Transcript: 44. Missouri Murderess (Pamela Hupp) | USA

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Around mid-day on the 16th of August 2016, a 9-1-1 call was made from an O’Fallon, Missouri home. The panicked woman on the other end of the line said that she was being burgled. A strange man inside her home was threatening her life he wanted to kidnap her. 

It was a noisy and incoherent phone call, at some point it sounded like a smoke alarm had been set off. The woman begged for mercy and said that she did not want to get into the car. 

Then two gunshots were fired. The sound cut through the chaos and the operator knew the situation had spun out of control. The woman came back on the line and told the operator that she had shot the intruder. 

When police arrived at the scene, they were familiar with the woman, as she had been a witness in a previous murder case. What took place inside her home on that late summer’s day, was not what it seemed. This is a story with many twists and turns, but in the end, it comes down to an evil person who was driven by greed. And nothing would get in the way of a $150,000 life insurance pay-out. 

>>Intro Music

Betsy Faria was one of four girls growing up. She was the outgoing one, who liked to be in on all the action. Hanging out with Betsy was always loads of fun. In her adult life, she always remained close to her parents and her sisters.

When she was younger, Betsy worked as a DJ and she was literally known to be the party starter. She loved music and socialising, and people were naturally drawn to her. By the end of the 1990s, she was a single mother of two daughters, Leah and Mariah. She had the support of her family, so she wasn’t necessarily looking for a partner. But when she started seeing Russel Faria, everything just seemed to fall into place. Russ was also outgoing and spirited, a jokester who loved making his friends laugh. He slotted in with her family and took Betsy’s daughters under his wing without any issues. They seemed to be a perfect match. 

In January 2000 Betsy and Russ became Mr and Mrs Faria. They had a happy marriage for the most part. There was a time when they separated for a short while. But they were able to work through it and when they got back together, their relationship was stronger than ever.

In January 2010, ten years into their marriage, the couple received bad news. Betsy was diagnosed with breast cancer. However, she was determined to beat it and went for a mastectomy, followed by chemotherapy. As much as she could, Betsy kept up her normal routine. She remained active and played tennis whenever she got the chance. 

A year into her treatment, Betsy was told that she was in remission. She was ready to put her battle with cancer behind her. To celebrate, Betsy and Russ planned a Caribbean cruise with her whole family. 

Sadly the celebration was short-lived. In October 2011 Betsy went for a check-up and learnt that the cancer had spread to her liver. It was inoperable and there was nothing doctors could do for her. Best case scenario, she had three to five years left to live. The prognosis was not good, but Betsy had a fighting spirit and she was adamant to be around as long as she could. She insisted that they all went on the cruise anyway. Her attitude was to make the most of the time she had left. On the cruise, Betsy and Russ were closer than ever. They had the best time doing all the things Betsy loved to do. She even had the opportunity to swim with the dolphins, a lifelong dream of hers. 

When they returned to their home in Troy, Missouri, things fell back into the normal routine. Betsy never missed a chemo treatment and was beginning to wrap her head around the fact that she had a terminal illness and that her days were numbered. The family had a joyful Christmas together and no one wanted to think that it could be the 42-year-old Betsy’s last festive season. 

On Tuesday afternoon, December 287h 2011, Betsy went for one of her regular chemo treatments at the Alvin J Siteman Cancer Center. The plan was to go to her mother’s place in the evening after her treatment, as a family friend who she hadn’t seen in a while was visiting her mom. Russ would pick her up from her mom’s place on his way home from his friend’s house. Russ sent Betsy a text, asking what time he should pick her up, and she said he did not have to worry about it, as a friend had offered to take her home. 

Betsy’s friend dropped her at home at 7pm and left once Betsy had gone inside.

Betsy’s daughter, Leah, called her three times between 7:20 and 7:30 that night, but Betsy did not pick up the phone. Her daughter thought it was strange, as they had spoken earlier and arranged the phone call. Leah was going to US Cellular to upgrade her phone plan and Betsy had to authorise it.

As most Tuesday nights, Russ had gone to one of his friends’ homes for games night. On this night, they met at Mike Corbin’s house in O’Fallon, about a 30-minute drive from Russ and Betsy’s home in Troy. Although it was technically games night, they did not always play board games. That night they watched a movie. One of Russ’ friends later admitted that there was nothing special about that night, if anything it was a bit boring.

Russ left Mike’s place just after 9PM. He went to an Arby’s drive-thru and bought two junior cheddar melts for the road home. 

Shortly after 9:30, Russ walked into his home and that is when he saw Betsy lying on the floor in the living room. But it was not the cancer that had killed her. There was a huge amount of blood and he could see a serrated kitchen knife sticking out of her neck. At first glance, he thought that his wife had killed herself. 

Russ called 9-1-1 as soon as he could, at 9:41PM. He was hysterical and distraught. He cried and screamed but tried to give as much information as he could. This call would become a controversial piece of evidence in the investigation into Betsy’s death.

Betsy was stabbed a horrifying 55 times. She was so badly injured; her arms were nearly cut off. When first responders arrived at 9:49, rigor mortis had already set in. Betsy had been dead for at least one hour, most possibly longer by that time.

As is customary, investigators looked at the people closest to Betsy. As there were no signs of forced entry, the obvious place to start would be looking at the person who lived with her, her husband, Russ. Russ was taken into the police station for questioning. He denied that he had anything to do with her death. He was very emotional and had various outbursts. But police were not sure whether he was acting or not. There was a sense that he was laying it on a bit too thick. It was like he was pretending to cry as no tears would come out.

They questioned him for most of the night, as he was still reeling in the shock of finding his wife’s body. They asked him to take a polygraph test, and he agreed. When they were done, investigators told him that he had failed the polygraph and they were pushing him for answers. 

Russ was adamant: he did not kill his wife. He loved her. He would never hurt anyone, let alone his wife.

Russ’ clothes and shoes were examined, but there were no signs of blood. Convinced that he must have cleaned up, they tested the bathroom for blood evidence, but there was absolutely nothing. They examined the shower and the basin but could not find any signs of someone cleaning up after a murder. 

The only evidence they could find, was a blood smear on the light switch in Russ and Betsy’s bedroom. The blood later tested to be only Betsy’s blood, there were no fingerprints either. It was the same with the knife that had killed Betsy. The only blood present on the murder weapon, belonged to the victim. 

Then investigators found something. Shoved into a wardrobe were Russ’ slippers. Both had a lot of Betsy’s blood on them. However, no bloody footprints could be found inside the home. 

Betsy’s funeral was held on the 3rd of January 2012. The next day, her husband, Russel Faria was arrested and charged with her murder. 

Police reminded him that he had failed the polygraph. Investigators insisted that Russ was the one who had stabbed Betsy, no matter how much he denied it. He was pressured to make a confession, something he never did. 

The conclusion was that the sheer amount of stab wounds on Betsy’s body indicated that her murder was a crime of passion. A random burglar would not commit this kind of overkill. And she definitely did NOT do this to herself. 

Investigators felt that he tried to cover-up his crime by saying that Betsy had ended her own life. Police thought it was obvious that her death was no suicide, because many of the stab wounds were inflicted after she had already died. 

When asked how he could assume that it was suicide, Russ said that she had tried it before.  He saw slashes on her arms and the knife in her neck and in the shock of the moment jumped to conclusions. Also, all of the other wounds were covered by her clothes.

Russ’ friends heard that he was accused of killing Betsy and stepped in to give him an alibi. Four people made statements, saying that Russ was with them from 6pm to 9pm in O’Fallon. When phone records were checked, it placed Russ’ cell phone in O’Fallon in that period. 

His journey to Mike’s house could be verified as he stopped at a gas station in Troy at 5:15 in the afternoon. He bought some dog food at Greene’s Country Store in Lake St Louis before he stopped at another gas station in O’Fallon shortly before 6pm to buy cigarettes and iced tea. He was caught on CCTV footage at both gas stations. All of his friends said that he arrived at 6pm, which would be consistent with his movements.

When he left at 9pm he went straight to Arby’s, a receipt showed he paid at 9:09pm. The drive home from Arby’s was typically 35 minutes, which would fit into the timeline – corresponding with the time he arrived home, discovered Betsy’s body and then called 9-1-1.

However, Betsy’s time of death was ruled to be sometime between 7:20 and 9:41pm. That meant that Russel could not possibly have done it, as he was over 25 miles away.

From the start, Betsy’s family felt that she did not end her own life. They felt that, despite his airtight alibi, he had done it.

Police interviewed Betsy’s closest friends to gain a better understanding of the couple’s marriage. They spoke to the friend who had given Betsy a ride home from her mother’s house on the night of her murder. The friend was a woman called Pamela Hupp. Pamela told police that she had dropped Betsy at 7pm and left. Without going inside. They called Pam’s husband, Mark from the car and left a voicemail. Betsy’s voice can be heard in this message wishing Mark a merry Christmas.

Pam and Betsy had both worked in the life insurance industry and were both employed by State Farm (a large group of insurance and financial services). They had a lot in common, as Pam was also from a large family and was also married with two children. She had a loud laugh and they had a lot of fun together.

After Pam left State Farm, the two lost touch for a while. But when Pam heard about Betsy’s breast cancer, she came back into her life and supported her though it. Russ remembered their friendship and said although they saw each other quite a bit Betsy had many other friends whom she was closer to.

They were both pro-active types, do-ers and did what they could to help others. Previously, Pamela and Betsy had gone door-to-door, collecting money for another family with cancer and ended up raising $10K. Because Betsy had a lot on her plate with her illness, Pam administrated the whole fundraising effort.

Pam supported Betsy through her breast cancer and sat with her at the Cancer Centre when she went for chemotherapy treatment.

When investigators talked to Pam about Russ and Betsy’s relationship, she told them that Russ was not a pleasant guy. Russ had talked about how much money he’d have once Betsy was dead. Betsy had also told her that Russ had given her a drink of Gatorade at some point that had a strange colour. When Betsy had a sip it tasted weird and she spat it out.

According to Pam, Betsy wanted to suggest to Russ that they moved in with her family, as it was closer to the Cancer Centre where she went for chemotherapy treatment. Her plan was that they could rent out their home for much needed extra money. But Betsy was afraid about how Russ would react to the suggestion. She thought that he would have been aggressive about it. Police confronted Russ and he denied ever knowing anything about Betsy’s idea.

Pam also said that Russ played a game with Betsy, putting a pillow over her face and said – see what it feels like to die. Russ denied ever doing this. He said he loved Betsy and she was never afraid of him. 

But Betsy’s friend Pam was about to drop a bombshell. Shortly before her death, Betsy had removed Russ as the beneficiary from her life insurance policy of $150,000. A librarian at the local library had witnessed the change of beneficiary document signing with Betsy and Pamela. When police asked Russ about this, he claimed that it was news to him. There was no evidence that Russ ever saw the change or knew about it. Betsy DID have another life insurance policy, for $100,000 of which Russ was the sole beneficiary.

When asked about this, Betsy’s family believed that she felt Russ would be too distraught to spend the money wisely. They believed that she had left the bigger pay-out policy to Pam she could see to it that Betsy’s daughters would receive it in the future, to buy cars or pay for college, their weddings one day – all the things that Betsy wouldn’t have the privilege of being a part of. 

Rita Wolfe, lifelong friend said that Betsy had contemplated suicide, but that she kept a very brave exterior, for all the world to see was a woman who would never think of ending it. But she let her guard down once and confided in her friend that she had been thinking about ending it all. She also said that Betsy’s family did not initially think that it was Russ, but the more information they were given by prosecution, the more they believed it was him.

Rita said that Betsy had also approached her and asked if she could be the beneficiary in her life insurance policy. She told Rita that she was concerned that Russ would blow all the money on senseless things. She wanted to make sure that the money would be there for her daughters. Rita did not agree, but suggested Betsy asked one of her sisters.

Members of the church and the community came forward and said that Russ sometimes took his jokes too far. At times he could be mean to Betsy and degraded her in front of other people. 

Even Betsy’s family agreed that he could have been capable of doing it. When Betsy’s mom heard about how many times she had been stabbed, they thought it HAD to be Russ. No stranger or random burglar would have attacked Betsy in such a frenzy. 

Russel’s trial kicked off in November 2013, two years after Betsy’s murder. Evidence at the trial was pretty straight forward, according to prosecutor Leah Askey: Russ and his friends were in cahoots. They helped him to set up an alibi. The fact that there was so much evidence about Russ’ whereabouts on the night of his wife’s death, proved that he was setting up an alibi, it was deliberate and seemed fabricated. It was strongly insinuated that his friends were co-conspirators in the murder of Betsy, but no charges were ever laid against them.

The facts were, Betsy was about to tell him something he probably didn’t wat to hear: that she wanted them to move in with her family. He must have snapped and stabbed her again and again. That is why there was blood on his slippers.  

The jury deliberated for four hours. At first, out of 12 people, six voted guilty, and six not guilty. After deliberating further, four more people were convinced of Russ’ guilt, which made it ten to two. The jury convicted Russ Faria of murder, even though he adamantly insisted that he had not done it. He was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. Betsy’s family was satisfied with the outcome and felt that justice was served.

In interviews after the trial, jury members said that they did not buy Russ’ alibi. They felt that the alibi witnesses were too rehearsed, they all told exactly the same story, it seemed untruthful. The jury also saw the blood-stained slippers as the most damning concrete evidence. Also, with so many stab wounds, the murder seemed personal. The amount of rage and passion that went into the attack, would only be symptomatic of a broken intimate relationship, like that between a husband and his wife.

Russ Faria’s defence attorney, Joel Schwartz, was so strongly convinced of his innocence, that he requested to be appointed as special prosecutor so he could find the person who had actually killed Betsy. He was sure that her friend, Pamela Hupp had something to do with it.

The judge ruled that the jury was not allowed to be informed about an alternative suspect. The evidence that Betsy had changed her life insurance policy to Pam Hupp in the days leading up to her murder, was never presented in court. It was entered into court evidence after the trial, but that was all. 

When jurors found out about this, they were furious. They had convicted a man to life in prison without knowing the ‘whole truth’. Some contacted the media to speak out about the travesty.

In his application to appeal Russ Faria’s sentence, Joel Schwartz stated his suspicions regarding Pamela Hupp. 

She had made many contradictory statements, which made him wonder: which version – if any – was the truth?

At first Pamela said to investigators that she had dropped Betsy off around 7pm and she DID NOT go inside. Later, she said that she had gone inside, and Betsy turned on the hallway light. 

Phone records showed that Pam called Betsy at 7:27pm. Pam said she made that call from home in O’Fallon to tell Betsy that she was home safely. The call went unanswered. However, cell phone towers show that Pam was actually in the opposite direction, North of Troy, where Russ and Betsy’s home was, when she called.

On the day of Betsy’s murder, Pamela texted and offered her a ride home after her chemotherapy treatment. Betsy let her know that she was at her mom’s house in Lake St Louis and that her friend would take her home. The friend, Bobbi Wann, was in fact Betsy’s old babysitter from back in the day, part of the family. Pamela ignored Betsy’s text and showed up anyway, much to Betsy’s surprise. Pam claimed that she never received Betsy’s text, but phone records would later show that she replied. She simply said “Bummer”. In the end, she was there and on her insistence, Pamela was the one who took Betsy home. She was the last person to see Betsy alive.

It was also exposed, that the money Pam and Betsy had raised for the family with a cancer sufferer, the $10,000, was never given to them. Pam was supposed to have handed it over. Also, the family was unaware of the fundraiser and seeing their family’s Christmas Card on a flyer asking for money, did not sit well with them.

It was also significant to note that in her years working in the life insurance industry, Pam Hupp was fired from two jobs, as she was caught forging signatures. She stopped working in 2010 and claimed disability benefits for neck, back and leg pain, after falling into a filing cabinet at work. However, cameras have seen her literally run away when asked uncomfortable questions about Betsy’s murder.

The day after Betsy’s death, Pamela told police that the life insurance policy was changed into her name and she would see to it that Betsy’s daughters receive it, as that was Betsy’s wish. Investigators suggested that Pam set up a trust for the girls, which she did. But only weeks after Russ Faria was convicted of murder in 2013, she revoked the money from the trust. 

In July 2014, in a deposition, she changed her story, saying that Betsy didn’t want her daughters, her sisters or her mother to have the money. Pam was under the impression that the money was intended for her and her alone. So, she withdrew $100,000, and said she used the remaining $50,000 to help the 12-year-old daughter of another friend who had died of cancer. When pressured under oath, she admitted that she did not actually give the girl the money, but she was thinking about it.

When police asked her if she had killed Betsy for the money, Pam said that she did not need money. She made it clear that he mother was worth half a million dollars, that would go to her when her mother died. If she wanted to kill someone for insurance money, her frail and ailing elderly mother would be a much easier target than the vivacious Betsy. 

Three months later, Pam Hupp’s mother was dead.

Russ Faria was granted a second trial February 2015. He needed $50,000 to get out on bail, money he did not have. His family and friends raised the funds and he was released from prison while he awaited his second trial.

This time Schwartz was allowed to introduce evidence that implicated Pamela Hupp in the murder. It changed the picture significantly. 

But prosecutor Leah Askey was prepared. Remembering how effective the physical evidence of the bloodied slippers was, new testimony about the Faria home on the night of the murder was presented. A deputy recalled actually seeing water in the bath tub on the day of the murder, which means that Russ must have cleaned up. This contradicts earlier findings that there were no signs of water or blood in the bathroom.

At the retrial, CSI agent, Amy Buettner who had processed the scene at the Faria home, testified for the defence, that the blood pattern on Russ’ slippers did not look like he wore it during the attack. There was a lot of blood on the floor, yet he did not step in any blood. She suspected that blood was put onto the slippers before they were hidden in the cupboard. That is not the actions of someone who had just killed his wife, but rather someone who tried to make it appear that he had killed his wife.

Police also found a letter to Pam written by Betty on her laptop. It was saved under her documents, but she never sent it to Pam. They knew about this letter, as Pam told them that Betsy had mentioned the letter to her. She had not sent it, as she had printer problems. Pam first called it an email then corrected herself and said it was a ‘document’. 

The letter is rather damning. In the letter, she asked Pam to be the beneficiary on her life insurance, confirming Pam’s story. Betsy wrote that she did not want Russ to know and that she was afraid of staying alone in Troy with Russ. The letter also tells the story of Russ placing a pillow over her face and asking her if she wondered what it would feel like to die. 

Defence attorney Joel Schwartz found this letter strange and out of character for Betsy. He pointed out that it was the only document on Betsy’s computer that had an ‘Unknown’ author. It was also written using Word 97 software that was NOT installed onto Betsy’s computer. It was probably written on another computer and transferred to Betsy’s computer without her knowledge. It was saved onto Betsy’s computer the day before the policy was changed over to Pam.

Betsy and Pam spoke to each other a lot, why would Betsy write a letter at all?

A curious thing is the pillow-story. If Betsy had already told Pam about it, why would she tell her again? Pam claims that she had not read the letter, so how would she know about this alleged incident? She said that Betsy told her about the story at tennis the day before. Could she be the author of the letter?

Pamela did not testify at the retrial, but police officers disclosed some of her contradictory statements. In addition to her changing her statement about going into the house with Betsy, she also stated that she had seen Russ in a car outside of the house on the night of the murder. Why would she wait four years to reveal this? 

In 2011 Pam said she hardly knew Russ. In 2015 she said that she knew him well and just before Betsy’s death, he threatened to kill her (that is Pam) and bury her in the back garden. 

She made claims that she had an intimate relationship with Betsy and said that they were lovers. But people who knew Betsy said that she was definitely not gay, in fact she was quite homophobic.

Pam’s contradictory statements tripped her up. Nobody believed her anymore. At his retrial in November 2015, Russel Faria was found not guilty of the murder of his wife. After spending three and a half years in prison, he was finally acquitted. 

Betsy’s daughters sued Pam Hupp for their mother’s life insurance money in 2014. In court, Pam was on the witness stand. She was full of it. When presented with inconsistencies in her statements to police, she claimed to had been diagnosed with a memory problem, although she did not feel she had any issues. Even her own lawyer said that the was not a credible witness. 

Despite Pam’s arrogant attitude in court, and strong questions about her part in Betsy’s death, the case at hand was about a life insurance policy. And in 2016, the case was dismissed. Betsy’s daughters did not get a dime, as the court ruled that all the paperwork regarding the beneficiary of the life insurance policy was in order. 

In August 2016, there was a new prosecutor in Lincoln County, and together with the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office, a press release announced that they were cooperating with the US Attorney’s Office in a review of Betsy Faria’s murder case. 

Some days later, Pam Hupp called 9-1-1 and claimed that she had shot a man who had broken into her house, in self-defence. 

She said that the man had waited for her and when she parked her SUV in the garage, he got into the car and threatened her at knife-point. He forced her to drive to the bank so they could withdraw “Russ’ money”. She managed to jump out of the car and entered the house from the garage. The assailant followed her inside and allegedly kept coming at her.

She called 911, to report that there was a burglary in progress. When the man didn’t stop his attack, she went to her bedroom, fetched her firearm, a .38 Ruger revolver, and shot him. The man died at the scene.

His name was Louis Gumpenberger. In his pocket was 900 bucks, in hundred-dollar bills. 

There was also a note that indicated his attack on Pam was a murder for hire – he was supposed to have kidnapped Pam Hupp, retrieve Betsy’s life insurance money and then kill Pam. The note read:

“Kidnap Hupp, get Russ’s money from Hupp at her bank, and kill Hupp. Take Hupp back to house and get rid of her. Make it look like Russ' wife. Make sure knife sticking out of neck."

The hitman appeared to have been hired by Russ Faria. Police tried to make a connection between Russ and Louis. They could not. Besides, investigators were onto Pamela Hupp. In their search of the property, they found damning evidence that pointed straight back to her, the supposed victim. 

The serial number on the dollar bills were consistent with another hundred dollar bill that was found in Pamela’s bedroom. The knife in Louis Gumpenberger’s possession was noted on an itemised receipt from the Dollar Tree in O’Fallon along with other items found in Pam’s house. 

The only problem in the investigation was to find a connection between Pamela Hupp and Louis Gumpenberger. Louis was a father of two who had a rather tragic story. In 2005, he had a motor vehicle accident and as a result suffered brain damage. He was not the same person as before and had to change many things in his life. He found a job at a packaging company who provided employment opportunities for people with disabilities.

Six days before Louis’ death, an unknown woman showed up in St Charles County. She approached a local female resident and said that she was a Dateline producer from Chicago and that she was working on a segment about 9-1-1 calls. She wanted the woman to go with her so they could record a soundbite for the feature. She was promised a thousand dollars in cash. 

When the so-called producer could not show her any proof that she was in fact who she claimed to be, the woman declined the offer. As luck would have it, she had security cameras outside her home, and she provided police with footage of the swindler driving away. It was a good recording and the registration number was clearly visible. The car captured on film was a green SUV, belonging to Pamela Hupp. 

Another witness came forward, this time a man, and informed police that Pamela Hupp had approached him with the same story.

Police had to prove that Pam had convinced Louis to go with her. By tracking her cell phone activity on the day of the shooting, they could see that her device was pinging off a tower in the vicinity of Louis Gumpenberger’s apartment complex. 45 minutes later Louis was dead. 

Did she try to recruit him with the same story of being a Dateline producer? Neighbours said that Louis was known to sit out on his front porch, so if she was driving around the area, she would have spotted him and could easily have approached him.

When Louis was found in Pam Hupp’s home, he had been shot five times. The amount of cash on him, was about the same amount the witnesses said the fake producer had offered them. Louis was just trying to make a quick buck to give to his family. He did not deserve to die in such a brutal way.  

Pamela Hupp was charged with first degree murder in the shooting of Louis Gumpenberger. At the police station she asked to use the restroom. As soon as she was alone, she stabbed herself in the neck and wrists with a pen in an attempt to kill herself. The pen in her neck was an unsettling reminder of the knife found in Betsy Faria’s neck. But unlike Betsy, Pam survived the incident and was kept in custody. 

With Pam being so obviously capable of murder and violence, the cloud of suspicion darkened over her past. Her involvement Betsy’s murder was questioned again, but there was another case that concerned investigators. The accidental death of Pam’s mother, Shirley Newman in 2013. 

Shirley Neumann was a retired school teacher, who lived by herself in a retirement community in Fenton, Missouri. Shirly was in her 70s and suffered from dementia and arthritis. 

On the night of October 29 2013, Shirley had returned home after spending some time in hospital. The next day, her daughter, Pam Hupp, told staff at the retirement complex that her mother would not be having dinner that night. She would also not require breakfast the next morning. Less than 24 hours later, Shirley’s body was discovered in the garden below her third-floor balcony. 

The theory was that she had tripped and fallen through the steel railing. A couple of vertical aluminium balusters had been dislodged and Shirley must have fallen straight through.

The last person to have seen Shirley alive was Pam. Police were tipped off by an anonymous caller about Pam’s hand in her mother’s accident. Investigators talked to her brother, who had no concern about it. He felt it was a tragic accident as his mother had been in poor health and had fallen before, in the days leading up to her death. Her cause of death was concluded to be ‘blunt trauma to the chest’ due to an accidental fall. 

Curiously, an autopsy showed that Shirley had a high dose of the sleeping tablet ambient in her system at the time of her death. Eight times more than the required dose. 

It was also strange that she had fallen through the railing and not over it. There were also no marks or scratches on her body from the broken balusters. Dateline showed a structural engineer called Justin Hall, who put together an experiment. He reconstructed a model based on the same railing found on Shirley’s balcony. He had taken into consideration Shirley’s weight and speed of a fall to calculate the force at which Shirley’s body hit the railing. Essentially, to work out if it would have been possible for Shirley’s body to have gone through the railings. The test proved that this was impossible. For the railings to have broken the way they did, it had to have been hit by something 10 times Shirley’s weight. At least 2,000 lbs. He concluded that there is no way Shirley’s death was an accident.

The coroner reclassified Shirley’s death, from ‘Accidental Death’ to ‘Undetermined’. However, the investigation into her death was not reopened. 

As it stands, Betsy Faria’s murder is unsolved.

Pamela Hupp will stand trial for the murder of Louis Gumpenberger in June 2019. She still claims that it was self-defence. Her suspicious behaviour in connection with Betsy’s murder will be allowed to be presented at this case. 

If you’d like to read more about this case, have a look at the resources used for this episode in the show notes. 

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