Pamela Marie Hupp ( Neumann; born October 10, 1958) is an American
murder
Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person wit ...
er serving a
life sentence
Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...
in
Missouri
Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...
's
Chillicothe Correctional Center for the 2016 shooting of Louis Gumpenberger in her home in
O'Fallon, Missouri
O'Fallon ( ) is a city located along Interstates 64 and 70 between Lake St. Louis and St. Peters in St. Charles County, Missouri, United States. It is part of the St. Louis metropolitan statistical area. As of the 2020 census, O'Fallon had ...
. Hupp's claim that she had shot Gumpenberger (who had mental and physical disabilities) in
self-defense
Self-defense (self-defence primarily in Commonwealth English) is a countermeasure that involves defending the health and well-being of oneself from harm. The use of the right of self-defense as a legal justification for the use of force in ...
after he pursued her into her home wielding a knife was not accepted by law enforcement. She ultimately entered an
Alford plea
In United States law, an Alford plea, also called a Kennedy plea in West Virginia, an Alford guilty plea, and the Alford doctrine, is a guilty plea in criminal court, whereby a defendant in a criminal case does not admit to the criminal act and ...
before charges of
first-degree murder
Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse, especially the c ...
and armed criminal action could go to trial.
Testimony from Hupp had played a key role in the 2013 conviction of Russ Faria for the murder of his wife, Betsy Faria, who was stabbed to death in her home in
Troy, Missouri
Troy is a city in Lincoln County, Missouri, United States. As of 2019, the estimated population was 12,820. It is the county seat of Lincoln County. Troy is an exurb of St. Louis, and is part of the St. Louis Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Histo ...
, in 2011. After a successful
appeal
In law, an appeal is the process in which cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of clarifying and ...
and second trial in 2015, Faria was exonerated after his defense attorney was permitted to introduce evidence that was withheld from the original trial jury, some of which implicated Hupp the beneficiary of a
life insurance
Life insurance (or life assurance, especially in the Commonwealth of Nations) is a contract between an insurance policy holder and an insurer or assurer, where the insurer promises to pay a designated beneficiary a sum of money upon the death ...
policy held by Betsy as the killer. Law enforcement have theorized that Hupp tricked Gumpenberger into entering her home and then murdered him in a failed attempt to
frame
A frame is often a structural system that supports other components of a physical construction and/or steel frame that limits the construction's extent.
Frame and FRAME may also refer to:
Physical objects
In building construction
*Framing (con ...
Faria. In July 2021, Hupp was charged with the first-degree murder of Betsy Faria.
Hupp has also been investigated in connection with the death of her mother, Shirley Neumann, who died in 2013 from injuries sustained in a fall from the balcony of her third-floor apartment in
Fenton, Missouri
Fenton is a city in St. Louis County, Missouri, United States, and a suburb of St. Louis. The population was 4,022 at the 2010 census.
History
Due to its proximity to fertile land and the Meramec River, the Fenton area has been inhabited for o ...
. A tip-off to police accused Hupp of killing Neumann for financial gain. Neumann's death was initially ruled an accident, but in November 2017 the chief medical examiner for
St. Louis County changed the cause of death to "undetermined", referencing the events in O'Fallon and Troy. An investigation into Neumann's death by the
St. Louis County Police Department
The St. Louis County Police Department (SLCPD) is the primary and largest law enforcement agency serving St. Louis County in the U.S. state of Missouri. The current Chief of Police is Colonel Kenneth Gregory. According to the Charter of St. L ...
was inconclusive.
The killings of Betsy Faria and Louis Gumpenberger have been the subject of significant media coverage, including extensive reporting from the local
Fox
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelve sp ...
affiliate station
KTVI
KTVI (channel 2) is a television station in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside CW owned-and-operated station KPLR-TV (channel 11). Both stations share studios on B ...
in
St. Louis
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
and six ''
Dateline NBC
''Dateline NBC'' is a weekly American television news magazine/reality legal show that is broadcast on NBC. It was previously the network's flagship general interest news magazine, but now focuses mainly on true crime stories with only occasion ...
'' episodes airing from 2014 to 2022, as well as a ''Dateline NBC''
true crime
True crime is a nonfiction literary, podcast, and film genre in which the author examines an actual crime and details the actions of real people associated with and affected by criminal events.
The crimes most commonly include murder; about 40 per ...
podcast
A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...
. A scripted television series featuring actress
Renée Zellweger
Renée Kathleen Zellweger (; born April 25, 1969) is an American actress. The recipient of various accolades, including two Academy Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, and four Golden Globe Awards, she was one of the world's highest-paid ...
as Hupp, ''
The Thing About Pam
''The Thing About Pam'' is an American true crime comedy-drama television miniseries detailing the involvement of Pam Hupp in the 2011 murder of Betsy Faria. It stars Renée Zellweger, Josh Duhamel, Judy Greer, Gideon Adlon, Sean Bridgers, Sua ...
'', premiered on
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
in March–April 2022.
Prior life
Pamela Marie Neumann ("Pam") was born on October 10, 1958,
and grew up in
Dellwood,
Missouri
Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...
, a suburb of
St. Louis
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
, and attended
Riverview Gardens High School. In her young adulthood she held several jobs in the
life insurance
Life insurance (or life assurance, especially in the Commonwealth of Nations) is a contract between an insurance policy holder and an insurer or assurer, where the insurer promises to pay a designated beneficiary a sum of money upon the death ...
industry; on two occasions, she was fired for
forging
Forging is a manufacturing process involving the shaping of metal using localized compressive forces. The blows are delivered with a hammer (often a power hammer) or a die. Forging is often classified according to the temperature at which i ...
signatures. In 2001, Hupp and her husband settled in
O'Fallon, Missouri
O'Fallon ( ) is a city located along Interstates 64 and 70 between Lake St. Louis and St. Peters in St. Charles County, Missouri, United States. It is part of the St. Louis metropolitan statistical area. As of the 2020 census, O'Fallon had ...
, where she worked as an administrator for
State Farm
State Farm Insurance is a large group of mutual insurance companies throughout the United States with corporate headquarters in Bloomington, Illinois.
Overview
State Farm is the largest property and casualty insurance provider, and the la ...
and
flipped houses on the side via a company called H2 Partners LLC. By 2010, Hupp had stopped working and was claiming
disability benefits for back, leg, and neck pain.
In 2011, Hupp and Betsy Faria, a friend
terminally ill
Terminal illness or end-stage disease is a disease that cannot be cured or adequately treated and is expected to result in the death of the patient. This term is more commonly used for progressive diseases such as cancer, dementia or advanced he ...
with
cancer
Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...
, reportedly collected money for a family also impacted by cancer. St. Louis station
KTVI
KTVI (channel 2) is a television station in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside CW owned-and-operated station KPLR-TV (channel 11). Both stations share studios on B ...
discovered several years later that the family did not know about the collection; information was presented to
Lincoln County authorities in 2014, but was not investigated further. There was no evidence to suggest Faria knew the fundraiser was questionable, with her friends recalling that she said she was excited to be helping a struggling family, even though she herself was dying. One of them, Kathleen Meyer, said, "This was going to be a legacy for her, to leave something like this behind in her memory."
Death of Betsy Faria
Elizabeth Kay Meyer Faria ("Betsy") was a coworker of Hupp at State Farm. She lived in
Troy, Missouri
Troy is a city in Lincoln County, Missouri, United States. As of 2019, the estimated population was 12,820. It is the county seat of Lincoln County. Troy is an exurb of St. Louis, and is part of the St. Louis Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Histo ...
, with her husband, Russell Scott Faria ("Russ"), and two daughters from a previous relationship.
In 2010, she was diagnosed with
breast cancer
Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a re ...
. In October 2011, Betsy learned the cancer had
metastasized
Metastasis is a pathogenic agent's spread from an initial or primary site to a different or secondary site within the host's body; the term is typically used when referring to metastasis by a cancerous tumor. The newly pathological sites, then, ...
to her liver
and was terminal.
On December 22, 2011, days before her death and unbeknownst to her family, Betsy changed the sole beneficiary of her $150,000 () State Farm life insurance policy from her husband to Hupp, who originally said that Betsy had asked her to give the money to her daughters when they were older. Hupp later said that Betsy had wanted her to keep the money for herself.
Betsy's daughters launched a legal challenge against Hupp and her husband to attempt to claim the life insurance policy in 2014, which was dismissed in 2016;
Russ launched his own legal challenge against State Farm in 2016.
Hupp admitted that she had lied about what she intended to do with the life insurance proceeds.
Prosecutor
A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the Civil law (legal system), civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the ...
s later speculated that Russ had been angered by Betsy's actions, giving him a motive to kill her.
Russ remained the beneficiary on a separate $100,000 () policy.
Five days later, on December 27, 2011, Betsy underwent
chemotherapy
Chemotherapy (often abbreviated to chemo and sometimes CTX or CTx) is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemotherap ...
at the
Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center in St. Louis, then visited her mother's house. Afterward she was driven home by Hupp, the last confirmed person to have seen her alive.
Betsy had originally been scheduled to be driven home by Russ, or else stay with her mother, until Hupp unexpectedly drove to her mother's house and insisted on driving her home.
Hupp claimed that she dropped Betsy off at home at approximately 7 p.m.
At approximately 7:21 p.m., a call to Betsy from one of her daughters went unanswered.
Russ spent the evening at his friend Michael Corbin's home, watching movies from 6 p.m. until 9 p.m., then drove to an
Arby's
Arby's is an American fast food sandwich restaurant chain with more than 3,300 restaurants system wide and third in terms of revenue. In October 2017, '' Food & Wine'' called Arby's "America's second largest sandwich chain (after Subway)".
Ar ...
in
Lake St. Louis before returning home.
At 9:40 p.m., Russ called
9-1-1
, usually written 911, is an emergency telephone number for the United States, Canada, Mexico, Panama, Palau, Argentina, Philippines, Jordan, as well as the North American Numbering Plan (NANP), one of eight N11 codes. Like other emergency nu ...
, saying that he had found that his wife had
killed herself.
Betsy had been stabbed over 55 times, with her wrists cut to the bone and a serrated
kitchen knife
A kitchen knife is any knife that is intended to be used in food preparation. While much of this work can be accomplished with a few general-purpose knives – notably a large chef's knife, a tough cleaver, a small paring knife and some sort of ...
left lodged in her neck.
A second knife was found under a pillow on the couch she was lying on.
First responders arrived within ten minutes and concluded that Betsy had been dead for at least an hour or longer.
Her time of death was later reported as being between 7:20 p.m. and 9:41 p.m..
Conviction of Russ Faria
Russ was arrested the day after his wife's death.
His initial assertion that Betsy had killed herself was considered "ludicrous" by first responders who saw her body. A police search of the house unearthed a bloodstained pair of slippers in his closet. His agitated emotional state was regarded as "suspicious" by police, and he ostensibly failed a
polygraph
A polygraph, often incorrectly referred to as a lie detector test, is a device or procedure that measures and records several physiological indicators such as blood pressure, pulse, respiration, and skin conductivity while a person is asked an ...
test. When interviewed by police, Hupp claimed that Russ had a "violent temper"; that he was a heavy drinker; and that he had threatened Betsy, who had considered leaving him.
At Hupp's behest, police searched Betsy's
laptop
A laptop, laptop computer, or notebook computer is a small, portable personal computer (PC) with a screen and alphanumeric keyboard. Laptops typically have a clam shell form factor with the screen mounted on the inside of the upper li ...
and found a document in which she purportedly expressed fears that her husband would kill her. It was later revealed that the document was written in
Word 97, software that had not been installed on the laptop; it was the only document on the laptop with an "unknown" author.
On January 4, 2012, the day after Betsy's funeral, Russ was charged with
first-degree murder
Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse, especially the c ...
and armed criminal action.
Unable to make $250,000
bail
Bail is a set of pre-trial restrictions that are imposed on a suspect to ensure that they will not hamper the judicial process. Bail is the conditional release of a defendant with the promise to appear in court when required.
In some countries ...
(), he was held in the county jail until his trial began on November 18, 2013.
During Russ' trial, his defense attorney, Joel Schwartz, argued that the testimonies of the four friends he had visited, cellphone records evidencing his presence at his friend's house twenty miles away from the murder scene, and evidence of his making purchases from different stores over the course of the evening demonstrated that the timeline did not allow for him to commit the murder. There were no traces of blood on his body or clothes. Prosecuting attorney Leah Askey countered that Russ' friends were providing a false
alibi
An alibi (from the Latin, '' alibī'', meaning "somewhere else") is a statement by a person, who is a possible perpetrator of a crime, of where they were at the time a particular offence was committed, which is somewhere other than where the crim ...
and had conspired with him to perpetrate the murder including holding onto his cellphone and posing as him to buy food at Arby's to falsify his whereabouts as an "ultimate role play".
The trial judge, Christina Mennemeyer, refused to allow Schwartz to present evidence implicating Hupp as an alternative suspect,
including cellphone records showing she had been in the vicinity of the Faria house for up to thirty minutes after the time she claimed to have dropped Betsy off
or that Betsy had made Hupp the sole beneficiary of the life insurance policy shortly before her death.
During the trial, Detective Mike Merkel of the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office reported that a crime scene camera had broken and photographs had failed to
develop
Develop or DEVELOP may refer to:
* ''Develop'' (magazine), a trade publication for the video game industry
* ''Develop'' (Apple magazine), a technical magazine formerly published by Apple Computer
* Develop (chess), moving a piece from its origina ...
; Schwartz later obtained copies of the photographs in question.
In a secret hearing during the trial, Hupp claimed that she had put $100,000 of the insurance money in a
trust
Trust often refers to:
* Trust (social science), confidence in or dependence on a person or quality
It may also refer to:
Business and law
* Trust law, a body of law under which one person holds property for the benefit of another
* Trust (bus ...
for Betsy's daughters; in a July 2014 civil
deposition, she admitted she had not done so.
(In August 2016, it was revealed that Hupp's company H2 Partners LLC had loaned $122,574.84 to her son Travis.)
On November 21, 2013, Russ was convicted on both counts.
A month later, he was sentenced to
life
Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energ ...
plus thirty years' imprisonment without possibility of
parole
Parole (also known as provisional release or supervised release) is a form of early release of a prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by certain behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated parole officers, or ...
and sent to the
Jefferson City Correctional Center
The Jefferson City Correctional Center (JCCC) is a maximum security prison in Jefferson City, Missouri operated by the Missouri Department of Corrections. It houses up to 1996 inmates, with a staff of 660. It is located at Jefferson City Correct ...
.
Although a central premise of the prosecution's case was that his four friends had been complicit in the murder, no charges were ever brought against them;
they were not aware they had been implicated by Askey in her
closing argument
A closing argument, summation, or summing up is the concluding statement of each party's counsel reiterating the important arguments for the trier of fact, often the jury, in a court case. A closing argument occurs after the presentation of eviden ...
s until the media informed them.
The sentence was welcomed by Betsy's family; in an interview given following the sentencing, her sister Julie made claims unheard during the trial: that Russ had been angered by the removal of his name from a separate insurance policy, and that he had on one occasion held a pillow on Betsy's face and said "this is what it feels like to die". In response to the claims, Schwartz noted that the pillow story had originally been told by Hupp.
Betsy's daughters ultimately issued an apology to Russ in July 2021.
Retrial and acquittal of Russ Faria
An initial
motion
In physics, motion is the phenomenon in which an object changes its position with respect to time. Motion is mathematically described in terms of displacement, distance, velocity, acceleration, speed and frame of reference to an observer and mea ...
for a
new trial
A new trial or retrial is a recurrence of a court case. A new trial may potentially be ordered for some or all of the matters at issue in the original trial. Depending upon the rules of the jurisdiction and the decision of the court that ordered ...
was rejected by Judge Christina Mennemeyer in December 2013.
In January 2014, KTVI partnered with the ''
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
The ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' is a major regional newspaper based in St. Louis, Missouri, serving the St. Louis metropolitan area. It is the largest daily newspaper in the metropolitan area by circulation, surpassing the ''Belleville News-Dem ...
'' newspaper to review the case. The next month, the ''Post-Dispatch'' reported that Hupp had kept the $150,000 rather than put it into a trust for Betsy's daughters. She had also contradicted herself during police interviews, such as initially claiming she had not entered the Faria house after driving Betsy home but later revising this account twice. The 9-1-1 operator who had taken Russ' call believed he had been genuinely shocked and upset. The article alleged that Askey, the prosecutor, had been in a relationship with Mike Lang, the then-captain of investigations for the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office and one of the investigating officers in the Faria murder case, as well as a prosecution witness.
Two members of the jury in Russ' trial informed the media that this information had been withheld.
In August 2015, Robin Taylor of
Le Mars, Iowa
Le Mars is the county seat of Plymouth County, Iowa, United States. It is located on the Floyd River northeast of Sioux City. The population was 10,571 at the time of the 2020 census. Le Mars is part of the Sioux City metropolitan area.
Histor ...
was charged with
misdemeanor
A misdemeanor (American English, spelled misdemeanour elsewhere) is any "lesser" criminal act in some common law legal systems. Misdemeanors are generally punished less severely than more serious felonies, but theoretically more so than adm ...
harassment
Harassment covers a wide range of behaviors of offensive nature. It is commonly understood as behavior that demeans, humiliates or embarrasses a person, and it is characteristically identified by its unlikelihood in terms of social and moral ...
of Hupp by phoning her and accusing her of having killed Betsy.
Schwartz
appeal
In law, an appeal is the process in which cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of clarifying and ...
ed the conviction. In February 2015, the
Missouri Court of Appeals
The Missouri Court of Appeals is the intermediate appellate court for the state of Missouri. The court handles most of the appeals from the Missouri Circuit Courts. The court is divided into three geographic districts: Eastern (based in St. ...
sent the case back to the
45th Circuit Court for a hearing on a retrial.
After Mennemeyer recused herself from the case in June,
22nd Circuit Court Judge Steven Ohmer granted a motion for a new
bench trial
A bench trial is a trial by judge, as opposed to a trial by jury. The term applies most appropriately to any administrative hearing in relation to a summary offense to distinguish the type of trial. Many legal systems (Roman, Islamic) use bench ...
based on the evidence that had emerged, with Russ released on bond pending the trial.
During the retrial, Schwartz was allowed to introduce evidence implicating Hupp as the perpetrator.
CSI agent Amy Buettner, who had examined the crime scene, testified that she believed the slippers found in Russ's closet had not gotten bloodied by stepping in blood.
During the trial, police officers disclosed that Hupp who was not called to testify had claimed in recent interviews that she and Betsy had been in a sexual relationship.
Hupp also told police that she had "remembered" seeing Russ and another man in a car parked in a side street outside the Faria house as she drove Betsy home.
On November 7, 2015, Russ' conviction was overturned and he was released from prison after having served almost four years.
In 2016, Schwartz filed a
bar
Bar or BAR may refer to:
Food and drink
* Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages
* Candy bar
* Chocolate bar
Science and technology
* Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment
* Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud
* Bar (u ...
complaint
In legal terminology, a complaint is any formal legal document that sets out the facts and legal reasons (see: cause of action) that the filing party or parties (the plaintiff(s)) believes are sufficient to support a claim against the party ...
against Askey; it was eventually dismissed by the Office of the Chief Disciplinary Counsel.
In July 2016, Russ filed a civil rights lawsuit against Askey and three deputy sheriffs on the grounds that they had "fabricated evidence, ignored exonerating evidence and failed to investigate the other obvious suspect."
Meanwhile, KTVI found other problematic cases involving Mennemeyer.
The following month, Askey and the sheriff's office issued a press release stating that they were cooperating with the
United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri in a review of the case.
In 2017, Askey asked Lincoln County commissioners to conduct an independent investigation into her conduct; the investigation found no wrongdoing.
In January 2017, Mennemeyer was suspended by the
Supreme Court of Missouri
The Supreme Court of Missouri is the highest court in the state of Missouri. It was established in 1820 and is located at 207 West High Street in Jefferson City, Missouri. Missouri voters have approved changes in the state's constitution to give ...
for misconduct unrelated to the Faria case.
In August 2018, both Mennemeyer and Askey (now Leah Wommack Chaney) were voted out of office, a result attributed to the mishandling of the murder case and trial.
The decision not to investigate Hupp had been widely criticized; a former employee of the prosecutor's office said, "There were several of us that kept thinking, why are we not pursuing Pam Hupp?
..They were just locked down on Russ."
In a 2021 interview, Leah Wommack Chaney ( Askey) noted that she had believed Hupp would have been physically incapable of inflicting the wounds found on Betsy's body.
In a July 2021 interview, Betsy's daughters stated that when they had asked about the possibility of Hupp having been the murderer, they were told by former Lincoln County investigators "she physically could not do that".
In September 2019, federal district judge
John Andrew Ross dismissed Russ' suit against Leah Wommack Chaney on the basis of
prosecutorial immunity In United States law, absolute immunity is a type of sovereign immunity for government officials that confers complete immunity from criminal prosecution and suits for damages, so long as officials are acting within the scope of their duties. The Su ...
.
In January 2018, attorneys acting for Russ
deposed
Deposition by political means concerns the removal of a politician or monarch.
ORB: The Online Reference for Med ...
Hupp as part of his lawsuit against Lincoln County; she declined to answer 92 questions relating to the killing of his wife. In response to the refusal, Russ' attorneys sought a court order to force a response.
In March 2020, Russ received a
settlement
Settlement may refer to:
*Human settlement, a community where people live
*Settlement (structural), the distortion or disruption of parts of a building
* Closing (real estate), the final step in executing a real estate transaction
*Settlement (fin ...
in his civil rights case worth over $2,000,000 ().
Charging of Pam Hupp
In June 2019, after Hupp entered an
Alford plea
In United States law, an Alford plea, also called a Kennedy plea in West Virginia, an Alford guilty plea, and the Alford doctrine, is a guilty plea in criminal court, whereby a defendant in a criminal case does not admit to the criminal act and ...
to the murder of Louis Gumpenberger, Lincoln County prosecuting attorney Mike Wood announced that he would be reopening the Betsy Faria homicide investigation.
In October 2019, Wood requested a case review by the
Major Case Squad
A major case squad is a division within some police departments. The detectives of these divisions typically investigate crimes beyond the scope of normal squads. These functions vary from department to department.
New York City Police Departmen ...
of Greater St. Louis.
In August 2020, newly elected Lincoln County Sheriff Rick Harrell said that the Faria case had inspired him to run for the job.
In February 2021, Wood stated that the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
had slowed the investigation, but that he expected "significant announcements" in the summer or fall.
On July 8, 2021, Hupp was interviewed in connection with the murder of Betsy for the first time.
On July 12, 2021, Wood charged Hupp with the first-degree murder of Betsy Faria and with armed criminal action.
Court documents filed by Wood asserted that Hupp murdered Betsy for financial gain.
Wood stated that he would seek the
death penalty
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
for Hupp due to the "heinousness and depravity" of the crime.
The prosecution alleged that Hupp repeatedly stabbed Betsy while she was asleep on her sofa and weakened from her chemotherapy treatment, then removed her socks and used them to spread blood around the house to try to give the impression of
domestic violence
Domestic violence (also known as domestic abuse or family violence) is violence or other abuse that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. ''Domestic violence'' is often used as a synonym for ''intimate partner ...
before replacing them on Betsy's feet.
The court documents noted the following points:
* Hupp had been named the sole beneficiary on a $150,000 life insurance policy held by Betsy days before the murder; following her death, she did not give any of the money from the policy to Betsy's daughters despite her reported wishes.
* Hupp insisted upon driving Betsy home from her chemotherapy treatment despite Betsy already having transportation arranged and despite Hupp claiming not to be familiar with the Troy area.
* The position of Betsy's body suggested that she was murdered by someone she trusted.
* Hupp texted "home" to Betsy's phone at 7:20 p.m. yet cellphone records showed that Hupp's cellphone was still in the vicinity of Faria's home at the time.
Wood also stated that he would be investigating potential
prosecutorial misconduct
In jurisprudence, prosecutorial misconduct or prosecutorial overreach is "an illegal act or failing to act, on the part of a prosecutor, especially an attempt to sway the jury to wrongly convict a defendant or to impose a harsher than appropri ...
in the original murder investigation,
stating it had been "mismanaged from the beginning" and driven by
confirmation bias
Confirmation bias is the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms or supports one's prior beliefs or values. People display this bias when they select information that supports their views, ignoring ...
against Russ.
He suggested that the actions by investigators and prosecutors concerned could constitute
gross negligence
Gross negligence is the "lack of slight diligence or care" or "a conscious, voluntary act or omission in reckless disregard of a legal duty and of the consequences to another party." In some jurisdictions a person injured as a result of gross negl ...
or "calculated criminal behavior".
He further suggested that, by the time of Russ' second trial, Lincoln County prosecutors were acting to protect their own
civil liability
In law, liable means "responsible or answerable in law; legally obligated". Legal liability concerns both civil law and criminal law and can arise from various areas of law, such as contracts, torts, taxes, or fines given by government agencie ...
rather than seeking justice. Wood noted that a destruction order had been made in November 2015, the time of Russ'
acquittal
In common law jurisdictions, an acquittal certifies that the accused is free from the charge of an offense, as far as criminal law is concerned. The finality of an acquittal is dependent on the jurisdiction. In some countries, such as the ...
, but never actioned; had it been actioned, the order would have resulted in physical evidence connected with the case being destroyed.
In response to Wood's announcement, Leah Wommack Chaney gave an interview in which she denied any misconduct and stated she had never seen the destruction order.
In May 2022, officers from the St. Charles Police Department suggested that "several" law enforcement personnel could face criminal charges.
In July 2021, Hupp entered a "not guilty" plea.
On September 8, 2021, the armed criminal action charge against Hupp was dismissed.
A
preliminary hearing
Within some criminal justice, criminal justice systems, a preliminary hearing, preliminary examination, preliminary inquiry, evidentiary hearing or probable cause hearing is a proceeding, after a criminal complaint has been filed by the prosecuto ...
was scheduled for February 2022, but was delayed indefinitely after Hupp's
public defender
A public defender is a lawyer appointed to represent people who otherwise cannot reasonably afford to hire a lawyer to defend themselves in a trial. Several countries provide people with public defenders, including the UK, Hungary and Singapore, ...
died of a heart attack;
in August 2022, Hupp waived her right to a preliminary hearing.
In October 2022, Hupp's trial was moved to
Greene County, Missouri
Greene County is located in the U.S. state of Missouri. As of the 2020 census, its population was 298,915. making it the fourth most-populous county in Missouri. Its county seat and most-populous city is Springfield. The county was organized in ...
, being transferred to the 31st Judicial Circuit.
Death of Shirley Neumann
Shirley Mae Neumann, Hupp's mother, a widow since 2000, was living alone in a third-floor apartment in the Lakeview Park Independent Senior Living Community in
Fenton,
suffering from
dementia
Dementia is a disorder which manifests as a set of related symptoms, which usually surfaces when the brain is damaged by injury or disease. The symptoms involve progressive impairments in memory, thinking, and behavior, which negatively affe ...
and
arthritis
Arthritis is a term often used to mean any disorder that affects joints. Symptoms generally include joint pain and stiffness. Other symptoms may include redness, warmth, swelling, and decreased range of motion of the affected joints. In som ...
.
She spent the night of October 29, 2013, with Hupp following a hospital visit. At approximately 5 p.m. on October 30, Hupp dropped Neumann off at her apartment, instructing staff not to expect her for dinner that evening or breakfast the following day.
A housekeeper found Neumann dead beneath the balcony of her home at 2:30 p.m. the next day. The aluminum balcony railing was broken. Following a police investigation, assistant medical examiner Raj Nanduri concluded that Neumann had died from
blunt trauma
Blunt trauma, also known as blunt force trauma or non-penetrating trauma, is physical traumas, and particularly in the elderly who fall. It is contrasted with penetrating trauma which occurs when an object pierces the skin and enters a tissue ...
to the chest resulting from an accidental fall.
An
autopsy
An autopsy (post-mortem examination, obduction, necropsy, or autopsia cadaverum) is a surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse by dissection to determine the cause, mode, and manner of death or to evaluate any di ...
found that she had .84
mcg
The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), also known locally as "The 'G", is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne, Victoria. Founded and managed by the Melbourne Cricket Club, it is the largest stadium in the Southern Hem ...
of the sedative
Zolpidem
Zolpidem, sold under the brand name Ambien, among others, is a medication primarily used for the short-term treatment of sleeping problems. Guidelines recommend that it be used only after cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia and behaviora ...
in her blood, over eight times the expected concentration for someone having taken a normal dose.
The next month the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office received an anonymous note suggesting Hupp, the last person known to have seen Neumann alive, had murdered her mother for the life insurance. Hupp and her siblings each received approximately $120,000 () of investments held by Neumann, as well as sharing a $10,000 () life insurance payout. Earlier that year, prior to her mother's death, Hupp had been videotaped saying, "My mom's worth half a million that I get when she dies
..if I really wanted money, there was an easier way than trying to combat somebody that's physically stronger than me". The police reopened their investigation, but after interviewing the housekeeper who had found Neumann's body and Neumann's son Michael both of whom said that Neumann was "unsteady" again concluded that her death was accidental. They did not interview Hupp.
After Hupp was charged with the 2016 murder of Louis Gumpenberger, the St. Louis County Police Department reopened the investigation. Michael reiterated that he believed his mother's death was accidental. Detective Matthew Levy attempted to get a
subpoena
A subpoena (; also subpœna, supenna or subpena) or witness summons is a writ issued by a government agency, most often a court, to compel testimony by a witness or production of evidence under a penalty for failure. There are two common types of ...
for the location of Hupp's cellphone at the time of her mother's death but was unsuccessful. Levy also attempted to organize forensic tests on the balcony railing at the
Missouri University of Science and Technology
Missouri University of Science and Technology, or Missouri S&T, is a public research university in Rolla, Missouri. It is a member institution of the University of Missouri System. Most of its 7,645 students (fall 2020) study engineering, busin ...
, but the Lakeview Park Independent Senior Living Community refused to provide a railing for testing.
A retired homicide detective suggested to KTVI that one of the vertical bars appeared to have been "kicked out".
After interviewing Hupp in connection with Neumann's death, KTVI reporter Chris Hayes received an anonymous letter stating, "Dear sirs: I think its
'sic''getting a little silly that you keep accusing someone of killing their parent, when its
'sic''not true."
In November 2017, Mary Case, the chief medical examiner for St. Louis County, changed the manner of Neumann's death from "accidental" to "undetermined". Case stated, "since
eumann'sdeath, many things have happened that involved the daughter. And so all of that investigation, including the one in Lincoln County and the one in St. Charles, became pertinent information
..I was no longer willing to say it could be an accident." The investigation into Neumann's death was not reopened.
Murder of Louis Gumpenberger
Louis Royse Gumpenberger was a resident of
Union, Missouri
Union is a city in and the county seat of Franklin County, Missouri, United States. It is located on the Bourbeuse River, southwest of St. Louis. The population was 10,204 at the 2010 census, with the city showing the highest growth rate (32% ...
.
He had mental and physical disabilities after a car crash in 2005.
Shortly after 12:00 noon on August 16, 2016, Louis Gumpenberger died after Hupp shot him five times in the hallway of her home at 1260 Little Brave Drive in O'Fallon.
$900 () was found on Gumpenberger's body along with a note bearing instructions to "
kidnap
In criminal law, kidnapping is the unlawful confinement of a person against their will, often including transportation/asportation. The asportation and abduction element is typically but not necessarily conducted by means of force or fear: the p ...
Hupp, get Russ's money from Hupp at her bank, and kill Hupp" and to, "Take Hupp back to house and get rid of her. Make it look like Russ' wife. Make sure knife sticking out of neck" in return for a
reward
Reward may refer to:
Places
* Reward (Shelltown, Maryland), a historic home in Shelltown Maryland
* Reward, California (disambiguation)
* Reward-Tilden's Farm, a historic home in Chestertown Maryland
Arts, entertainment, and media
* "Rewa ...
of $10,000 ().
As Hupp had placed two calls to 9-1-1 shortly before the shooting to report a
burglary
Burglary, also called breaking and entering and sometimes housebreaking, is the act of entering a building or other areas without permission, with the intention of committing a criminal offence. Usually that offence is theft, robbery or murder ...
in progress, the audio of the incident was recorded.
Immediately after the shooting, Hupp voluntarily went to the O'Fallon Police Department. Her first words in the recorded interview were, "Is this going to be filmed? Because I always appear on the news with
TVI reporterChris Hayes." She went on to say she blamed Hayes' reporting for attracting threatening people.
Hupp claimed that Gumpenberger, armed with a knife, had jumped out of a car (driven by another person) into her driveway, accosted her while she sat in her
SUV
A sport utility vehicle (SUV) is a car classification that combines elements of road-going passenger cars with features from off-road vehicles, such as raised ground clearance and four-wheel drive.
There is no commonly agreed-upon definiti ...
in her garage, and demanded she drive to a bank to retrieve "Russ' money". Hupp claimed that she had knocked the knife out of Gumpenberger's hand with a "
karate chop
In martial arts, a knifehand strike is a strike using the part of the hand opposite the thumb (from the little finger to the wrist), familiar to many people as a karate chop (in Japanese, ''shutō-uchi''). This refers to strikes performed with t ...
" and then fled into her house, shooting Gumpenberger in
self-defense
Self-defense (self-defence primarily in Commonwealth English) is a countermeasure that involves defending the health and well-being of oneself from harm. The use of the right of self-defense as a legal justification for the use of force in ...
with a
Ruger LCR
The Ruger LCR is a compact revolver built by Sturm, Ruger & Co. and announced in January 2009. LCR stands for "Lightweight Compact Revolver". It incorporates several novel features such as a polymer grip and trigger housing, monolithic receiver, ...
she kept on her nightstand after he
pursued
''Pursued'' is a 1947 American Western (genre), Western film directed by Raoul Walsh with cinematography by James Wong Howe, written by Niven Busch, and starring Theresa Wright and Robert Mitchum. The supporting cast features Judith Anderson, D ...
her.
The St. Charles County prosecuting attorney and the O'Fallon chief of police theorized that Hupp had lured Gumpenberger to her home by presenting herself as "Cathy",
a producer for the television program ''
Dateline NBC
''Dateline NBC'' is a weekly American television news magazine/reality legal show that is broadcast on NBC. It was previously the network's flagship general interest news magazine, but now focuses mainly on true crime stories with only occasion ...
'', and offering to pay him to reenact a 9-1-1 call, then shot him in order to implicate Russ in an attempt on her life (and "take heat off her"), planting the knife, the note, and the money on Gumpenberger's body.
Gumpenberger was believed to have been selected at random.
Several pieces of evidence were identified:
* Cellphone records showed that Hupp had been in Gumpenberger's neighborhood "right at the supposed attacker’s front door" less than one hour before the shooting, casting doubt on her claim that she had never met him before.
* On August 10, 2016, a police report had been filed with the St. Charles County police stating that a woman matching Hupp's description had approached O'Fallon resident Carol Alford (also known as Carol McAfee
) posing as a ''Dateline NBC'' producer and offering her $1,000 () to reenact a 9-1-1 call; security camera footage showed that the woman in question had been driving Hupp's car.
A second witness, Brent Charlton, informed police that Hupp had approached him with a similar proposition.
* Police investigators found nine
one-hundred-dollar bills in Gumpenberger's pocket; a tenth found on Hupp's dresser had a sequential serial number to four of the nine bills.
* Investigators also suggested that the knife had been purchased at the
Dollar Tree
Dollar Tree, Inc. is an American multi-price-point chain of discount variety stores. Headquartered in Chesapeake, Virginia, it is a ''Fortune'' 500 company and operates 15,115 stores throughout the 48 contiguous U.S. states and Canada. Its st ...
in O'Fallon alongside several other items found in Hupp's house.
The paper on which the note found on Gumpenberger's body had been written was also thought to have been bought by Hupp.
* The knife found in Hupp's car was found wedged between the passenger seat and the central console. Knives in Hupp's kitchen were similarly stored wedged between the stove and counter.
* A carpet swatch found by police appeared to have been positioned to protect a rug in Hupp's home from Gumpenberger's blood.
* Police investigators were skeptical that Gumpenberger would have been capable of carrying out the acts Hupp said he had given his mental and physical disabilities.
Guilty plea
On August 23, 2016, Hupp was arrested and charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action.
Upon being arrested, she asked to visit a bathroom, where she used a
ballpoint pen
A ballpoint pen, also known as a biro (British English), ball pen (Hong Kong, Indian and Philippine English), or dot pen ( Nepali) is a pen that dispenses ink (usually in paste form) over a metal ball at its point, i.e. over a "ball point". ...
to stab her neck and wrists in an apparent suicide attempt;
St. Charles County assistant prosecutor Phil Groenweghe described the act as "consciousness of guilt".
Bail for Hupp was set at $2,000,000 ().
On December 16, a
grand jury
A grand jury is a jury—a group of citizens—empowered by law to conduct legal proceedings, investigate potential criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may subpoena physical evidence or a pe ...
indicted
An indictment ( ) is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that use the concept of felonies, the most serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that do not use the felonies concept often use that of an ...
Hupp on the charges.
She appeared in court on January 31, 2017, pleading not guilty. In March 2017, prosecutors stated that they would seek the death penalty due to the apparently arbitrary choice of Gumpenberger as the victim.
In May 2018,
11th Circuit Court judge Jon Cunningham ruled that prosecutors could not present evidence relating to the death of Hupp's mother;
the following month, Cunningham ruled that prosecutors could present evidence relating to the killing of Betsy Faria.
In August 2018, Hupp's trial date was set for June 2019.
Instead of contesting the charges at trial, Hupp entered an Alford plea, waiving her right to a jury trial. As a condition of her
plea agreement
A plea bargain (also plea agreement or plea deal) is an agreement in criminal law proceedings, whereby the prosecutor provides a concession to the defendant in exchange for a plea of guilt or '' nolo contendere.'' This may mean that the defendan ...
, Hupp did not face the death penalty.
She was sentenced to life without parole in August 2019.
In a phone call to her then-husband, Hupp claimed that she had pleaded guilty so her family would not have to "witness an ugly trial".
Hupp is serving her sentence at the
Chillicothe Correctional Center.
In October 2019, Gumpenberger's mother Margaret Burch filed a lawsuit for
wrongful death
Wrongful death claim is a claim against a person who can be held liable for a death. The claim is brought in a civil action, usually by close relatives, as enumerated by statute. In wrongful death cases, survivors are compensated for the harm, l ...
,
fraud
In law, fraud is intentional deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain, or to deprive a victim of a legal right. Fraud can violate civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid the fraud or recover monetary compens ...
, and misrepresentation against the incarcerated Hupp.
In July 2020, Burch was awarded a judgment of $3,000,000 ().
Burch's attorney, Gary Burger, subsequently filed to
garnish Hupp's prison trust account, into which her $1,200
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
CARES Act
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, also known as the CARES Act, is a $2.2trillion Stimulus (economics), economic stimulus bill passed by the 116th U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Donald Trump on March 27, 2 ...
relief stimulus was paid.
As of February 2022, the family had not received "any significant money" from Hupp.
In June 2022, Burger's firm received an initial payment of $783 garnished from money Hupp had earned working as a tutor in the Chillicothe Correctional Center.
In September 2020, Hupp's husband Mark filed for divorce, describing their marriage as "irretrievably broken";
by March 2022, the couple were divorced.
In September 2020, Hupp filed a
motion to vacate
A motion to vacate is a formal proposal, either to 'vacate' (or reverse) the decision in a matter which had previously been formally ruled upon or decided, or to replace the holder of a presiding position.
Legal use
In the legal context, a motion ...
her conviction, claiming she was pressured to take a plea;
it was denied the following March as untimely.
Media coverage
image:Renee Zellweger 2016 avp BJ (cropped).jpg,
Renée Zellweger
Renée Kathleen Zellweger (; born April 25, 1969) is an American actress. The recipient of various accolades, including two Academy Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, and four Golden Globe Awards, she was one of the world's highest-paid ...
, who portrayed Pam Hupp in ''
The Thing About Pam
''The Thing About Pam'' is an American true crime comedy-drama television miniseries detailing the involvement of Pam Hupp in the 2011 murder of Betsy Faria. It stars Renée Zellweger, Josh Duhamel, Judy Greer, Gideon Adlon, Sean Bridgers, Sua ...
'', a six-part television series.
St. Louis station KTVI broke the Betsy Faria story, reporting continuously on the case from December 28, 2011, through 2022, generating more than fifty reports and investigations. Chris Hayes of KTVI was the only reporter to attend Russ' first trial in November 2013, and the first to report questions about Hupp that same month; upon his release from prison, Russ thanked Hayes for his coverage.
Betsy's murder was the subject of six ''
Dateline NBC
''Dateline NBC'' is a weekly American television news magazine/reality legal show that is broadcast on NBC. It was previously the network's flagship general interest news magazine, but now focuses mainly on true crime stories with only occasion ...
'' episodes: "The House on Sumac Drive" (2014), "Game Night" (2015), "Return to Game Night" (2016), "Stranger Than Fiction" (2016), "The Thing About Pam" (2019), and "The Real Thing About Pam" (2022).
As of 2019, the murder had received more coverage from ''Dateline'' than any other subject aside from the
O. J. Simpson murder case
''The People of the State of California v. Orenthal James Simpson'' was a criminal trial in Los Angeles County Superior Court starting in 1994, in which O. J. Simpson, a former National Football League (NFL) player, broadcaster and actor, was ...
and the
death of JonBenét Ramsey
Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...
.
In September 2019, the murder of Louis Gumpenberger was the subject of a ''Dateline NBC''
true crime
True crime is a nonfiction literary, podcast, and film genre in which the author examines an actual crime and details the actions of real people associated with and affected by criminal events.
The crimes most commonly include murder; about 40 per ...
podcast
A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...
.
It spent several weeks as one of the most popular
Apple
An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...
podcasts.
In July 2019, filmmaker Daniel Blake Smith announced that he was writing and producing ''Proof'', a feature film based on the stories of Russ and his defense attorney Joel Schwartz.
In October 2019, the ''
Riverfront Times
The ''Riverfront Times'' (''RFT'') is a free progressive weekly newspaper in St. Louis, in the U.S. state of Missouri, that consists of local politics, music, arts, and dining news in the print edition, and daily updates to blogs and photo galler ...
'' dubbed Hupp
St Louis
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
' "best local girl gone bad" of that year, observing that "few stories are quite so made-for-TV" and "the tale of Pam Hupp screams for
serialization
In computing, serialization (or serialisation) is the process of translating a data structure or object state into a format that can be stored (e.g. files in secondary storage devices, data buffers in primary storage devices) or transmitted (e ...
".
In May 2020,
NBC News Studios and
Blumhouse Television
Blumhouse Productions (; also known as BH Productions or simply BH) is an American film and television production company founded in 2000 by Jason Blum.
It is known mainly for producing horror films, such as ''Paranormal Activity'', ''Insidio ...
announced that they were co-producing a new scripted television series based on the murder of Betsy Faria.
In February 2021, they disclosed that the six-episode series would be called ''
The Thing About Pam
''The Thing About Pam'' is an American true crime comedy-drama television miniseries detailing the involvement of Pam Hupp in the 2011 murder of Betsy Faria. It stars Renée Zellweger, Josh Duhamel, Judy Greer, Gideon Adlon, Sean Bridgers, Sua ...
''.
Renée Zellweger
Renée Kathleen Zellweger (; born April 25, 1969) is an American actress. The recipient of various accolades, including two Academy Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, and four Golden Globe Awards, she was one of the world's highest-paid ...
, who had become interested in the case after becoming "obsessed" with the ''Dateline NBC'' podcast, served as executive producer for the series and also portrayed Hupp using
facial prosthetics
A facial prosthetic or facial prosthesis is an artificial device used to change or adapt the outward appearance of a person's face or head.
When used in the theatre, film or television industry, facial prosthetic makeup alters a person's normal f ...
and a
fatsuit
A fatsuit, also known as a fat suit or a fat-suit, is a bodysuit-like undergarment used to thicken the appearance of an actress or actor of light to medium build into an overweight or obese character, in conjunction with prosthetic makeup. Fatsui ...
.
Other cast members included
Josh Duhamel
Joshua David Duhamel (; born November 14, 1972) is an American actor and former fashion model. After various modeling work, he made his acting debut as Leo du Pres on the ABC daytime soap opera ''All My Children'' and later starred as Danny McC ...
as Schwartz,
Judy Greer
Judith Therese Evans (born July 20, 1975), known professionally as Judy Greer, is an American actress. She is primarily known as a character actress, who has appeared in a wide variety of films. She first rose to prominence in a variety of suppor ...
as Askey, and
Katy Mixon
Katy Mixon (born March 30, 1981) is an American actress. She began her career playing supporting roles in films such as ''The Quiet'' (2005), ''Four Christmases'' (2008), and '' State of Play'' (2009), before landing the female leading role in th ...
as Betsy.
Filming was conducted in
; it was delayed by
Hurricane Ida
Hurricane Ida was a deadly and extremely destructive Category 4 Atlantic hurricane in 2021 that became the second-most damaging and intense hurricane to make landfall in the U.S. state of Louisiana on record, behind Hurricane Katrina in 200 ...
but was underway by October 2021.
During filming, Zellweger received criticism for wearing a fatsuit.
In February 2022, it was reported that Blumhouse and NBC News Studios had declined to share profits from ''The Thing About Pam'' with the family of Louis Gumpenberger.
The series began airing on
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
in March 2022.
The book ''Countdown to Murder: Pam Hupp'', by Rebecca F. Pittman, was published in 2021.
A book about the murder of Betsy Faria, by Joel Schwartz and Charles Bosworth Jr., ''Bone Deep: Untangling the Betsy Faria Murder Case'', was published in 2022.
In August 2022, Betsy Faria's murder was featured on the podcast Method & Madness. In it, Betsy's daughter Mariah Day shared her story.
In August 2022, the case of Hupp and Faria was featured in an episode of ''
People Magazine Investigates
''People'' is an American weekly magazine that specializes in celebrity news and human-interest stories. It is published by Dotdash Meredith, a subsidiary of IAC. With a readership of 46.6 million adults in 2009, ''People'' had the l ...
'' airing on
Investigation Discovery
Investigation Discovery (stylized and branded on-air as ID since 2008) is an American multinational pay television network dedicated to true crime documentaries owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. As of February 2015, approximately 86 million Ameri ...
and
discovery+
Discovery may refer to:
* Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown
* Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown
* Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence
Discovery, The Discover ...
.
See also
*
Crime in Missouri
This article refers to crime in the U.S. state of Missouri.
Statistics
In 2016 there were 202,193 crimes reported in Missouri, including 537 murders.
Capital punishment laws
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, also known as the deat ...
*
List of unsolved deaths
This list of unsolved deaths includes well-known cases where:
* The cause of death could not be officially determined.
* The person's identity could not be established after they were found dead.
* The cause is known, but the manner of death (homi ...
*
List of unsolved murders (21st century)
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby union ...
* ''
The Thing About Pam
''The Thing About Pam'' is an American true crime comedy-drama television miniseries detailing the involvement of Pam Hupp in the 2011 murder of Betsy Faria. It stars Renée Zellweger, Josh Duhamel, Judy Greer, Gideon Adlon, Sean Bridgers, Sua ...
''
References
External links
Jeannette Cooperman (January 19, 2017) "The unimaginable, infamous case of Pam Hupp", ''St. Louis Magazine''*
Lincoln County Sheriff's Office - Major Case Squad Report #2011-501 (Faria Homicide)Dateline podcast
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hupp, Pam
1958 births
21st-century American criminals
American female criminals
American female murderers
American people convicted of murder
American prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment
August 2016 crimes in the United States
Crimes in Missouri
Living people
People convicted of murder by Missouri
People from St. Louis County, Missouri
Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Missouri
State Farm people