The truth behind Pam Hupp | NewsNation Prime — Transcript

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1. 0:01in a quiet suburb of st louis there is a
2. 0:04murder mystery that has been grabbing
3. 0:05headlines for more than a decade and
4. 0:07it's now the subject of a new television
5. 0:10miniseries it is the twisted tale of pam
6. 0:13hupp originally the prosecution star
7. 0:15witness now serving a life sentence for
8. 0:18murder this story would have ended a
9. 0:20long time ago an innocent man in jail
10. 0:22for a murder he didn't commit if it
11. 0:25wasn't for the persistence of an
12. 0:26investigative reporter at one of our
13. 0:29news nation stations
14. 0:30chris hayes is with fox 2 and st louis
15. 0:33he has won multiple emmys for his work
16. 0:35on this story chris as a seasoned
17. 0:37investigative journalist even you could
18. 0:39not believe all of the twists in this
19. 0:41one
20. 0:43we were there from the beginning when
21. 0:46betsy faria was murdered her husband on
22. 0:49the phone with 9-1-1 calling police may
23. 0:51be thinking he sounded a little too
24. 0:52distraught as investigators built their
25. 0:55case against him it seemed like they
26. 0:57were basing everything that they heard
27. 1:00from one woman and it turned out none of
28. 1:02it was true
29. 1:06[Music]
30. 1:08it's been more than a decade since russ
31. 1:10faria found the body of his wife betsy
32. 1:12inside their suburban st louis home in
33. 1:142011.
34. 1:15i just got home from my friend's house
35. 1:19[Music]
36. 1:32[Music]
37. 1:34russ's first thought was suicide because
38. 1:36betsy was terminally ill with cancer but
39. 1:39police quickly realized it was not
40. 1:41suicide betsy had been stabbed 55 times
41. 1:45a steak knife still in her neck and
42. 1:47detectives turned the spotlight on russ
43. 1:49largely because of what they heard from
44. 1:51this woman pamela hubb she said she was
45. 1:54betsy's best friend and betsy had
46. 1:55confided things russ had done
47. 1:58he started playing this game of putting
48. 2:00a pillow over her face
49. 2:01to see what it would feel like
50. 2:04i don't know if she said this is what
51. 2:05it's going to feel like when you die or
52. 2:07whatever and then act like he was
53. 2:09kidding hupp said she dropped off betsy
54. 2:11that evening and went home
55. 2:13russ had an alibi which checked out but
56. 2:15eight days later he was charged with
57. 2:17murder
58. 2:19despite a lack of evidence pam's words
59. 2:21resonated with prosecutors and with the
60. 2:24jury
61. 2:26our station was the only one in court as
62. 2:27russ faria was convicted and taken to
63. 2:30prison it could have been the end of the
64. 2:32story except for questions that kept
65. 2:34nagging at us inconsistencies in pam's
66. 2:37story she had refused any interviews but
67. 2:39in 2014 we finally got a chance in a
68. 2:42long conversation at her door to ask did
69. 2:45you kill that scene no i did not kill
70. 2:47betsy i had no reason to kill betsy but
71. 2:49it turns out she did have a reason a
72. 2:51life insurance policy worth 150 000
73. 2:55betsy had made pam the beneficiary just
74. 2:58four days before the murder and then the
75. 3:01mounting coincidences hupp's mother
76. 3:04falling to her death threw a balcony
77. 3:06railing at her senior living apartment a
78. 3:09retired homicide detective told us the
79. 3:11railing polls appeared to be kicked out
80. 3:13and our independent engineering test
81. 3:16showed the tremendous force it would
82. 3:18take to damage a similar railing
83. 3:21we're talking about a 77 year old woman
84. 3:24who weighs 218 pounds she's got a bad
85. 3:26back then uses a mechanical assistance
86. 3:29to walk any distance it's highly
87. 3:31unlikely that she pulled off a jesse
88. 3:33owens house right there but the most
89. 3:36chilling evidence pam's own words just
90. 3:39months earlier listened to her telling
91. 3:41detectives why she wouldn't have killed
92. 3:43betsy faria for the life insurance money
93. 3:45i really hate to say it wanted money my
94. 3:47mom's worth the half a million that i
95. 3:49get when she dies my mom is dementia and
96. 3:53doesn't half the time know who we are
97. 3:55the investigation into her mother's fall
98. 3:57went nowhere but legal pressure was
99. 3:59still mounting in 2016 betsy faria's
100. 4:02daughter sued for the insurance money
101. 4:04which hupp originally said betsy wanted
102. 4:06her to safeguard for them as far as like
103. 4:08the insurance money and stuff like that
104. 4:10that's in a trust and they know it for
105. 4:13the girls
106. 4:14and
107. 4:16you know that kind of stuff so
108. 4:18the story's a little one-sided and
109. 4:19that's fine but in a civil court fight
110. 4:22over the insurance money she changed her
111. 4:24story and was defiant
112. 4:27and she admitted being a liar who else
113. 4:29might you have lied to anybody that
114. 4:31would bug me and bug me and bug me and
115. 4:33bug me
116. 4:34the detectives bug you and bug you yeah
117. 4:37around the same time russ faria was
118. 4:39granted a new trial and this time he was
119. 4:41exonerated
120. 4:42[Applause]
121. 4:45he thanked us for our continued
122. 4:47investigation digging deeper into the
123. 4:49bizarre case i think that was very
124. 4:51crucial in keeping my story in the
125. 4:53public's eye and
126. 4:55letting people know that this is still
127. 4:56going on this guy is still locked up
128. 4:58you've done
129. 4:59more investigative work than the initial
130. 5:02investigators and without you who knows
131. 5:05where this case would be even as the
132. 5:07inconsistencies in hub stories shifted
133. 5:09the spotlight to her prosecutors seemed
134. 5:12uninterested in investigating that is
135. 5:14until there was another death the rest
136. 5:16of this twisted tale when we come back
137. 5:19[Music]
138. 5:23it's 2016 and after spending more than
139. 5:26three years in prison russ faria is
140. 5:28exonerated in the murder of his wife
141. 5:30betsy he's a free man and the
142. 5:32prosecution's star witness pamela hupp
143. 5:34is not pleased she's working on a new
144. 5:37plan 9-1-1 where's your emergency
145. 5:40hey hello there's someone broken in my
146. 5:42house help what's the address you're at
147. 5:45the caller was pam hop on the phone with
148. 5:479-1-1 as she shot a man in her house get
149. 5:50up get up get out
150. 5:53lewis gumpenberger a single dad with
151. 5:55disabilities laid dead on huff's bedroom
152. 5:57floor there was a note in his pocket
153. 6:00instructions to kidnap hop and get
154. 6:02russ's money when it happened i was
155. 6:04thinking to myself she's going to find
156. 6:06some way to involve me in this
157. 6:09i don't know how but she is and he says
158. 6:12you know hey the police want to talk to
159. 6:13you i'm like oh
160. 6:15okay great you know
161. 6:18here we go again but this time the
162. 6:20police looked closer and things did not
163. 6:22add up after a week of investigation
164. 6:25police arrested pam hopp for murder
165. 6:28saying it was an attempt to frame her
166. 6:30old enemy russ faria she hatched a plot
167. 6:33to
168. 6:34find an innocent victim
169. 6:36and to murder
170. 6:38this innocent victim
171. 6:40in an apparent effort
172. 6:42to frame somebody else police found
173. 6:44video of hop in the days before
174. 6:46gumpenberger's murder driving around a
175. 6:49nearby neighborhood where police said
176. 6:51she passed herself off as a tv producer
177. 6:53an effort to lure someone into her car
178. 6:55for her plot
179. 6:57she finally found guppenberger
180. 6:59prosecutors peeled away the layers of
181. 7:01her plan finding enough evidence to
182. 7:04secure a life sentence for murder and
183. 7:06once they started peeling prosecutors
184. 7:08said the whole twisted plot to kill
185. 7:10betsy faria and frame her husband ross
186. 7:13unraveled after complete and
187. 7:15comprehensive review and investigation
188. 7:18i came to the conclusion that beyond a
189. 7:20reasonable doubt
190. 7:22pamela hub killed betsy faria and i
191. 7:25believe her motivation was simple
192. 7:27for greed in 2021 pamela hupp was
193. 7:30charged with first degree murder and
194. 7:32prosecutors said they will seek the
195. 7:34death penalty for russ ferria in the
196. 7:36courtroom to hear the charges 10 years
197. 7:39after his wife's murder it was finally a
198. 7:41hopeful sign of justice they're doing
199. 7:44everything that should have been done
200. 7:4610 years ago
201. 7:50we are still waiting on pam hup's
202. 7:52preliminary hearing on this later latest
203. 7:55murder charge it was supposed to be last
204. 7:57month but her lead public defender
205. 7:59just died of a heart attack and now a
206. 8:02new lead attorney has to get up to speed
207. 8:04on 10 years of evidence it could be
208. 8:07years before we go to trial on this
209. 8:09latest charge marnie what a case chris
210. 8:12you know i'm curious looking back at
211. 8:14that moment at
212. 8:16her doorway at pamhub's doorway when you
213. 8:18did get her eventually to talk have you
214. 8:20spoken to her since
215. 8:24i have written her in jail i did get
216. 8:26some anonymous letters that uh seem to
217. 8:29have been from her and then i've written
218. 8:30her in jail and i've just gotten an
219. 8:32answer a handwritten letter to say cease
220. 8:34and desist how did you convince her to
221. 8:36talk that day
222. 8:39that is something that astounds us to
223. 8:42this day it was this freezing january
224. 8:45day she opened the door and i thought
225. 8:48she would slam it in my face she saw the
226. 8:50camera it was clear that she knew that
227. 8:51we were recording i had the mic with a
228. 8:53mic flag in my hand
229. 8:54and it just goes to show that she
230. 8:57loves the spotlight it was part of what
231. 9:00introduced us to her love of the
232. 9:02spotlight it's just one of those moments
233. 9:04right chris as a reporter where you
234. 9:06often you hope someone will talk to you
235. 9:08sometimes you don't expect them to and
236. 9:09in this case um a big surprise that she
237. 9:11did glad that she did are there um
238. 9:15in terms of this new trial
239. 9:17the for these new murder charges um is
240. 9:20that going to be moved out of st louis
241. 9:22because of the publicity because of the
242. 9:23spotlight that she loves so much what
243. 9:25are they talking about in this next step
244. 9:28you would think most certainly it would
245. 9:30have to be however if you think about it
246. 9:32we've got this national tv show are you
247. 9:35going to find any place where somebody
248. 9:37has not heard of pam hop so that's going
249. 9:38to be a challenge but certainly it will
250. 9:40be moved out of st louis what do people
251. 9:42think about the miniseries there what
252. 9:44are they saying how do they feel
253. 9:47some mixed reviews we did a report last
254. 9:49night with betsy faria's daughter who
255. 9:51was very upset and she told us that we
256. 9:54should not forget the victims and she
257. 9:56feels like the victims are
258. 9:58being forgotten in this russ faria likes
259. 10:01it and so does joel schwartz they feel
260. 10:04like it is accurate and i can attest to
261. 10:06the fact that there is a lot of accuracy
262. 10:08in it there's a lot of filling in the
263. 10:10lines in between then and then of course
264. 10:13the tone is what is rubbing some people
265. 10:15wrong and is what has rubbed betsy
266. 10:17faria's daughter
267. 10:18the wrong way because it comes across
268. 10:20like a dark comedy according to her wow
269. 10:22and nothing funny about it chris what
270. 10:24about the prosecutor's
271. 10:26corruption investigation that could take
272. 10:29years as well right
273. 10:31that might turn quicker i've heard that
274. 10:34it's possible that we could hear
275. 10:35something
276. 10:36this year on the new lincoln county
277. 10:38prosecutor's scrutiny of the law
278. 10:41enforcement and prosecutor investigation
279. 10:44into pam hop
280. 10:46i've also been working with them on that
281. 10:47because we've done a lot of reports on
282. 10:49that corruption and there are a number
283. 10:51of people that are being looked at that
284. 10:52and there seems to be some very clear
285. 10:54evidence when it comes to the
286. 10:56withholding of evidence when it becomes
287. 10:58to
288. 10:59planting ideas in pamhup's head things
289. 11:01like that
290. 11:02you know for a case 10 years you've been
291. 11:05following it since the very beginning in
292. 11:06every step of the way what stands out to
293. 11:08you as as the most bizarre and troubling
294. 11:11as as you learn new information about
295. 11:13pam hop and what she did
296. 11:16what stands out is that every time
297. 11:18there's a new development that new
298. 11:20development seems to overshadow the
299. 11:22previous one i'll never forget being in
300. 11:24the trial eight years ago and joel
301. 11:26schwartz asked me is this a bigger story
302. 11:29if it's guilty or not guilty and my
303. 11:31answer to him was joel this is a huge
304. 11:34story no matter what because you have a
305. 11:35judge that's so that is suppressing
306. 11:37evidence that this jury is going to be
307. 11:38furious when they hear this evidence was
308. 11:40suppressed about the 150 000 life
309. 11:43insurance policy i was wrong because he
310. 11:46was found russ faria was found guilty
311. 11:49but that story continued to develop with
312. 11:51that civil trial and then the shooting
313. 11:53of gumpenberger just was something that
314. 11:55nobody could possibly see coming well i
315. 11:58applaud you and your entire team chris
316. 12:00for all of your reporting on this story
317. 12:02uh now the world will see uh what has
318. 12:04happened over the course of 10 years and
319. 12:06the the number of lives that have been
320. 12:08changed as a result of pam hup we'll
321. 12:10certainly be following it very closely
322. 12:12as well thank you for your reporting as
323. 12:13always and appreciate your time
324. 12:16thank you marty wow incredible story new
325. 12:18mini-series
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