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 When a wife is found murdered in her home, the first person suspected is always the husband. Maybe it’s the old TV shows that programmed us to believe the bad guy is always the butler. As viewers, this concept makes for good television, and it is expected among the collective masses. The problems begin when the investigators believe this notion and refuse to look past it. This is what happened in the case of Russ and Betsy Faria.

 Two days after Christmas in 2011, Russell Faria arrived home to find his wife dead on the living room floor. He calls 911 in a panic to report that his wife has committed suicide. There was one problem with this theory. Elizabeth Kay Faria had been stabbed fifty-five times, and the knife was left in her neck. Obviously, it was not a suicide. This made the police look hard at Russell Faria. The rest of the clues should have led to another suspect, but once Russ was suspected, they didn’t look at anyone else. One key witness would make sure the focus stayed squarely on Russ Faria’s chest. Her name was Pam Hupp.

The Farias were a happily married couple struggling through Betsy’s bout with terminal cancer. Betsy was a lively, outgoing woman who had many friends. When they discovered her cancer had returned and was in stage four, the couple decided to try and enjoy what time they had left together.

 Betsy and Russ had recently returned from a cruise and were planning another vacation in March. Of course, there were moments of desperation and despair. On a couple of occasions, Betsy talked of suicide, but it never happened. While it’s easy to put on a brave face in public, it was sometimes a struggle in private. To anyone dealing with the trauma of cancer, this is understandable.

 During Betsy’s battles, she relied a great deal on her friend Pam to help with rides to the doctor and such. She also allegedly depended on Pam to become the beneficiary of her life insurance policy upon her death. This seems strange to investigators now, but at the time of the murder, this was dismissed due to Pam’s explanations. She claimed the devoted husband was a facade, and Russ was an abusive husband whom Betsy wanted to divorce.

 Pam explained that Betsy wanted her to put the $150,000 into a trust fund for her daughters. So, what’s the problem? The trust was set up four days before the trial of Russell Faria, and then it was wiped out right after the husband was convicted of murder. The children never received a penny. The very fact that Hupp received the insurance payout should have been a red flag, but it was overlooked and wasn’t allowed into the trial. This motive would later be the key to giving Russell Faria another trial.

 Even though Russ had a solid alibi for the night of the murder and it was backed up by four witnesses, time-stamped receipts, cell phone towers, and surveillance cameras, the prosecution kept the blinders on and focused on him anyway. Pam made sure of this by telling her stories about Russ to the local media, to the townsfolk, to the funeral home, and to anyone who would listen. By the time of the trial, the entire community seemed to be against the husband.

 The crime scene held some unusual clues that could have pointed at Russ, but to an open-minded investigator, they could have spelled out “set up.” For one, most of the stab wounds were done posthumously, meaning they were done after her death. Someone slit the poor woman’s wrists in an attempt to make it look like a suicide. This feeble attempt could have placed the blame on Russ, but it also opened the possibility of another perpetrator.

 Pamela Hupp was the last one to see Betsy alive. Wouldn’t it make sense to compare the time of death to the evidence of Russ’s whereabouts? This would have excluded the husband and placed Hupp squarely within the time frame of the murder. During the police interview, they immediately began accusing Russ of his wife’s murder. Two interviews were conducted simultaneously. While police were questioning and accusing Russ, they were also being fed false information from Pam Hupp.

 She claimed he would abuse his cancer-stricken wife and talk about how much better it would be when she was gone. Hupp would continue the lies and false evidence throughout the trial. Russell Faria was convicted of the murder of his wife, to everyone’s surprise. Let’s dive deeper into the details of this case.

 Betsy Faria was stabbed fifty-five times. Let’s look at that. The police claimed in the interrogation that this was a crime of passion, and it had to be done by someone who loved her at one time. Russ was obviously the culprit in their eyes.

 Upon close examination, it was discovered that most of the stab wounds were done posthumously, or after death. The slits across Betsy Faria’s wrists were done deliberately to give the first impression of suicide. The other wounds weren’t readily visible, so Russ’s 911 call was beginning to make more sense.

 Couple that with the fact that Betsy had threatened suicide a few times during her bout with cancer, and it became clear that this wasn’t an open-and-shut case against the husband. Everyone around the couple knew it couldn’t be Russ, but investigators were narrowing in on their target. This narrow view would change after the trial. A few days after Russ was convicted of murdering his cancer-stricken wife in a fit of passion, Pam Hupp cashed out the trust fund and kept the money for herself. The two daughters sue, but amazingly, they are denied their right to the money. Pam wins again.

 This behavior and some of her statements on the witness stand grabbed the attention of attorney Joel Schwartz. He argued that Pam’s taking the money provided a motive for murder or at least another trial for Russ. The investigators began to review old evidence and Pam Hupp’s odd behavior after Russell’s conviction. When a new judge reviewed the case, he was appalled at the investigation and called it disturbing.

 During the second trial, the defense was allowed to bring up the evidence against Pam Hupp. This included the fact that she was the last to see Betsy alive, and she had taken the life insurance money without giving it to the children. This, along with Russell’s alibi, exonerated him of his wife’s murder. The prosecutor believed in Russ’s guilt so adamantly that she refused to reopen the case. Now Russ is free, but the murder of Betsy is still unsolved. That’s the end of the story, right? Nope. Amazingly, both the judge and the prosecutor would be voted out of their jobs in the next election after this disastrous case went public. Now, a new prosecutor is looking into it. This would be enough to make the true murderer nervous.

 A few months later, the case was brought back into the spotlight when a woman dials 911 in a panic, and the conspiracy began to rapidly unravel. On August 16, 2016, Pam Hupp called 911, claiming a man was breaking into her house with a knife and threatening to kill her.

 Suddenly, the operator hears several gunshots, and the woman cries profusely. Pam Hupp had just killed Louis Gumpenberger. In the man’s pocket was a note that mentioned Russell Faria and money. Could the newly exonerated Russ Faria have hired a hitman to go after poor Pamela Hupp? No. This time, the police saw through her ruse quickly. Her staged crime scene and her vicious hit man began to fall apart. Gumpenberger was anything but vicious. It turns out Pam Hupp had lured a mentally disabled man to her home and shot him dead. Why? To frame Russell Faria. Or maybe I should say re-frame? You’d think she wouldn’t try the same failed idea twice, but she did.

Police arrest Pamela Hupp for the murder of Gumpenberger and haul her off to jail. Her attorneys fought to keep the evidence of the previous two murders out of the trial. Wait. Did I say two murders? Yes, I did. You see, this isn’t the first time Pam Hupp was suspected of murder. Allegedly, Pam’s own mother died when she accidentally fell off a balcony years ago. I bet you can’t guess who got money out of that deal.

 Now, after delving into that case, it seems that Shirley Neumann’s death was likely a homicide. Time and investigation will tell. As if this weren’t enough to consider, there’s more damming evidence against Hupp. During the police interrogations in the Faria case, Pam actually said her mother was worth a million dollars.

 Her mother had a life insurance policy for a million dollars. Amid the chaos following the Faria murder, Shirley Neumann accidentally crashes through a very stable balcony and falls to her death. That case is classed as accidental and no investigation followed; not until now. As of this writing, Shirley Neumann’s death has been changed from accidental to undetermined, and investigators are now looking into it with fresh eyes.

 In June 2109, Hupp was facing the death penalty, so she took a plea deal that would take that option off the table. Hupp took the Alford Plea, which means that although she doesn’t admit to the murder, she does admit that the state had enough evidence to convict her. This complex legal term is a rather odd way of pleading guilty in my book. If she wasn’t guilty, she would fight it, but obviously, she just threw up her hands and took the plea. Maybe she knew the gig was up. Now the authorities are looking at the Betsie Faria case again.

 Police are also re-investigating the “accidental” death of Pam’s mother. What do you think? Do you think there is a triple homicide here, or do you believe Hupp’s claims that the evil Russell Faria is out to get her? This is a case that I will continue to follow.

UPDATE: (May 2025)

Hupp is currently serving a life sentence at the Chillicothe Correctional Center for the murder of Louis Gumpenberger. She’s facing a 1st degree murder charge for Betsy Faria, and the trial is scheduled for July of 2026. Hupp still claims her innocence and said she only pleaded guilty originally to save her family from an “ugly” trial. 

I’ll keep you posted on this case as we find out more. 

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Check out Synova’s Archived Video On this Case:

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This blog is an excerpt from Synova’s Casefiles book “Shattered.” Check it out below:

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