Ethan Fussell was staying with his best friend when he went missing, and he hasn’t been seen in four weeks, Florida authorities said.
Photo from the Polk County Sheriff’s Office
A 21-year-old who went missing nearly a month ago is presumed dead after a “significant amount of blood” was found at his best friend’s home, Florida law enforcement said.
His body hasn’t been found, but two men have been arrested in connection with his death, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said in a June 3 news conference.
“We have every reason to believe at this point that Ethan Fussell is a victim of murder,” Judd said.
Fussell was staying with a 25-year-old man, who he called his best friend and ”brother,” when the two got into an argument, deputies said. Fussell was last heard from May 7 and hasn’t been seen since, according to authorities.
Investigators said they searched the Lakeland home where Fussell was staying and found a “significant amount of blood” and evidence of attempts to clean up a crime scene.
The blood has now been identified as Fussell’s, Judd said.
On June 2, Fussell’s 25-year-old best friend was arrested, alongside another 21-year-old man who lived in the home, according to the sheriff’s office. Both are charged with accessory after the fact of a capital felony and destroying/tampering with evidence, Judd said.
The sheriff encouraged anyone with information to come forward. The investigation is ongoing.
Fussell’s family described him as a “smart, hardworking and loyal man” but who didn’t keep in touch with his family much these days.
“So while we don’t know a lot about his recent life, we KNOW who he’s been most of his life and who he is at his core,” his mom wrote on Facebook. “He’s survived so much trauma in the past. We pray he survives this and comes home soon.”
Lakeland is a 35-mile drive east from downtown Tampa.
NASHUA, N.H. — Authorities have identified a Pelham man who was shot and killed by police Sunday night outside Lowe’s at 143 Daniel Webster Highway.
Ryan Prudhomme, 41, died of a single gunshot wound to the chest outside the home improvement store. The investigation of the officer-involved shooting continues.
Attorney General John Formella and New Hampshire State Police Col. Mark Hall identified the man in a joint statement.
An autopsy confirmed that Prudhomme died from the gunshot wound, according to the state’s chief medical examiner.
Nashua police responded to Lowe’s about 8:45 p.m. They were following up on a report from the Pelham Police Department to be on the lookout for Prudhomme, who was armed when he left his home.
Prudhomme still had a handgun when officers encountered him outside the store, authorities said.
Two officers fired less-lethal munitions while another officer used deadly force. Lifesaving measures were attempted, but the man died from his injuries, the authorities said.
The officers’ identities will not be released until formal interviews occur, which can take five to 10 days, according to the statement.
The investigation is being conducted by the state Department of Justice and the New Hampshire State Police Major Crimes Unit.
A photographer who was on “The Dating Game” became one of the nation’s deadliest serial killers. Eight years after “48 Hours”‘ first report, new victims emerge. Correspondent Peter Van Sant reports.
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When Becky Bliefnick was murdered, an answer her husband gave on “Family Feud” years earlier raised eyebrows. “48 Hours” correspondent Erin Moriarty reports.
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(FOX40.COM) — Modesto resident Scott Peterson was supposed to spend the rest of his life in prison for the 2002 murder of his wife and unborn child, however, that sentence could soon change if an advocacy group has its way. • Video Above: Scott Peterson’s lawyers asking for new DNA testing
Peterson’s case caught national attention after his pregnant wife, Laci Peterson, went missing on Christmas Eve 2002. Four months later, the bodies of Laci Peterson and their infant son, Connor, washed up to a Bay Area shore. Scott Peterson was convicted in 2004 for their murders and sentenced to death – which was later changed to life in prison.
Scott Peterson was convicted in 2024 based on “overwhelming” circumstantial evidence and although he has been incarcerated for decades, innocence groups have been successful in getting hundreds of convictions overturned with the help of DNA testing.
Scott Peterson is seen on a live video feed from Mule Creek State Prison on March 12, 2024.
Here are some inmates who got out of jail after receiving support from groups like LAIP:
Los Angeles Innocence Project
After 38 years behind bars for a robbery-homicide and sexual assault in Inglewood, the Los Angeles Innocence Project reported that DNA evidence exonerated Maurice Hastings. Hastings was convicted in the 1980s and released in 2022 with the help of LAIP.
In Hasting’s case, LAIP argued that DNA from the scene was never tested – similar to how the group said crucial evidence from Peterson’s case has not been examined.
“I have been incarcerated for over fifteen years for a murder that I did not commit,” LAIP said Hastings wrote to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office in 2000. “The most compelling of the evidence that has not as of yet been examined is the DNA evidence which will conclusively show that I was not the person involved with the deceased at the time of the crime.”
After DNA testing was performed, the specimen led to a convicted sex offender and Hastings was subsequently released from prison after nearly four decades served.
The Exoneration Project
The Exoneration Project has helped close to 200 people prove their innocence and be freed from incarceration, according to its website. Some clients who were exonerated include Frank Drew, who spent 24 years in prison for homicide; Harold Staten who was incarcerated for 38 years for arson and murder; and Darien Harris who was reportedly convicted for a fatal shooting at a gas station after a blind eyewitness’ testimony. He was incarcerated for 12 years before the sentence was thrown out.
Equal Justice Initiative
The Equal Justice Initiative is committed to ending mass incarceration and excessive punishment in the United States, according to its website. It aims to challenge racial and economic injustice, and to protect basic human rights “for the most vulnerable people in American society.”
One of the most notable cases is Marsha Colbey who was wrongfully convicted of capital murder in 2007 and sentenced to life after she reportedly gave birth to a stillborn baby.
Colbey went into premature labor and unexpectedly delivered a stillborn baby while at home alone. Her efforts to revive the child were unsuccessful, and she buried him in a marked grave near her home, according to EJI. Initial forensic reports stated the baby was born alive which led to a murder charge, but four years later, new testing showed evidence of life was inconclusive. She was released from prison in 2012.
Innocence Project
The Innocence Project, not to be confused with the Los Angeles Innocence Project, has been successful in freeing nearly 300 inmates since its inception in 1992.
Clients include Kirk Bloodsworth, who was reportedly the first person in the U.S. to be exonerated from death row. He was wrongfully convicted of the assault and murder of a 9-year-old girl in 1993 but released nine years later through DNA evidence.
Steven Avery was also an Innocent Project client, who inspired the Netflix documentary series, “Making a Murder.” Avery was convicted in 1985 for sexual assault and attempted murder. He was exonerated in 2003 through DNA evidence – but only remained free for two years.
After filing a $36M lawsuit and attempting to expose corruption in local law enforcement, he was charged with murder. Avery’s case has been controversial, and his legal team continues to advocate for his innocence.
A North Carolina sheriff renewed his plea for help in solving the 1981 fatal shooting of 19-year-old Rhonda Hinson, killed in a car on Interstate 40 as she returned home from a Christmas party.
BURKE COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE
A North Carolina sheriff this week renewed his plea for help solving the 1981 fatal shooting of 19-year-old Rhonda Hinson, killed in a car on Interstate 40 as she returned home from a Christmas party.
A combined reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in Hinson’s death has increased to $94,700, Sheriff Banks Hinceman said on Facebook Wednesday.
“I believe that there is someone out there with credible information that could help bring the person(s) responsible for this murder to justice,” Hinceman said.
“I know it’s been 42 years,” Hinceman said. “If you are worried about what people will think about you, it’s never too late to do the right thing.”
Hinson was shot while traveling toward Valdese, N.C., on I-40 West to the Mineral Springs Mountain Road exit, Hinceman said.
“She was funny, happy,” Judy Hinson told Dateline. “She loved everybody. She never met a stranger.”
Sheriff’s investigators and State Bureau of Investigation agents have spent thousands of hours over the decades investigating Hinson’s death, Hinceman said.
“My prayer is that the Lord will weigh heavily on someone’s heart to come forward with credible information that will bring justice for Rhonda and her family,” he said.
The sheriff’s office has a tip line dedicated solely to Hinson’s case: 828-764-9549.
Related stories from Raleigh News & Observer
Joe Marusak has been a reporter for The Charlotte Observer since 1989 covering the people, municipalities and major news events of the region, and was a news bureau editor for the paper. He currently reports on breaking news. Support my work with a digital subscription
A North Carolina sheriff renewed his plea for help in solving the 1981 fatal shooting of 19-year-old Rhonda Hinson, killed in a car on Interstate 40 as she returned home from a Christmas party.
BURKE COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE
A North Carolina sheriff this week renewed his plea for help solving the 1981 fatal shooting of 19-year-old Rhonda Hinson, killed in a car on Interstate 40 as she returned home from a Christmas party.
A combined reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in Hinson’s death has increased to $94,700, Sheriff Banks Hinceman said on Facebook Wednesday.
“I believe that there is someone out there with credible information that could help bring the person(s) responsible for this murder to justice,” Hinceman said.
“I know it’s been 42 years,” Hinceman said. “If you are worried about what people will think about you, it’s never too late to do the right thing.”
Hinson was shot while traveling toward Valdese, N.C., on I-40 West to the Mineral Springs Mountain Road exit, Hinceman said.
“She was funny, happy,” Judy Hinson told Dateline. “She loved everybody. She never met a stranger.”
Sheriff’s investigators and State Bureau of Investigation agents have spent thousands of hours over the decades investigating Hinson’s death, Hinceman said.
“My prayer is that the Lord will weigh heavily on someone’s heart to come forward with credible information that will bring justice for Rhonda and her family,” he said.
The sheriff’s office has a tip line dedicated solely to Hinson’s case: 828-764-9549.
Related stories from Charlotte Observer
Joe Marusak has been a reporter for The Charlotte Observer since 1989 covering the people, municipalities and major news events of the region, and was a news bureau editor for the paper. He currently reports on breaking news. Support my work with a digital subscription
HOUSTON – Four people are dead after two suspects murdered them before turning a gun on themselves and taking their own life.
Additionally, two other children, one in each instance, were also hurt during the two incidents.
On Thursday a mother was shot and killed by a man she was dating in Spring, according to investigators.
The man then shot himself.
Police say a young girl was also injured and flown to the hospital as a result of the incident.
And on Friday another man shot and killed a woman in Independence Heights. Investigators there say the man then tried to escape with the two-year-old child they shared together.
When police caught the man with the child on a bicycle, he pulled out a gun and took his own life.
These are extreme examples of domestic violence.
However, many cases live in the shadows of daily life throughout Houston.
That’s why KPRC 2′s Gage Goulding is having an open conversation with Sylvia Phillips, a legal advocate at Fresh Spirit Wellness.
Gage Goulding: “Two murder-suicides in the last 48 hours, right here in our city. What does that tell you about what’s going on in our community?”
Sylvia Phillips: “It tells me that people are not. The information is not getting out.”
Gage Goulding: “Domestic violence doesn’t discriminate. It can impact anybody of any walk of life.”
Sylvia Phillips: “Absolutely. It can impact doctors, lawyers, teachers, teenagers.”
Gage Goulding: “It everybody who can they call? What can they do? I know they might feel alone, but what can they do? They’re not alone.”
Sylvia Phillips: “They’re not alone. There’s several organizations they can call one in particular this Fresh Spirit. They can always call us, and we will help them come up with a safety plan of getting out. They can even text the domestic violence hotline, which is 88788. 911 operators are trained to take calls from individuals in a domestic violence situation. All they have to do is dial 911 and tell the operator they would like to order a pizza. The operator immediately starts asking questions like how many pizzas do you want? One or two, that lets them know how many people are in the house. The abuser will usually stop and allow you to order food.”
Gage Goulding: “What can they look out for? Are there some telltale signs that, hey, there might be an issue happening here?”
Sylvia Phillips: “Yes, it’s sometimes it’s very subtle. It is controlling what you wear, controlling who you talk to, controlling what you eat.”
Gage Goulding: “Even not all domestic violence is about a relationship, though, right?”
Sylvia Phillips: “Correct. It is domestic violence. Is anyone living in the same house? It can be a domestic violence against, partners. It can be domestic violence against a mother, against a child, an adult child.
Gage Goulding: “What would you say to anybody that is looking for help, that needs that help?”
Sylvia Phillips: ”Make the call. Make the call. Call fresh spirit. We will guide you through getting out. That first step is is hard to do.”
If you are in immediate danger, safely call 911.
For more information, resources and local reporting on domestic violence in Houston – visit our Breaking Free webpage.
Help is also available immediately if you need it through the following numbers:
If you are in immediate danger, call 911.
Copyright 2024 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.
An Idaho jury has convicted Chad Daybell of murder in the deaths of his wife and his girlfriend’s two youngest children.The verdict marks the end of a years-long investigation that included bizarre claims of zombie children, apocalyptic prophesies and illicit affairs. Now, the jury will be tasked with deciding if Daybell should be sentenced to death for the crimes.Prosecutors charged Daybell and his newest wife, Lori Vallow Daybell, with multiple counts of murder, conspiracy and grand theft in connection with the deaths of Vallow Daybell’s two youngest children, 7-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow and 16-year-old Tylee Ryan, in September 2019.Prosecutors also charged the couple in connection with the October 2019 death of Chad Daybell’s wife, Tammy Daybell.Prosecutors had said they would seek the death penalty if Daybell was convicted.Daybell’s defense attorney argued there was not enough evidence to tie Daybell to the killings, and suggested Vallow Daybell’s older brother, Alex Cox, was the culprit.Vallow Daybell was convicted last year and sentenced to life in prison without parole.
An Idaho jury has convicted Chad Daybell of murder in the deaths of his wife and his girlfriend’s two youngest children.
The verdict marks the end of a years-long investigation that included bizarre claims of zombie children, apocalyptic prophesies and illicit affairs. Now, the jury will be tasked with deciding if Daybell should be sentenced to death for the crimes.
Prosecutors charged Daybell and his newest wife, Lori Vallow Daybell, with multiple counts of murder, conspiracy and grand theft in connection with the deaths of Vallow Daybell’s two youngest children, 7-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow and 16-year-old Tylee Ryan, in September 2019.
Prosecutors also charged the couple in connection with the October 2019 death of Chad Daybell’s wife, Tammy Daybell.
Prosecutors had said they would seek the death penalty if Daybell was convicted.
Daybell’s defense attorney argued there was not enough evidence to tie Daybell to the killings, and suggested Vallow Daybell’s older brother, Alex Cox, was the culprit.
Vallow Daybell was convicted last year and sentenced to life in prison without parole.
LAWRENCE — When an active shooter barricaded himself in a North Andover home, Lawrence police officers Luis Santiago and Angelo Kocagoz immediately responded to the neighboring community ready to help.
Seconds later, while Santiago provided cover, Kocagoz safely rescued an older man who was trapped in the driveway of the home while shots were still being fired.
Both officers were publicly commended for their bravery and valor Tuesday at a special City Hall ceremony attended by fellow officers, officials, family members and friends.
North Andover Police Chief Charles Gray lauded the officers’ “bravery, courage and heroism” during a situation that presented grave danger and possible death because of its “extraordinary circumstances.”
Gray said he couldn’t be more proud to honor the officers “after what transpired that night.”
North Andover police were called to a Waverley Road address on April 14 about 10 p.m. for a report of a man shooting inside a house and threatening to shoot himself.
In addition to North Andover officers, mutual aid officers from surrounding communities, including Lawrence, also responded to the home.
The 911 caller, an older man who could not move quickly, was trapped in the driveway. So Kocagoz said he would go get him and carry him out, police said.
While Santiago and other officers provided cover, Kocagoz hoisted the man over his shoulder. He quickly carried the man to safety.
The man inside the home later died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said.
North Andover police Sgt. Brandon James and Lawrence Sgts. Carmen Purpora and Rhadames Gonzalez all agreed that Santiago and Kocagoz should be publicly commended for their bravery and courage.
Acting Lawrence Police Chief Melix Bonilla said he couldn’t have been any prouder of both officers.
“There is no greater service than service to others,” Bonilla said.
Follow staff reporter Jill Harmacinski on Twitter/X @EagleTribJill.
Lana Zak reports on three missionaries — including two Americans — killed in apparent gang violence in Haiti, the Memorial Day holiday travel rush, and tips from Olympic swimmer and swim safety advocate Cullen Jones on staying safe around water this summer.
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The city of Fontana has agreed to pay nearly $900,000 to settle a federal lawsuit filed by a man who said police pressured him to falsely confess to a murder that never happened.
During a 17-hour interrogation in August 2018, Fontana Police Department officers questioned Thomas Perez Jr. about the disappearance of his father, whom Perez had reported missing. Officers alleged Perez had murdered his father and, when Perez denied the accusation, officers tried to convince him that he had forgotten the crime, according to a federal lawsuit, court records and video of the interrogation.
Throughout their lengthy questioning of Perez, officers used a variety of tactics aimed at goading him into confessing. They brought his dog into the interrogation room, told him the dog had walked through blood and would be sent away to be euthanized. They drove Perez to a dirt lot and asked him to walk around in search of his dad’s body. They told him that his father’s body was in a morgue.
“You murdered your dad,” one of the officers said, according to video of the interrogation. “Daddy’s dead because of you.”
The officers told Perez that he would have “closure” if he told them what happened. Perez repeatedly told them that he didn’t know.
“Stop lying to yourself,” officers told Perez.
Perez, who was distressed, visibly sleep-deprived and later testified that he had been denied medication for depression and other mental disorders, sobbed during the interview. At one point he tore out his hair and ripped open his shirt. When officers stepped out of the room, he tied his shoestrings around his neck in an attempt to hang himself, records and video show.
At the 16-hour mark, Perez told police that he had gotten into an altercation with his father and had stabbed him.
But a major problem with that confession soon emerged: Perez’s father was alive and safe. He had left the house he shared with his son and stayed overnight at a friend’s home near Union Station, according to court records. Later, he waited to catch a flight at Los Angeles International Airport to visit his daughter in Northern California. When police learned that Perez’s father was safe, they initially withheld the information and put Perez on a psychiatric hold.
“In my 40 years of suing the police I have never seen that level of deliberate cruelty by the police,” said Perez’s attorney, Jerry L. Steering. “After what I saw on the video of what they did to him, I now know that the police can get [anyone] to confess to killing Abe Lincoln.”
Fontana police were initially suspicious of Perez after observing that his house was in disarray, as if a “struggle” had taken place. Perez’s father’s phone was left inside the house and police said they found “visible bloodstains.” A police dog had picked up the scent of a corpse, court records show.
After the ordeal, Perez filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Fontana, which also named Officers David Janusz, Jeremy Hale, Ronald Koval, Robert Miller and Joanna Piña as defendants. The Fontana Police Department did not respond to The Times’ request for comment about the $898,000 settlement, or the officers’ status within the department.
U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee found that “a reasonable juror could conclude that the detectives inflicted unconstitutional psychological torture on Perez,” according to a court order last June.
“He testified that the officers prevented him from sleeping and deprived him of his medication,” Gee said. “There is no legitimate government interest that would justify treating Perez in this manner while he was in medical distress.”
LOWELL — Approximately 11 hours of jury deliberations and still no verdict in the trial for alleged murderer Timmy Chan.
On Tuesday, for the second day in a row, Judge Robert Ullman sent the Middlesex Superior Court jury home with Chan’s fate still hanging in the balance.
The jury, composed of nine women and three men, began deliberating in the late morning on Monday, after the closing of witness testimony in the trial, which began May 6.
Tuesday marked the first full day of deliberations, lasting approximately six and a half hours. The jury did not submit a single question throughout the day. The only question the group has asked thus far came on Monday, and it involved a technical issue they experienced while attempting to watch surveillance footage entered as evidence.
The issue was resolved.
Jurors are scheduled to dive back into the case at 9 a.m. Wednesday.
Chan is charged with several crimes, the most serious first-degree murder, for the shooting death of 20-year-old Nathaniel Fabian on the night of Oct. 13, 2021. The murder charge carries a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole.
If they decide against first-degree murder, the jury has the option of instead finding Chan guilty of the lesser charges of either second-degree murder, or voluntary manslaughter.
Fabian’s death was the result of online bullying initiated by Samantha Chum. Middlesex Assistant District Attorney Christopher Tarrant said during his opening remarks that Chum was Fabian’s ex-girlfriend who “did not take the breakup well.”
The target of Chum’s bullying was Thailynn Voraphonh, who was in an on-again, off-again relationship with Fabian. Voraphonh reached out to Fabian in the hopes he could put an end to the harassment. Fabian tried by contacting Chum, ultimately setting off the firestorm that ended in his death.
After Fabian contacted her, Chum reached out to her friends, Isabella Lach (Chan’s girlfriend), Jessie Sadia Segal-Wright, Chan, and Brian Lach (Isabella Lach’s brother, and Segal-Wright’s boyfriend), recruiting them to confront Fabian.
During the trial, Brian Lach and Segal-Wright, who were granted immunity for their testimony, implicated Chan as the gunman. Both were with Chan before and after the shooting, while Brian Lach testified he was with Chan at the time of the shooting. Segal-Wright, meanwhile, testified to using her car to drive them both from the murder scene. Isabella Lach was in the car at the time.
Chan is the only one who was charged for the crime.
As the jury began deliberating on Monday, Fabian’s mother, Stacey Braley, who along with many other loved ones has been in the courtroom gallery throughout the trial, expressed disappointment that more people were not charged for her son’s death.
At the same time, she pointed out she understood the prosecution’s decision to grant immunity to Brian Lach and Segal-Wright if it helped them capture the person who actually pulled the trigger.
Braley pointed out that all those involved in the shooting, except Chum, did not even know her son.
“The thing I keep on thinking of is if all these kids that were involved actually knew my son, they would have loved him,” Braley said. “Everybody he met, they always fell in love with him. … He was genuinely a very good person, and if they had an opportunity, they really would have liked him.”
Chan’s attorney, Jeffrey Sweeney, has contested during the trial that Brian Lach was the gunman. During his closing statements, he insisted to jurors that Brian Lach and Segal-Wright lied on the stand as a means to protect themselves.
Right before the jury was dismissed for the day on Tuesday, Sweeney said the trial “went as well as it could have gone.”
“The evidence came in really well,” he said. “Everything came in as I expected it to.”
In addition to murder, Chan is charged with unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of a loaded firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition, and discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a building.
Follow Aaron Curtis on X, formerly known as Twitter, @aselahcurtis
The Nebraska Supreme Court has upheld the murder conviction and life sentence of a woman in the 2017 death and dismemberment of a Nebraska hardware store clerk.
Bailey Boswell, 30, was convicted in 2020 of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder and improper disposal of human remains in the death of 24-year-old Sydney Loofe. Boswell’s co-defendant and boyfriend at the time of the killing, 58-year-old Aubrey Trail, was convicted of the same charges in 2019 and sentenced to death in 2021.
Prosecutors said Boswell and Trail had been planning to kill someone before Boswell met Loofe on the dating app Tinder. Boswell made plans for a date with Loofe, a cashier at a Menards store in Lincoln, to lure her to the apartment where she was strangled.
In this Aug. 6, 2018, file photo, Bailey Boswell, right, sits with her attorney Todd Lancaster during Boswell’s murder trial at the Saline County Court in Wilbur, Neb.
Eric Gregory/Lincoln Journal Star via AP, Pool, File
The FBI and other law enforcement spent three weeks searching for Loofe before her dismembered remains were found in December 2017. Loofe’s body was found cut into 14 pieces and left in garbage bags in ditches along rural roads in southeastern Nebraska.
Loofe was still alive when Trail and Boswell were caught on store surveillance video buying the tools that police think they used to dismember her, prosecutors said in court documents.
In her appeal, Boswell challenged the admission of evidence by prosecutors in her trial, including photographs of Loofe’s dismembered body, arguing the gruesome photos served only to turn the jury against her. Boswell also objected to the testimony of several women who said Trail and Boswell had talked of occult fantasies and had expressed a desire to sexually torture and kill women.
During Boswell’s sentencing hearing, Doug Warner, the assistant attorney general, pointed to a photo of Loofe’s detached arm, with a tattoo that read “Everything will be wonderful someday,” CBS affiliate KMTV reported. Warner said some of the knife marks around the tattoo had nothing to do with the dismemberment.
Warner cited the “apparent relishment of the murder by the defendant, needless mutilation of the victim, senselessness of the crime and helplessness of the victim.”
Sydney Loofe
KMTV
Boswell’s defense attorney argued at her trial that she was forced by Trail to go along with the killing and dismemberment of Loofe.
Justice Stephanie Stacy wrote for the high court’s unanimous ruling Friday that “there is no merit to any of Boswell’s assigned errors regarding the trial court’s evidentiary rulings.”
Shortly after Loofe’s disappearance, Boswell and Trail initially posted a Facebook video in which they maintained their innocence, KMTV reported. Boswell said in the video she and Loofe did drugs at her house before she dropped Loofe off at a friend’s house. Boswell said they had planned to go to a casino that weekend, but she hadn’t heard from Loofe since.
The video was a deleted a few hours after it was posted to the “Finding Sydney Loofe” Facebook page.
A Georgia man was arrested in connection with the 23-year cold case murder of UGA law student Tara Louise Baker, state investigators say.
Lydia Bullard
Photo by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation
After 23 years, a suspect has been arrested in the cold case death of a University of Georgia law student, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
Edrick Lamont Faust, 48, of Athens, is charged with murder and other offenses following a decades-long investigation into the death of Tara Louise Baker, the agency said in a May 9 news release. She was 23 at the time.
“Tara Louise Baker was a hardworking student with a bright future ahead of her,”GBI Director Chris Hosey said in the release. “Tara’s life was stolen from her in a horrific act of violence.”
Faust’s arrest comes more than two decades after Baker, a first-year law student at UGA, was found dead in her burning apartment in Athens, according to investigators. Crews responded to the fire on Jan. 19, 2001, and determined it was intentionally set.
State investigators, with help from the Athens-Clarke County Police Department and other agencies, spent more than 20 years examining the circumstances surrounding Baker’s death.
Authorities didn’t disclose how or if Faust and Baker knew each other. It’s also unclear what led to Faust’s arrest.
Faust is charged with:
Murder
Felony murder (two counts)
Aggravated assault
Concealing the death of another person
Arson
Possession of a knife during commission of a felony
Tampering with evidence
Aggravated sodomy
“While this arrest does not bring her back to us, I pray that it helps bring closure to the Baker family as they continue their healing journey,” Hosey said.
Authorities said they plan to hold a news conference in the coming days.
Athens is about a 70-mile drive northeast from downtown Atlanta.
Tanasia is a national Real-Time reporter based in Atlanta covering news across Georgia, Mississippi and the Southeast. Her sub-beat is retail and consumer news. She’s an alumna of Kennesaw State University and joined McClatchy in 2020.
CHISHOLM, Minn. — Minnesota’s highest court has reversed a northern Minnesota man’s conviction in a brutal 1986 sexual assault and slaying.
In 2022, Michael Allan Carbo Jr. of Chisholm was found guiilty of first-degree murder while committing criminal sexual conduct in the killing of 38-year-old Nancy Daugherty, also of Chisholm. Carbo was sentenced to life in prison at the time.
On Wednesday, the Minnesota Supreme Court revered Carbo’s conviction, saying the judge in Carbo’s trial unjustly denied his defense’s attempt to submit evidence of a possible alternative suspect.
“The district court abused its discretion by denying the defendant’s motion to present alternative-perpetrator evidence because the defendant’s proffered evidence clearly had an inherent tendency to connect the alternative perpetrator to the commission of the crime and could have been admitted under the ordinary rules of evidence, and the error was not harmless beyond a reasonable doubt,” the Supreme Court wrote in its ruling.
Daugherty was found dead in her home on July 16, 1986, by police conducting a welfare check. Officials say she had been beaten, sexually assaulted and strangled. Witnesses later reported hearing a woman screaming in the early morning hours.
Carbo was arrested in connection in Daugherty’s killing in 2020 after DNA analysis of public genealogy databases identified him as a suspect. A subsequent test showed Carbo’s DNA matched the bodily fluids found on Daugherty and at the 1986 scene, authorities said.
Carbo’s case will now revert to district court. The St. Louis County Attorney’s Office, which originally charged Carbo, said it was “disappointed” in the decision and “remains committed to prosecuting Mr. Carbo.”
Editor’s Note: Dashawn Austin and Akeem Artis were sentenced Wednesday after being convicted in April 2024 on charges in the shooting death of 1-year-old Davell Gardner and on other charges, a statement from the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office said. Austin was convicted of second-degree murder and Artis was convicted of first-degree manslaughter for the child’s death. Austin was sentenced to 50 years to life in prison and Artis was sentenced to 40 years, the statement said.
CNN
—
Two men were charged Thursday in the connection with the fatal shooting of a 1-year-old boy in New York City last year, according to a news release from the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office.
The baby, identified as Davell Gardner, was killed last July on the sidewalk in front of Brooklyn’s Raymond Bush Playground.
Less than a year after that shooting, Dashawn Austin, 25, and Akeem Artis, 24, were arrested and charged in connection with the shooting and Davell’s death. Both men are members of a local street gang called the Hoolies and the violence was motivated by gang rivalry and retaliation, according to the Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez’s office.
Artis was the driver of a car from which Austin and a second shooter, who was not named, exited and then allegedly fired into a crowd attending a cookout on July 12, 2020, according to the indictment. Four people were shot, including the infant. The other victims, all innocent bystanders, survived.
The men are also two of 18 charged in a 63-count indictment for gang-related activity including multiple counts of murder and weapons charges.
CNN is working to confirm the legal representation for the suspects.
Between May 2018 and September 2020, members of the Hoolies gang are accused of committing four murders and eight non-fatal shootings that involved nine victims, according to a new release from Gonzalez’s office. Seven of the 13 victims were innocent people who were not rivals of the gang, the release said.
“Insidious gang violence as we allege in this case has taken and traumatized far too many lives, including many innocents such as Davell Gardner – a bright and loved baby boy with his whole life ahead of him,” Gonzalez said.
New York City Police Commissioner Dermot Shea says the alleged gang members were willing to kill “without regard for innocent people caught in the crossfire.”
“This violence has to stop and cases like these are only made more solid when NYPD detectives and Assistant District Attorneys work hand-in-glove to build them from the beginning,” Shea said.
Nine bodies were found Wednesday in a northern Mexican state reeling from a wave of drug cartel-related violence, authorities said, in the second such discovery in as many days. A homicide investigation was launched after the bodies of nine men were found in the city of Morelos in Zacatecas, the state prosecutor’s office said.
It came just one day after nine bodies were found on an avenue in the city of Fresnillo, also in Zacatecas state. Messages addressed to a criminal group were found with those remains, authorities said. The bodies were dumped near a market two days after gang members blocked roads and burned vehicles in response to the capture of 13 suspected criminals. A pickup truck was being examined for evidence, officials said.
The state prosecutor’s office said five of the victims in Fresnillo had been identified and their bodies handed over to relatives.
Members of the investigative police stand next to bodies wrapped in blankets and covered with duct tape left by unknown persons on a street in Fresnillo, Zacatecas, Mexico, May 7, 2024.
JESUS ENRIQUEZ/AFP/Getty
Fresnillo is considered by its residents to be the most dangerous city in Mexico.
Around 450,000 people have been murdered across the country since 2006, when the government launched a controversial anti-drug offensive involving the military, according to official figures.
Cartel activity and violence in Zacatecas
Zacatecas, which has one of the highest per-capita homicide rates of any Mexican state, is a key transit point for drugs, especially the powerful synthetic painkiller fentanyl, moving north to the U.S. border.
Zacatecas has been the scene of bloody turf battles between the Jalisco and Sinaloa drug cartels. The head of the Drug Enforcement Administration told CBS News in 2022 that the two cartels were behind the influx of fentanyl that’s killing tens of thousands of Americans.
Last September, a search team looking for seven kidnapped youths in Zacatecas found six bodies and one survivor in a remote area.
Authorities in Zacatecas confirmed that a U.S. resident was among four people killed in the state around Christmas 2022. Earlier that year the bodies of five men and one woman were found dumped on a roadside in Zacatecas, and the bodies of eight men and two women were found crammed into a pickup truck left near a Christmas tree in the main plaza of the state capital.
The U.S. State Department has issued a “do not travel” advisory for Zacatecas, warning Americans to avoid the state due to the threat of crime.
“Violent crime, extortion, and gang activity are widespread in Zacatecas state,” the advisory says.
Adre Baroz, nicknamed “Pyscho,” was sentenced to life in prison for the 2020 homicides of five people in the San Luis Valley, according to court records.
Korina Arroyo, Selena Esquibel, Xavier Zeven Garcia, Myron Martinez and Shayla Hammel were killed and their bodies dumped near the Colorado-New Mexico border.
Co-defendants Julius Baroz and Francisco Ramirez also pleaded guilty to charges related to the murders in February. Julius pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder and received 25 years in prison with credit for 1202 days served. Ramirez pleaded guilty to three counts of tampering with a deceased human body and was served three eight-year sentences.
It was 1 p.m. on May 8, 2018, when Massachusetts State Police detectives arrived at a farmhouse in Westfield. 51-year-old Amy Fanion lay dead in the dining room from a single gunshot wound to the head.
Amy Fanion’s husband, Brian Fanion, a detective in the Westfield Police Department, had called 911 minutes earlier, reporting that his wife had shot herself.
Det. Mike McNally:Amy was essentially … in a pile of blood that was beginning to congeal under her left side.
The dining room, rearranged to accommodate medical personnel, was in disarray as detectives worked to identify clues of what may have happened.
Det. Mike McNally: There was a … blood spatter around that window frame from that dining room into the breezeway. … There was a pair of glasses that looked like it had some kind of red-brown spatter on it.
A spent bullet casing on the dining room floor of the Fanion home, where Amy Fanion was found dead with a gunshot to the right side of her head. “I saw the entry wound to her head. … It didn’t seem right in that moment,” said Massachusetts State Police Det. Mike McNally. “How would something like that happen?”
Hampden County District Attorney’s Office
And then there was the bullet.
Det. Mike Blanchette: The actual projectile … was in that front … enclosed porch area. … The spent shell casing was still in the dining room.
Det. Mike McNally: We could see the direction that it traveled, through Amy’s head … that round impacted that dresser, came to a rest right around there in the breezeway.
Det. Brendan O’Toole: Brian was sitting in a chair with his back to the wall and … he’s with the chief of police from the Westfield police department, who’s talking with him. … Everyone was in a state of shock.
Everyone, including Amy Fanion’s brother, Eric Hansen, who told detectives that he had just finished playing disc golf behind the house when he heard Brian Fanion’s cry for help.
And that’s when he walked into the house, saw Amy Fanion on the floor, a gun next to her, and Brian Fanion holding Amy’s hand.
Det. Mike Blanchette: So he picked up the gun himself and moved it, uh, out of Brian’s reach.
Nikki Battiste: — because he was worried about Brian’s state of mind having just lost his wife.
Det. Mike Blanchette: Yes.
Nikki Battiste: What kind of gun was used?
Det. Brendan O’Toole: A Smith & Wesson, uh, M&P 45. … Brian Fanion’s duty weapon.
Nikki Battiste: That give you any pause that it was Brian Fanion’s weapon?
Det. Brendan O’Toole: Yes. It gave me pause … at this point I know that I’m going to really do a detailed investigation.
THE INVESTIGATION BEGINS
To avoid conflict of interest, O’Toole said he decided that his unit, the Massachusetts State Police, would be the sole investigators, and he wanted to get Brian Fanion away from the house to get a statement.
Det. Brendan O’Toole: I asked if he would accompany me to the Massachusetts State Police barracks in Russell. … And … I took a uh, tape recorded statement from him.
DET. BRENDAN O’TOOLE (police statement): Tuesday May 8th. It’s 2:41 p.m. … I’m with Brian Fanion. Brian, um, do you understand I got a recorder on right now?
BRIAN FANION: Yes.
Brian Fanion told O’Toole that he left his office at the Westfield Police Station around 11:45 a.m. and drove to North Road to meet his wife who was on her way home to prepare their lunch.
DET. BRENDAN O’TOOLE (police statement): What was she making?
BRIAN FANION: Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
Brian Fanion said that when he arrived, they continued an argument from the night prior — an argument that had gotten pretty heated that evening.
DET. BRENDAN O’TOOLE (police statement): When you say heated, I guess what —
BRIAN FANION: Just, uh, I don’t know … She just, uh, was very angry.
DET. BRENDAN O’TOOLE: What was the argument about?
BRIAN FANION: Um, I’m retiring soon … We were discussing what each of us expects retirement to be.
Brian Fanion said he told Amy that he didn’t want to spend his retirement maintaining their 200-year-old home, which Amy still loved. They also discussed their aging dog, and his reluctance to get another one.
BRIAN FANION (police statement): I don’t want to be tied down by a dog. … Yeah. … She always wants to have a dog. … I want to travel more than she does.
According to Brian Fanion, that afternoon, during lunch, Amy Fanion told him she had scheduled them to attend a family member’s play on the day Brian wanted to attend a disc golf tournament.
BRIAN FANION (police statement): I just said, “oh I don’t like that stuff. Why would you commit me when — or without asking?”
That’s when, according to Brian Fanion, things soon took a turn for the worse.
BRIAN FANION (police statement): I took my gun out of the holster and put it on our hutch because I had to use the bathroom.
DET. BRENDAN O’TOOLE: Where is the hutch located?
BRIAN FANION: In the dining room.
Brian Fanion said he closed the bathroom door, and when he came out, Amy Fanion had the gun in her hand.
BRIAN FANION (police statement): She has the — the gun pointed up to the right side of her head.
DET. BRENDAN O’TOOLE: What did you hear her say?
BRIAN FANION: I — I think she said, I guess you don’t want — you don’t want me around or you don’t want to be around me.
DET. BRENDAN O’TOOLE: Was she seated or —
BRIAN FANION: No. She stood up.
BRENDAN O’TOOLE: She was standing. OK.
According to Brian Fanion, he was four to five feet away when he tried to stop his wife from pulling the trigger.
BRIAN FANION (police statement): I tried to get to her. I almost did. … The gun just exploded. … It was just so quick. She didn’t hesitate at all. … I just went over, and I just held her hands. Tried to — just held her hands (crying).
Brian Fanion called 911 and yelled out to Amy’s brother, Eric Hansen, for help.
Hansen told detectives that Brian Fanion said he and Amy had been having a tense argument.
ERIC HANSEN (police interview): And she grabbed the gun … he just was so distraught.
DET. MIKE BLANCHETTE: Did he say what they were arguing about?
ERIC HANSEN: No. I was just trying to console him, say, it’s not your fault, it’s not your fault.
Amy’s Fanion’s death had shocked the Westfield community.
Stephanie Barry is a reporter for The Republican in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Stephanie Barry: Amy’s maiden name was Hansen. She came from a fairly large family … She and her sisters … were all known as some of the prettiest girls in school, some of the smartest, and some of the nicest.
It was 1983 when 16-year-old Amy Hansen met 19-year-old Brian Fanion. Fanion came from a long line of police officers and politicians, and in Westfield, the Fanion name was a source of pride.
Stephanie Barry: The Fanions were kind of like the Kennedys of Westfield. They were well regarded.
Brian and Amy Fanion
Firtion Adams Funeral Home
Brian and Amy tied the knot in 1985, and the couple eventually had two children, Travis and Victoria. Amy Fanion’s close friend, Teri Licciardi says Amy loved being a stay-at-home mom.
Teri Licciardi: Amy’s focus was raising her children. … she thought that being a parent was the best job in the whole world.
The Fanions, deeply committed to their faith, dedicated their lives to God and community service, with Brian Fanion serving as a church deacon and working as a missionary to build wells in Mexico.
After 30 years of marriage, the Fanions were planning their next phase of life when those plans derailed.
Nikki Battiste: Is there any knowledge that Amy Fanion had any mental health issues or suffered from depression?
Brendan O’Toole: So, I — I asked Brian … And, um, he mentioned, um, many years earlier … she was having some psychological issues, in which she was on medicine for a period of time … other than that, nothing — nothing recent.
But what Brian Fanion did stress was that his wife had bouts with anger.
BRIAN FANION (police statement): She had a temper, but she hid it well from everyone but me. She only got that angry when we were alone.
Midway into the interview, O’Toole asked Brian Fanion if there were any female friends in his life.
BRIAN FANION (police statement): I have a woman who lives in Pittsfield that I met recently, I did a mission trip to Mexico, and we become good friends.
DET. BRENDAN O’TOOLE: What’s that lady’s name?
BRIAN FANION: Cori.
DET. BRENDAN O’TOOLE: Does she have a last name or —?
BRIAN FANION: Cori Knowles, K-N-O-W-L-E-S. You guys aren’t going to contact her. Are you?
BRIAN FANION’S DELETED TEXTS RAISE SUSPICION
For Detective O’Toole, Brian Fanion’s admitted friendship with another woman raised questions.
Fanion had told detectives that Corrine Knowles, known as Cori, was a fellow missionary at a nearby church. The two met in November 2017 on a mission trip in Mexico, and a friendship developed, but it had never gone beyond that.
Cori Knowles and Brian Fanion
Hampden County Superior Court
Nikki Battiste: An emotional affair?
Det. Brendan O’Toole: He said there was some flirting, but he qualified it, that it wasn’t —
Nikki Battiste: Sexual?
Det. Brendan O’Toole: — a sexual. It was not a — his term was it was not a friends with benefits.
At the end of the interview, O’Toole asked Fanion to turn over his personal phone.
Det. Brendan O’Toole: I turned off the recorder and that’s when Brian told me … He’s like, you’re going to see some things on there and it’s not what it appears to be.
Nikki Battiste: Red flag for you?
Det. Brendan O’Toole: Yeah. … There’s several red flags … as a — an investigator … you have to keep an open mind.
Within a week of Brian Fanion’s interview, on May 14, 2018, Amy Fanion’s wake was held.
Brian Fanion planted a tree in nearby Stanley Park in his wife’s memory, but the investigation into her sudden death was just beginning.
Detectives recovered a treasure trove of deleted text messages from Brian Fanion’s phone including these exchanges on May 4 and 5:
MAY 4, 2018:
CORI KNOWLES | 9:42 AM: Mmmmm … To feel your hot breath on my skin!!!
CORI KNOWLES | 9:48 AM: Have I told you that I love being your Angel? …
BRIAN FANION | 9:59 AM: I swear God made you for me …
CORI KNOWLES | 1:11 PM: I so need to hear your voice … I love you!!!
BRIAN FANION | 1:19 PM: Amy is still being attentive and clingy …
BRIAN FANION | 9:08 PM: Thank You for being you, the most amazing woman that I have ever known.
MAY 5, 2018:
CORI KNOWLES | 4:31 PM: My heart belongs to you…
BRIAN FANION | 4:26 PM: … I would be lost without you :):):):) I am eternally yours.
BRIAN FANION | 7:39 PM: I love you Cori!!!
CORI KNOWLES | 7:43 PM: I love you so much Brian!!!!!
Det. Mike Blanchette: There were just hundreds of texts that expanded on the relationship that he was having with Cori.
On May 7, the day before Amy Fanion died, Brian Fanion and Knowles exchanged 72 text messages until 9:47 p.m. that evening.
In one exchange at 9:23 p.m., Brian Fanion writes, “Good night my love!!! I hope you have wonderful dreams of amazing days and nights to come:):):):).”
At 10:33 p.m. Knowles responds, “Good night My love … I will dream of you and all that they (sic) future holds for us!”
The next morning at 10:30 a.m., Knowles texts, “When can I hold you again?????”
To which Brian Fanion responds, “… not soon enough. Turning into a very long morning.
Nikki Battiste: And within an hour or two, Amy Fanion is dead.
Det. Mike Blanchette: Yes.
At 12:47 p.m. on May 8, Brian Fanion texts Knowles, “Please don’t call or text for a while. I’ll call when I can really bad pray for my family please.”
Det. Brendan O’Toole: Brian has not been entirely truthful to us at this point. And so we want to speak with him again.
Brian Fanion is questioned in a second interview with detectives from the Massachusetts State Police on May 17, 2018.
Hampden County Superior Court
On May 17, 2018, three days after Amy Fanion’s wake, Brian Fanion arrived at the District Attorney’s State Police Office for another round of questioning.
DET. BRENDAN O’TOOLE (police interview): So we just needed to, you know, uh, clarify some things. … you know your Miranda rights, but I — I’m going to read them off this form.
BRIAN FANION: Now — the other day you didn’t do this. Has something changed?…
DET. BRENDAN O’TOOLE: You’re not, you’re not under arrest or anything.
BRIAN FANION: Well, I know that.
And on that same day, across town, detectives met with Cori Knowles to learn more about her involvement with Brian Fanion.
DET. MIKE MCNALLY (police interview): If somebody was to say, who’s Cori, who are you?
Cori Knowles, a 48-year-old wife, grandmother, and member of her church’s choir, told detectives that Brian Fanion’s friendship helped her work through a troubled second marriage.
CORI KNOWLES: Brian is very easy to talk to. … nothing but affirmation and love, and I’m here for you.
But over time, their relationship moved from friendship to flirtation.
CORI KNOWLES (police interview): Did I feel passion for him? Absolutely.
By April 16, 2018, five months into Brian Fanion and Knowles’ relationship, their texting gave way to something more intimate when Knowles visited Fanion’s house before they left for volunteer work.
DET. MIKE MCNALLY (police interview): Was that the first time you were intimate that you kissed, at, on that April day, the 16th?
CORI KNOWLES: Yeah.
DET. MIKE MCNALLY (police interview): And then where was that?
CORI KNOWLES: I wanna say the kitchen. … ’cause I got there before Amy got home.
Knowles told detectives that by late April, she and Brian Fanion were having passionate make-out sessions in her truck.
At 5:29 p.m. on April 23, 2018, Knowles texts Brian Fanion, “I can feel your … lips on mine!!!! LOVE that Memory!!!:):):)
At 5:34 p. m., Brian Fanion replies, “… I’m thinking of the one with your legs around my waist … Oh my … “
Det. Mike McNally: Brian left work early, met up with Cori in Westfield at Stanley Park and they made out … there was, some sexual touching.
But according to Knowles, Brian Fanion could not perform.
CORI KNOWLES (police interview): It was more like because I’m still married to — to Amy —
DET. BRENDAN O’TOOLE (police interview): We’ve seen the text messages. In all honesty, Brian, it looks like it’s a lot more than a friendship. You know.
BRIAN FANION: I know it escalated … and I’m completely embarrassed by it, ashamed of it and shouldn’t happen.
Nikki Battiste: But a lot of people have affairs and —
Det. Brendan O’Toole: Correct.
Nikki Battiste: — don’t kill their wife.
Det. Brendan O’Toole: Correct.
O’Toole then asks Brian Fanion to go back over his statement of what happened, beginning at the moment when Fanion said he placed his gun on the hutch and went inside the bathroom.
DET. BRENDAN O’TOOLE (police interview): All right. So, you come out of the bathroom, right, and she’s at the table. Where — where just indicate like where —
DET. BRENDAN O’TOOLE: Between the table and the hutch?
BRIAN FANION: Yeah.
DET. BRENDAN O’TOOLE: In — in a chair right there?
BRIAN FANION: I don’t know if she was sitting or standing. I think she was standing. I mean, um, shoot — I think she was sitting.
Det. Mike Blanchette: Now, when we were trying to get these, step-by-step details, he seemed to be wavering.
DET. BRENDAN O’TOOLE: So, you come out of the bathroom. OK? … And then what’s the first thing that happens?
BRIAN FANION: I just remember her saying that — that you obviously don’t want me around.
And then O’Toole asks Brian Fanion to demonstrate what Amy Fanion did with the gun.
BRIAN FANION: I just remember seeing her hand come up with the gun.
DET. MIKE BLANCHETTE: Towards her head?
BRIAN FANION: Yeah.
DET. BRENDAN O’TOOLE: So, she puts it to the side of her head?
BRIAN FANION: Yes.
DET. BRENDAN O’TOOLE: OK.
DET. BRENDAN O’TOOLE: And — and where was the gun when it went off? Was it in the same —
BRIAN FANION: Right to her head.
But there is a problem. What Brian Fanion did not know was that a CSI report and Amy Fanion’s autopsy results had arrived.
Det. Brendan O’Toole: … the gunshot entrance wound was not consistent with a self-inflicted wound.
Nikki Battiste: Fair to say it took this case in a whole new direction?
Det. Brendan O’Toole: Yes.
QUESTIONING BRIAN FANION’S STORY
During the second interview with Brian Fanion, O’Toole And Blanchette found themselves facing a challenge that tested their experience as investigators.
Det. Brendan O’Toole: This is not a — a normal interview for myself and Mike. We’ve done thousands of interviews. You know, we’re pretty good at it, but it’s hard when it’s a police officer, because he knows exactly how we work … it was … a difficult interview.
DET. BRENDAN O’TOOLE (police interview): There’s a problem. I’ll be straight up …
Detectives laid out with what they considered to be crucial evidence in their investigation.
DET. BRENDAN O’TOOLE (police interview): There’s no indication – whatsoever, so far that she had a gun close to the side of her head.
BRIAN FANION: Well, then you’re wrong ’cause she did. ‘Cause I saw it and it happened.
DET. BRENDAN O’TOOLE: You — you know
BRIAN FANION: How do you say there’s no indication?
DET. BRENDAN O’TOOLE: Well, I mean, that’s what — that’s what, you know, that’s what it’s showing us right now.
The medical examiner listed Amy Fanion’s manner of death as undetermined. And combined with CSI findings, investigators did not believe that she died of a self-inflicted wound.
DET. BRENDAN O’TOOLE (police interview): I mean, there’s no doubt she — was shot was, but the question is, from what distance?
BRIAN FANION: It was right freaking there. I’m telling you. . . well do what you need to but I’m telling you it was right there.
In Amy’s case, distance mattered. This is because with self-inflicted gunshot wounds, debris, known as gunshot residue, is expelled from the firearm. It leaves a distinct pattern on and inside the wound known as stippling.
DET. BRENDAN O’TOOLE (police interview): Like, if Brian, you — you understand like guns and stippling and all that stuff?
BRIAN FANION: I do and I can’t —
DET. BRENDAN O’TOOLE: There’s none on her, Brian. There’s none on her!
BRIAN FANION: There has to be ’cause the gun was the — right freaking there!
DET. BRENDAN O’TOOLE: There’s none on her.
BRIAN FANION: Then they’re wrong. I’m telling you they’re — they’re flat out wrong, ’cause it was right freaking there.
DET. BRENDAN O’TOOLE: The other option is you got pissed and you’re a foot — or a few feet away and you shot her in the head —
BRIAN FANION: No, no.
DET. BRENDAN O’TOOLE: — when she’s sitting eating a peanut butter sandwich.
BRIAN FANION: Didn’t happen.
DET. BRENDAN O’TOOLE: Didn’t happen?
BRIAN FANION: Did not happen.
DET. BRENDAN O’TOOLE: Alright.
With Brian Fanion’s affair exposed and CSI reports in hand, detectives suspected Fanion had likely shot his wife, but they still needed more evidence.
On May 24, 2018, detectives obtained a search warrant for Fanion’s home, and when detectives arrived —
Det. Brendan O’Toole: Brian … asked if I was there to arrest him. And I told him I wasn’t. And then he asked me if I thought he did it.
Nikki Battiste: Were you surprised he asked you that?
Det. Brendan O’Toole: I was noting it. I didn’t know how to feel … and I didn’t answer his question.
Detectives took additional measurements to analyze the trajectory of the bullet.
Fanion’s home electronics were confiscated. And at the same time, his desktop computer and laptop at the Westfield Police Station were seized for data extraction.
Nikki Battiste: Did you see any signs that Brian Fanion planned to kill his wife? Any evidence that points to that?
Det. Brendan O’Toole: We see a totality of all the evidence here. … Um, we’re not the fact finders. Um, we’re, we’re detectives, so we, we collect all this information and then … it’s going to be presented … and someone else is going to make a determination on that.
Andthat someonewould be Hampden County Assistant District Attorney Mary Sandstrom. New to the homicide division, Sandstrom had arrived in Massachusetts by way of New York.
Nikki Battiste: Is it fair to say you were a fish out of water a bit?
Mary Sandstrom (laughs): It’s always hard not being from the area in which you prosecute. … uh, it’s a very small, very intimately connected town. … So, yes, you’re never at an advantage where you don’t know everybody by name.
Nikki Battiste: Adding to the difficulty, Brian Fanion is a detective.… And respected.
Mary Sandstrom: Very much in — in that community.
As spring gave way to summer, Knowles ended her relationship with Brian Fanion. By early 2019, Fanion retired from the police force.
The investigation into Amy Fanion’s death continued.
Mary Sandstrom: We’re still trying to get some testing done … because we wanna have a strong case as possible before we go in before the grand jury.
And a complication in the form of a letter was among the case files.
Amy Fanion’s family members expressed their “unfailing support” of Brian Fanion, saying “we are certain Amy took her own life.” The letter was signed by Amy’s siblings, and even her own mother.
Nikki Battiste: That’s gotta be tough for you.
Mary Sandstrom: It’s an awkward position for a prosecutor, where your victim family isn’t supporting you. … It was an odd spot to be in.
An odd spot, perhaps, but not a deterrent. On Nov. 6, 2019, 17 months after Amy Fanion died, detectives arrived at Brian Fanion’s door.
Det. Mike McNally: Brian … came to the dining room door … pretty quickly as I recall it, and he said something to the effect of, come in. … Then Mike Blanchette began to describe to Brian, “Brian, we have an arrest warrant for you.”
NEWS REPORT|WBTZ:Police say Brian Fanion told them that his wife shot herself with his gun while he was at home on a lunch break last year.
Det. Mike McNally: I remember telling him, put your hands behind your back. I took out my handcuffs.
NEWS REPORT: AUDREY RUSSO | WESTERN MASS NEWS: … through their investigation, they only solidified their suspicion that Brian pulled the trigger.
Det. Mike McNally: He was eating … assorted nuts … just popping some in his mouth … And as he put his hands behind his back, he let them drop to the floor.
Det. Mike McNally: We transported Brian to the Russell State Police barracks. … he’s processed. Photographed. Fingerprinted.
NEWS REPORT | CHRIS PISANO | WESTERN MASS NEWS: … stands accused of killing his wife in what was originally reported as …
Det. Mike McNally: I assessed a feeling of despair on Brian’s face, like … I can’t believe this is happening.
FORMER DETECTIVE GOES ON TRIAL FOR MURDER
Stephanie Barry, a crime reporter at The Republican newspaper, recalls the unusual scene that played out 15 miles away, in Springfield, Massachusetts, inside the Hampden County Superior Court in early November 2019.
Stephanie Barry: There’s no one who spent any amount of time in Westfield who didn’t know who Brian Fanion was.
Stephanie Barry: It was a pretty full house. And the kind of palpable shock remained throughout the entire proceeding.
Retired Det. Brian Fanion
Hampden District Attorney’s Office
Brian Fanion, who appeared for his initial arraignment, entered a plea of not guilty. And sitting right behind him were members of both Brian’s and Amy Fanion’s family.
Stephanie Barry: I can’t think of another instance when I’ve seen the family of a victim … sticking up for the accused murderer of their loved one.
And despite the absence of support from members of Amy Fanion’s family, ADA Sandstrom continued to build her case.
Amy Fanion
Court exhibit
Nikki Battiste: What was Amy Fanion like?
Mary Sandstrom: She sounds like a fairytale. … giving, selfless. … completely dedicated to her family.
According to Sandstrom, the night before Amy Fanion died, she was making a gift for an upcoming baby shower that she planned to attend, and was texting her daughter, Victoria.
Nikki Battiste: Did anyone ever say that Amy was ever suicidal?
Mary Sandstrom: She wasn’t a person who was ready to die. … Amy was healthy. She was happy.
Nikki Battiste: What do you think Brian Fanion’s motive was?
Mary Sandstrom: He was ready to start a new chapter of his life that did not include Amy Fanion. … He’s chosen his life partner in Cori. Amy is the only thing standing in the way now.
Nikki Battiste: And that’s always the million-dollar question. Why not divorce?
Mary Sandstrom: He can’t divorce Amy for how he is going … to be seen in this community. … divorce is public. But, in his mind, murder doesn’t have to be.
On Feb. 23, 2023 – in what would be Westfield’s most publicized case, Brian Fanion’s trial began. He faced a life sentence for the first-degree murder of his wife.
“48 Hours” made several interview requests to Brian Fanion, his attorney, Jeffrey Brown, as well as family members of both Amy and Brian, but never received a response.
Nikki Battiste: This is a big case, a lot of attention. … How are you feeling?
Mary Sandstrom: For any trial, you’re always nervous. And … this was probably the most high-profile case I’ve ever done.
Opening statements revealed conflicting accounts of the circumstances surrounding Amy Fanion’s death.
MARY SANDSTROM (in court): The defendant was a deacon at Wyben Union Church and an officer for the Westfield Police Department … The evidence will show that while the defendant was repulsed by continuing his marriage with Amy. He couldn’t divorce her either. … Leaving him trapped. … And once that evidence is before you, I will ask you to find the defendant guilty of murder in the first degree.
Brian Fanion’s defense focused on Amy Fanion’s anger issues and claimed she suffered from anxiety. Brown alleged that on the day of Amy’s death, an argument over Brian’s retirement plans and his refusal to attend a family member’s play pushed her over the edge.
JEFFREY BROWN (in court): In the days before Amy shot herself, Amy was very mad at Brian. … You had to tread lightly around Amy for fear of setting her off.
JEFFREY BROWN (in court): And at the conclusion of the evidence in this case, I’ll ask that we find Brian Fanion not guilty. Thank you.
Anna Hansen, Amy’s younger sister, was the first witness for the prosecution. She was the only family member who signed the letter of support that willingly testified against Brian Fanion.
Anna Hansen, Amy Fanion’s younger sister, was the first witness for the prosecution. She was the only family member who signed the letter of support that willingly testified against Brian Fanion.
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Anna Hansen stated that during the investigation into Amy’s death, her brother-in-law confided that he was worried about searches he had conducted on his computer.
ANNA HANSEN (in court): I asked him what that search was, and he said, “how to make a murder look like a suicide.”
MARY SANDSTROM: He specifically said he searched quote “how to make a murder look like a suicide?”
ANNA HANSEN: Those were his exact words.
Anna Hansen told the jury that when she asked her brother-in-law why he made this search, Brian Fanion told her that Amy asked him to do it after they watched a “CSI” show. It was a show that Anna Hansen questioned if Amy had ever watched.
MARY SANDSTROM (in court): Did she ever state that she liked those shows?
ANNA HANSEN: She never shared that with me.
The prosecution’s next witness was Brian Fanion’s former lover, a divorced Cori Knowles, now Cori Hasty, who told the jury that Fanion was concerned about ending his marriage.
MARY SANDSTROM (in court): Did the defendant ever talk about what could happen to him if he were to divorce Amy?
CORI HASTY: Yes. … If Amy was to ever leave — excuse me, or he divorced her, that she would take him for everything that he’s got. … because he wouldn’t be able to sustain on retirement at that point.
The prosecution called Tom Forest from the Cyber Crime Unit. All of Brian Fanion’s devices were examined, but it was Fanion’s office computer that produced some curious results.
Forest said Brian Fanion visited these sites:
DET. TOM FOREST (in court): “Common and dangerous poisons,” … “Which drug causes the most deaths each year? … Sixteen common household items that could kill you.”
DET. TOM FOREST (in court): “Carbon monoxide the invisible killer” … “Household poisons” … “Common prescription overdoses” …
Mary Sandstrom: But it’s only when this affair starts up … that all of these incriminating searches start to appear.
And 11 days prior to Amy Fanion’s death, Brian Fanion used his office computer to view a news report on YouTube called, “What gunshot residue tests tell us.”
Mary Sandstrom: He wasn’t assigned to any active investigations in April and May of 2018. … that would necessitate looking up gunshot residue. … Nobody in the Westfield Police Department does gunshot residue testing.
Stephanie Barry: I was trying to keep a very open mind about what the evidence was going to show. … but I didn’t think that was great news for Brian Fanion.
Detective John Schrijn, a ballistics expert and a crucial witness for the prosecution, testified that Amy Fanion’s wound was not self-inflicted.
Citing the absence of gunshot residue near the wound coupled with the trajectory of the bullet, Schrijn concluded that Amy Fanion was shot from downward angle and at a distance of at least 18 inches — not at close range as Brian Fanion had claimed.
MARY SANDSTROM (in court): So, did you form an opinion … as to whether or not … the defendant’s firearm was discharged at a distance of 18 inches or greater.
DET. JOHN SCHRIJN: Over 18 inches, without anything intervening. That’s correct.
After 12 days of testimony and 27 witnesses, the prosecution rested. But waiting in the wings was a defense poised to introduce a significant element that could potentially unravel the DA’s case.
Mary Sandstrom: Any prosecutor who is not worried about a defense, probably isn’t a good prosecutor.
THE DEFENSE MAKES ITS CASE
Defense attorney Jeffrey Brown, whose client faced life in prison, launched a counterattack. He cross-examined Brian Fanion’s former lover, Cori Hasty.
According to the state, Brian Fanion’s affair was the primary motive for murdering his wife. But Hasty admitted to the defense that when she ended their relationship, Fanion didn’t try to stop her.
JEFFREY BROWN (in court): When ultimately you ended it with Brian, his response was, OK, isn’t that right?
CORI HASTY: To my recollection.
JEFFREY BROWN: He didn’t say to you, oh, my God, I killed Amy for you and you’re leaving me? He never said that, right?
CORI HASTY: Correct.
And what about the websites Det. Forest from the Cyber Crime Unit said Brian Fanion visited?
The defense argued that some of the websites he visited were related to an aging house, an old wood-burning stove, and the potential hazards it might pose to a young family member.
JEFFREY BROWN (in court): Did you know that the Fanions, um, were beginning to have a young niece a child stay in their home during that time frame?
DET. TOM FOREST: No, I did not.
But what the defense couldn’t reconcile were Brian Fanion’s searches about gunshot residue days before his wife’s death.
And there was Amy Fanion’s sister, Anna Hansen, the only family member who willingly testified for the prosecution. She claimed that Brian Fanion told her he searched “how to make a murder look like a suicide” on his computer.
JEFFREY BROWN (in court): You didn’t find any sites that were searched or visited relating to the terms, how to make a murder look like a suicide, isn’t that true?
DET. TOM FOREST: That is true.
The defense narrowed its focus and scrutinized Amy Fanion’s personality by cross-examining Amy’s own mother, Patricia Tarrant.
JEFFREY BROWN (in court): Did your daughter Amy have a temper?
PATRICIA TARRANT: Yes.
A temper, according to Amy’s sister, Holly Fanion, that would typically be directed toward her husband.
JEFFREY BROWN (in court): Well, did she snap at Brian in front of you?
HOLLY FANION: She would. … I was embarrassed for him. You don’t usually talk to your husband kind of in that way. Maybe you reprimand a child, but not a husband.
But would Amy Fanion’s temper lead to an impulsive decision such as grabbing Brian Fanion’s gun? According to Amy’s son Travis Fanion, it would.
TRAVIS FANION (in court): I could easily picture or envision her, grabbing the gun impulsively … to make a point … that she picked it up intending to complete a trigger pull and — and shoot herself.
But what would explain the lack of gunshot residue on Amy Fanion?
Alexander Jason: Her wound is consistent with a close-range gunshot wound based …
Alexander Jason, a senior certified crime scene analyst, testified for the defense.
Alexander Jason: That’s the foundation of the whole prosecution. … And this whole idea that it had to be 18 inches because of the absence of gunshot residue is not valid.
Jason says the lack of gunshot residue was not due to distance. It was due to Amy Fanion’s hair.
Nikki Battiste: What could Amy Fanion’s hair have told us?
Alexander Jason: Amy Fanion had very dense, thick hair that will block the gunshot residue.
Jason’s research “Effect of Hair on the Deposition of Gunshot Residue” was published by the FBI’s forensic science journal in 2004.
Jason says there could have been gunshot residue, commonly known as GSR, embedded in Amy Fanion’s hair. The crime scene analyst did not test her hair.
Alexander Jason: What they should have done is taken the hair … and then analyze those little specs to see if they’re gunshot residue or not. … which was a mistake.
Jason’s testimony was limited at trial, but to support his theory he and his daughter Juliana met “48 Hours” at a gun range in California to demonstrate what may have happened to Amy Fanion.
Alexander Jason: I’m going to fire two times.
Using a .45 caliber gun and ammunition identical to what was found at the scene, Jason fired a single round into a mound of hair, backed by a ballistic skin simulant.
Nikki Battiste: So, you just shot a .45 caliber gun, three inches away through hair.
Alexander Jason: Yes.
Alexander Jason: Amy Fanion had considerable hair, maybe more dense than this where the bullet entered … and the hair will act as a filter and prevent the gunshot residue from reaching her skin.
For comparison, Jason positioned the gun at the same distance, using identical ammunition, and fired into the skin simulant without hair.
Alexander Jason: And I pull this away.
Nikki Battiste: Wow.
Alexander Jason and “48 Hours” contributor Nikki Battiste at the gun range. Jason demonstrated how Amy Fanion’s hair may have acted as a filter, preventing gunshot residue from reaching her skin.
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Alexander Jason: You can see there is a big difference. … Now, look at that. That’s a very clean wound. That’s a very dirty wound.
Nikki Battiste: That’s incredible, all from the hair.
Alexander Jason: All from the hair. The hair acted as a filter.
Nikki Battiste: Pretty fascinating.
While Jason believes this scenario is what happened to Amy Fanion, he stops short of saying whether or not Brian Fanion killed his wife.
Alexander Jason: You see the hair filtered that stuff out.
But what he does believe is that basing the case on the absence of gunshot residue is wrong.
Alexander Jason: And he should not be convicted on that basis. … That’s my bottom line.
After 40 witnesses and 15 days of testimony, closing arguments began.
JEFFREY BROWN (in court) She raised the gun up to her head in a fit of rage … and in effect caused her own death.
MARY SANDSTROM (in court): This defendant murdered Amy Fanion with deliberate premeditation.
On March 21, 2023, the jury got the case. And after two days of deliberations, came the verdict.
Brian Fanion was found guilty of the first-degree murder of his wife, Amy Fanion, and sentenced to life without parole that same day.
Stephanie Barry: Brian’s side of the aisle just collapsed in sobs. … these people love Brian and sincerely thought that he was innocent.
For Assistant District Attorney Mary Sandstrom, Brian Fanion’s conviction was bittersweet and hard won.
Mary Sandstrom: It’s never a victory. … Amy Fanion should be here. … She should be with her daughter and son and her now grandchildren … And she’s not. … And … it was all for nothing … so that … Brian Fanion … could … enjoy his life and end hers.
Brian Fanion’s conviction is under appeal.
Produced by Marie Hegwood. Morgan Canty is the associate producer. Wini Dini, George Baluzy, Greg Kaplan and Chris Crater are the editors. Sara Ely Hulse and Elizabeth Caholo are the development producers. Lourdes Aguiar is the senior producer. Nancy Kramer is the executive story editor. Judy Tygard is the executive producer.
