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[Music] Murders don't happen every day uh in Cherokee County. The type of murder that happened in this
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case doesn't happen a lot. But if it were to happen, it would be in this family.
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>> Was the Ferris family a happy family? No. >> This family was not like every other
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family. There was a lot of love there, but there was also a lot of family drama. constant infighting, animosity
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among siblings for money, for their their father's money. And I think that that's where the drama
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always came back to was who was going to get dad's money. The Ferris family is made up of Gary Ferris, the patriarch,
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Melody Ferris, the mother, and then there were four children. The oldest being Chris Ferris, then there was Scott
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Ferris, and then you have Emily, and then Amanda. Gary Ferris uh was a brilliant
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commercial real estate attorney. He was very smart. He loved his kids. >> Melody is a very straightforward person
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who for the last 35 years had been a stay-at-home mom. >> I'm the mother who took care of
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everything, took care of everybody. I was the one that my children called when they needed help.
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I was always there for them. I never told them no. [Music] The Ferrises lived on the east end of
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the county. >> Their property was around 10 acres. Very nice piece of property. It was obvious
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that these people were likely affluent. >> Had a house, a barn. We had four horses.
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We had I don't know how many goats. >> They lived a life though odd to a lot of us. It was normal to them.
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>> It has been called the ferris wheel and it was but it was our ferris wheel. It
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was our life. On 4th of July of 2018, everything changed for this family. >> It was brought to my attention by my
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sister and my mother that my father was missing. He wasn't the healthiest man. He had high blood pressure. He smoked a
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lot. We were all thinking he might have had a heart attack. We decided to start searching the
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property. I started checking all the pastures. We had been out looking for quite some
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time. We had been over every square inch of that property. >> We couldn't find them. Something's
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really off here. >> Scott and I were standing there by the burn pile just looking.
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>> With this being a working farm, they would pile tree stumps and and rotten firewood just kind of like a trash pile
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and every now and again they'd burn it. >> My dad did talk about he was going to
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burn that stuff on that pile. I looked down and immediately I could start seeing bones.
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I squatted down and I'm like, "Those are human remains. I'm calling 911 right now."
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We heard the radio call that some remains had just been found in a fire. The first thing that stuck out to me was
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the amount of fire damage done to the body. This guy's been in this fire burning for quite some time. During the
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excavation of the bones, there's a bullet found lodged in a ribbone. This is not an accident. It's a murder.
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>> They go through the family members and they're going to look at who had the opportunity. And anyone who lived on
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that property would have been in that box. >> How did he get on the burn pile? Who
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shot him with what gun? Where? We don't have a single clue. I called it a a soap opera because the
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old TV show Dallas, you had money. You then you had the who shot Jr. Arr except it was who shot Gary Ferris.
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[Music] [Music] [Music] Detective, where are we right now? >> We're here at the Ferris Farm.
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>> On July 5th, 2018, Detective Daniel Hayes of the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office north of Atlanta responded to a
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most unusual call. a human body in a burn pile. Had you ever received a call like that in your
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career? >> I had never personally responded to a call that like that. No. >> The body was later identified as
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58-year-old Gary Ferris, the larger than-l life 300B patriarch of the Ferris estate,
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now reduced to skeletal remains. Detective Hayes learned Gary Ferris was a wealthy commercial real estate
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attorney married to Melody Ferris. They raised four children, Chris, Scott, Emily, and Amanda.
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>> They're all in their late 20s, early 30s at this point, um, if not a little bit
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older. >> Hayes also learned Gary and Melody were married for 38 years and lived in this
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house on their beautifully manicured 10acre farm. Son Scott, who had served in the army, managed the day-to-day
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operations at the farm and lived in an apartment above the barn. >> Scott's main function at this point in
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his life is to be the farm hand. >> It was a seemingly idyllic life until Gary Ferrris's remains were discovered
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on that burn pile. >> I never thought such tragic thing would happen there. [Music]
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My world was spinning. I wanted to find out what happened. >> Melody told Hayes the last time she saw
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Gary alive was during the evening on Tuesday, July 3rd, 2018. >> He came in and wanted to know if I was
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going to prepare dinner. And I said, "Gary, there's enough food in that refrigerator there to feed Cox's army."
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I said, "If you don't want it, then go get something to eat." >> And that's it. That was the last time.
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>> That was the last words that were spoken to him. >> Melody told Detective Hayes her husband
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then went down to his bedroom in the basement. Gary had sleep apnea and slept alone with his CPAP machine.
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Scott said he had also last seen his father on July 3rd at lunch. Scott spent the rest of the day out with his
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friends. He returned home that night around 11:30 and says he immediately noticed a glow in the distance. When I
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pulled in the driveway, you could look off in the direction where the burn pile was and you could see it was burning.
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>> A burn pile, typically a dumping spot for yard waste and brush. >> My dad did talk about he was going to
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burn that stuff on that on that pile. The next day, July 4th, Scott and Melody told investigators they didn't encounter
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Gary. >> It was not unusual not to see Gary. >> It wasn't until the next day, July 5th,
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Melody says she realized Gary was missing. Two of the grandchildren who had spent the night asked to ride the
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RTV or rough terrain vehicle with Gary, who they called Big Daddy. >> And I told him, I said, "Go ask Big
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Daddy to go ride it with you all." and they said they couldn't find him. >> Daughter Amanda was there, too. Son
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Chris arrived soon after and all the adults started searching the property until Scott noticed some bones among the
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ashes at the burn pile. >> I'll never forget it until the day I die. >> His words were, "Oh, I found him."
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What do you mean you found him? When the forensic team arrived, they began documenting the burn pile,
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working past dark to sift through the ashes. That's when the bullet was found lodged
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in Gary's rib. And what had started as a possible accidental death became a murder investigation. Why would somebody
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want to burn a body? cover up a crime, you destroy evidence. >> Elsewhere, investigators searched the
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house, the barn, even the pond. They found a shotgun in the house. Several other guns and ammunition were
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discovered in the barn. Both Melody and Scott allowed investigators to test their hands for
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accelerants. The test came back negative. Scott also told the detectives something intriguing. He had recently
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seen a pistol in the basement that was now missing. >> It was just very odd. >> And another thing Scott found odd was
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that his mom had his dad's wallet. >> And I said, "Where'd you find that?" And she said, "Well, it's in the console of
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his car." And I found that very, very odd cuz my dad never left his wallet in his car. As Hayes investigation
00:10:10
continued, he was learning all about the Ferris family's dysfunctional dynamic, which came to be known as the Ferris
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wheel. In a tape recorded conversation with Melody, she told him there had been tension between Gary and Scott.
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>> He and Scott would get into it pretty heavily. I mean, you know, I mean, they'd come to blows just over things
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because Gary was so anal about everything. I mean, Scott's hot. I mean, he is. He's hottempered.
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>> But when detectives asked Scott what he thought happened, he pointed the finger
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of suspicion at his mother. >> I've always had this gut feeling if something ever happened to my dad that
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somebody needed to check her out. >> With the ferris wheel starting to turn, detectives asked Scott if his father was
00:11:03
having an affair. My father did not do that. He was a onewoman type of man and he married that woman. He was not that
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kind of man. >> Hayes then asked Melody if she was having an affair. >> What did she tell you? She said no.
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>> Police focused in on what appeared to be drops of blood on the kitchen floor,
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the stairs leading to the basement, and on the basement floor itself. When spots in the basement were tested,
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they were confirmed to be Gary's blood. Police also found a 38 caliber bullet on
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the basement floor. This same type found lodged in Gary's ribbone from the burn pile.
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>> And does that suggest in any way some sort of progression of an attack on Gary?
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>> That's what we interpreted as as we started looking at it is that possibly something happened upstairs, led down
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the stairs and into the basement. Detective Hayes asked Melody point blank if she had anything to do with the death
00:12:06
of her husband. >> So your statement is you didn't do anything to harm Gary? >> No.
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>> And you don't know who did? >> No. >> Hayes was skeptical. Investigators had found in Melody's purse birth control
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and a credit card with another man's name on it. Roy Barton. >> When someone's lying to you, what does
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that suggest? They're guilty of something. When that credit card was found in Melody's purse, investigators did not
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recognize the name on it. >> It's Roy Barton. Later find out it's Rusty Barton. Rusty Barton was a farm
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equipment salesman who spent time on the road in central Tennessee. In 2014, Melody was helping take care of Rusty's
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ill stepmother, who happened to be her cousin. That's when Rusty and Melody became intimate. We learned that Rusty
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is Melody's lover that uh she's having an affair with and has had an affair with for quite some time.
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>> Did you fall in love with Rusty? I loved him. Still love him. Was I in love with him? No.
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>> Investigators wanted to know more about the couple. >> How serious is this relationship between
00:13:38
Melody and Rusty? >> Depends on who you asked. The evidence showed that it appeared to be pretty
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serious. They were researching wedding bands. >> You know, if you were planning on
00:13:48
getting married, it sounds like a motive for murder. >> You don't marry the person you were
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having an affair with. Scott says Melody and Rusty's love affair was the world's
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worstkept secret. >> She thought she was smart enough to hide it from everybody, but we all found out.
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We all knew, >> including Gary. And when daughter Emily got married in 2016, Melody scandalized
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the wedding by inviting her lover for all to see. your husband is there at the same venue and you're dancing and
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drinking and and having a good time with this other man. It was upsetting to Gary. Uh, you know, it was upsetting to
00:14:26
all the family. >> That wasn't a nice move on your part, was it? >> No. In hindsight, no.
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>> It seemed the ferris wheel was spinning faster with household drama becoming more frequent.
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>> This whole ferris wheel turn, none of us really like it. But if you want to know
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who the motor was of turning that Ferris wheel was Melody Ferris. She always stirred up drama. Always.
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>> It's a real life soap opera. That's it. >> A soap opera Hayes believed that revolved around what Gary had and others
00:15:00
coveted. Money. >> A lot of bickering, a lot of fights over money, a lot of jealousy.
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>> Gary had always been generous toward his children. Even as adults, investigators
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learned he helped Emily buy a house and financially assisted son Chris with his business and children.
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>> It made me Melody turn against her children because the children were spending money.
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>> But Melody claims she was only upset because the children were taking advantage of their father's wealth.
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>> Chris, our oldest one, had been stealing money like you cannot believe. Chris
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says he and his father did not argue over money. >> Detective Hayes looked into the
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agreement Gary had struck with Scott. >> He worked on the farm and Gary gave him
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spending money. >> He had gotten where he just would not do anything. He was all the time playing
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golf, going to the lake, going out with his friends. >> And who was paying for all of this?
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>> He was taking, you know, credit cards from Gary. >> But Scott says that's not true at all.
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and that the arrangement he had with his father worked well for both of them. >> I was there to help him with the farm.
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There was no mooching. >> Scott says it was actually Melody who'd run into a financial roadblock with
00:16:16
Gary, largely because of her lavish spending on her affair with Rusty. >> She would leave for weeks at a time and
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then thousands of dollars would be spent out of the account. We found text messages where he confronted her and
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said, "You know, your spending is done. We got to get a handle on this." >> So, what you're saying is that it was
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Melody who was facing the potential of having her her money lifeline cut off. >> Pretty much, yes.
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>> Was he angry at your spending? >> No. I had a debit card. It had his name on it. I was free to use it however I
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wanted to. While Melody and Rusty lived in different states, cell phone records show they live their lives in constant
00:17:01
communication. She's on the phone with him every hour of every day, >> including the early morning hours of
00:17:08
July 4th, 2018, a day and a half before Gary was found. When questioned by investigators, Rusty told them that
00:17:17
Melody had said something alarming. So, probably the last minute of the last conversation, she said, "Gary is in the
00:17:26
burn pile." No, she said, "He is in the burn pile." And I said, "What?" And she said, "He's
00:17:35
in the burn pile." And I said, "Do not say another word and do not tell me anything. I do not need to know."
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At that time, only the killer could have known Gary was on the burn pile. Had Melody Ferris confessed to murder.
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As the investigation continued, she was now the detective's number one suspect. >> I told them everything I knew.
00:18:06
>> Scott remembered something that happened with his mother the day before Gary vanished. It now seems like
00:18:13
foreshadowing. She comes out of the 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
00:18:43
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 results
00:19:22
and the positive identification of Gary Wayne Ferris's body, >> but for Detective Hayes, there were
00:19:28
unanswered 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, 300 lb. How in the
00:19:47
world could that woman have moved that body >> with the tractor? With RTV, >> two pieces of machinery that were found
00:19:54
on the farm. She admitted that she drives RTV all the time, has operated the tractor.
00:20:00
>> Hay sees the two vehicles as evidence. Peter, >> this is what we're looking at, these two
00:20:04
vehicles. >> He took me to the lot where they are stored. >> How could each of these vehicles have
00:20:09
been used to get Gary's body onto that pile? >> Uh, both are capable of pulling a lot of
00:20:14
weight. This tractor has a bucket on the front that is designed to scoop heavy loads. We found tractor marks, but there
00:20:21
were tractor marks all over the property, but there were none necessarily obviously leading right up
00:20:27
to the burn pile. >> What did you find as your forensic people took a look at these vehicles?
00:20:32
>> Uh, we found blood, evidence of blood on the vehicles. >> Can you show me where?
00:20:35
>> I can. So, on the tractor, we found blood evidence in this area. >> Gary's blood, but nothing was found in
00:20:43
the front bucket. on the RTV. Hay says Melody's blood was found on one of the gear shifters. Nothing was found in the
00:20:51
back. Hayes considered other scenarios. >> There's also a theory that she did it
00:20:57
under her own power, rolling him down to the burn pile. It's downhill all the way
00:21:02
to the burn pile. >> Is there any blood that was discovered going from the house to the burn pile?
00:21:08
>> Not that we found. >> So, this still remains a mystery, doesn't it? >> It does. It was
00:21:12
>> a mystery too for prosecutors Megan Frankish and Jeffrey Fogus. >> We don't know exactly how she got him
00:21:19
into the burn pile. >> She was a farm girl. She was resourceful. We know she killed him. How
00:21:26
she did it doesn't really matter cuz we know she did cuz he was there. >> The case took more than 5 years to bring
00:21:36
to trial. During that time, a deep divide formed in the Ferris family. Three of the children, Chris, Scott, and
00:21:45
Emily, were all convinced their mother murdered their father. Gary and Melody's youngest child, Amanda, believed in
00:21:53
Melody's innocence. What did it mean for you that your daughter, Amanda, stood by you during
00:22:00
all this time and has believed in your innocence? >> She's a good girl. Ladies and gentlemen, the jury.
00:22:10
>> When the trial finally began in October 2024, prosecutors Megan Frankish and Jeffrey Fogus spoke to jurors with
00:22:20
absolute certainty. >> The answer to the question, who did it sits right there, Melody Walker Ferris?
00:22:28
>> The motive, >> money, sex, new life. According to prosecutors, Melody wanted Gary dead so
00:22:35
she could cash in on his multi-million dollar assets and live happily ever after with her lover of the past four
00:22:43
years, Rusty 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, two days before Gary's body was found, Gary and Melody got into a fight in the kitchen and Melody shot him.
00:23:08
>> He goes downstairs trying to get away. She shoots him again. >> There's a blood trail from the kitchen
00:23:15
and they went down the steps. >> Those blood trails never lead out of the house, upstairs or downstairs. In their
00:23:25
opening statement, defense attorneys Michael Ray and John Luke Weaver attacked the prosecution's claims and
00:23:32
told jurors there's a harmless explanation for those blood drops. >> Gary had been bitten by one of Melody's
00:23:41
dogs on the ankle and was bleeding as he walked down the stairs. >> We're talking tiny little droplets of
00:23:47
blood. That would not be consistent with a shooting. You would expect far more blood. and daughter Amanda would testify
00:23:55
she saw that wound on her dad's leg. The defense also argued Melody is innocent.
00:24:02
>> Questions >> and raised those questions about how Gary's body got to the burn pile.
00:24:08
>> Melody Ferris at her size. It is impossible that she moved that body from the location where the state says his
00:24:17
body was to a burn pile. It is absolutely impossible. The defense also raised questions about the murder
00:24:24
weapon. >> Where is the gun? No idea. >> They offered up an alternative suspect,
00:24:33
Melody's own son, and his motive would be >> financial. He wanted the property. >> One big thing you're going to hear, and
00:24:41
you're going to hear it a lot, is Scott Ferris. The defense argues that Scott from the very beginning tried to draw
00:24:49
attention of investigators away from him. >> 13 minutes after law enforcement arrives, Scott Ferris is already blaming
00:24:59
his mother. From the very beginning, Scott is saying, "Melody, Melody, Melody, leading law enforcement down this
00:25:06
trail." Raise your right hand. When the prosecution put Scott Ferris on the stand, they asked him directly,
00:25:14
>> "Did you murder your father?" >> I absolutely did not murder my father. I love my father. He was the backbone.
00:25:28
He was the glue to our family. >> Sitting just feet away, Melody says Scott's testimony was an act. The Scott
00:25:36
that was in that courtroom was not my son. He was well rehearsed. >> Could you stand for the jury, please?
00:25:43
>> Sure. >> On cross-examination, the defense pointed out that Scott, at 6'8, 280 lb,
00:25:52
was the only person on the farm physically capable of moving Gary's 300B body. about
00:25:59
>> because of my size and size of my father. Yes, I was going to be looked at like that, but I had nothing to do with
00:26:06
it. >> Raise your right hand. >> To help establish a motive for murder, prosecutors called Melody's lover, Rusty
00:26:15
Barton, to the stand. >> You're You're from Alabama. Is that right? >> Excuse me. Tennessee. I apologize.
00:26:23
>> I'm from Tennessee. >> Okay. And you are >> a big difference. >> That's true. You're
00:26:28
>> He's charming. He's smart. >> And he says he captured the heart of married Melody Ferris.
00:26:34
>> You were in love with her. Fair to say? >> Yes. >> And she was in love with you. Fair to
00:26:39
say. >> Yes. >> Do you recall searching for wedding bands on the internet? >> I do.
00:26:46
>> What type of wedding bands did y'all have in mind? >> We talked about plain gold bands.
00:26:51
>> Tell the jury what you >> Focus also asked Rusty about that incriminating call. She said that Gary
00:26:57
was on the burn 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 Fogus 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
00:27:34
her. He didn't know how this was going to turn out. >> At the time of the murder, Rusty was
00:27:39
hours away in Tennessee. He was never charged with anything relating to the death of Gary Ferris.
00:27:48
More witnesses would testify. And later, Melody, who was silent throughout the trial, would address the court in a
00:27:55
dramatic and explosive statement that would leave her family reeling. [Music] testimony about
00:28:12
>> day after day, Melody Ferris faced witnesses determined to see her pay for the alleged murder of her husband.
00:28:20
>> How is it that you know the defendant in this case? >> She's my mother. >> None seemed more dogged than her own
00:28:27
children like Chris. >> I just had my suspicions that she had something to do with this.
00:28:32
>> Her daughter Emily, >> she became more hostile. She was more aggressive with us. Um she was demanding
00:28:39
money. You see your mom sitting in court? >> Yes, sir. >> And Scott, I >> mean, she always, you know, talked bad
00:28:46
about my dad. It's like she always tried to brainwash us like he was, you know, such a horrible person.
00:28:55
>> Can you describe what it was like to watch each of your children take the stand?
00:29:00
>> The most heart-wrenching, gut-wrenching thing I had ever sat through in my entire life.
00:29:06
>> Because >> I knew they were lying. I have to tell you, you seem so stoic during all of it.
00:29:14
>> It was that the time that I'd walk out of that courtroom at night time, I was
00:29:18
ready to scream at the top of my lungs. >> Melody says three of her children are
00:29:23
trying to pin their father's murder on her for one simple reason. >> Money. Absolutely money.
00:29:32
One of the final witnesses called by prosecutors was Lindseay Harris, who leads the intelligence division in the
00:29:39
Cherokee County Sheriff's Office. >> I was asked in 2018, July of 2018, um, to analyze some phone records.
00:29:50
Harris says she was able to track the precise movements of Gary Ferris's cell phone on the family farm because Gary
00:29:57
had an Android phone with its Google location services turned on. >> So, this helps us know when the device
00:30:05
is traveling even within a certain area. Harris discovered that on the morning of
00:30:10
July 4th, when investigators believe Gary's body was already on the burn pile, his cell phone moved from the
00:30:18
house to the burn pile and back to the house. >> 100% the device moves from 758 to 9:05.
00:30:27
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
00:30:55
the home until 8 p.m.ish, 8:30 p.m. on July 4th. The defense tries to challenge this seemingly powerful evidence by
00:31:05
questioning the accuracy of Harris's findings. >> You can clearly see that sometimes the
00:31:10
circle's very large, sometimes it's small, and sometimes it says, "You're absolutely nowhere close to where you
00:31:15
are." >> The defense called seven witnesses. One of them was Gary and Melody's youngest
00:31:23
daughter, Amanda. She has told me that she's not guilty and all I can do is believe that until
00:31:30
somebody can prove she is guilty. So I would like to believe that my mother had nothing to do with this.
00:31:37
There's just so much pain. I'm just there's no good outcome. He's never coming back.
00:31:44
He'll never be there again. And that's just the worst part about it all. And knowing that my mother could
00:31:53
potentially spend the rest of her life in prison is terrifying. >> Miss Frankish, you can go ahead.
00:32:00
>> It was now time to wrap this case up with closing arguments. >> She had plenty of motives. She despised
00:32:06
Gary. She hated that he was 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
00:32:21
difficult it would be for someone Melody's size to somehow get her 300 lb husband onto that burn pile.
00:32:30
>> This is 320 lb and I am 185 lb and that's all I have. >> I just it it's not realistic. And then
00:32:46
the fact that they they've presented no actual evidence as to how she did that, that means there's doubt.
00:32:54
>> On October 30th, 2024, the jury got the case, but after 3 days of deliberations,
00:33:01
they sent a note to the judge saying they were deadlocked. The judge told them to give it one more try.
00:33:08
>> I was absolutely numb. You don't know what to think. And just a few hours later,
00:33:14
>> all right, I understand y'all reached a verdict. >> We, the jury, find the defendant guilty.
00:33:20
>> Melody Ferris was found guilty on all five counts against her, including malice murder, felony murder, and making
00:33:29
false statements. >> It was horrible. They carried me immediately over to the jail.
00:33:38
I was alone curled up in the fetal position. >> Jurors Sheila Albbright and Chris Hyatt
00:33:46
say the cell phone evidence convinced them of Melody's guilt. >> Once we agreed on the time of death,
00:33:52
then it was okay, well, how was this phone moving after Gary's body is it was in the burn pile? Who was on the
00:33:59
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
00:34:13
there was evidence of that. I thought maybe he had run out the door trying to get from away from her and
00:34:22
maybe she took him by gunpoint down to the burn pile. I think that maybe the burn pile is the last place she shot
00:34:30
him. For Scott and some members of the Ferris family, the guilty verdict brought
00:34:37
relief even though their own mother was now a convicted murderer. >> Because we got justice from my father by
00:34:47
>> We fought six years to get answers. My father loved my mother. He fought for my
00:34:55
mother. He was a very loving father. But there would be no love shown by Melody at her sentencing when she was
00:35:03
given the opportunity to express remorse and ask the judge for leniency. >> I have waited for years to make this
00:35:12
statement to everyone. >> But instead of asking the judge for mercy, >> I want the world to know who did this.
00:35:19
>> She named who she said was the real killer. >> I know Scott killed his father.
00:35:26
He took my husband, the father of Chris, Emily, and Amanda. He took Big Daddy from our grandchildren.
00:35:37
>> But Melody was far from done tormenting her son. [Music] Scott, this is unforgivable.
00:35:58
Scott, I have spent entire life of loving and protecting you, but this I refuse to cover for you.
00:36:08
>> When Melody Ferris used her sentencing hearing to accuse her son, Scott of being Gary's true murderer, some of
00:36:16
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. >> I was not prepared for that. It was
00:36:27
shocking that that is the opportunity she believed was hers to take. >> Scott sitting behind his mother with his
00:36:36
family simply stared in disbelief. >> Oh, I was furated as she did her last final jabs. That shows you what she was
00:36:45
like. One last turn of the knife. >> One last turn to make somebody's life a living hell because it didn't go her
00:36:52
way. >> Judge David Cannon had little patience. >> All right, Miss Ferris, I'm going to cut you off.
00:37:01
>> But Melody persisted. >> And I plead with you to throw this verdict out. Help me get justice for the
00:37:08
correct person. As bad as it sounds, I want to be there to watch him chained and shackled and
00:37:17
brought to justice. >> Instead, it was Melody who would be led away in chains. >> And the penalty for murder is life.
00:37:26
>> The 64 year old was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole
00:37:31
after 30 years. She also received an additional 5 years for concealing Gary's death by burning
00:37:39
his remains and making a false statement to police. Melody didn't take the stand in her
00:37:47
trial. Instead, she chose to tell her story exclusively to 48 hours. >> I just watched one of the most
00:37:55
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
00:38:09
children, my grandchildren, and at this point, the world. I didn't do this. I know who did.
00:38:17
And it's our son, Scott. Without a shadow of a doubt, I know he did it. >> I absolutely had nothing to do with my
00:38:25
father's death. And it was 100% Melody Ferris who murdered my father. That is the truth.
00:38:32
>> Why do you think she accused you of killing your father? >> Cuz I was an easy target. I lived on the
00:38:40
property. I'm former military. >> Melody claims she hadn't spoken up until now out of maternal loyalty. She says
00:38:50
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
00:39:04
beginning. And she says she knows why. >> Scott wanted that property to be his. He
00:39:11
had made that known to countless people. It's the perfect murder. You kill your daddy. You set your mother up. She goes
00:39:20
to prison. You get everything. >> You understand though that to people listening to this, they're thinking,
00:39:26
"Here is a mother willing to sacrifice her son to save her own skin." What would you say to that?
00:39:32
>> This is a mother's worst nightmare. >> Melody stands by her claim that Gary was
00:39:37
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
00:40:05
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?
00:40:20
>> No. >> And why would she lie now? >> You have to look at the timing of the statement and she has nothing to lose.
00:40:26
She's going to make all kinds of off-the-wall claims at this point that are just not provable.
00:40:30
Despite a sentence that will likely mean spending the rest of her life in prison,
00:40:35
Melody remains determined to prove her innocence. One day, you believe you will walk a
00:40:41
free woman again. >> I certainly hope so. I do. But I will be sitting there right
00:40:48
behind my son in court. >> And for those who believe you got exactly what you deserved, you say,
00:40:55
>> "I didn't do it. I did not do it. >> She knows she did it. She needs to stop with the lies. Just come clean.
00:41:07
Stop trying to ruin all of our lives because it didn't work out for you. I still haven't been able to figure out
00:41:14
why she would do this. I don't know if I ever will. [Music] I buried my 18-year-old child who was
00:41:32
murdered by this animal. A killer across the street. >> Isn't it likely he's going to get out?
00:41:37
>> Can a family keep him behind bars? >> My dad's last words to me were you fight
00:41:42
to keep Steve in prison? >> 48 Hours is all new CBS next Saturday 10:9 Central and streaming on Paramount
00:41:48
Plus. [Music] How you doing, folks? >> I'm raising my family here. My parents raised their family here and their
00:42:13
parents raised their family here. It's a place that I like to call home and uh hopefully this is where I'll remain.
00:42:20
Cleveland, Tennessee is beautiful, known as the city with spirit. You can't swing a ball bat without
00:42:29
hitting a church. A lot of people know one another and we do have a lot of older homes and a lot of history here.
00:42:36
I'm very proud of our town. >> Hello. Hey. >> I've been a hairdresser for over 30
00:42:42
years. You have certain clients that you kind of click with and you're closer to.
00:42:49
And for me, Marca was one of those clients. >> She was fun. She was outgoing. Marca was one of my favorite cousins.
00:42:58
She did confide in me and I confided in her. She was beautiful. She was always kind.
00:43:06
She loved her husband. She mentioned him every time. When I think of her, my first few words would not be giving,
00:43:13
loving. I didn't see a lot of that from her, even as her stepdaughter. How would
00:43:19
you describe her? >> Loner. >> I believe that she was very depressed. >> A case it sounds like a 48 hours
00:43:27
mystery. Bradley County woman disappears without a trace. >> It struck me. Oh my goodness. She's, you
00:43:33
know, she's not been in. That is odd. And I said, you know, what time do they she's overdue.
00:43:40
>> When Marca disappeared in June of 2009, her husband, Donnie Brantley, did not
00:43:46
report her missing. It's hard seeing my father in this way. It's a scary thing. I know the inside of this man and the
00:43:55
heart of him. He wouldn't hurt anyone. >> He loved her. >> Yes. >> And they had a real marriage.
00:44:01
>> Yes. During the years of your marriage, am I correct that you maintain romantic and
00:44:09
relationships with persons other than your wife? Upon advice of counsel, I plead the
00:44:17
fifth. >> We have a guy who's told numerous lies about where his wife went, and we can
00:44:23
prove otherwise. >> He may be the singularly most dishonest defendant I've ever dealt with.
00:44:31
Authorities have not located Marsha's body, but were able to charge her husband with premeditated first-degree
00:44:37
murder based on evidence. >> I think we have a great circumstantial case. >> There's no blood, no fingerprints, no
00:44:45
DNA, no body, and there's no crime scene. What proof is there that she's in fact dead as opposed to gone missing or
00:44:54
living someplace else? >> I felt compelled to find out what happened to her. I knew that something was very, very
00:45:03
wrong. >> He murdered her. He murdered her. >> That's crazy. >> It's ridiculous.
00:45:12
>> Charging you with firstdegree murder. Do you understand what the charge is? >> It's just not him.
00:45:17
>> He's 100% innocent of these charges. >> If he did do something to her, and if I
00:45:23
just let this go, he'll get away with it. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] [Music]
00:46:22
You're ready to go. We're ready for trial. >> We're actually not going to be able to
00:46:26
answer any questions until >> Justice may finally be at hand for Marsha Brantley, a 50-year-old writer
00:46:32
and animal lover who disappeared in 2009. In February 2018, Marsha's husband, Donnie Brantley, has come to
00:46:40
court ready to stand trial for allegedly murdering her. >> This is a very important day for Donnie
00:46:47
Brantley. >> It's very important. It's uh he's had a cloud of suspicion hanging over his head
00:46:52
for 9 years. >> Back in 2014 when 48 Hours first began investigating this case, >> I wanted to have just a a moment with
00:47:01
you all to >> Marsha's aunt Medra and cousin Jenna met with Steve Crump who was about to take
00:47:07
over as district attorney general. >> Ultimately, I believe we will be able to do justice in this case.
00:47:12
>> We're just looking forward to bringing this thing to a close. uh we're going to
00:47:16
create within this district um a cold case working group. >> Crump raised the family's hopes that he
00:47:22
could win a conviction in a case guaranteed to be an uphill battle for the prosecution because Marsha Brantley
00:47:30
had simply vanished. >> We don't have a crime scene. We don't have a dead body. We don't have what you
00:47:36
normally think of in terms of a homicide case. As the years passed, Jana and her
00:47:43
husband Mark became frustrated that there would never be justice. >> It's a tragedy. It's something that no
00:47:49
one should have to experience or no one should have to go through. >> What do you think?
00:47:53
>> What happened to her? Will we find her? >> It's a good question, especially since
00:48:00
the man they believe knows what happened to Marsha has, in their opinion, never offered to help. Not a phone call, not
00:48:08
an email, not a text message? >> No. >> Not a postcard, nothing. >> None of her family.
00:48:14
>> Did he organize any search parties? >> No. >> He profered no help. >> She was the love of your life, right?
00:48:22
>> Yes. >> This civil deposition in 2013 shows that Donnie likely will never have much to
00:48:29
say. >> When did she stop being the love of your life? >> I played the fifth. didn't have anything to do with her
00:48:39
disappearance, did it? No, >> I believe it did. >> This is the home where Marsha and Donnie
00:48:45
lived for 9 years. >> Jana and Medra went into the house in 2012, 3 years after Marsha went missing.
00:48:53
They were upset by the chaos they found. >> Somebody had no respect for her, and we
00:48:58
know who that was. And Donnie Brantley is going to pay for what he's done to her.
00:49:05
There was not a picture of Marsha to be seen anywhere. And there were pictures of Donnie and his daughter, but none of
00:49:12
Marsha. >> Growing up, Jana was especially close to Marsha, her older cousin. >> She would come and pick me up from high
00:49:20
school sometimes, and we would go get ice cream. >> From a young age, Marca had an endearing
00:49:26
passion for pets. >> She had her favorite little dachshun named Barney. She taught him how to pray
00:49:32
before he ate his meals. He would cross his little paws. So, >> as an adult, Marsha volunteered at a
00:49:40
local animal shelter. >> I looked up to her when I was a little girl. She was 5'10".
00:49:45
>> Kim Shank was Marsha's closest friend. >> Even though she seemed to kind of command the room, she was probably one
00:49:51
of the more shy people to be that commanding with her physical presence. >> She was a friendly person, a sweet
00:49:58
person, >> especially to her parents. She grew up in an affluent family, an only child
00:50:05
with no children of her own. >> She took care of her mother a lot because her mother was ill for a very
00:50:11
long time. >> In 1999, Marca met Donnie Brantley on a dating website. He was a divorced father
00:50:18
of a teenage daughter. >> She called me and she said, "Well, I've met someone." And was getting really
00:50:24
serious and she said, "I want you to meet him." >> Marca and Donnie shared a love for the
00:50:29
outdoors. She was an avid hiker while Donnie was a competitive bicycle rider. At 41, this
00:50:37
was Marsha's first serious relationship. >> He was what I always wanted for her,
00:50:43
somebody that she could be into and love and share her life with and live on happily ever after.
00:50:49
>> Marsha even wrote poetry for Donnie. With love so pure and true, I can but only thank my God. I fell in love with
00:50:57
you. >> Marsha and my dad. >> Donniey's daughter Elise was happy her dad had found a soulmate.
00:51:04
>> We would sit and watch movies on weekends and that kind of thing. They would hold hands.
00:51:09
>> They were married in 2000 and moved into the house Marsha's parents had built for
00:51:14
her. But shortly after the newlyweds settled down, tragedy struck. Her mother passed away in November of 2000 and her
00:51:23
father passed away in December. >> Imagine losing both your parents in less than a month.
00:51:29
>> She was devastated. It was a lot of sadness. I mean, it was heartbreaking. >> I saw a different side of her when she
00:51:35
lost her parents. There wasn't a lot of happiness after that. >> But Marca did her best to carry on. A
00:51:43
large inheritance enabled her to help Donnie set up a handyman business franchise. She also quit her job as
00:51:51
housing director at nearby Lee University to pursue her passion. >> She wanted to write young adult novels.
00:51:58
>> She was very talented and definitely had what it took to be successful. >> Reggie Jay and Nancy Grill were members
00:52:05
of a writer group that Marca formed in 2007. What was the name of this writing group? Thunder Rock Writers Group. The
00:52:14
other name was the Big Girl Panties Group. We would critique each other's work and we would say, "Put your Big
00:52:19
Girl Panties on because, you know, you might get your feelings hurt." >> Nancy and Reggie say Marsha was the best
00:52:26
of the bunch. >> Dirty Little Secrets is a story that Marsha wrote. The sun rose above the kudzu covered
00:52:35
trees as I swept the house and chased the dust out of the front door and across the porch with a broom.
00:52:41
Wonderful imagery. >> Mhm. >> She can write this woman. >> Yes. >> But in June 2009, a dark chapter began
00:52:50
in Marcia Brantley's life with a plot twist right out of a novel. She seemed to fall off the face of the earth.
00:52:58
>> I knew that something was very, very wrong. [Music] [Music] in her 30 years as a hairdresser in
00:53:22
Cleveland, Tennessee. >> Yeah. >> Kelly Dude says cuts, perms, and parts >> will you do that the way you do them
00:53:31
>> are only part of the job. As a hair stylist, are you also a therapist? >> We're in their personal space, so people
00:53:38
certainly um share with us probably a lot more than they would the clerk at the grocery store, you know.
00:53:46
>> But of the hundreds of clients Kelly has cut and consoled over the years, there has been only one whose face
00:53:54
haunts her dreams. >> When I would go to sleep at night, I would think of Marca. And when I would
00:54:00
wake up in the morning, I would think of Marca. Marsha Brantley first came in for a cut
00:54:07
in the year 2000 and the two came together like scissors and hair. >> What was it about Marsha that made the
00:54:14
two of you click? >> We just got along. We would just talk the whole time. We would just sort of
00:54:19
catch up with one another. >> She really spoke mostly about her home life with Donnie and her dogs. Her dogs
00:54:28
were like her children. >> Kelly says Marsha couldn't say enough nice things about her marriage and her
00:54:37
husband. As the years went by, the two women grew closer. >> But during what turned out to be
00:54:46
Marsha's final hair appointment in April 2009, Kelly saw a side of Marsha that left her concerned.
00:54:54
>> She seemed troubled. She seemed a bit depressed. She was asking me if the economy had affected the business here
00:55:04
and I said certainly it had, you know, um and she said, "Well, you know, it's really affecting our business."
00:55:12
>> Marca told her Donniey's handyman business was failing and money was tight. Still, she expected Marca to call
00:55:19
about 6 weeks later to set up her next appointment. And she was very regimented in coming to see you.
00:55:26
>> Yeah, she Yeah, she she colored her hair, so most women are. Sure. Yeah. >> But Kelly never got that call. She was
00:55:34
too busy to notice. But as spring turned to summer, Marsha's neighbor stopped into the
00:55:43
salon. >> She said, "Kelly, when was the last time you did Marsha's hair?" And I said, "Let
00:55:48
me look." And I looked at my file and I said, "April. That is unusual. was she okay? And she said she has not been
00:55:56
walking her dogs. They are barking their heads off. And her flowers were dead in
00:56:01
the yard. And when she mentioned that, it struck me. Oh my goodness, she's not been in. That is odd.
00:56:07
>> Odd enough, says Kelly, that she was moved to pick up the phone. >> I called Marca.
00:56:12
>> The call went to voicemail. She left a message but didn't hear back. For days, she called again and again.
00:56:23
No, Marsha. >> One night, I decided, well, I'm going to call Donnie and ask him if he knows
00:56:29
where Marsha is. I actually called Donniey's business. And the phone was disconnected. So, that really concerned
00:56:37
me. >> Marsha's neighbor was concerned, too. So much so that she decided to confront
00:56:43
Donnie in person at his house. She literally went up, knocked on the door, and when he answered, she said,
00:56:50
"Donnie, where's Marsha?" And he told her the most ridiculous story. "She's leaving me. She went out west."
00:57:01
>> Had she ever talked about trouble in the marriage? >> No. Never. For Kelly, it seemed
00:57:06
inconceivable that Marca would suddenly leave the house her parents had built for her, leave behind her beloved dogs,
00:57:15
and most of all, leave the husband she adored. What are you thinking? >> I'm thinking at that point, he has done
00:57:22
something to her. I I knew that something was very, very wrong. I had no peace about it. And so finally
00:57:32
I thought I'm going to call around and in my mind I thought you know I'm crossing a little line here into
00:57:39
meddling. >> You've become a detective at this point. You're gathering information. You're
00:57:44
calling various people. Right. >> Well I was but you know I wasn't trying to be a detective. I was trying to be a
00:57:49
concerned friend. >> Kelly found a member of Marsha's writing club and got more disturbing news.
00:57:56
>> But she told me that Marsha was no longer coming. One of the strangest things about this case is that for
00:58:02
months nobody reported Marsha Brantley missing. Her relatives, they live on the other side of the state. Her best
00:58:09
friend, Kim Shank, she's in Ohio. And the members of her writers group, well, they just didn't hang out socially.
00:58:18
In the end, it would be her hairdresser who tipped authorities to a potential murder. I came into work the next day
00:58:26
and I called the Cleveland Police Department and I said, "I need to report a missing person." And he said, "Excuse
00:58:33
me, are you her mom, her sister?" And I said, "No, actually, I'm her hairdresser." He said, "Well, ma'am, if
00:58:40
he says she's gone and that she left him, she left him." >> Undeterred, Kelly turned to the best
00:58:47
social network she knew, her customers. And you can cut and talk at the same time, right? You're good at that. for 30
00:58:54
years. >> Okay. >> Kelly chose a person who was long on brains under all that short hair. Local
00:59:02
attorney Jerry Hoffer. >> He couldn't get away. So when I was cutting his hair, I said, "You know,
00:59:06
Jerry, I'm going to tell you a story." And when I get finished, I want you to tell me what you think.
00:59:10
>> I'm listening to the stories and I'm just sitting there thinking, "This guy's
00:59:14
he might have killed his wife. [Music] I >> mean, I felt like finally justice is
00:59:33
going to be done. >> Mhm. >> Right after I got my haircut and I walked in the DA's office and I just
00:59:40
kind of in a flippant way, I said, "You've got a dead lady out there. You all need to be looking for her."
00:59:46
Prosecutors agreed and sent their investigator, Walt Hunt, now retired, to Marsha's house to look for her.
00:59:54
>> When I approached him, he told me that they were having some marital issues. >> But it wasn't just what Brentley said,
01:00:02
it was how he said it that really caught Hunt's attention. >> He was pretty cool and maybe a little
01:00:10
cooler than I might expect. He said he was cool, calm, steady as a rock. He said that is not normal.
01:00:17
>> Hunt's instincts convinced him to call the TBI, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. They would launch what
01:00:25
would become a 9-year coordinated effort between state and local agencies, all dedicated to finding Marshia Brantley.
01:00:33
It was around October 2011 and I jumped at the opportunity to be able to assist with the investigation.
01:00:40
>> When Zack Pike and David Shoemaker of the Bradley County Sheriff's Office got
01:00:45
the case in 2011, they quickly saw why Donnie Brantley was a suspect. He had always denied any role in his wife's
01:00:53
disappearance, but he'd lied when he claimed that Marsha had taken her phone. I think her cell phone in his possession
01:01:01
is easily in my mind the most damning fact. >> The cell phone never left pinging from a
01:01:06
tower that's 2 miles or less from the home. >> In June of 2009, right around the time
01:01:13
investigators think Marsha disappeared. They say Donnie used her phone to make a
01:01:18
highly suspicious call. >> He calls on that cell phone the Chattanooga Singles Line. He calls a
01:01:23
dating Yes. Chattanooga Singles Line. While Donnie was apparently seeking a new love interest, investigators say he
01:01:32
couldn't seem to keep his story straight about his old love, Marsha. >> She took a camper and moved to Townsen,
01:01:40
Tennessee. >> Gone to Florida, gone out west to work as a missionary. >> Every time somebody asked what happened
01:01:46
to Marcia, it's something different. >> They were all lies. >> If Marsha had left, investigators were
01:01:52
struck by what she had left behind. All of her clothes, her shoes, documents important to her, the baby book that her
01:01:59
mother had compiled for her, brushes, toothbrushes, all that still in the house. She left her car.
01:02:04
>> Importantly, she left her house, >> the one her parents had built for her. >> That doesn't make sense.
01:02:12
>> If Donnie Brantley did kill his wife, they say a look at the family finances may provide a motive.
01:02:19
>> Did she keep the money or you? >> I played the fed. He was financially supported by his wife.
01:02:25
>> They say Donniey's failing business franchise was draining Marsha's inheritance.
01:02:31
>> She would have cut him off from the money. >> What was the state of their marriage in
01:02:35
those last months prior to Marsha's disappearance? >> There was a little bit of tension
01:02:41
obviously with the money problems. And investigators soon unearthed phone records that revealed Donnie Brantley
01:02:48
had begun calling an ex-girlfriend within days after Marsha disappeared. >> You know Stephanie Richardson?
01:03:00
>> Yes. >> Okay. And who is Stephanie Richardson? >> I plead the fifth. >> Lee Davis is Donnie Brantley's attorney.
01:03:09
There was no affair with Donnie while Donnie was married to Marsha. There was an intimate relationship that started
01:03:17
after Marsha left. And there was other suspicious behavior. Authorities discovered that just hours after
01:03:25
investigator Hunt had interviewed him, Donnie went to a pawn shop and sold a number of Marsha's possessions,
01:03:33
including >> 14 karat gold cross, a Figuro necklace, a Figuro bracelet, a herring bone
01:03:38
necklace, and a Toshiba laptop. >> And there was something else Marca left behind that friends and family say she
01:03:47
valued more than all the material possessions in the world. Marca loved her dogs. They were her kids.
01:03:54
>> Would she have ever left that house without her dogs? >> No. >> No. >> Never.
01:03:59
>> In March of 2010, authorities ask Donnie Brantley to take a polygraph test. Surprisingly, he accepts.
01:04:08
>> How does he do? Fails it. Fails it. Flying colors. >> Then during that 2013 videotaped
01:04:15
deposition, >> I played the fifth. >> Donnie refused to answer. I played the fifth
01:04:21
>> or said he couldn't recall. >> I don't recall >> more than 100 times. >> I don't recall.
01:04:26
>> Are there other items of hers which you sold when she disappeared? >> I played.
01:04:39
That performance combined with circumstantial evidence helped convince police in August of 2013 to arrest
01:04:47
Donnie Brantley and charge him with the murder of his wife. >> Donnie Brantley is now an inmate at the
01:04:53
Bratley County Jail being held on a half million dollar bond for the first-degree
01:04:58
murder of his wife Marsha. But after seven months behind bars, Donnie is freed when then prosecutor Steve Beb
01:05:05
decides he doesn't have enough evidence yet and drops the charges. >> The family had told law enforcement they
01:05:12
didn't feel good about going forward with it at this time and they wanted to try to get more evidence.
01:05:18
>> We didn't think that it was time yet >> cuz you get one shot at this, >> right?
01:05:22
>> I was interested in from the very beginning. Months later, newly elected prosecutor Steve Crump focuses his legal
01:05:29
sights on Donnie Brantley, but it would take another two years to arrest and recharge him.
01:05:36
>> Four cars pulled up and told him to get on the ground. This was pretty traumatizing.
01:05:43
>> Finally, in February of 2018, nearly 9 years after Marcia Brantley disappeared,
01:05:50
her husband's murder trial is scheduled to begin. You're convinced you've got the right man.
01:05:56
>> No doubt. The things that he did, things he said, all point toward a guilty man.
01:06:05
>> For more of Donnie Brantley's video deposition, go to Facebook at 48 hours. >> How big a case is this among people
01:06:22
here? I think it's pretty big for the simple fact that this doesn't happen here every day. People don't just
01:06:28
disappear and not be seen for nine years. >> Zack Pike and David Shoemaker of the
01:06:34
Bradley County Sheriff's Office say as Cleveland, Tennessee natives, the Brantley case hits them close to home.
01:06:42
>> In some ways, is this personal for you? Absolutely. Um been many nights I haven't slept. I wonder where Marsha is.
01:06:50
We're actually not going to be able to answer any questions. >> There's no proof that Donnie Brantley
01:06:55
murdered his wife, Marsha. >> I've asked them point blank, "If Donnie is responsible, as you suggest, tell me
01:07:03
how he did it." >> Donnie Brantley's lawyers, Lee Davis and Janie Parks Farnell, say their client
01:07:09
should never have been charged with murder once, let alone twice. Law enforcement had tunnel vision and they
01:07:17
had tunnel vision that led directly to Donnie Brantley and the rest of it they just ignored.
01:07:23
>> Who murdered Marsha Brantley? Donnie Brantley. You say the same. >> I say the same. Where? At her house. At
01:07:31
their house. >> No proof of a crime scene. No proof of a body or an autopsy. >> Is there a witness in this case?
01:07:39
>> No, there's no trace evidence. There's no blood. No fingerprints, no DNA, no fiber analysis. What proof is there that
01:07:48
she's in fact dead? >> He'll argue at trial that this case is actually about a 9-year-old marriage
01:07:55
that because of financial problems may have reached a breaking point in June 2009.
01:08:02
>> And she she told Donnie that she needed some time to herself and time to think.
01:08:06
Which is why Davis says it's ridiculous to argue Donniey's failure to report Marsha missing is suspicious.
01:08:14
>> When your wife tells you that she's leaving the marriage, you don't call the police or 911.
01:08:19
>> She would never have left her family. She would never have left her home. She
01:08:24
would never left her friends and just disappeared and contacted no one. >> Remember, her phone never left the
01:08:33
house. He's using her phone after he's told law enforcement that she took it. >> Yes.
01:08:39
>> Davis says that certainly doesn't help Donnie, but it shouldn't hurt him either.
01:08:44
>> He lied about her cell phone, and that is something that has complicated the case. There is a huge world of
01:08:50
difference between somebody who lies about a cell phone and proof of a first-degree murder.
01:08:56
Nor should it hurt the defense that Marsha left many of her belongings behind, even if Donnie pawned some of
01:09:02
them. Davis says he needed cash, but left most of her things alone because he figured she'd one day come back to get
01:09:10
them, including her beloved dogs. Let's talk about the dog issue. If you believe
01:09:17
that Marsha was murdered, you would say she would never leave the dogs behind. If you look at it from the lens of
01:09:23
Marsha was troubled and depressed or not sure what she was going to do, the one thing she wouldn't do is take the dogs
01:09:29
with her. She'd make sure she left the dogs with somebody who would take care of them no matter what. And that's
01:09:35
Donnie. >> They got those dogs together. They were their dogs. They weren't just hers.
01:09:40
>> And there was one thing Marsha definitely didn't leave behind. Davis says >> she took with her a large amount of
01:09:47
money, which was her money. a watt of cash they kept hidden in the attic. And how much money are we talking about?
01:09:53
>> Probably talking between hundred and $110,000. >> Davis says all that money could have
01:09:59
been Marsha's gateway to a new life away from her husband and Cleveland, Tennessee. Donniey's lawyers also claim
01:10:06
that all those stories he told about where his wife may have gone were actually suggestions once he realized
01:10:14
she truly was missing. In the state of Tennessee, there are 283 missing person's cases open right now. Though a
01:10:24
civil court ruled that Marsha is deceased, her name can still be found on the National Missing Person's website.
01:10:32
>> There is one for Marshia Brantley right now that's open listing her as a missing
01:10:37
person. Not a murdered person, not a person who they suspect has been murdered by her husband. She's a smart
01:10:44
woman who um left for reasons of her own. >> She was always self- assured and was a
01:10:49
leader type personality. >> But a couple of months before Marsha disappeared, Reggie J says the writer
01:10:55
group was stunned by a bitter email exchange with her. >> She says, "Ladies, I just wanted to let
01:11:01
you all know that I'd be missing for some time without explaining." >> When you read that, what'd you think?
01:11:07
>> I was mad. I thought, "How dare you do that to us?" She writes, "No one in the
01:11:12
group is responsible for my MIA, missing an action status. I merely said I'd be missing."
01:11:19
>> At that point, I truly did think to myself immediately, "Did Marcia write that?"
01:11:24
>> Well, who do you think wrote it? >> Donnie, >> but neither side in the legal case
01:11:29
agrees with her. The defense says Marsha wrote the email because she was about to
01:11:34
leave town. She was separating herself from those relationships that was closest to her.
01:11:40
>> The prosecution says she only sent it because she planned to quit her writing
01:11:45
group. And the email itself proves she wasn't actually going anywhere. >> Later in that email, she says, "But you
01:11:53
all will see me around. Cleveland is a small town. We'll certainly run into one another."
01:11:58
>> Reggie and Nancy were bewildered and concerned. They remembered around the time of the emails, Marca, who had
01:12:05
suddenly lost a lot of weight, said something that now seemed ominous. >> And she just made the comment, "I've
01:12:12
been so depressed that I could hardly get off the couch." And I remember doing sort of a double take, looking like,
01:12:18
"Marca, are you okay?" >> I think that there was a whole lot going on with Marca that she didn't tell
01:12:22
anyone, even the people in her writing group. If Marcia Brantley had a secret, 48
01:12:29
Hours contacted one of the only people she might have told. Robin Terrero is a former pharmacist who worked with
01:12:37
doctors to treat patients. She specialized in hormone replacement therapy. >> She first came in 2004 in the June of
01:12:46
2004. >> Terrarero says Marca was going through menopause and was having a tough time
01:12:52
including night sweats and mood swings. It can be very very severe >> and in the worst cases what can it lead
01:12:59
to? >> Well, I mean there have been cases known where women did commit suicide um during this time.
01:13:07
>> Terrarero worked with Marsha's doctor who prescribed medications for her right
01:13:11
up to the time she disappeared. >> What concerned me more with Marsha was not what she shared, but what she didn't
01:13:19
share. that there was a lot more underneath there than she was willing to share with me.
01:13:24
>> Terrarero's chart notes show Marsha repeatedly reported feeling depressed, including this passage one month before
01:13:33
she disappeared. >> On May 1st, 2009, patient has been off of hormones since April the 12th.
01:13:41
Was having severe depression. >> So Marca said to you she was experiencing severe depression. Yes, it
01:13:50
was underlined severe. >> And what are the last notes that you have written >> on 518 she was having mood swings,
01:13:59
sleepless, she was just like this up and down. >> You have a woman describes herself as
01:14:07
being severely depressed. Those things were disclosed in 2010 to law enforcement and from all I can tell
01:14:16
they've never been investigated. There was no significant mental illness. I never thought that that was the real
01:14:22
answer. >> State investigators have closed a Cleveland pharmacy. In 2015, the Tennessee Board of Pharmacy revoked
01:14:30
Robin Terrarero's license for unprofessional conduct unrelated to Marsha's treatment. She was never
01:14:37
charged with a crime. >> Oh, the Places You'll Go by Dr. Seuss. >> What do you think happened to Marsha
01:14:44
Brantley? >> I wish I knew. I really have no idea. >> Did you ever just look him in the eye,
01:14:51
daughter to father, and say, "Dad, did you do this? Did you kill her?" >> I did not. I knew he didn't.
01:14:59
>> She's gone. She's dead. Well, he's disposed of her body very well. I know that.
01:15:07
>> Now, after nine long years, a jury will hear both sides of Marcia Brantley's mysterious disappearance.
01:15:16
This has got to be done exactly right. We don't have any room for error. [Music]
01:15:33
A Bradley County cold case from nearly a decade ago heads to trial next week. But just 2 days before Donnie Brantley's
01:15:43
murder trial is set to begin, >> I've heard you have an announcement to make, >> prosecutor Steve Crump, the man who four
01:15:50
years earlier promised Marshia Brantley's family justice, gives 48 hours some shocking news.
01:15:57
>> We just met with the family and we told them that we're probably going to be dismissing this case on Monday.
01:16:03
>> Whoa, whoa, whoa. You're going to dismiss this murder case? >> Yes. >> Why? This is an unusual case.
01:16:13
We're afraid that the judge will enter a judgment of a quiddle because we can't prove that Marshia Brantley was
01:16:20
murdered. You only get one shot. Crump fears the jury would never get a chance to decide
01:16:26
on guilt or innocence. That the judge would rule there just isn't enough evidence to go on and throw the case
01:16:34
out. to be charged with murder, dropped, charged with murder, and dropped again.
01:16:41
I'm sorry. I I just feel like there's some incompetence here. >> Sure. Well, and and I I can appreciate
01:16:47
that. And my view of what Donnie Brantley did to Marshia Brantley hasn't changed. I don't believe we have the
01:16:53
wrong guy. I don't believe we have the wrong set of facts. This is a legal decision, one that is
01:17:00
made as a matter of trial strategy. Trump stands by what he's done. >> Maybe I should have done it earlier.
01:17:07
Maybe I should have seen this sooner. Maybe you're right. Maybe it was incompetence.
01:17:11
I I'll never stop self-evaluating. But no matter what the outcome is, I better always do the right thing.
01:17:19
>> Hey, Kelly. >> Hello. >> I have some rather startling news to tell you. There will not be a trial.
01:17:26
>> Are you serious? >> That's terrible. That's terrible. [Music] February 5th, 2018, court convenes to
01:17:40
make it official. >> Hey, Zach. >> Morning. >> It's kind of a sad day for you. >> Absolutely.
01:17:46
>> That's him. That's Brantley. Donnie, can I just ask one thing? What's going through your mind after all you've gone
01:17:51
through? This is such a a day of victory for you. Uh this is State of Tennessee versus uh
01:18:05
Mr. Brantley. Uh General, uh would you like to approach and do you have a motion to make?
01:18:09
>> Yes, your honor. >> I made the decision on Saturday that we would not go forward with this case.
01:18:16
>> Nearly 10 years after Marsha's disappearance, it takes a judge just 10 minutes to dismiss the case against
01:18:24
Donnie Brantley. Yet again, >> at this time, Mr. Brantley is free to go. >> For Donnie, a second victory.
01:18:35
>> I'd like to thank the judge for dismissing the charges. I'd also like to thank my family for all their support
01:18:41
during this extremely stressful period. And I look forward to putting this difficult time behind me.
01:18:50
[Music] For Marsha's family, a second devastating blow in court. >> I felt like life had been squeezed out
01:18:59
of me. >> My family is crushed, but tomorrow's a new day. This isn't the end. >> Later that month, the judge orders
01:19:11
Donniey's record of criminal charges in Bradley County to be erased. And Steve Crump does something we found
01:19:20
remarkable. >> So this is from the case file. It is. And this is an extraordinary thing
01:19:25
because generally you don't get to see this pre-trial. That's right. >> With Detective Pike guarding the
01:19:32
evidence, Crump showed 48 hours what a jury never got to see. He hopes that by showing the evidence, a viewer may
01:19:40
remember something important and call in a tip. >> What are you holding in your hand? This
01:19:45
is a receipt for a torch kit uh for a welder. >> Receipts for items Donnie bought around
01:19:53
the time Marsha disappeared, including duct tape and plastic sheeting. >> The man runs a home repair business.
01:20:01
>> We believe that all of these receipts represent preparations for disposing of
01:20:07
Marcia Brantley. >> Disposing of her body. >> Yes, correct. What do we have here? A
01:20:11
greeting card. >> A greeting card. He says Donnie handd delivered to that ex-girlfriend he'd
01:20:17
been calling. >> This was delivered, we believe, the day after Marshia Brantley disappeared. And
01:20:22
what did Donnie write on the inside of this card? >> Hi girl, with two exclamation points,
01:20:28
things are better for me now. Call me if you can with his number. >> You know how a card got in Stephanie
01:20:35
Richardson's mailbox on the morning of June the 3, 2009? in your handwriting. >> I played the fifth.
01:20:50
>> It provides at least in part a motive. There's another woman. >> We wanted to meet that other woman.
01:20:57
>> We've decided to drive out to her neighborhood to try to speak to her. Now I'm going to go up to the door and knock
01:21:14
and see if Stephanie is home. Stephanie Richardson is now married. >> Hey Stephanie.
01:21:25
>> Hi. How are you? >> I'm Peter Vansent with CBS News 48 hours. It's really nice to meet you.
01:21:30
>> She disagrees with the prosecutor's interpretation of the card. >> I'm sorry. They're stretching things.
01:21:36
>> Stephanie says she did date Donnie, but not while Marsha was in his life. >> The prosecutor's claiming
01:21:44
that there was an affair. >> That's not true. >> I would love to ask you just a few
01:21:49
questions about that. Would you be >> No. >> You have to understand this is this my
01:21:54
life for 10 years. I don't want to deal with this anymore. Donnie Brantley has gone back home to
01:22:04
Georgia where he's spending time with a new love interest and his grandchildren,
01:22:09
too. >> Getting to see that grandfather side of him is just a whole other very special
01:22:15
side. What I want people to know is how loving, kind, thoughtful, and how hardworking he is.
01:22:25
Despite the prosecution's repeated failure to prove Donnie Brantley committed a murder or even that a murder
01:22:32
was committed, they pledged to work harder to one day bring the Brantley case back to court.
01:22:39
>> I've been very plain that we're not going to stop. And so, uh, whatever he feels relief or whatever he may feel, I
01:22:49
wouldn't get accustomed to it. >> We hope it helps. Back in Cleveland, former writing group member Nancy Grill
01:22:58
believes Marsha's story may have one last dramatic chapter. >> I'm probably the only person in the
01:23:06
world that doesn't really truly believe that Marsha is dead. >> What >> do you believe that one day Marsha
01:23:17
Brantley may reemerge? I think it's a possibility. >> But sadly, Marsha's family thinks NY's
01:23:26
hope is pure fiction. >> Oh, yeah. I think about her every day. Can we get her back?
01:23:36
Can we lay her to rest beside her mother and father? Our family has a hole there that can't
01:23:44
be replaced, and we will do everything we can to find her. [Music] And we won't give up.
01:24:00
[Music] >> CBS Next. A millionaire entrepreneur goes missing without a trace. >> Andrew is not the person to go take off
01:24:11
somewhere no one knows where she is. >> Until disturbing clues begin to surface.
01:24:15
I remember like a panic setting. >> When success becomes a curse. 48 hours prime time double feature continues next
01:24:22
on CBS. [Music] My mom was calling the cops almost on a regular basis. >> Nothing nothing was done and she was
01:24:50
terrified. >> He's calling her every vile name you can think of. >> Sitting outside of her house,
01:24:56
>> stalking her. >> She had found something in her jeep, a tracking device. She had found cameras
01:25:03
inside the house. >> He has no idea what I go through every single day with him. No idea. I remember
01:25:10
her saying, "I don't know what else to do. I don't know where else to turn. >> It's been getting worse, and it's been
01:25:18
getting worse. I don't want him anywhere near me." >> You're describing a life lived in fear.
01:25:24
>> Yeah. >> Every time she was out of my sight, I was so scared for her. >> I know this is going to be difficult for
01:25:33
you. Take me back to October 8th. When did you realize something wasn't right? >> She left the house that day at 20 after
01:25:45
7. An was working at the kennels. I texted an a quick note. I didn't get a response.
01:25:56
Then the sirens went off in town. >> Law 721. >> 21. >> I'm approaching the kennel now. I do see
01:26:05
one vehicle out front. one vehicle. >> And living in a small town, you're always kind of nosy and want to know
01:26:13
what's going on. >> How far out is my assistance? >> I got on my phone. >> I don't like this.
01:26:22
>> And I looked and it said Mississippi Ridge boarding kennels. Shots fired. [Music]
01:26:31
>> Hello. And I immediately was hysterical. >> Angie >> because Angela Pritchard was my sister.
01:26:42
>> Angie, what do we got? >> I don't know what we got here. They said possible shots fired.
01:26:49
>> We actually got behind an ambulance on the way up there. >> Law center 21. We are going to enter the
01:26:54
building. >> 21. Lost center 21. We got We got lady down. Lady down. >> And I got out of the car.
01:27:09
>> Scene clear. Scene clear. >> I went running >> down the hill. There was police officers there and I
01:27:20
remember walking up to him and I said, "Um, is she alive?" And they said, "No." I immediately fell to the ground and I
01:27:31
remember saying something like I knew something like this was going to happen. Um
01:27:37
I knew it was I knew it was >> law to make sure you get it now. Points out for a suspect.
01:27:45
>> You leave no rock unturned. >> You leave no building unchecked. >> Obviously we're going to throw every
01:27:52
resource that we have at our disposal to apprehending him. There was a knock on the door. I said,
01:28:00
"I'm not answering the door. He has a gun. [Music] [Music] On the morning of October 8th, 20122,
01:28:56
the serene Mississippi River town of Belleview, Iowa, population about 2500, woke up to a calamity.
01:29:05
News of an apparent homicide, the first in nearly a decade. >> Why don't you secure that out building?
01:29:12
Dozens of investigators from six different law enforcement agencies were combing the crime scene at the
01:29:19
Mississippi Ridge boarding kennels with body cameras rolling. The woman who ran the kennels, Angela Pritchard, 55, had
01:29:27
been gunned down. >> He knew how to get in the front door. >> Her sister, Wendy Buddy, believed she
01:29:36
knew who was responsible. Angela's husband, Chris Pritchard. In that moment, did you know it was Chris?
01:29:45
>> 100%. 100%. I knew it was him. >> Wendy says Angela had been trying to leave him for months and lived in fear
01:29:55
he would kill her. >> This appeared to be an asalant that knew her very well. >> Ryan Kedley and Dustin Hennington are
01:30:03
special agents with Iowa's DCI, the Department of Criminal Investigation. Belle's small police force with just
01:30:11
several officers. Invited the state police to lead the investigation. While Angela's family was
01:30:19
convinced Chris Pritchard was the killer, the special agents had to connect all the dots. We had received
01:30:26
word that there was a 911 call on the morning. Tell me about that 911 call. >> 911, where's your emergency?
01:30:32
>> It's essentially the that you're listening to the end of her life on the 911 call. Please get out of here.
01:30:40
Just I have customers coming in. Please 911. >> Please get out of here. >> Okay. Where are you at?
01:30:53
>> Those were the last words spoken by Angela and the first clue investigators had to identify her killer.
01:31:02
>> She says the name Chris on this call. Who is Chris? Chris Pritchard, her estranged husband.
01:31:09
>> Ma'am, where are you at? >> As the dispatcher continues to ask, "What's your emergency?" You can faintly
01:31:16
hear somebody say when you listen to this 911 call, how do you process what you were hearing?
01:31:26
>> On a personal level, it's a very difficult thing to listen to someone's end of life moments. On an investigative
01:31:34
level, that was a pivotal piece of evidence in the opening stages of the investigation.
01:31:41
>> You guys turn ahead. >> It was a very violent scene. >> Passing by the kennel door on the right,
01:31:47
and this is the area where we uh initially get a firstirhand glimpse of of Angela's deceased uh body here on the
01:31:56
floor. Pools of morning light illuminated pools of blood surrounding her body. Angela
01:32:05
was lying face down in the kennel's washroom where she bathed the dogs. >> By photograph as I
01:32:12
>> Ryan Keedley photographed the scene. >> She has a very large significant gunshot
01:32:17
wound to the chest >> at close range. >> At I would say very close range. >> There has to have been some very very
01:32:23
high emotions involved in that. You have Angela Pritchard, deceased here. You have Chris Pritchard, a person of
01:32:31
interest, nowhere to be found. How do you track him down? >> The special agents spotted a barely
01:32:38
visible blood trail >> leading out of this room and then into the dog kennel area through this door.
01:32:46
We believe our asalent traveled from that area through here, left some blood evidence, and then likely went out this
01:32:54
door uh directly in front of us. >> We're certainly trying to keep an open mind and determine that, okay, if Chris
01:33:00
didn't do this, well, then who did? >> Digging into Chris Pritchard's life, the special agents soon learned about his
01:33:07
volatile history with Angela, which included violence and violations of a restraining order. But at this point,
01:33:15
all of the information seems to be consistent with Chris being the guy that we need to locate.
01:33:22
>> As uh we continue to work the investigation, we began to establish our timeline.
01:33:26
>> Some of the first video that places him on this property comes from this home
01:33:31
over here. >> That's correct. >> Investigators reviewed the footage starting at midnight the day of the
01:33:37
shooting. For hours, there was nothing to see. But just after 4:00 a.m., there was
01:33:45
something to hear. >> You can hear dogs start to bark. We had determined that was most likely the
01:33:54
point at when he arrived uh at the kennels. >> Pennington believes Chris Pritchard
01:34:00
entered the kennels and lay in wait for nearly 4 hours. >> The first video that they really got was
01:34:07
Angela coming down to work in the morning. And right up here, you're going to see Angela start to pull down to the
01:34:13
uh entrance at the Mississippi Bridge boarding kennels. Pulling up to the kennel at 7:34. Um you
01:34:21
can see her get out of her vehicle and she's gathering her belongings and then walking into the kennel itself.
01:34:26
>> Angela Pritchard had less than 6 minutes to live. >> At 7:39 and 43 seconds, we hear a
01:34:33
gunshot go off in the video. At any point, do you clearly see Chris on any of these surveillance cameras?
01:34:42
>> Yes, we believe we see him leaving. >> About 2 minutes after the gunshot at 7:41, the man they now suspected to be
01:34:52
her killer, Chris Pritchard, appeared >> and actually walking from the kennel area down to the fence area here behind
01:35:00
me. That makes us believe that this is the first area that we need to check. >> Outside the kennels, miles of thick
01:35:07
woods stretched to the horizon, an area the northeastern Iowa locals call the wilderness. It was rugged terrain. Chris
01:35:16
Pritchard knew well, says Wendy. >> He knows the outdoors. I knew that he could probably survive out there for
01:35:26
quite a while in hiding. We have every resource at our disposal to try and do this manhunt.
01:35:35
We have canines. We have airplanes. We have drones. >> This is your worst nightmare.
01:35:40
>> Yeah. Yeah. >> Everything you've been trying to prevent come true. >> Everything I've been trying so hard to
01:35:46
protect her and to keep her safe. And he got her. He got to her. [Music] You've got a fugitive out there on the
01:36:13
run, potentially armed. >> The manhunt for Chris Pritchard was widening. >> There's hundreds of acres here of
01:36:20
farmland and woods, and we have the Mississippi River not far away. So knowing that he could have went any
01:36:26
direction really makes the search difficult. >> Fanning out from the kennels, heavily
01:36:31
armed officers search nearby neighborhoods, house to house. >> You guys know Chris Pritchard, don't
01:36:36
you? >> Barn to barn. >> Is that the guy they're looking for? >> Right there. Chris Pritchard.
01:36:41
>> Is he been known to come out here every once in a while? >> Yeah. I haven't seen him though today.
01:36:52
[Music] Angela was a mother and a grandmother. >> She was >> What kind of mother and grandmother was
01:36:59
she? >> I don't know that you would find somebody better than her. You hear a lot of people say people put
01:37:08
their kids in front of themselves. That was truly her. Angela Pritchard's world revolved around family, especially her
01:37:17
two sons and six grandchildren. >> They were the loves of her life, her kids and her grandkids. Look
01:37:25
>> at how we are. >> And with almost equal billing, Angela's five huskys. >> She always was an animal lover.
01:37:34
>> Angela's sons, Josh Close and CJ Hancock. >> She was beautiful inside and out. She
01:37:41
liked to make everybody happy, especially her family. >> She loved you so much. Yeah.
01:37:46
>> She loved to spoil the grandkids rotten. They could do no wrong in her eyes. >> She loved doing arts and crafts. She
01:37:54
still decorated our tree with the ones we made when we were kids. >> And making memories with their mom later
01:38:00
in life was Chris Pritchard, the very man investigators were now chasing. Wendy Buddy and her husband Jim had
01:38:09
known Pritchard for years. >> I would have trusted him with our children. He was nice, friendly,
01:38:17
sincere, a hard worker, fun to be around. >> Pritchard, a longtime Bellev resident,
01:38:26
was an established electrician in town. Soon, Angela found her calling >> to be a kennel owner, to do something
01:38:35
with animals. I was thrilled for her. It really seemed like everything was falling into place.
01:38:41
>> After dating for nearly 2 years, they moved into this Belleview home and even
01:38:46
got married here in March 2019. The newlyweds were over the moon for about 8 months. When did things change?
01:38:57
>> I truly think that things started to change when um he lost his job. He got fired. fired and charged with
01:39:06
firstdegree theft, a felony, after he allegedly stole $36,000 worth of supplies from the electric company where
01:39:14
he worked. >> She was just beside herself. What are we going to do now? We need that income.
01:39:20
>> Awaiting trial, Pritchard was out on bail and out of work, says Wendy. >> He wasn't looking for work. He was
01:39:27
definitely um drinking more. As the months went on, it just was like, "Wow, he's really kind of changing."
01:39:36
>> Pritchard finally took some odd jobs and helped Angela at the kennels. But in the
01:39:41
summer of 2021, Wendy says Angela discovered her husband was using methamphetamine.
01:39:50
>> And then I knew that things are are really getting bad. The simmering tension reached a boiling
01:39:57
point on April 18th, 2022. >> She said, "Chris hit me." >> She said, "He's drunk. He's on drugs."
01:40:06
So, I told her, "We're going to call the cops." >> Belleview police responded, the call
01:40:12
recorded on police body cam. >> He hit me and then I just I came in the house. >> She was crying. She was visibly shaking.
01:40:23
She had a mark on her face and she said, "I'm so scared." >> Police didn't have to go far to find
01:40:30
Pritchard. He was in the garage. >> State of Iowa law requires that somebody go to jail on physical domestic.
01:40:37
>> I can't believe I'm going to jail. >> Well, she's got a mark on her face. >> Chris Pritchard was arrested and charged
01:40:45
with domestic assault. >> He's very, very, very messed up. We've seen him change right in front of
01:40:52
our eyes, haven't we? >> Chris spent the night in jail and was released awaiting trial, staying with
01:40:57
family. Angela sought and received a temporary no contact order. >> So, he can't come back here?
01:41:05
>> Nope. >> The no contact order now exists, protecting your sister. But a few weeks
01:41:11
later, it's lifted. >> Even after it happened, she said, "I I don't want this. I want our marriage to
01:41:18
work." Each had been married before, but had hoped this would be their last marriage, says Wendy. Angela withdrew
01:41:26
the no contact order. >> I believe he said everything that needed to be said for her to drop that order.
01:41:34
The drinking will stop. He will be home more. >> Promises he failed to keep, says Wendy.
01:41:41
>> She said, "I'm scared of him, especially if he's been drinking." Wendy says Angelo was furious when she
01:41:49
found a tracking device in her car and two hidden cameras in the house. I told her, "You need to get a divorce. You
01:41:59
need to be done with this." An ang >> Chris Pritchard seemed to have vanished in the vast wilderness. Even the police
01:42:09
dogs had lost his scent, says Dustin Henning. >> How do you find somebody that doesn't
01:42:13
want to be caught? This is where our local resources really help us. >> Right from the start, Hennington had
01:42:19
coraled state and local law enforcement agencies, even farmers and hunters, to help determine where he might be.
01:42:26
>> I'll let you know if I see anything or hear anything. >> If we thought that Chris was going to
01:42:30
make his way, say, back to Belleview, what's the most likely path? Where are his friends at?
01:42:37
>> It's a small town. Everybody talks. Cattle farmer Jeff Junk and girlfriend Kim Klene were once close friends with
01:42:45
Chris Pritchard. Neighbors called them about the rumor racing through town. Pritchard had shot his wife Angela.
01:42:53
>> Get out of here. I I didn't believe it. >> A Jackson County Chief Deputy stopped by
01:42:58
Junk's house to warn them. Pritchard was on the run and might be looking for help
01:43:04
from his friends. Then there was a knock on the door. [Music] The knock on the front door, the one
01:43:31
they'll always remember, came around 8:15 that October night. Kim Klein says she and boyfriend Jeff Junk were not
01:43:40
expecting company. >> When the second knock happened, I says, "I believe it's Chris and you need to
01:43:48
answer the door." >> So, you open the door and what is it that you see on the other side?
01:43:53
>> I see Chris. >> Chris Pritchard, their old friend, now a hunted fugitive suspected of murder, was
01:44:02
standing in the dim light holding a shotgun. Jeff goes, "You need to hand that gun to me." And he did. No problem.
01:44:09
>> Jeff and Kim knew they had to call the police, but until they could do that safely, Kim says they were playing
01:44:17
along. >> Chris told them he'd been running all day from the cops and their dogs.
01:44:23
>> Jeff said, "Hey, dude. You, you know, you shot your wife." "Oh, yeah. How's she doing?"
01:44:29
>> The couple told him Angela was dead. Did he express any remorse? >> No. >> Nothing.
01:44:36
>> Nothing. He was sitting here laughing and drinking and they were talking about
01:44:40
old times. >> The moment felt so surreal. Kim says she snapped a photo >> just to show that no, he wasn't having
01:44:48
any remorse. He never talked about her the rest of the night. And then I took the one when he was passed out. And the
01:44:57
time was finally right, says Jeff, to text the chief deputy who had stopped by earlier.
01:45:03
>> I said, "He's up here and he has passed out. Come, come get him." >> When police arrived around midnight,
01:45:11
Chris was still in the lazy boy chair, out cold. >> He didn't know what was coming. What the
01:45:18
is wrong with you guys? >> He says, "Christ, I was sleeping." >> He's verbally belligerent to officers
01:45:24
that have arrested him. Looks like he's got a cut to his left thumb. >> Special agent Hennington collected the
01:45:30
evidence Chris Pritchard had left behind. A 20 gauge shotgun and his torn clothes.
01:45:37
>> He took Angela's possessions, money, a cell phone with him. >> I think we're good to go in.
01:45:43
>> Special Agent Kedley escorted Pritchard to the Jackson County Jail. >> Do you want your seatelt, Chris?
01:45:49
>> I want a bull in my head. Shortly after 1:00 a.m. on October 9th, a despondent Chris Pritchard was booked
01:46:01
into the county jail, eventually charged with firstdegree murder and robbery. >> After hours on the run through Iowa's
01:46:11
wilderness, >> I'm going to have you look right at me. Okay. Pritchard found himself surrounded by
01:46:18
concrete and steel, largely put there by the weight of a single word. Please get out of here.
01:46:30
>> Wendy says the day Pritchard ended her sister's life followed months of increasingly erratic behavior and
01:46:38
escalating rage, which Angela had documented. Tell me about this journal and her words that lived on.
01:46:47
>> She was the sticky note queen. >> Dozens of Angela's brightly colored sticky notes told a dark story. The
01:46:55
scribbled entries became Angela's diary of domestic abuse. >> August 23rd text message calling me
01:47:03
names saying it's going to get real ugly. He's been stalking me and watching me. Very scared of him. I think Chris is
01:47:12
capable of anything. Booze and drugs every day. >> Said he doesn't give a if he goes to
01:47:18
jail. Always looking over my shoulder to see if he's around. >> Her words to me are, "I'm done. This is
01:47:27
it. We're not living in the same house." >> Wendy invited her sister to move in with
01:47:33
her. Angela gratefully agreed. >> I was like, "You have a shadow now because I'm not leaving.
01:47:40
You're stuck with me. >> The next day, Angela requested a second temporary no contact order granted
01:47:47
September 1st, 2022. A no contact order means just that, no contact of any kind with the protected
01:47:55
person. In the state of Iowa, a single violation requires a mandatory arrest. >> But that doesn't stop Chris. No. Once
01:48:05
that second no contact order got put in place, I would say that's when things went really downhill.
01:48:11
>> And it was in place when Angela went back to the home she once shared with Chris Pritchard to pick up a few things,
01:48:19
says Wendy. >> I was with her. >> You were with her along with police. >> The Belleview police were there just in
01:48:25
case Pritchard showed up. The court had ordered him to move out temporarily. >> We walked in the front door. The house
01:48:32
was destroyed. There was ink and paint thrown everywhere. >> Picture frames broken.
01:48:43
>> Furniture was destroyed. He had actually taken the mattress off her bed and rubbed it in dog feces.
01:48:52
>> Guns and he placed them all over the house to intimidate her. >> I mean, we both just started crying.
01:48:59
[Music] This is in clear violation of the restraining order. What did the police
01:49:05
do? >> The police said there's nothing we can do. This is his house. >> Nothing we can do is what they say to
01:49:11
you. >> This is his house as well. >> Under Iowa law with a no contact order in place. Belleview police should have
01:49:19
taken Pritchard's guns, but for reasons unknown, he was allowed to keep them. Wendy and Angela's sons say throughout
01:49:27
September the frightening violations continued. Not physical assault, but psychological terror.
01:49:35
>> Sitting outside of her house, following her, texting her, stalking her, going
01:49:41
and cutting the grass at the kennels while she wasn't there. >> Belleview police arrested Pritchard just
01:49:47
once on September 15th for sending Angela a text message. another violation of the no contact order. He spent one
01:49:56
night behind bars before posting bail. The next day, says Wendy, he resumed his flurry of offenses.
01:50:05
>> He had been driving by her house multiple times. >> One night, says Wendy, Pritchard drove
01:50:12
by six times in 1 hour. >> I don't feel safe anymore anywhere. my sisters, my house, my son's stores in
01:50:23
town. >> You have a ticking time bomb on your hands. >> Yeah, that pretty much. And that's what
01:50:27
it felt like. >> But instead of making arrests, the Belleview police were making excuses.
01:50:34
St. Angela Sons for not enforcing the law. >> They said that they'd tell him to knock
01:50:39
it off or have a talk with him. Nothing nothing was done. And she was terrified.
01:50:45
>> You're reaching out to police. They're not doing anything. Are you running out
01:50:50
of hope here? >> Yes. What do you do when nobody's willing to help you? >> I fear for my safety. Fear for my life.
01:51:00
He has guns. The fear. It consumed our life. It was 5:00 a.m. at the Jackson County
01:51:22
Jail. 21 hours after Angela was found dead, Chris Pritchard waved his Miranda rights and talked about the encounter at
01:51:31
the dog kennels with special agents Dustin Hennington and Ryan Keedley. >> She said, "You got to leave. You got to
01:51:37
leave now or I'm going to call the police." Well, I said, "I just want to talk." And she shoved me and I hit the
01:51:43
cabinet. The gun, I don't know what the gun hit, but it went off. >> So, in so many words, he says, "I shot
01:51:52
Angela. It was an accident." >> Essentially, yes. >> Are you believing any of this?
01:51:58
>> No. I'm only believing the fact that he shot Angela. >> Pritchard pleaded not guilty to
01:52:05
first-degree murder and robbery charges. His trial began February 7th, 2024. >> We believed that Mr. Pritchard planned
01:52:15
this all out and very meticulously for that matter. >> To prove premeditated murder,
01:52:21
prosecutors Nicole Leonard and John Keys told jurors Pritchard put his plan in motion on October 7th, 2022,
01:52:31
the day before he shot his wife. The same day, Angela's temporary restraining order became permanent.
01:52:38
>> We believe that that was sort of the snapping point for the defendant, he became more and more obsessed with the
01:52:45
situation and not letting her go. >> She wanted to drag me through the mud and make me a monster.
01:52:53
Before taking Angela's life, Chris Pritchard took steps to cover his tracks, say the prosecutors. He borrowed
01:53:01
this white pickup truck to avoid using his own vehicle. >> So, what we think was he was setting up
01:53:07
an alibi. >> Prosecutors say Pritchard secretly parked the borrowed truck inside a barn
01:53:13
belonging to Lorie and Mike Blazer just a few miles from the Mississippi Ridge boarding kennels.
01:53:22
>> We walk in, you know, notice this white pickup truck >> with a note from Chris Pritchard saying
01:53:27
he had gone hunting. Keys are on the truck if you need to move it. I'll be back. Chris,
01:53:33
>> we knew Chris. He would tell us how much he loved Angela, how devastated he was
01:53:37
that there was a restraining order. >> The Blazers would soon become crucial witnesses for the prosecution. Shortly
01:53:44
after finding the truck and note, they heard the news about a shooting at the dog kennels.
01:53:50
>> We knew the minute that there was a shooting at the kennel, something had happened with Chris. We were concerned
01:53:56
that this was a getaway vehicle for him in here because it was just so odd. It had no reason to be here. I called 911
01:54:03
immediately. >> Um, I see you guys are looking for Chris Pritchard. >> Yes. >> His truck is in our garage.
01:54:10
>> Let's just get this cleared first. >> It was very intense because at that point he was still missing
01:54:20
and we were scared to death. >> Clear in here, Jim. Prosecutors later viewed home surveillance footage from a
01:54:27
camera on the Blazers's property showing Chris Pritchard entering the barn where
01:54:32
the Blazers kept their horse trailer. >> The minute we came in the door, I knew that Chris Pritchard had spent some time
01:54:41
in here. He certainly made himself at home here. >> Pritchard left the horse trailer in the
01:54:47
middle of the night, hiking through the dense woods to the kennels, says prosecutor Leonard. We believe his next
01:54:54
appearance is around 4:00 a.m. on October 8th at the dog kennels in which the dogs start to go crazy.
01:55:03
>> And you believe from that point forward, he's inside the kennel. >> Correct. >> I think he always had the plan to murder
01:55:11
her. >> To prove it, the prosecutors played audio clips from Pritchard's police interviews for the jury. You show up at
01:55:21
a place where you know she's going to be. You've got a gun with her. You know, you've got a a no contact order.
01:55:28
An argument breaks out. She calls 911. She winds up dead. This wasn't just some accident.
01:55:37
>> If this was an accident, why are you taking her cell phone, which is her only
01:55:40
means of survival? Why aren't you calling for help yourself? Why aren't you rendering any type of aid for your
01:55:45
wife? And Pritchard kept adding details to the story of the accidental shooting,
01:55:51
say the special agents. >> The gun was leaning up against the cupboards. He went to retrieve a
01:55:55
backpack and it fell and then that went off and shot her. >> But at trial, an Iowa State medical
01:56:01
examiner testified the gunshot had a downward trajectory, meaning Pritchard had the weapon in his hands and was
01:56:09
standing when he fired, say prosecutors. >> It looked like it could hit her in the
01:56:14
arm. How would you die from that? >> Angela was shot dead center in the chest, testified the medical examiner,
01:56:24
and died in seconds. >> I would love to have stuck around, but in her temper, I thought maybe it didn't
01:56:33
even really hit her that bad cuz she was yelling at me like she wasn't even hurt.
01:56:37
the fact that he's saying that after the gun went off and it struck her that she's yelling profanities back at him.
01:56:45
Well, we have a 911 recording of that conversation that did not take place. Prosecutors say Chris Pritchard's last
01:56:52
words on the 911 call prove his actions were premeditated. A final explosion of violence.
01:57:01
when you hear his statement standing over her dying body on that 911 call using profanity.
01:57:13
>> You definitely don't say what you said at the end of the the phone call after
01:57:18
you accidentally shoot someone. Pritchard's defense attorneys, who declined our request for an interview,
01:57:25
maintained the shooting was accidental, and the case against Pritchard was a rush to judgment.
01:57:32
After 4 days of testimony, the case went to the jury. >> We were outside the courthouse just kind
01:57:39
of stretching and you know, the jury's back. This man was also waiting for the verdict and already preparing for
01:57:47
another trial, a federal lawsuit against the Belleview Police Department. It failed Angela, he says time and time
01:57:55
again. >> If police took action, would Angela be alive today? Absolutely. In February 2024,
01:58:20
16 months after Angela's death, her family's wait for a measure of justice was over.
01:58:28
>> That's got to be a good sign that they're back in less than an hour. [Music] >> The jury found Chris Pritchard guilty of
01:58:36
first-degree murder and robbery. When they said it, it was just a big sigh of relief.
01:58:46
>> In March, Pritchard was sentenced to life in prison without parole. >> It will never bring her back, but he's
01:58:56
going to spend the rest of his life behind bars. I also gave a victim impact statement
01:59:05
and I said to him, "I hope while you're behind bars, you always have to look over your shoulder and be scared for
01:59:13
everything you do." How she felt, I hope you just feel a tiny bit of that, the way you tortured her.
01:59:24
>> Civil rights attorney Dave O'Brien represents Angela Pritchard's family. She would be alive today, he says, if
01:59:31
the Belleview Police Department had enforced a judge's order of protection. >> You filed a federal lawsuit against the
01:59:39
city of Belleview and three officers. Why? >> Uh because they didn't do their job. And
01:59:44
it's uh it's that simple. >> That lawsuit lists multiple failures to arrest Chris Pritchard. O'Brien says
01:59:52
this led to what's called a state created danger, meaning the officer's alleged inaction and indifference
01:59:59
actually increased the threat to Angela Pritchard. Can a police officer decide should I arrest him or not? Is it up to
02:00:06
their discretion? >> Absolutely not. Here in Iowa, only a judge can show discretion not to enforce
02:00:15
this restraining order. Starting September 1st, 2022, when Angela's second no contact order was
02:00:24
issued until her murder 37 days later, Chris Pritchard violated the restraining order repeatedly, says O'Brien.
02:00:33
>> A dozen times during this relevant time period, Angela Pritchard called the Belleview Police Department and they
02:00:40
failed to follow that law, that judge's order. That's because O'Brien says the Belleview police officers showed
02:00:48
Pritchard favoritism. >> We have reason to believe that he was friendly with law enforcement officers.
02:00:55
>> To prove this case, you must prove that the police officer's failure to enforce
02:00:59
the protection order was intentional and reckless. How can you do that? >> Well, just by the sheer number of times
02:01:08
that it was not enforced. In October 2024, Chief Federal Judge CJ Williams dismissed the lawsuit in its
02:01:17
entirety. The Belleview Police Department, he ruled, did not put Angela in a more dangerous situation, and the
02:01:24
three officers simply did not commit outrageous conduct. The judge added there was no evidence of police
02:01:32
favoritism. The alleged facts, even taken as true, are a far cry from establishing that any of the defendants
02:01:40
were friends with Christopher. Dave O'Brien was granted a hearing in December 2024 after learning he says the
02:01:48
three Belleview officers had withheld evidence and made false statements, allegedly concealing their friendships
02:01:55
with Chris Pritchard. Accusations they denied. O'Brien argued the officers were well
02:02:03
aware Chris Pritchard was a serious threat to his wife. 9 days before her murder, the Jackson
02:02:11
County Attorney warned the Belleview Police Department in an email. Chris Pritchard had 24 hours to turn
02:02:18
himself in. If he does not report, I will be requesting a warrant. I wanted all of you to be aware as I'm afraid he
02:02:26
might try to do something tonight. The next day, when Pritchard failed to appear at the county jail, the arrest
02:02:35
warrant was issued. 7 days before her murder, O'Brien says this body cam footage of a Belleview
02:02:42
police officer speaking with Wendy and Angela. >> Cuz right now, I can guarantee he's not
02:02:47
thinking straight. >> No, not at all. >> Confirms police knew >> Angela was in danger.
02:02:54
>> That's my biggest fear. That's my department's biggest fear is he's going to try to hurt you and then hurt
02:02:59
himself. >> During the final week of Angela's life, >> my job is to protect you.
02:03:06
>> Exactly. >> At all costs. >> O'Brien says Belleview police could have protected her by finding and arresting
02:03:14
Chris Pritchard, but they never did. >> Is it hard to find Chris? >> Shouldn't be. Everybody knew his Jeep
02:03:24
had a customized tag that said zero dark 30 on it. So, you can't miss it. >> We have not been provided with any
02:03:32
record showing there was any effort made to enforce the arrest warrant once it was issued on the 30th of September.
02:03:39
>> Had that arrest warrant been executed, would Angela be here today? >> Absolutely. He should have been in jail.
02:03:46
At the December hearing, defense attorneys insisted the new information presented by O'Brien was improper,
02:03:53
should be stricken, and not considered by the court. >> Our ideal outcome would be just complete
02:04:00
reversal of the judge's decision. >> In January 2025, Judge Williams refused to reverse his dismissal. Belleview
02:04:08
Police Chief Dennis Schroeder issued this statement to a local newspaper which read in part, "We are pleased with
02:04:15
the decision. We continue to strengthen our services and response efforts to prevent domestic violence and provide
02:04:23
support to those in need." [Music] I've heard people say that no contact orders aren't worth the paper they're
02:04:35
written on. And in this case that was true. But I firmly believe that they are worth
02:04:42
something but they have to be enforced. I still to this day have a lot of I guess it's guilt because I think in my
02:04:57
mind what if I would have went with her that day? Maybe I could have saved her. But part of me was so proud of her for
02:05:10
like being as strong as she was in that time. She she named her killer being so and she
02:05:25
helped him bring him to justice. >> Chris Pritchard's life sentence also helped bring her family some comfort and
02:05:34
the courage to move forward. They believe Angela would want them to make this public plea.
02:05:42
>> Maybe other police departments that maybe are a little lenient on stuff won't be so lenient
02:05:48
next time. [Music] [Music] Don't miss true crime anytime you want, anywhere you go with the 48 hours
02:06:19
podcast. Real crimes, real lives. >> Like a John Gisham novel come to life. >> Real justice.
02:06:26
>> There's some questions that have to be asked and need to be answered. Listen to
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48 hours on Apple Podcasts.