
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: denied ever being there at all. And then when pressed
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: even further, Jodi came out with the truth. She told
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: them that masked intruders had actually broke into the house
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: while she and Travis were there and killed Travis, but
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: that ended up letting her go. And police were curious
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: about this, but they were hesitant on buying it completely
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: because the evidence was starting to stack up. So without
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: any proof that intruders actually came into the house because
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: they couldn't find footprints or other DNA evidence, they would
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: charge Jodi with first degree murder. And only after her
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: arrest did the truth actually come out. And this is
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: what actually happened June 4th, 2008. So Travis was in
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: his house and Jodi would show up unannounced and uninvited,
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: but Travis would let her in nonetheless. And after talking
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: for a bit, they would slip into old habits, having intercourse, laughing,
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: and taking some photographs. And at around 5.22 PM, Jodi
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: would pick up Travis's brand new camera and start taking
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: pictures of him in the shower. And this would be
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: that last photo that we would ever see of him alive.
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: And something at this point had shifted. Maybe Travis said
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: something that she didn't like, or maybe he told her
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: that this was really the end of their relationship. But
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: whatever it was, Jodi completely snapped. And in a sudden
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: explosion of violence, she attacked Travis with everything she had
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: in her, stabbing him repeatedly. And Travis would naturally fight back,
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: trying to get away, and he would leave those bloody
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: handprints on the wall in the process. But she was
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: relentless and animalistic. And she would go on to slash
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: his throat so deeply he was nearly decapitated. Then after
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: he was almost dead, she would shoot him in the
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: head as well. And afterward, in a panic, she would
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: try to clean up the scene, deleting the photos and
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: throwing the camera in the washing machine. And then she
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: would get in her car and drive off to Utah
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: for a work conference. And she would even go so
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: far as to meet another man in Utah and take
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: pictures smiling next to him just days later. And later,
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: during interviews and in court, Jodi would lie again and again,
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: just changing her story constantly. And she would eventually change
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: her story to self-defense. But the evidence told a completely
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: different story. It was basically chalked up to cold-blooded, calculated
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: revenge from a woman who couldn't let go. And she
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: would eventually break down in court as the prosecutor recounted
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: the details of the stabbing and slashing. And in 2013,
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: after a sensational trial that gripped the nation, Jodi Arias
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: was found guilty of first-degree murder. Thank- And she was
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: sentenced to life in prison without parole in 2015. And
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: Jodi continues to serve her sentence to this day. But
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: despite the verdict, people still love her for some f
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: * * * ed up reason. And she's even selling
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: some artwork from behind bars. Let's take a look at that.
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: This is so weird. I hate all of this. I
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: hate it. Mostly because she murdered a, you know, person.
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: So I won't be buying, won't be purchasing. She would
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: also appeal in October of 2019, but the original conviction
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: was upheld. And in the end, Travis Alexander escaped his
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: broken childhood only to be caught in a nightmare he
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: never saw coming. And the person he once hoped to
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: share his future with, became the architect for his own
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: violent end. Though there are many that maintain Travis was
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: not as innocent as many versions of the story try
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: to paint him. In a Reddit post, somebody actually claims
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: that Travis wasn't who he claimed to be, essentially. And
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: you can read the post here if you want to,
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: but either way, killing is wrong, and I don't think
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: it's ever justified unless it really is in self-defense. Dish it. sad,
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: horrible situation all around. But with that, let's move on
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: to our last case. Betsy Faria was the kind of
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: person you just don't forget. She was born on March 24th, 1969,
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: and she was warm, bubbly, and a little scatterbrained, but
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: who isn't, you know? She was a bit short on cash,
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: but she was rich in laughter and in friendships. Betsy
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: actually worked at a local gas station, which gave her
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: the time to pursue her passions. Because Betsy actually ran
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: her own DJ business called Party Starters, which is very
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: fitting for a woman who could just light up any
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: room with her smile. And Betsy also had a ton
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: of hobbies. She loved to spend time outdoors. She loved
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: to play tennis. She loved to go camping. And she
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: also loved cards and board games. And to top it off,
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: she met somebody that she fell in love with. And
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: in 2000, she would marry Russ Faria. And together, they
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: would raise their two beautiful daughters. And he would even
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: utilize his computer expertise to help with her business. And
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: he would actually create a computerized DJ playlist for Betsy.
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: So they were able to live together, work together, and
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: it was just a harmonious relationship. Life wasn't necessarily perfect,
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: when is it? But it was good. But a decade
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: would go by and things would start to change because
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: Betsy would be diagnosed with breast cancer. And Betsy being
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: Betsy didn't wanna waste the time that she had left
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: because she already lived life to the fullest. So she
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: was gonna do that when she was given the diagnosis.
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: So she made plans for a celebration of life cruise
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: with Russ, their daughters, and their friends. And in late 2011,
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: before they took their cruise, the news actually got worse
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: because her cancer had spread to her liver and the
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: doctors told her the clock was ticking. So Betsy chose
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: to take advantage of the time where the effects of
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: treatment were minimal because once you start treatment for cancer,
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: you just feel sick most of the time. So they
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: would go on this cruise and she would laugh and
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: have fun with her loved ones and she would focus
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: on memories and not endings. And there was one friend
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: in particular who stepped up during Betsy's battle And her
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: name was Pam Hupp. And the two had actually met
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: years earlier at a state farm office. And they would
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: just kind of hit it off and become friends. And
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: after Betsy's diagnosis, Pam started driving her to her chemotherapy sessions.
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: And Betsy was so grateful. Pam was just helping out
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: whenever she could and was just a very comforting presence
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: and was just a loyal, steady friend. And obviously she
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: had help from her husband and her daughters as well.
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: So December 27th, 2011 felt ordinary enough. That morning, Betsy
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: went to Siteman Cancer Center for her chemotherapy. And later
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: that afternoon, Betsy would text Russ to say she didn't
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: need a ride home because her friend Pam had offered
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: to give her a ride in his stead. And at
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: around 7 p.m., Pam had dropped Betsy off at her
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: house in Troy, Missouri. And Russ, meanwhile, was at his
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: usual Tuesday night game night with his friends, just laughing
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: and snacking and watching movies. So Russ would finish up
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: with his friends and then he would get into his
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: car and head home. And supposedly he grabbed some fast
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: food before arriving. And it was at around 9.40 PM
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: that Russ would walk into the front door and his
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: world would be shattered because Betsy was lying on the
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: living room floor covered in blood. A knife still protruding
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: from her neck. And Russ, being completely frantic and horrified,
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: would dial 911, just sobbing, telling the dispatcher it looked
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: like his wife had * * * * herself. Because
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: she had been depressed about her cancer after all, so
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: he didn't know why she would, but it was definitely
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: a possibility. Because who else would do this to her?
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: But when the police arrived, it was very clear to
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: them that this wasn't a slewer slide. Betsy had been stabbed.
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: 55 times. So whoever had done this had been furious.
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: So naturally the investigators would zero in on Russ immediately.
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: It was Betsy's husband. She had cancer. There was insurance
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: money involved. It just made sense. But despite the fact
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: that he had an airtight alibi, because he had witnesses
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: because he was at that game night that night, and
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: he also had a time stamped Arby's receipt from a
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: stop on his way home, police would barely look beyond
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: him and Russ would be detained just days later. They
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: essentially just ignored the witness statements that he was with
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: his friends the entire evening. and ignore the alibi receipts.
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: So Russ would go to trial and there would be
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: numerous witnesses, one of which was Betsy's best friend, Pam.
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: And she would testify against Russ, painting a picture of
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: an angry husband who wanted Betsy's life insurance money. And naturally,
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: the jury bought it. And in 2013, Russ Faria was
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: Case closed, or so it seemed. Because two years later,
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: cracks in the case started to show. New attorneys picked
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: up Russ's appeal and uncovered staggering problems because they found
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: evidence suggesting Betsy's life insurance had been changed just four
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: days before her death. In the name of the sole
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: new beneficiary, Pam Hupp. And allegedly, they were just worried
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: about how Russ would handle the funds. But they would
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: find proof that Pam kept the entire $ 150, 000 payout, despite
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: promising it would go to Betsy's daughters. And there were
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: records of Pam showing that she was giving inconsistent stories
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: about where she was that night. First claiming she never
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: went inside Betsy's house at all, and then admitting that
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: she had. But it all pointed to one chilling direction,
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: and that was Pam Hupp, not Russ, who was currently
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: in jail. So in 2015, Russ was granted a new trial,
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: and at this time, the truth unraveled very quickly. And
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: without Pam's extremely misleading testimony, and with clear evidence that
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: he could never have been at the scene, Russ was
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: thankfully acquitted. and he would walk out of prison a
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: free man. But for Pam Hopp, the walls were slowly
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: closing in. And in 2016, Pam would make another move.
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: One even more bizarre and horrifying. Pam would go on
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: to lure a man named Louie Gumpenberger into her home.
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: And Louie would have mental and physical disabilities from a
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: car crash. But she would bring him in nonetheless under
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: the pretense of being a Dateline producer offering money for
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: a reenactment, which is ironic given this whole case I
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: believe was actually on Dateline, but I digress. But as
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: we know, Pam was not a Dateline producer and she
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: would just shoot Louie in the head, and then she
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: would claim self-defense. But police, thankfully, would quickly realize it
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: was all bullshit and it was staged. And they would
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: also find a hastily written note on his body. And
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: it was clear that this was an attempt to create
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: a fake kidnapping tied to Russ Faria. So Pam would
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: naturally be arrested. And when the arrest occurred, Pam would
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: request to use the restroom. This woman has plan A, B, C, D, E, F, G.
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: I swear to the Lord. Oh my God. So she
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: would go to the restroom and then she would proceed
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: to stab herself with a ballpoint pen in the neck
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: and the wrists. In an act described as... consciousness of guilt.
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: So glad you realize that you're a piece of shit
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: and trying to take the easy way out. And after
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: all that, she was still alive. She would even go
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: on to get her mug shots with bandages around her
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: neck and wrists. And moving on to trial, prosecutors would
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: seek the death penalty for her. And she would initially
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: plead not guilty, which like, How? And later, at her
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: trial in June 2019, she entered a Alford plea. And
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: this is where one pleads guilty to accept a plea bargain,
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: but maintains that they're actually, in fact, innocent. Just the
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: piece of shit plea, basically. Because people only do this
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: because they see the evidence stacked against them, and they
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: know that they would be f * * * ed, basically.
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: So she would take the plea, but she would be
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: sentenced to life in prison. Thank- So the Alford plea
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: basically just allowed her to avoid the death penalty. And
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: in July of 2021, nearly a decade after Betsy's murder
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: took place, Pam was officially charged of the first degree
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: murder of Betsy. While she was already serving the sentence
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: for the murder, of Louis. And Pam's story garnered so
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: much attention that it inspired a true crime drama called
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: The Thing About Pam, which was an NBC limited series
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: starring Renee Zellweger. That cover is crazy. I can't get
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: over that cover. Oh my God. That is so scary.
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: So Betsy spent her last day surrounded by friends she
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: thought she could trust. And the person she trusted most.
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: The one who drove her home that night. The one
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: she believed was helping her this whole time. Just turned
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: out to be the one who betrayed her in the
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: most brutal and unimaginable way. Pam Hopp. wasn't just a friend.
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: She was a killer in plain sight. So that concludes
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: our three true crime stories. I'm just glad justice was
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: served in all of these. They're all absolutely terrible, but
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: I mean the most common thing is the people that
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: are closest to you, so watch out. My heart goes
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: out to the families involved and I'm glad all these
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: people are raw in jail, hopefully thinking about what they've
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: done every single day of their lives, and I hope
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: it It ruins them and haunts them constantly every second
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: of the day. But anyway, I appreciate you all. If
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: you have any other cases you want me to check out,
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: let me know down in the comments below. I always
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: read your comments. I very much appreciate it and be
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: safe out there. All right. I will see you in
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: the next one. Bye.