The Wild True Story Behind The Thing About Pam

When Russ Faria found his wife Betsy covered in blood on Dec. 27, 2011, he assumed she had taken her life.

Russ wailed as he spoke to a 911 operator, describing the grisly scene he’d come home to. To him, it was obvious that his wife, who had been battling cancer and depression, had given up hope that she’d be cured.

But when police arrived at the home in Troy, Mo., they knew there was something sinister was afoot. As Jeannette Cooperman wrote in St. Louis Magazine, investigators found that in addition to having her wrists slashed, Betsy had been nearly decapitated. 

Investigators struggled to believe that Russ really thought Betsy had committed suicide when the crime scene was so horrific, and when they brought him in for questioning, they were surprised to find that the man who was just sobbing on the phone was now calm and composed.

Even Betsy’s friend Pam Hupp had her suspicions about Russ. In her conversations with police, Pam claimed that Russ was abusive to Betsy, saying that she’d been worried something would happen when she dropped her off at home that fateful day. And like anyone who has lost a loved one, Pam regretted that she didn’t do more to save her friend.