00:00:00
[Music] Murders don't happen every day uh in Cherokee County. The type of murder that happened in this
00:00:22
case doesn't happen a lot. But if it were to happen, it would be in this family.
00:00:34
Was the Ferris family a happy family? No. This family was not like every other family. There was a lot of love there,
00:00:43
but there was also a lot of family drama. constant infighting, animosity among siblings for money, for their
00:00:50
their father's money. And I think that that's where the drama always came back to was who was
00:00:56
going to get dad's money. The Ferris family is made up of Gary Ferris, the patriarch, Melody Ferris, the mother,
00:01:03
and then there were four children. The oldest being Chris Ferris, then there was Scott Ferris, and then you have
00:01:08
Emily, and then Amanda. Gary Ferris uh was a brilliant commercial real estate attorney. He was
00:01:17
very smart. He loved his kids. Melody is a very straightforward person who for the last 35 years had been a
00:01:27
stay-at-home mom. I'm the mother who took care of everything, took care of everybody. I
00:01:34
was the one that my children called when they needed help. I was always there for them. I
00:01:40
never told them no. [Music] The Ferrrises lived on the east end of the county. Their property was around 10
00:01:49
acres. Very nice piece of property. It was obvious that these people were likely affluent.
00:01:55
Had a house, a barn. We had four horses. We had I don't know how many goats. They
00:02:00
lived a life though odd to a lot of us. It was normal to them. It has been called the ferris wheel. And it was, but
00:02:08
it was our ferris wheel. It was our life. On 4th of July of 2018, everything changed for this family.
00:02:19
It was brought to my attention by my sister and my mother that my father was missing. He wasn't the healthiest man.
00:02:26
He had high blood pressure. He smoked a lot. We were all thinking he might have had a heart
00:02:33
attack. We decided to start searching the property. I started checking all the pastures.
00:02:41
We had been out looking for quite some time. We had been over every square inch of that property. We couldn't find it.
00:02:47
Something's really off here. Scott and I were standing there by the burn pile just looking. With this being
00:02:54
a working farm, they would pile tree stumps and and rotten firewood just kind of like a trash pile and every now and
00:03:00
again they'd burn it. My dad did talk about he was going to burn that stuff on that pile. I looked down and immediately
00:03:07
I could start seeing bones. I squatted down and I'm like, "Those are human remains. I'm calling
00:03:15
911 right now." We heard the radio call that some remains had just been found in a
00:03:22
fire. The first thing that stuck out to me was the amount of fire damage done to
00:03:27
the body. This guy's been in this fire burning for quite some time. During the excavation of the bones, there's a
00:03:32
bullet found lodged in a ribbone. This is not an accident. It's a murder. They go through the family members and
00:03:41
they're going to look at who had the opportunity. And anyone who lived on that property would have been in that
00:03:47
box. How did he get on the burn pile? Who shot him with what gun? Where? We don't
00:03:55
have a single clue. I called it a a soap opera because the old TV show Dallas, you had
00:04:02
money. You then you had the who shot Jr. except it was who shot Gary Ferris. [Music]
00:04:45
[Music] [Music] Detective, where are we right now? We're here at the Ferris Farm.
00:05:05
On July 5th, 2018, Detective Daniel Hayes of the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office north of Atlanta responded to a
00:05:13
most unusual call. A human body in a burn pile. Had you ever received a call like that in your
00:05:20
career? I had never personally responded to a call that like that. No. The body was later identified as 58-year-old Gary
00:05:28
Ferris, the larger than-l life 300 lb patriarch of the Ferris estate, now reduced to skeletal
00:05:38
remains. Detective Hayes learned Gary Ferris was a wealthy commercial real estate attorney married to Melody
00:05:45
Ferris. They raised four children, Chris, Scott, Emily, and Amanda. They're all in their late 20s, early 30s at this
00:05:54
point, um, if not a little bit older. Hayes also learned Gary and Melody were married for 38 years and lived in this
00:06:02
house on their beautifully manicured 10acre farm. Son Scott, who had served in the army, managed the dayto-day
00:06:10
operations at the farm and lived in an apartment above the barn. Scott's main function at this point in his life is to
00:06:18
be the farmand. It was a seemingly idyllic life until Gary Ferrris's remains were discovered on that burn
00:06:25
pile. I never thought such tragic thing would happen there. [Music] My world was
00:06:36
spinning. I wanted to find out what happened. Melody told Hayes the last time she saw Gary alive was during the
00:06:43
evening on Tuesday, July 3rd, 2018. He came in and wanted to know if I was going to prepare dinner. And I said,
00:06:52
"Gary, there's enough food in that refrigerator there to feed Cox's army." I said, "If you don't want it, then go
00:06:58
get something to eat." And that's it. That was the last time. That was the last words that were spoken to him.
00:07:06
Melody told Detective Hayes her husband then went down to his bedroom in the basement. Gary had sleep apnea and slept
00:07:14
alone with his CPAP machine. Scott said he had also last seen his father on July 3rd at lunch. Scott spent
00:07:25
the rest of the day out with his friends. He returned home that night around 11:30 and says he immediately
00:07:33
noticed a glow in the distance. When I pulled in the driveway, you could look off in the direction where the burn pile
00:07:40
was and you could see it was burning. a burn pile, typically a dumping spot for yard waste and brush. My dad did talk
00:07:48
about he was going to burn that stuff on that on that pile. The next day, July 4th, Scott and Melody told investigators
00:07:56
they didn't encounter Gary. It was not unusual not to see Gary. It wasn't until the next day, July 5th, Melody says she
00:08:04
realized Gary was missing. Two of the grandchildren who had spent the night asked to ride the RTV or rough terrain
00:08:12
vehicle with Gary, who they called Big Daddy. And I told him, I said, "Go ask Big Daddy to go ride it with you all."
00:08:20
And they said they couldn't find him. Daughter Amanda was there, too. Son Chris arrived soon after and all the
00:08:27
adults started searching the property until Scott noticed some bones among the ashes at the burn pile. I'll
00:08:37
never forget it until the day I die. His words were, "Oh, I found him." What do you mean you found him?
00:08:56
When the forensic team arrived, they began documenting the burn pile, working past dark to sift through
00:09:04
the ashes. That's when the bullet was found lodged in Gary's rib. And what had started as a possible accidental death
00:09:13
became a murder investigation. Why would somebody want to burn a body? Cover up a
00:09:18
crime. you destroy evidence. Elsewhere, investigators searched the house, the barn, even the
00:09:27
pond. They found a shotgun in the house. Several other guns and ammunition were discovered in the
00:09:34
barn. Both Melody and Scott allowed investigators to test their hands for accelerants. The test came back
00:09:43
negative. Scott also told the detectives something intriguing. He had recently seen a pistol in the basement that was
00:09:51
now missing. It was just very odd. And another thing Scott found odd was that his mom had his dad's wallet. And I
00:09:59
said, "Where'd you find that?" And she said, "Well, it's in the console of his car." And I found that very, very odd
00:10:06
cuz my dad never left his wallet in his car. As Hayes investigation continued, he was learning all about the Ferris
00:10:13
family's dysfunctional dynamic, which came to be known as the Ferris wheel. In a tape recorded conversation with
00:10:21
Melody, she told him there had been tension between Gary and Scott. He and Scott would get into it pretty heavily.
00:10:29
I mean, you know, I mean, they'd come to blows just over things because Gary was
00:10:33
so anal about everything. I mean, Scott's hot. I mean, he is he's hottempered. But when detectives asked
00:10:42
Scott what he thought happened, he pointed the finger of suspicion at his mother. I've always had this gut feeling
00:10:51
if something ever happened to my dad that somebody needed to check her out. With the ferris wheel starting to turn,
00:11:01
detectives asked Scott if his father was having an affair. My father did not do that. He was a onewoman type of man and
00:11:10
he married that woman. He was not that kind of man. Hayes then asked Melody if she was having an affair. What did she
00:11:18
tell you? She said no. Police focused in on what appeared to be drops of blood on
00:11:24
the kitchen floor, the stairs leading to the basement, and on the basement floor
00:11:31
itself. When spots in the basement were tested, they were confirmed to be Gary's blood.
00:11:38
Police also found a 38 caliber bullet on the basement floor. This same type found
00:11:44
lodged in Gary's ribbone from the burn pile. And does that suggest in any way some sort of progression of an attack on
00:11:52
Gary? That's what we interpreted as as we started looking at it is that possibly something happened upstairs,
00:11:58
led down the stairs and into the basement. Detective Hayes asked Melody point blank
00:12:04
if she had anything to do with the death of her husband. So your statement is you
00:12:09
didn't do anything to harm Gary? No. And you don't know who did? No. Hayes was skeptical. Investigators had
00:12:17
found in Melody's purse birth control and a credit card with another man's name on it. Roy Barton. When someone's
00:12:26
lying to you, what does that suggest? They're guilty of something. When that credit card was
00:12:48
found in Melody's purse, investigators did not recognize the name on it. It's Roy Barton. Later find out it's Rusty
00:12:56
Barton. Rusty Barton was a farm equipment salesman who spent time on the road in central Tennessee. In 2014,
00:13:05
Melody was helping take care of Rusty's ill stepmother, who happened to be her cousin. That's when Rusty and Melody
00:13:13
became intimate. We learned that Rusty is Melody's lover that uh she's having an affair with and has had an affair
00:13:22
with for quite some time. Did you fall in love with Rusty? I loved him. Still love
00:13:29
him. Was I in love with him? No. Investigators wanted to know more about the couple. How serious is this
00:13:37
relationship between Melody and Rusty? Depends on who you asked. The evidence showed that it appeared to be pretty
00:13:44
serious. They were researching wedding bands. You know, if you were planning on getting married, it sounds like a motive
00:13:49
for murder. You don't marry the person you were having an affair with. Scott says Melody and Rusty's love
00:13:55
affair was the world's worstkept secret. She thought she was smart enough to hide
00:14:01
it from everybody, but we all found out. We all knew, including Gary. And when daughter Emily
00:14:09
got married in 2016, Melody scandalized the wedding by inviting her lover for all to see. your husband is there at the
00:14:18
same venue and you're dancing and drinking and and having a good time with this other man. It was upsetting to
00:14:24
Gary. Uh, you know, it was upsetting to all the family. That wasn't a nice move on your part, was it? Yeah. In
00:14:31
hindsight, no. It seemed the ferris wheel was spinning faster with household drama becoming
00:14:38
more frequent. This whole ferris wheel turn, none of us really like it. But if you want to know who the motor was of
00:14:46
turning that Ferris wheel was Melody Ferris. She always stirred up drama. Always. It's a real life soap opera.
00:14:53
That's it. A soap opera Hayes believed that revolved around what Gary had and others coveted. Money.
00:15:03
A lot of bickering, a lot of fights over money, a lot of jealousy. Gary had always been generous toward his
00:15:09
children. Even as adults, investigators learned he helped Emily buy a house and financially assisted son Chris with his
00:15:18
business and children. It made me Melody turn against her children because the children were spending money. But Melody
00:15:24
claims she was only upset because the children were taking advantage of their father's wealth. Chris, our oldest one,
00:15:32
had been stealing money like you cannot believe. Chris says he and his father did not argue over money.
00:15:40
Detective Hayes looked into the agreement Gary had struck with Scott. He worked on the farm and Gary gave him
00:15:47
spending money. He had gotten where he just would not do anything. He was all the time playing golf, going to the
00:15:52
lake, going out with his friends. And who was paying for all of this? He was taking, you know, credit cards from
00:15:58
Gary. But Scott says that's not true at all. and that the arrangement he had with his father worked well for both of
00:16:06
them. I was there to help him with the farm. There was no mooching. Scott says it was actually Melody who'd run into a
00:16:14
financial roadblock with Gary, largely because of her lavish spending on her affair with Rusty. She would leave for
00:16:22
weeks at a time and then thousands of dollars would be spent out of the account. We found text messages where he
00:16:30
confronted her and said, "You know, your spending is done. We got to get a handle
00:16:34
on this." So, what you're saying is that it was Melody who was facing the potential of having her her money
00:16:41
lifeline cut off. Pretty much, yes. Was he angry at your spending? No. I had a debit card. It had his name on it. I was
00:16:51
free to use it however I wanted to. While Melody and Rusty lived in different states, cell phone records
00:16:58
show they live their lives in constant communication. She's on the phone with him every hour of every day, including
00:17:07
the early morning hours of July 4th, 2018, a day and a half before Gary was found. When questioned by investigators,
00:17:16
Rusty told them that Melody had said something alarming. So, probably the last minute of the last
00:17:23
conversation, she said, "Gary is in the burn pile." No, she said, "He is in the burn
00:17:31
pile." And I said, "What?" And she said, "He's in the burn pile." And I said, "Do
00:17:38
not say another word and do not tell me anything. I do not need to know." At that time, only the killer could have
00:17:50
known Gary was on the burn pile. Had Melody Ferris confessed to murder. As the investigation continued,
00:18:00
she was now the detective's number one suspect. I told them everything I knew. Scott remembered something that happened
00:18:08
with his mother the day before Gary vanished. It now seems like foreshadowing. She comes out of the
00:18:15
house with a plate in her hand and she's screaming and cussing and she throws the
00:18:20
plate up against the wall of the house and shatters it all into pieces and she says, "I can't wait till that man's
00:18:28
dead. I can't wait till I don't have to live with him anymore." Gary Ferris himself took out his phone
00:18:36
and recorded this video. This is what happens when you leave a plate of the plate shards scattered on the
00:18:44
ground. 3 days later, he was dead. [Music] [Music] On June 18th, 2019, after an almost
00:19:08
12-month investigation, detectives say they had gathered enough evidence to charge Melody Ferris with the murder of
00:19:15
her husband, Gary. Why did it take a year to arrest Melody? We were waiting on the autopsy
00:19:22
results and the positive identification of Gary Wayne Ferris's body. But for Detective Hayes, there were unanswered
00:19:28
questions. How did Melody get Gary's body out the basement door and to the burn pile about
00:19:36
50 yards away? She weighs what, 130 lb? Around that, I believe. And Gary is 6'4, 6'5,
00:19:45
300 lb. How in the world could that woman have moved that body? With the tractor, with the RTV, two pieces of
00:19:53
machinery that were found on the farm. She admitted that she drives RTV all the time, has operated the tractor. Hay sees
00:20:00
the two vehicles as evidence. Peter, this is what we're looking at, these two vehicles. He took me to the lot where
00:20:06
they are stored. How could each of these vehicles have been used to get Gary's body onto that pile? Uh, both are
00:20:13
capable of pulling a lot of weight. This tractor has a bucket on the front that is designed to scoop heavy loads. We
00:20:20
found tractor marks, but there were tractor marks all over the property, but there were none necessarily obviously
00:20:26
leading right up to the burn pile. What did you find as your forensic people took a look at these vehicles? Uh, we
00:20:32
found blood, evidence of blood on the vehicles. Can you show me where? I can. So, on the tractor, we found blood
00:20:39
evidence in this area. Gary's blood, but nothing was found in the front bucket. on the RTV. Hay says Melody's blood was
00:20:47
found on one of the gear shifters. Nothing was found in the back. Hayes considered other scenarios. There's also
00:20:56
a theory that she did it under her own power, rolling him down to the burn pile. It's downhill all the way to the
00:21:03
burn pile. Is there any blood that was discovered going from the house to the burn pile? Not that we found. So, this
00:21:10
still remains a mystery, doesn't it? It does. It was a mystery too for prosecutors Megan Frankish and Jeffrey
00:21:17
Fogus. We don't know exactly how she got him into the burn pile. She was a farm girl. She was resourceful. We know she
00:21:25
killed him. How she did it doesn't really matter cuz we know she did cuz he was there.
00:21:33
The case took more than 5 years to bring to trial. During that time, a deep divide formed in the Ferris family.
00:21:41
Three of the children, Chris, Scott, and Emily, were all convinced their mother murdered their father. Gary and Melody's
00:21:50
youngest child, Amanda, believed in Melody's innocence. What did it mean for you that
00:21:57
your daughter, Amanda, stood by you during all this time and has believed in your innocence? She's a good girl.
00:22:09
Ladies and gentlemen, the jury. When the trial finally began in October 2024, prosecutors Megan Frankish and Jeffrey
00:22:17
Fogus spoke to jurors with absolute certainty. The answer to the question, who did it sits right there, Melody
00:22:26
Walker Ferris? The motive, money, sex, new life. According to prosecutors, Melody wanted Gary dead so she could
00:22:36
cash in on his multi-million dollar assets and live happily ever after with her lover of the past four years, Rusty
00:22:44
Barton. Why shouldn't people believe you had the greatest motive to murder Gary?
00:22:51
I knew nothing about our financial situation. Absolutely nothing. Prosecutors say on the evening of July
00:22:59
3rd, 2 days before Gary's body was found, Gary and Melody got into a fight in the kitchen and Melody shot him. He
00:23:09
goes downstairs trying to get away. She shoots him again. There's a blood trail from the kitchen and they went down the
00:23:16
steps. Those blood trails never lead out of the house, upstairs or downstairs. In their opening statement, defense
00:23:26
attorneys Michael Ray and John Luke Weaver attacked the prosecution's claims and told jurors there's a harmless
00:23:34
explanation for those blood drops. Gary had been bitten by one of Melody's dogs on the ankle and was bleeding as he
00:23:43
walked down the stairs. We're talking tiny little droplets of blood. That would not be consistent with a shooting.
00:23:50
You would expect far more blood. and daughter Amanda would testify she saw that wound on her dad's
00:23:57
leg. The defense also argued Melody is innocent. Question and raised those questions about how Gary's body got to
00:24:07
the burn pile. Melody Ferris at her size. It is impossible that she moved that body from the location where the
00:24:15
state says his body was to a burn pile. It is absolutely impossible. The defense
00:24:22
also raised questions about the murder weapon. Where is the gun? No idea. They offered up an alternative
00:24:32
suspect, Melody's own son, and his motive would be financial. He wanted the property. One big thing you're going to
00:24:40
hear, and you're going to hear it a lot, is Scott Ferris. The defense argues that
00:24:46
Scott from the very beginning tried to draw attention of investigators away from him. 13 minutes after law
00:24:55
enforcement arrives, Scott Ferris is already blaming his mother. From the very beginning, Scott is saying,
00:25:02
"Melody, Melody, Melody, leading law enforcement down this trail." Raise your right hand. Swear from When the
00:25:09
prosecution put Scott Ferris on the stand, they asked him directly. Did you murder your father? I absolutely
00:25:17
did not murder my father. I love my father. He was the backbone. He was the glue to our family.
00:25:31
Sitting just feet away, Melody says Scott's testimony was an act. The Scott that was in that courtroom was not my
00:25:39
son. He was well rehearsed. Could you stand for the jury, please? Sure. On cross-examination, the defense
00:25:47
pointed out that Scott, at 6'8, 280 lb, was the only person on the farm physically capable of moving Gary's 300
00:25:58
lb body. Because of my size and size of my father, yes, I was going to be looked
00:26:03
at like that, but I had nothing to do with it. Raise your right hand. To help establish
00:26:11
a motive for murder, prosecutors called Melody's lover, Rusty Barton, to the stand. You're You're from Alabama. Is
00:26:19
that right? Excuse me, Tennessee. I apologize. I'm from Tennessee. Okay. And you are a big difference. That's true.
00:26:27
You're He's charming. He's smart. And he says he captured the heart of married Melody Ferris. You were in love with
00:26:35
her. Fairight. Yes. And she was in love with you. Fair to side. Yes. Do you recall searching for wedding bands on
00:26:43
the internet? I do. What type of wedding bands did y'all have in mind? We talked about plain gold
00:26:50
bands. Tell the jury what you Focus also asked Rusty about that incriminating call. She said that Gary was on the burn
00:26:58
pile. Remember, Rusty had told investigators that call had taken place before Gary
00:27:07
was found. But a year later, after Melody was arrested, Rusty changed his story, saying the call happened after
00:27:15
the body was discovered. He said he had the dates wrong. What I told you was correct, but when it
00:27:23
happened was not correct. But prosecutor Focus didn't buy it and claims Rusty was
00:27:29
trying to help Melody. Do you believe him? No. He was still in a relationship with her. He didn't know how this was
00:27:35
going to turn out. At the time of the murder, Rusty was hours away in Tennessee. He was never charged with
00:27:42
anything relating to the death of Gary Ferris. More witnesses would testify and later, Melody, who was silent throughout
00:27:52
the trial, would address the court in a dramatic and explosive statement that would leave her family reeling.
00:28:06
[Music] testimony. Day after day, Melody Ferris faced witnesses determined to see her pay for
00:28:18
the alleged murder of her husband. How is it that you know the defendant in this case? She's my mother. None seemed
00:28:25
more dogged than her own children, like Chris. I just had my suspicions that she
00:28:30
had something to do with this. her daughter Emily, she became more hostile. She was more aggressive with
00:28:36
us. Um, she was demanding money. Did you see your mom sitting in court? Yes, sir. And Scott, I mean, she
00:28:44
always, you know, talk bad about my dad. It's like she always tried to brainwash
00:28:49
us like he was, you know, such a horrible person. Can you describe what it was like to watch each of your
00:28:58
children take the stand? the most heart-wrenching, gut-wrenching thing I had ever sat through in my
00:29:04
entire life because I knew they were lying. I have to tell you, you seem so stoic during
00:29:12
all of it. It was that the time that I'd walk out of that courtroom at night time, I was ready to scream at the top
00:29:19
of my lungs. Melody says three of her children are trying to pin their father's murder on her for one simple
00:29:27
reason. Money. Absolutely. Money. One of the final witnesses called by prosecutors
00:29:35
was Lindseay Harris, who leads the intelligence division in the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office. I was asked in
00:29:43
2018, July of 2018, um, to analyze some phone records. Harris says she was able to track the
00:29:52
precise movements of Gary Ferris's cell phone on the family farm because Gary had an Android phone with its Google
00:30:00
location services turned on. So, this helps us know when the device is traveling even within a certain area.
00:30:08
Harris discovered that on the morning of July 4th, when investigators believe Gary's body was already on the burn
00:30:15
pile, his cell phone moved from the house to the burn pile and back to the house. 100% the device moves from 758 to
00:30:26
9:05. Someone must be moving it. Prosecutors say that someone could only have been Melody Ferris. We knew that
00:30:35
the only person home was Melody. Lindsay Harris says that during that time, Scott's phone was miles away from
00:30:45
the farm. Scott leaves the residence around 6:30 a.m. on July 4th. He does not return to the home until 8 p.m.ish, 8:30
00:30:59
p.m. on July 4th. The defense tries to challenge this seemingly powerful evidence by questioning the accuracy of
00:31:06
Harris's findings. You can clearly see that sometimes the circle's very large, sometimes it's small, and sometimes it
00:31:13
says you're absolutely nowhere close to where you are. The defense called seven witnesses. One
00:31:20
of them was Gary and Melody's youngest daughter, Amanda. She has told me that she's not guilty
00:31:27
and all I can do is believe that until somebody can prove she is guilty. So I would like to believe that my mother had
00:31:34
nothing to do with this. There's just so much pain and I'm just there's no good outcome. He's never
00:31:42
coming back. He'll never be there again. And that's just the worst part about it all. And knowing that my mother
00:31:52
could potentially spend the rest of her life in prison is terrifying. Miss Frankish, you can go ahead. It was now
00:32:00
time to wrap this case up with closing arguments. She had plenty of motives. She despised Gary. She hated that he was
00:32:08
giving away their money, her money. That was the main motive. Rusty was a bonus.
00:32:15
100. In their closing, the defense did some heavy lifting. to demonstrate how difficult it would be for someone
00:32:23
Melody's size to somehow get her 300 lb husband onto that burn pile. This is 320
00:32:33
lb and I am 185 lb and that's all I have. I just it it's not realistic. And then the fact that
00:32:46
they they've presented no actual evidence as to how she did that, that means there's doubt. On October 30th,
00:32:55
2024, the jury got the case, but after 3 days of deliberations, they sent a note
00:33:01
to the judge saying they were deadlocked. The judge told them to give it one more try. I was absolutely numb.
00:33:10
You don't know what to think. And just a few hours later, all right, I understand
00:33:15
y'all reached a verdict. We, the jury, find the defendant guilty. Melody Ferris was found guilty on all
00:33:23
five counts against her, including malice murder, felony murder, and making false statements.
00:33:32
It was horrible. They carried me immediately over to the jail. I was alone curled up in the fetal position.
00:33:43
Jurors Sheila Albbright and Chris Hyatt say the cell phone evidence convinced them of Melody's guilt. Once we agreed
00:33:51
on the time of death, then it was okay. Well, how is this phone moving after Gary's body is it was in the burn pile?
00:33:58
Who was on the property at that time? And who was Melanie? As for the question of how Gary got to the burn pile, Sheila
00:34:06
Albbright had a theory happened. But in my mind, I thought that she first shot him inside the house cuz there was
00:34:13
evidence of that. I thought maybe he had run out the door trying to get from away
00:34:19
from her and maybe she took him by gunpoint down to the burn pile. I think that maybe the
00:34:27
burn pile is the last place she shot him. For Scott and some members of the Ferris
00:34:35
family, the guilty verdict brought relief. Even though their own mother was now a convicted murderer, your verdict
00:34:43
because we got justice from my father by you. We fought six years to get answers.
00:34:51
My father loved my mother. He fought for my mother. He was a very loving father.
00:34:59
But there would be no love shown by Melody at her sentencing when she was given the opportunity to express remorse
00:35:06
and ask the judge for leniency. I have waited for years to make this statement to everyone. But instead of asking the
00:35:15
judge for mercy, I want the world to know who did this. She named who she said was the real killer. I know Scott
00:35:24
killed his father. He took my husband. the father of Chris, Emily, and Amanda. He took the big
00:35:34
daddy from our grandchildren. But Melody was far from done tormenting her [Music]
00:35:51
son. Scott, this is unforgivable. Scott, I have spent entire life of loving and protecting you. But this I refuse to
00:36:06
cover for you. When Melody Ferris used her sentencing hearing to accuse her son, Scott of
00:36:13
being Gary's true murderer, some of those in the courtroom were floored. I'm back at the prosecution table and we're
00:36:21
all kind of like, I cannot believe this is happening. So, I was not prepared for
00:36:25
that. It was shocking that that is the opportunity she believed was hers to take. Scott sitting behind his mother
00:36:36
with his family simply stared in disbelief. Oh, I was furated as she did her last final jabs. That shows you what
00:36:45
she was like. One last turn of the knife. One last turn to make somebody's life a living hell because it didn't go
00:36:52
her way. Judge David Cannon had little patience. All right, Miss Ferris, I'm going to cut you off. But
00:37:01
Melody persisted. And I plead with you to throw this verdict out. Help me get justice for the correct
00:37:11
person. As bad as it sounds, I want to be there to watch him chained and shackled and brought to justice.
00:37:19
Instead, it was Melody who would be led away in chains. And the penalty for murder is life. The 64 year old was
00:37:27
sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 30 years. She also received an additional 5
00:37:36
years for concealing Gary's death by burning his remains and making a false statement to
00:37:44
police. Melody didn't take the stand in her trial. Instead, she chose to tell her story exclusively to 48 hours. I
00:37:54
just watched one of the most extraordinary moments inside a courtroom that I have ever seen in my career. What
00:38:01
do you want people to know about you and this case? I want everyone, but especially my children, my
00:38:10
grandchildren, and at this point the world, I didn't do this. I know who did. And it's our son, Scott. Without a
00:38:20
shadow of a doubt, I know he did it. I absolutely had nothing to do with my father's death. And it was 100% Melody
00:38:29
Ferris who murdered my father. That is the truth. Why do you think she accused you of killing your father? Because I
00:38:38
was an easy target. I lived on the property. I'm a former military. Melody claims she hadn't spoken up until
00:38:46
now out of maternal loyalty. She says her own mother, now deceased, suspected Scott all along and asked Melody to take
00:38:56
the blame. But now her time as Scott's shield was over. Melody says she believes Scott set her up from the
00:39:05
beginning, and she says she knows why Scott wanted that property to be his. He had made that known to countless people.
00:39:15
It's the perfect murder. You kill your daddy, you set your mother up, she goes to prison, you get everything. You
00:39:22
understand though that to people listening to this, they're thinking here is a mother willing to sacrifice her son
00:39:29
to save her own skin. What would you say to that? This is a mother's worst nightmare. Melody stands by her claim
00:39:36
that Gary was getting ready to cut Scott off financially. Gary had made it very well known that
00:39:43
Scott needed to get a job. Things were fixing to change on that property. But Scott says Gary never issued an
00:39:50
ultimatum that he get a job and never accused him of not pulling his weight. My dad actually made comments to me
00:39:58
saying, "Hey, leave some work for me, you know, cuz he wasn't there during the week." He's like, "Well, don't cut the
00:40:04
pasture yet. Let me do it." Melody says she told Detective Hayes she'd seen Scott acting suspiciously the day before
00:40:14
Gary's body was found. I said I saw Scott come from that burn pile. Did she tell you that? No. And why would she lie
00:40:22
now? You have to look at the timing of the statement. She has nothing to lose. She's going to make all kinds of
00:40:27
off-the-wall claims at this point that are just not provable. Despite a sentence that will likely mean
00:40:33
spending the rest of her life in prison, Melody remains determined to prove her innocence. One day, you believe you will
00:40:41
walk a free woman again. I certainly hope so. I do. But I will be sitting there right behind my son in court. And for
00:40:50
those who believe you got exactly what you deserved, you say, "I didn't do it. I did not do it. She knows she did it.
00:41:02
She needs to stop with the lies. Just come clean. Stop trying to ruin all of our
00:41:09
lives because it didn't work out for you. I still haven't been able to figure out why she would do this. I don't know
00:41:16
if I ever will. [Music] I buried my 18-year-old child who was murdered by this animal. A killer across
00:41:34
the street. Isn't it likely he's going to get out? Can a family keep him behind bars? My dad's last words to me were you
00:41:42
fight to keep Steve in prison? 48 hours is all new. CBS next Saturday 10:9 central and streaming on Paramount Plus.