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This is horrible. They had to put out all the secrets out on the table. >> Melody Ferris was upset that her
00:00:13
family's private lives were now public record. She was talking to detectives Daniel Hayes and Trent [music]
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Kuykendall in Cherokee County, Georgia. >> And just so you know, I am sincerely sorry for you and you and your family's
00:00:26
loss. Um >> I didn't want to say. >> It was on the morning of July 6th, 2018, the day after Gary Ferris's remains were
00:00:36
found. Melody was at the local sheriff's office. Unlike her earlier conversations with
00:00:43
the detectives, >> [music] >> this one would go on for nearly 8 hours as Melody spun stories of intrigue
00:00:50
[music] and suspicion. >> I had nothing, nothing to gain by him dying. I had everything to lose.
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Everything to lose. >> Almost as soon as they started recording, Melody didn't hesitate to
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point fingers. >> The only thing I found odd was that he wanted to leave immediately.
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>> Melody was talking about her oldest son, Chris. He had left the farm not long after
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investigators arrived. Melody said she didn't trust him. >> And he left and came back.
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>> Yeah. He came back after Emily got here. I forbid him from being in my house without me being there.
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>> The two had been [music] feuding for at least a year. Melody would go on to share disparaging
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details about more of her children that day. >> And the worst part of it is how he's
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doing. >> Tensions [music] were high. Midway through her marathon interview [music] with detectives, Melody casually
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alluded to a parent's worst fear. >> I was just there thinking last night, you know,
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could one of my children have done it, which is the worst nightmare. It's just thinking that one of them
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could have done it. That's my worst nightmare. >> I'm Peter Van Sant. From [music] 48
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Hours, this is Blood Is Thicker, the Ferris Wheel. Episode 2, Relative Danger. >> [music]
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>> Okay. >> Peter, we're pulling up now. This is uh this is the Ferris property here on the
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right. >> Right here? >> It is. >> That big house off in the distance there? >> Yes.
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>> This is beautiful. When I pulled up to the Ferris property with Detective Daniel Hayes, it was hard
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to believe it had been a crime scene just a few years earlier. >> We believe Gary was shot and killed
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based off the evidence, and we know he was burned. What we don't know is exactly when those two
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things occurred. >> Based on a few drops of blood in the house, >> [music] >> this is what Detective Hayes believed
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happened to Gary Ferris. First, he was shot in the kitchen. [music] Wounded, Hayes said Gary then ran
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downstairs, where he was likely shot a second time. He believed [music] Gary didn't try to
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fight with his attacker. >> He was trying to take the path of path of least resistance to get out of that
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house, which at the time was down the stairs and out those side doors that led to the backyard.
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>> Investigators found blood both upstairs and downstairs, and they discovered Gary's DNA on a
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bullet they found in the basement. >> Which told you what then about what may have happened in that room?
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>> That told me that that bullet went through some portion of Gary Ferris's body.
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>> And if he was shot in both that kitchen area and also in the basement, uh there would have been a I would think
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an enormous amount of blood loss. That's part of the mystery to me. Is it to you?
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>> Yes, um again, what we get a lot of our a lot of people get their information
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from Hollywood. You know, watching the movies. And of course you want a lot of blood coming out. But the same on the
00:04:25
same token as the bullet being in the floor not being lodged in something. Not every scene that you expect to be that
00:04:30
way is that way. Uh Gary was a large guy. We know at least one bullet didn't come out of him cuz we found it in his
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ribs. >> So investigators believed they knew where Gary was shot. But what about the when?
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Sorting out all the evidence was a daunting task for Detective Hayes. >> We don't have a lot of homicides and
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murders in Cherokee County. So this was my second one being named lead detective. This is your case.
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>> Just your second murder investigation? >> Second one ever. And this is the first
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case I've been involved with with so much electronic forensic data. Um you know, the cell phones, the computers, uh
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cell phone tower dumps, all these, you know, big words that I've had to research to figure out even what they
00:05:12
were and uh how to utilize this this data that we got to our analyst. >> Interestingly, [music] one of the most
00:05:19
critical bits of information came from the breathing device Gary kept on his bedside.
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>> So another detective with with different experience to me [music] uh overheard us talking about Gary sleeping
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with a CPAP every [music] night. He actually brought up. He's like, "You know those record data, right?" I
00:05:37
actually wrote another search warrant, went back to [music] the house, took CPAP, learned
00:05:40
you know, technology's updated. It's just got an SD card in there. So we were able to take the SD card and get the
00:05:44
data off of it that we were looking for. >> Hayes was [music] interested in the data
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from the evening of July 3rd, the last day anyone saw Gary alive. >> [music] >> That's when we determined
00:05:58
that Gary always went to bed around midnight. >> [music] >> And he hadn't gone to bed that night. Uh
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he had never put on the CPAP. We know he [music] was killed that night. >> But who pulled the trigger? And where
00:06:13
was the gun? Was a murder weapon found? >> No. >> And you guys looked, right? >> We did.
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>> What do you think happened to that gun? >> [sighs and gasps] >> That's the million-dollar question.
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>> Another million-dollar question, how did Gary's body get from the house where he
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was presumably shot onto the burn pile more than 50 yards away? >> We don't have any evidence directly
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stating when he was put on that fire, so it's possible he laid in the backyard or
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wherever he expired for quite some time while someone made the decision to put him on the fire and dispose of the body.
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>> Gary weighed nearly 300 lb and was 6'4". How exactly can someone move a man of
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that size such a distance? Is there any blood that was discovered going from the
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house to the burn pile? >> None that we found. >> Any drag marks? >> None that we saw.
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>> Any any vehicle tracks whatsoever? >> There were tracks in the area. Uh you could tell they were well-traveled
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paths [music] usually that people often would drive the RTV or the the tractor or something, but nothing that was
00:07:18
definitive it went from that area of the basement straight to the burn pile. >> Detective Hayes figured there was a
00:07:25
chance one of the vehicles was used. [music] >> This family has utilized both of those machines to move
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dead horses. Um pull stumps out of the ground. So, anyone who's been on the property that
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saw knew the capabilities of these machines. >> Investigators [music] found drops of
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Gary's blood on both the family's tractor and RTV, >> [music] >> the rough terrain vehicle.
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But who had a motive to kill him? And in the weeks and and months leading up to Gary's death, [music]
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is it is it accurate to say that there was a lot of bickering, a lot of fights over over money in that family?
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>> of bickering, a lot of fights over money, a lot of jealousy. [music] >> Do you have any idea what he was totally
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worth? >> I believe at some point we added it up to around four and a half, five million
00:08:12
dollars is what someone would stand to inherit. >> That would be Gary's personal
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investments, including life insurance and the value of the property. Melody claimed ignorance when it came to
00:08:27
the family's finances, but she asserted that her children, Chris, Scott, and Emily relied heavily on their father's
00:08:35
money. >> Evidence shows that made Melody turn against her children because the children were spending money.
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>> Melody strongly felt her children needed to grow up and be financially independent. She told investigators that
00:08:50
Gary was about to make a big change in their lives that would largely turn off the money spigot.
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>> I mean, my world is literally falling apart in last 24 hours. Literally. I'm going to have got four kids. Yeah.
00:09:08
Chris and Scott have their demons. >> [music] >> They do. Emily's got hers. >> We've spent a lot of time talking
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[music] about suspicions within the Ferris family, but what about outside? [music]
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It's something I asked Detective Hayes about. Are you wondering [music] did someone come in from the outside?
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Perhaps someone [music] he competes with in business or uh financial problem that he's had that
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he may have an enemies who came onto property [music] and killed him. >> Sure. You know, uh
00:09:47
when you get to a homicide, it starts everyone in the world's a suspect, [music] and you narrow that down, right?
00:09:53
You have to keep an open mind. >> But according to Gary's family, he didn't have any enemies.
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Here's Scott. >> He had no enemies. I mean, I'm sure the detectives will say [music]
00:10:05
probably say, "We couldn't find a single person I hated your dad." >> And Scott's right. The data
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investigators collected back that [music] up. So, Detective Hayes focused on each
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family member, >> [music] >> not just what they were telling him in interviews, but the actual evidence.
00:10:22
What were they all doing on July 3rd? Let's start with eldest daughter, Emily. >> From what I knew about her, she
00:10:34
had moved away from Georgia. She lived in uh Franklin, Tennessee, which is up near Nashville, in a home with her
00:10:39
husband. >> Emily was 30 then. >> Gary gave her money, helped fund part of her lifestyle in Tennessee, helped them
00:10:47
get the house. >> Hayes said around the time of Gary's murder and on the day when the remains
00:10:53
were discovered, Emily had an alibi. >> She arrived after I did. I recall her arriving and trying to speak to her, and
00:11:00
she just basically said, "I don't know anything. I live in Tennessee. I'm here because my family called me and
00:11:05
and told me what was going on." >> No way she could have been involved. >> No way she could have been involved.
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>> As for the youngest, 29-year-old Amanda, detectives were certain she wasn't at
00:11:15
the farm that day. The people who were at the farm on the 3rd were her mother, Scott, and Chris.
00:11:23
As we know, Chris stopped by the farm with one of his daughters late that afternoon and talked to Gary as he was
00:11:31
preparing the burn pile. In 2018, Chris was 38 and had moved back to Georgia after living in Maine with
00:11:39
his first wife. They had two daughters before getting a divorce. When his mother Melody was talking to
00:11:47
detectives on the second day of the investigation, she alleged that Chris wasn't showing very much emotion for
00:11:54
someone whose father's remains had just been discovered. >> You know, and Amanda said
00:12:00
you know, I found it very odd that he did not seem sad. >> Mhm. >> It was just like
00:12:06
you know, like nothing had really happened. >> Detective Hayes also noticed that Chris
00:12:13
kept his distance. >> He was kind of hands-off in the beginning of the investigation. He didn't know much.
00:12:20
Some people had some suspicions about him early in the investigation because he didn't want to stick around. He
00:12:25
didn't want to be involved with it. >> Melody told [music] detectives that Chris struggled with both his temper and
00:12:32
his alcohol. Could that dangerous [music] combination have led to Gary's death? >> I believe there [music] were some
00:12:39
threats made by Chris when he was intoxicated. >> Detective Hayes was talking about a time
00:12:44
back in the summer of 2017 when Chris, [music] who had been drinking, was ready to
00:12:50
drive his daughters home. Melody said she confronted [music] Chris about being drunk, telling him he wasn't
00:12:57
going to drive off the property [music] with the girls. That's when Melody said Chris flew off
00:13:03
the handle. >> He's standing in my driveway, >> [music] >> you know, I would beat you beyond
00:13:10
recognition. And the next time I see you is when I put you in a grave [music] in a box.
00:13:18
>> Chris later testified that there was indeed a confrontation because Melody wasn't giving [music] his children back
00:13:24
to him. But he said that he didn't know why Melody would say it was over his drinking.
00:13:30
During the confrontation, [music] Melody said that she threatened to call the police. Instead, she called Gary.
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>> I know that Chris absolutely despises me because I'm the one who preaches to him
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all the time about taking money. >> His mother believed that he was stealing money from his father. His His father
00:13:53
believed that you know, he was Chris was using him for the money, but he wasn't stopping it and
00:13:57
he was he was allowing him to do so. >> Chris had his own painting company. >> There were some indications that he
00:14:04
was not as successful as I'm sure any businessman would want to be. >> Investigators discovered that Chris did
00:14:10
have money troubles. >> Chris was having to borrow money and float checks is what I would call it,
00:14:15
write people checks and tell them not to cash it till later or whatever. >> In a text message on June 12th, 2018, 3
00:14:24
weeks before the murder, Gary wrote to Chris, "Your stealing money is out of control. [music]
00:14:30
I will change my accounts tomorrow." But while there was evidence Gary was upset
00:14:35
about Chris's spending, there was no evidence detectives [music] concluded that Chris killed his father.
00:14:42
According to digital records, the night [music] that Gary was shot, Chris was 40
00:14:47
miles away at his Atlanta home. This meant there were likely only two family members left to investigate,
00:14:56
Melody and her son [music] Scott. Law enforcement had thoroughly searched the property's main house that Melody
00:15:03
shared with her husband. They'd also searched the barn, including Scott's apartment [music] on the top
00:15:10
floor. That's where investigators made an intriguing discovery. >> I wake up and work,
00:15:28
feed all the animals, start doing, you know, my daily chores around the farm. >> Scott Ferris had been working on the
00:15:36
family farm for nearly 5 [music] years before his dad was killed. But his own mother saw Scott
00:15:43
>> [music] >> as a failure. I talked to Scott in 2024. You've been characterized as a mooch,
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[music] as a as a leech, as somebody who could never hold down a job, and that your your father was incredibly [music]
00:15:56
disappointed in you. >> No. >> Is that true? >> No, it's not true because I served in the military. I served in
00:16:04
the army. I got released back in 2012, [music] 2013 timeframe, and it was a reduction
00:16:12
in force. So, that's why I got released from the military. >> This gunfire is from a Facebook post
00:16:28
Scott made in 2009. In the video, he's got on his army combat uniform and sunglasses, standing
00:16:36
and shooting at targets. The post reads, "Having fun with my M249 SAW." His original plan, once he was out of
00:16:46
the military, was to enter law enforcement, but that didn't quite work out. >> I came back into a economy that nobody
00:16:55
was really hiring at the time. So, yeah, I went back into selling cars, and at the time, nobody had money, and I wasn't
00:17:02
making a lot of money doing that, and whatever jobs I was able to find were, you know,
00:17:08
$8 to $10 an hour, and, you know, when you're in your 30s, you can't it's kind of hard to,
00:17:15
you know, live on your own off of that. >> Gary threw his son a financial lifeline.
00:17:22
>> We we had a We sat down and talked and we arranged for me to manage the property and take care of the
00:17:31
farm. >> Part of the arrangement was free room and board in that apartment above the
00:17:36
barn. >> He didn't cut me a paycheck. Uh he basically He gave me a credit card or he gave me his a debit card. So, I
00:17:47
used the card to buy horse feed and goat feed and, you know, the hay and fertilizer for the pastures. And then,
00:17:54
you know, I would use the same card to, you know, go get lunch and go to go get dinner.
00:18:00
>> Scott told Detective Hayes that his father kept a close eye on his spending. >> He kept control of all the banking.
00:18:09
>> Mhm. >> And then, he watched everything. >> Scott said sometimes he'd be out with
00:18:14
friends, look down at his phone, and there would be a text from his dad. >> I can get a text message from him
00:18:21
saying, "Okay, you spent enough money at this, you know, for tonight or something
00:18:25
like that." I'm like, "Really?" It's like, "I work for you 24/7. You know, I don't take a day off. I
00:18:31
don't ask for much. Just go out every once in a while." >> Scott relied on his father for just
00:18:38
about everything. Here again is Detective Hayes. >> When he needed something or wanted
00:18:44
something or wanted to go out, he had to go to Gary and ask, "Hey, can I have some cash to spend or can I can you put
00:18:49
some money on this card or can you unlock the credit card, whatever it was." >> And he's an adult, right? He's a a war
00:18:57
veteran. He'd served in the Middle East and he's talking to his dad like he's getting his allowance all the time, like
00:19:02
he's 12 years old. That must have been humiliating for him. >> At the time, he didn't seem humiliated.
00:19:07
He very much seemed like he enjoyed the lifestyle of uh being there and taking care of the farm.
00:19:13
>> But Melody told me that Scott's leisurely lifestyle was about to end. >> Gary had made it very well known that
00:19:20
Scott needed to get a job. Things [music] were fixing to change on that property.
00:19:24
>> Scott knew the end was coming. >> He was just letting me know, "Hey, things are going to change around
00:19:32
here. You need to probably [music] pursue another job." >> Could this sudden change have been a
00:19:38
motive for murder? There were certain [music] things that happened the day Gary Ferris's remains
00:19:44
were found that raised suspicion. When family members first began their search for Gary, Melody asked Scott,
00:19:52
[music] an avid hunter, to go check his trail camera. It's used for tracking deer.
00:19:59
>> I was looking at that trail camera to see if there was any clues to where my dad
00:20:03
>> [music] >> could have gone. But just out of habit that I've done hundreds and thousands of times before,
00:20:10
I checked it and just hit clear all because I didn't see my dad on there. >> [music]
00:20:16
>> He just hit clear. >> Claims there's nothing on it and deletes the memory [music] card.
00:20:22
>> It seemed fishy, but then the sheriff's office was eventually able to recover
00:20:28
some of the images from that memory card. There was no picture of Gary. Then, there was the question of the gun.
00:20:36
Scott Ferris [music] had flagged that there was a .38 snub-nose revolver that had gone missing in the basement.
00:20:43
[music] And detectives had found a bullet of the same caliber on the basement floor,
00:20:49
>> [music] >> as well as the bullet pulled from Gary's rib. >> Some people thought, "Wow, Scott found a
00:20:55
gun and now there's one missing." And other people think immediately, "Why is he telling us this?
00:20:59
>> [music] >> He's He's He may be responsible." >> Investigators then checked Scott's
00:21:05
apartment above the barn, where they opened his [music] dresser drawer. >> Scott had some .38 caliber rounds in his
00:21:18
in one of his dresser drawers. >> Which member of the Ferris family at the farm is most familiar with firearms?
00:21:27
>> That would be Scott. >> That would be Scott. Which family member has been trained by
00:21:31
the United States Army to kill? >> Scott. >> Which family member at the farm has the
00:21:37
physical strength to lift a 300-lb man into that fire pile? >> It would be Scott would be the most
00:21:45
likely. I'm not sure if he's strong enough to do that or not. >> Scott defended himself when we spoke in
00:21:52
2024. Did you murder your father? Did you shoot him and put his body [music] on a burn pile?
00:22:01
>> No. There's no reason why I wouldn't There's no There's not an absolute reason why I
00:22:07
would want to murder my father. He was the backbone of our family. Why would [music] I kill the man that I'm
00:22:13
trying to be? >> Detectives determined that while the bullets found in Scott's drawer [music]
00:22:19
were .38s, they were a different version than the recovered bullets that had Gary's DNA [music] on them.
00:22:26
Technically, they were not a match. That left [music] only one other person for investigators.
00:22:35
>> The only person who hated him was Melody. The only person who was having affairs
00:22:41
and you know, spending all his money was Melody. >> From 48 Hours, this is Blood Is Thicker,
00:22:56
the Ferris Wheel, produced by Sony Music Entertainment. I'm your host, Peter Van Sant.
00:23:04
Judy Tygard is the executive producer of 48 Hours. Original reporting by 48 Hours producers
00:23:12
[music] Betsy Schuler, Ryan Smith, and Hannah Vere. Jamie Benson is the senior producer for
00:23:20
CBS News podcasts, and Mara Waltz [music] is the senior story editor. Recording assistance from Alan Peng and
00:23:29
Alana Myers. Special thanks to CBS News podcast [music] vice president Megan Marcus.
00:23:39
Blood Is Thicker was written [music] and produced by Alex Shum. Stephanie Serrano is our editor.
00:23:46
Our executive producer is Shera Morris. Our associate producer [music] is Zoe Colkin.
00:23:54
Theme and original music composed by Hansdale She. Cedric Wilson is [music] our sound
00:24:01
designer and mixed the episodes. We also use music from Epidemic Sounds. [music]
00:24:08
Fendel Fulton is our fact-checker. Our production manager is Tamika Balance Kolasny. [music]
00:24:17
If you're enjoying the show, be sure to rate and review. It helps more people find [music] it and hear our reporting.
00:24:26
Thanks for listening.