Prosecutor To Seek The Death Penalty In Gruesome Murder Allegedly Involving Victim’s Close Friend

Authorities charged a Missouri victim’s close friend with murder Monday after the suspect blamed the husband. The prosecutor in the case said he would be seeking the death penalty.

Pamela Hupp was charged with first-degree murder in the December 2011 stabbing of Betsy Faria, Lincoln County prosecutor Mike Wood said in a press conference.

“We will be seeking the death penalty in this case,” Wood said. “I do not take lightly the decision to pursue the death penalty, but this case stands alone in its heinousness and depravity, such that it shocks the conscience. For decades this case has loomed large as a dark cloud over Lincoln County.”

Hupp was the last person to have seen Faria alive before she was fatally stabbed at her home in 2011, authorities said. Her husband, Russ, found his wife’s body when he came home from his weekly game night with friends, according to NBC.

Hupp initially testified against Russ, framing him for his wife’s murder. Hupp alleged Russ was violent and convinced police to search Faria’s computer where there was a letter alleging Faria feared Russ would kill her. Russ was convicted of his wife’s death and sentenced to prison, according to NBC News.

But Wood reopened the case and discovered things couldn’t be farther from the truth.

“I came to the conclusion that, beyond a reasonable doubt, Pamela Hupp killed Betsy Faria,” Wood alleged. “And I believe her motivation was simple: for greed.”

Hupp was named the sole beneficiary of Faria’s $150,000 life insurance policy four days before Faria’s untimely death.

On the evening of Dec. 27, Russ returned home from game night to find Faria had been stabbed multiple times, with a trail of blood throughout the house. Police pinned Russ as the primary suspect despite holes in the evidence.

“He had four alibi witnesses, no blood on him despite a gruesome murder scene, cellphone towers along with video evidence at two separate locations put him somewhere else at the time of her death,” Wood said.

Still, Russ was convicted for Faria’s death in 2013, which was later overturned on appeal in 2015. Russ was tried a second time for the crime but was acquitted as evidence began pointing toward Hupp. (RELATED: Fugitive Turns Himself In For Murder Of Elderly Woman After 5 Days On The Run)

Faria was terminally ill with cancer in 2011. After a chemotherapy treatment on Dec. 27, Hupp drove Faria back home despite Faria’s indifference, according to authorities. When they arrived at the home authorities allege she stabbed Faria multiple times as Faria was lying on the couch. Hepp then allegedly took Faria’s socks and soaked them in her own blood before dragging them throughout the house.

Investigators believe and it is alleged in court documents that Hepp created a trail of blood in order to frame what would appear to be a domestic violence scene.

“Bloodstains on the socks resemble impressions of fingers and not toes,” court documents said, according to KSDK. “Investigators believe the killer placed the socks on his/her hands after the murder occurred to plant evidence onto the crime scene and then put the socks back on the victim after accomplishing his/her goal.”

Hupp is currently serving a life sentence for the 2016 murder of Louis Gumpenberger, who she shot and killed during a fake home invasion. Hupp claimed self-defense but prosecutors determined Hupp staged the incident to take the heat off the Faria case, according to KSDK.

Wood said he would be launching an investigation into possible prosecutorial and police misconduct in relation to the “mismanaged” investigation of Faria’s death.

“This was one of the poorest examples of investigative work that I … have ever encountered. Driven largely by ego, working toward an agenda rather than truth,” Wood said.