00:00:00
This week's 48 Hours investigates the murder of a prominent attorney. Last year, Melody Ferris was convicted of
00:00:06
murdering her husband. The remains of Gary Ferris were discovered in 2018 on their 10-acre Georgia farm. But at her
00:00:14
sentencing, Melody Ferris made a stunning accusation, and we mean stunning. Correspondent Peter Van Sant
00:00:20
spoke with her in an exclusive interview. In July 2018, Detective Daniel Hayes of
00:00:27
the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office was summoned to an unusual crime scene, a body found in the ashes of a burn pile.
00:00:36
I had never personally responded to a call like that. The victim was identified as 58-year-old
00:00:41
Gary Ferris. Forensics would later show he'd been shot prior to being left there.
00:00:48
Investigators learned Gary was a wealthy Atlanta attorney married to Melody Ferris for 38 years. They'd raised four
00:00:56
children together. Was the Ferris family a happy family? No. A lot of bickering, a lot of fights over
00:01:03
money, a lot of jealousy. Melody doesn't deny the family drama. It has been called the Ferris wheel.
00:01:10
And it was, but it was our Ferris wheel. It was our life. Investigators learned Melody had been
00:01:16
having an affair. Son Scott says it had been going on for years. She thought she was smart enough to hide
00:01:23
it from everybody, but we all found out. We all knew. Including Gary. Scott says his mother
00:01:30
spent lavishly on her affair. Hayes says Gary warned Melody he'd had enough. We found text messages where he
00:01:37
confronted her and said, you know, your spending is done. We got to get a handle
00:01:41
on this. About a year after Gary died, Melody was charged with his murder. We, the jury
00:01:48
Found guilty and facing life in prison, she shocked many in the courtroom at her
00:01:54
sentencing. I want the world to know who this. I know Scott killed his father. It's the perfect murder.
00:02:03
You kill your daddy, you set your mother up, she goes to prison, you get everything.
00:02:08
I absolutely had nothing to do with my father's death. And it was 100% Melody Ferris who
00:02:14
murdered my father. That is the truth. What? Peter Van Sant joins us now. We've been
00:02:20
talking about this case. During the story we're like, what? How did that happen? Who is that? So, Peter, where do
00:02:25
we begin? I mean, she had Melody, had she ever mentioned anything about her son being involved before that stunning
00:02:31
accusation? No, in fact, uh Melody told me during the course of the interview that her
00:02:36
mother, Scott's grandmother, had told her, by the way, that grandmother today is conveniently dead, had told her that
00:02:43
she believes Scott was the killer and she wanted Melody to fall on the sword to take the blame for this killing to
00:02:49
protect Scott. Well, after she was convicted, apparently she felt that promise had had expired. And it was
00:02:56
during the sentencing hearing that she dramatically says, "Uh-uh, not me. It's him."
00:03:01
My child. And it was it was stunning in that courtroom. You could see the entire
00:03:05
family physically reacting to this accusation. Do investigators think it's a credible
00:03:11
accusation on any level? They do not. Uh there was an extensive investigation that lasted about a year.
00:03:17
Uh Detective Hayes, the lead investigator on this, told me that the evidence always took them back to
00:03:22
Melody. And what they do know, based on their timeline as to when Gary Ferris died, the only person on the farm that
00:03:29
day was Melody. Mhm. What where do the Ferris uh siblings stand on all of this? This is a tough thing cuz it's it's
00:03:36
created some division in the family. There's four children. Three of them, including Scott, believe that their
00:03:40
mother is the killer. And Amanda, the youngest, she testified at trial that she believes her mother is innocent.
00:03:48
Since the conviction, she hasn't spoken to us. Ugh. Wow. So, what's next? Well, she's been sentenced to life with
00:03:56
the possibility of parole in 30 years. She'll be 94 at that point, but she says this fight is not over. She will not
00:04:03
rest until she is freed and her son Scott is led off in chains. Oh my goodness. I mean
00:04:10
Shocking. And trust me, during the course of the story I go after her on this, all right.
00:04:14
Wow. Well, we want to see it, Peter. So, we will all be It is we will all be tuning
00:04:18
in Wow. to your reporting the Ferris wheel in 48 Hours tomorrow night at 10:00 9:00 Central here on CBS
00:04:25
and on Paramount Plus.