Powerful Lawyer Found Murdered in His Own Fire Pit

- Got it, I want the patient to be birded to you. - My father has come up missing. We just searched the properties of small farm and I just found something near the farm that doesn't. I was deployed to Iraq, I was seeing what burned up bodies of life and this looks like a body. - When the patriarch of the Faris family goes missing, his kids go looking for answers, but what they find is unthinkable. - Their father's body on the property's burn pile. - This case had one of those twists that doesn't happen very often. - It was always great on the outside with turmoil on the inside. - She started telling law enforcement to look at Scott. - My personal opinion, I saw her more upset over when her dog died. - What happens when you leave a plate, forget to take it upstairs, a minor tipper tantrum, which I had separate a night and it was fixed for me, so I'm sure I'll be feeling poorly here within minutes, but we'll see. - You do not have to ask yourself, what's Gary murdered? - We shrink the world, in a case like this, the answer to the question, who did it? It's right there. - There is an reasoning one thing. Burn it or die try. (gentle music) - Alfreda Georgia is a very quiet, quaint community. It's affluent. What's nice about it is it's a commute distance, so workers can drive into downtown Atlanta. There are large homes, large lots, and even some hobby farms, like the Ferris property. - Gary and Melody Ferris did everything right. They raised four kids, Chris, Scott, Emily, and Amanda, and when those kids grew up, they decided to pack up and move to their farm outside of Atlanta. They can now enjoy their empty nest years, build this new chapter together and create the perfect place for their grandchildren to visit. - They have bought the property in the past, and they were trying to just establish a home there. Scott had an agreement with his dad to work the property. - Scott Ferris lived at the barn, that was about a football field and half, two football fields away from the main residence. - Melody Ferris and Gary Ferris lived at the main house. That was a two-story home and then several animals, lots of goats, a couple of horses. - I mean, it's just beautiful property. It's about 10 acres. You've ever seen a Southern Living magazine. That's what this house looks like. - I remember the day I was helping them move in, and it was hard to concentrate on moving stuff because I was so excited. It was very much enjoyed by all of us. - I loved going out there to see the animals. We spent a lot of great times there. - But then something changes. Gary Ferris, the man that his loved ones affectionately called Big Daddy, goes missing. He hasn't been seen in several days. - No one necessarily really reported him missing the last that anyone really had heard from him was Chris when he brought his daughter up to the farm Addison on July 3rd to stop by when they came into town. - I dropped her off, she called me about 10 minutes later and she says we can't find Big Daddy. And I said, okay, so I called his phone straight to voicemail. I called my dad all the time on his phone and he'd go straight to voicemail. He wasn't on his phone like most people are. So it didn't really raise any eyebrows to me. - He stopped by early evening and stayed maybe an hour or two and then drove back down to Buckhead with Addison. No one had heard from him on July 4th. - The next morning when I woke up my sister called me saying we can't find him and his car's here. And when she said his car's here and that his keys are here, then that's when I began a panic because I didn't leave anywhere without going in his car. So I pulled up to the farm, pulled up the driveway and my mother and my sister, they're sitting on the front steps. I just remember thinking, what do you mean he's missing? Like you're here, you've been here the whole time. Like how could he be missing? And I just immediately went to search it. I jumped on the ATV, I went up to the barn. I was gonna search every inch of that farm to make sure he wasn't laying in the pasture somewhere. I had my sister call all the hospitals, 'cause of something that would have happened. He started feeling bad. Maybe he called an ambulance or something. I'm searching, my brother starts searching. That's when he kicked in my mind. Oh my God, he told me on the third that he was getting that burn pile ready to burn. Often rural property is especially expansive properties. People gather up things like wood, old fence material, scrap wood, trash sometimes. And they let these items accumulate and then they set these large piles on fire and let it burn. Burn the wood ways down. They can be dangerous a little bit of wind, can spark up and set this rounding areas on fire. In the course of year all the time, he has the thing with starting fires. I say, Gary, it's dry, it's dry as toe to toe. And I say, please do not freeze to burn it. In the course, there is an reasoning with him. Burn it or die try. I come driving down to that burn pile and I look and I didn't see anything. I just looked like it was smoldering but I didn't see anything out of the ordinary and my brother took a stick and was kind of moving some things around and he looked at me and he said, you need to get the kids the F out of here. I'm calling 911. - Got it, I want the patient of your birth to you. - My father has come up listening. We just searched the properties of small farm and I just found something here to find me that doesn't. - He was burned and brushed and now there's something to find out that it could be him. I don't know. - Okay, what does your name got there? - He said your father? - Yes sir. Now I'm calling him to say that I just, we've been walking around looking for him and I went where the fire still smold and I'm ex-military. I was employed to Iraq. I'm assuming what burned up bodies looked like and this looks like a body. - When they got the call, they believed that someone may have had a health episode and fallen into a fire. - He was in the hospital three days but he's had these bells for years and he talks. He gets very smart speech. His motor coordination gets very off. He stumbles. - I walked back down to that burn pile and that's when I saw what I, which was the most awful image a person could see which was your own father's skull in a burn pile. - Then a record show that the body that was found in the fire was indeed the body of Gary Ferris. - When they saw the state of Gary's remains, they knew at that point these remains have been on this fire for a significantly long time. - Gary Ferris was a very large man, well over six feet tall, probably around 300 pounds at the end of the day. We're talking about probably less than 50 pounds that was recovered or something like that but there was mainly some skeletal bones remains. - Anthropologists comes out and she starts helping process the scene. - There was a set of ribs about two or three ribs pulled out of the fire and there ended up being a full bullet, not even a fragment, a full bullet lodged between two ribs into the tissue. - They were able to determine that the death was caused by a gunshot wound to the thoracic the chest region with the bullet being lodged in the rib and they were able to determine that the men or death was homicide. That changed everything on the scene that day. They knew it was definitely not an accident. It was a scene of a murder. - A crime scene is usually never just one location. In this case, it's not just the burn pile, it's the entire Ferris property that detectives need to look at. - They knew that there was a house nearby, they decided to expand that search. They go to the home and what they found in that home was very telling. - Inside the house, they find a blood trail from the kitchen area that goes down the steps into the basement area and they find not only a blood trail, they also find a actual bullet projectile on the floor by the ottoman. - Testing later revealed that the blood, the DNA on this projectile was the DNA of Gary Ferris. - We know that there was one bullet in his body and then we know that there was one through and through with his DNA on it, projectile in the basement. So we know he was at least shot twice. - Gary and Melody Ferris weren't just husband and wife. They were high school sweethearts. They were married for 38 years. They built this entire life together. - When they were young, they were very much in love. They did. get almost everything together. He was a warm household growing up. - My dad was a very laid back father wanted to share his wisdom, but he wanted all of us kids to kind of find our way. He knew that the key to a good life was a good education. So he was very passionate about our education for sure. - He was a successful commercial real estate attorney. He was a partner at his firm, and he was very respected and his clients all loved him. - Years before any of this, the American Diabetes Association recognized him as a father and his family even created this video honoring his achievements. - My husband's very special because he's always been there for me and my children. He's been very patient with us. He's responsible, hardworking, smart, funny. - Talented. - When I told him I was going to join the Army, I'm always going to remember how proud he was. - The word father means just, you know, it means being there no matter what. And there's really for someone who is one no perfect way to, you know, to describe it. - I like to think that I'm accepting this for all fathers to just work day and day out and try to teach your children right from wrong and to be responsible and to be good citizens of this country. What word knows, we need as many of those folks as we can get these days. And I like to think I've done my small part. - Appearances are often deceptive in this case. Boy, where are they? - It was a family that didn't talk about our problems, didn't talk about our issues. It was always great on the outside with turmoil on the inside. Finances were a large issue in this marriage. Melodies, exuberant and exorbitant spending, Gary was a successful lawyer, making a nice paycheck, and it seems that the family was spending that paycheck. - Gary would not allow Melody to have a credit card. He would not have her names on the accounts. Gary did send a message regarding Melody, Scott, and Chris, and all of them spending Gary's money, specifically Melodies. He mentioned to her your profligate spending must stop. - But as detectives continue to investigate, they realize that these money problems are just the tip of the iceberg. There is something else that is causing tension within the family. - My mom decided to step out of the marriage and had an affair with a gentleman named Ted Wiley. That caused a lot of friction in the family, not just between my parents but between us and my mother. She came back to my dad after he had filed for divorce. - Ultimately, it was a relationship of acceptance that they were gonna live to separate lives. They were almost like two ships passing in the night. - She lived on the first floor where the main kitchen was. The second floor was kind of guest bedrooms where the grandchildren would stay and family would stay. And then the bottom floor, which was Gary's domain, and for all intents and purposes lived down there, worked down there, hung out down there, and then he would sleep down there with the CPAP machine. - Meanwhile, Melody has her own theory about why this family is falling apart, even specifically pointing to one of her own children. - Spot that lives with our barn, he hasn't worked since he came back from our act, except for a very short time. And I can't make him work. I can't make him do them. And it's a Gary. He had my 35 Saturday and it's a Gary. He needs to work. He said, "Well, you don't work. "He is enjoying life to the fullest." And I said, "I've got to have some help." I said, "If you don't, I'm gonna move you out." - Every bit of his money came directly from his father. He actually resented it to the effect that he would refer to the property as his property. This is my property, this is my home. - My brother worked on the farm. Instead of having a normal job, it was a full-time job. But my brother wasn't spending all sorts of exorbitant money or anything. My brother worked on the farm and hung out with his friends every once in a while. It wasn't buying a new car. Nothing was even close to the truth of my brother free loading off my dad. - And when detectives speak with Melody, it's pretty clear how much she resents Scott. He and Scott would get into it breath heavily. Then they'd come to blows just other things because Gary was so penal about everything. Scott's hot. I mean, he is. He's hot in temper. There is no doubt. He's very hot in temper. I'd like to think that Scott would have never done anything. - So detectives are hearing what she's saying about Scott, but they want to press a bit further. - So you were the last one to see Gary alive on Tuesday night? - Right. - Did you hear any gunshots? - No, but there was a ton of, I mean, like fireworks and firecrackers and all kinds of stuff going. - Remember, it's around the 4th of July holiday. This is a rural community. It is not surprising that there will be these loud celebrations, but loud enough that you wouldn't hear gunshots in your own home. - They would go in the house and make shots in different areas and record them throughout the house. - The results of that testing led police detectives to believe that Melody Ferris was not being truthful when she said she did not hear anything. They believe someone in that house would have heard gunshots when those gunshots occurred. - Here is the thing, you were at home. - Right. - Or the only person that was at home with your husband. - Right. - There is evidence we have found in the house that indicates that you would have heard something. There is almost no way in the world that you wouldn't have. - I would never, never. - I can't. - I'm not, I didn't ask that. - We found blood. You know, anything about the blood. - I didn't know anything about the blood. Nothing. - Something happened to him. How did he die? You were told how he died, weren't you? - Well, we just assumed, when Scott said it, this is human remains on this fire. - Have you been told how he died, what we found? - He told me that there was a shot or whatever, a slow, in the rear. - So what does that indicate to you? - A gunshot one. - But the problem is there's almost no way in this world that you didn't see something, hear something, or know something, and someone is shot, moved, and burned, 30 feet from your bedroom window. - I know nothing. - But the night of the third, the only person there, until 11, 30. - Was it me? - Yes, and then after that, you were still there, his body was burned in that fire pit. What if I told you we found evidence of the shooting in the basement? Not saying he was shot there, just simply saying, evidence that suggests that he was shot was found in the basement. - In my basement? I would be very surprised. - Well, be surprised. - Inside my house. - Yes, ma'am, absolutely, 100%. - There's blood on both levels. There's blood in your kitchen. - In my kitchen? - Absolutely. - I would have never taken much of it as to how it went. I hadn't had any death when I was 36. I wouldn't wish that I'd not wish to. - There's provisions in the law for things that are like, things that happen at the spur of the moment, you know, crimes of passion, if you will. Like things that are just so insightful that people just react without thinking. These are all outlined in the law. What I'm saying is, without a doubt, it does not make sense to me that you don't know anything. It does not fit the evidence we've got. And we're looking at all of these things together and the entire amount of things to move a 300 pound, six foot, four man, and you are just saying, I was literally like 10 feet away the whole time. I can't tell you nothing. It does nothing jive. - I guess at this point, I'm getting attorney at this time. I had nothing, nothing detained by him dying. I had everything delivered, everything delivered. - Yes, I had my suspicions, but I didn't know for sure. I wanted the truth. I didn't care who killed him. I wanted to know. And when I was being told by my mother and by her newly hired attorney, you can't talk to the cops at all. I didn't really understand why wouldn't we try to help the police to solve this crime? Like that doesn't make any sense to me. - Both farassons, Chris and Scott, aren't waiting around. No, they take it upon themselves to go to the detectives to get some answers. - Obviously, my mother had been detained in attorney. And then that attorney said, don't talk to anyone. Let's just, I'll handle it. Well, you know what? Like, I'm to the point out where I'm not. I wanna know what happened with my father. - Within this past year, the fighting between the two of them just got, you know, worse and worse. And the comments, my mother, my dad never talked said anything negative to me about my mother except for just like her going out and spending so much money on stuff, but my mother on my other hand, man, I can't tell you how many times I've heard her say, I can't wait till the day I see you. I don't have to live with him. I wish he would just have a heart attack and die. - He knew a lot of information about Melody and Gary's relationship. He had a front row seat to the demise of their marriage. Scott had stated to law enforcement that his mom got so angry at Gary very recently before the murder that they were outside and she brought out a plate that Gary had forgot to bring to the kitchen and slammed that plate down and screamed something of the effect of, I can't wait 'til he's gone. I can't wait 'til he's dead. We found a video from July 2nd, which was the day before the murder, where he filmed the remnants of that broken plate. - What happens when you leave a plate, forget to take it upstairs, a minor tipper tank from, which I had separate a night and it was six for me, so I'm sure I'll be feeling poorly here within minutes, but we'll see. He believed she had been poisoning him. - The video that was found on Gary Ferris' phone was an instrumental key point in this investigation. It was important because police had tightened the timeline when they believe Gary Ferris died and they believe Gary Ferris' last day on this planet was July 3rd, 2018. - All her sons and have known her for our 30-something years, what about a person in her situation that you think she should act and how she actually acted, does that make sense? - Exactly, yes. - So I'm come from both of those angles and tell me what you guys feel. - I mean, from Thursday all enough, I mean, my personal opinion, I saw her more upset over when her dog died. Her behavior just hasn't seen right for a grieving widow. - Detectives keep coming back to this one unavoidable reality. Gary Ferris was a big man. It was close to 300 pounds. Melody Ferris, 130 pounds. There is no world in which she could just move his body by herself. So this is what leads police to theorize. Maybe she had assistance in moving his body. - Police started having to take a look at various theories on how the body went from the basement to this burn pile. One of these implements is a tractor. The Sun Scott was walking police detectives around the property. And he may know to one thing that was very different. There was a tractor that is usually parked inside of a shed, but the tractor had been moved and parked outside of that shed. And Scott told police that was unusual. That tractor was never parked in the spot. - How well does your mother operate that tractor? She asked me to teach her how to use it back in the early spring. And she would have been able to do. - I mean, honestly, that tractor was so easy to operate. I could teach him now about 13-year-old niece. And you feel that your mother is still a capable of doing that. - Oh yeah. - Now investigators turned their attention to Scott. He had been living on the property. And in a homicide investigation, particularly one, where they believe that Melody must have had some help in moving Gary's body, they have to lock in this timeline. - You get there at about 1130, you get home. Yes, okay, you're talking about my phone. She just called me, maybe 45 minutes prior to that saying that the horses got out. And I was like, okay, well, I'm about to leave the lake house. I'll be there in a little bit. She's like, well, I've already gotten, I'm getting them back up. I've just finished closing the gate and all. Which also, you know, after, you know, after all this happened to think about it, I'm like, well, every other time the horses have gotten out, she's begging me to come home to get them in. I came home and when I pulled in, I saw the fire going in the woods and I knew she was already up because she just called me, you know, 30, 45 minutes prior to that, so I called her. And she didn't answer. So I went up to the barn and I checked all the animals and everything and I went up to my apartment. And I'm laying on the couch and she finally calls me, calls me back. When I answer, I go, so I guess he decided to burn the call today and she was like, yep, and he decided to walk off and leave it. But then Scott mentioned something, a gun, missing from the home, and not just any gun, by the way, a gun that matches the ballistic evidence from the crime scene. He tells law enforcement that a few weeks prior, the cable provider had come out there and they needed to install, you know, change something out. And that he was looking for the remote, opened a drawer, and saw essentially a nickel-plated or silver revolver in a black holster. Can you describe that gun for us again? It's best you can remember. Oh, and it's not. I mean, it seems like I bring a drawer and a guy who knows guns as it was a 38 snug nose. It was, you know, a smaller revolver gun. Move up to July the 5th, he goes and checks where he says that gun was at and the gun is mysteriously gone. There was a lot of legwork into finding this 38. Pond shops were searched. Metal detectors were used on the property. There was a small lake on the property. They sent divers down into the lake. All of these avenues were sort of dead ends. If this was some ex-boyfrienders that came and did this, and she had nothing to do with it, great. I hope y'all find that. Awesome. But if she did this, and she gets away with it because y'all didn't get what she needed, then I can't live with myself. I mean, I got never simply because many I can see it from how the y'all's eyes. I came home at night, and I don't-- I'm single. I don't have a, you know, girlfriend or wife. Him living on the property and knowing what he knew, he, of course, had to be a person of interest to law enforcement, even a suspect. The only bullets on the property always resided, where Scott resided, at the barn. His explanation of this is that, well, some of the ammunition in my not stand came from my grandfather and these random bullets. Even though they weren't the bullets that matched the bullets that killed Gary, they were important to show that he does, in fact, shoot revolvers. These are bullets that would have been in revolvers. He was adamant. I don't have any revolvers. I don't shoot revolvers. But we found videos just on Facebook of him actually within just the feet of where the murder would have taken place. Him just shooting military style, tactical style, with a handgun. He had a long history of-- he was a veteran. He knew how to shoot. There was really no evidence. The melody knew how to shoot or knew how to use a firearm. Every where we would look, we would find deception from Scott. He was a large man himself. He could have easily removed that body. He had access to the property. He had access to the tractor. He had access to Gary. So police detectives brought Scott Ferris in and talked to him to find out exactly what he knew and what he may or may not have been involved in. That's what a lot of other people say. How did low-level melody move? They go weird. Dude, how did all this stuff happen? You were the only one that saw that gun. You're the only one that's brought the gun forward. You're the only one that knew about it. You knew about it for weeks and never brought it up to anybody else. Your dad's in a fire. We don't even know what the time he's been shot. You're trying to help us out and lead us a certain direction. I'm just talking about a gun. I don't know. Who did this to my dad? Because clearly, almost you don't know that, I don't know. He was shot. You found the gun. You knew what the gun was. You brought the gun up to us. You're out of the size to be able to-- I don't know. Made of this stuff. That's another thing I was just trying to figure out is how she could have moved him. The facts that we have are that, likely, your mom killed your dad. Then it called you. Said, well, I help her live. Move him? No. Because I wouldn't call him 911 in the heartbeat. For the fact that my dad's dad just kills me. And he's no way hell I ever would have helped her do something like that. Not in a chance in hell. I loved my father who were the many thing he was not rollin' on to. There's-- she was one who I didn't trust. If you came home and walked out on it, she threatened you. I would have been calling all the second that I would have found out about it. There's not a way that I'm going to, you know, f*** up the rest of my life to help out and help her out for something she did. For 35, I haven't asked your dad for a cash. Oh, did he make me sick? Or did he make me as a person? Yeah, maybe not. 35 years old, just got out of the military. And-- oh, yeah. Maybe it was probably a bit tough. So now it's affecting you. If you've got to go get a job, support yourself. If you can't live, it's far more important. But also, you know, dramatic change in you. Your life's changed and your money's left. I mean, I knew that. All right, first of all, if I had anything to do with this, I never wouldn't get any money out of it. Even now after this, I still don't care about the money. I don't. All I'm saying about it is, what do you mean you knew if you had anything to do with it? You wouldn't get any money out of it. What was that mean? She's been a fishery. The family just had been a fishery. I remember it was in a different way. That is not a wife, you know, that is the smallest gift of everything. Yeah, but But that's taking those, a deal could've been made between you and Melody. I'll catch you in, I'll keep a mouth shut, and let me get this done. No. No. I've always said I'll never trust somebody. I've never, everything I've never. Just no way in hell. I won't cure any of this. No help here. Come on, another ambulance or two. Is your mom gonna be able to provide evidence that you were called? There's no way she could have made it, because I was not there. I'm not involved with it, so. Now, there's nothing. And if I need to do. I don't know what it would've been said, if I'm gonna do polygraph tests or anything like that, now I'm more happy to. Sure enough, Scott Ferris is brought in for a polygraph. And investigators are about to find out how much exactly he knows about what happened to his father. I'm gonna be doing your polygraph exam today. You're taking a polygraph test before? No. This test is about to begin, please remain still. Regarding Gary's death, do you intend to answer each question truthfully? Yes. Did you participate in any way causing Gary's death? No. Did you choose Gary? No. The actual question about the murder, the polygrapher had no issues with his response to that. There was no evidence to say he was involved, and as a prosecutor, I follow the evidence. Scott's polygraph results seem to be conclusive. He's telling the truth. But investigators, they have to do their due diligence to officially rule them out once and for all, and they need to do that with cold, hard evidence. When we collected the data from his CPAP machine, we ended up getting this data and being able to show a pattern of behavior for when Gary would go to sleep every night, and he would go to sleep between 11.30 and 1am. It would always turn on at some point for however many hours that he would be sleeping. The data just stopped the morning of the third, so it never was turned on that evening, or any other evening thereafter. So based on the CPAP machine, we were able to determine he was murdered the night of the third. The GPS location of Gary's phone was significant because the morning of the fourth, around 615, 617, Gary's phone moves from the house out to the burn pile. We know Melody is the only one home, and so Melody must have Gary's phone. That was a significant piece of evidence that proves when she was by herself she must have had Gary's phone because we know Gary was dead. What's relevant about that is data also showed Scott Ferris' phone was away. Scott Ferris said he was with friends somewhere else. The data supported that. The data showed Melody Ferris was the only person on the property at the time that phone was moving. But here's where the investigation takes a dramatic turn. Melody Ferris, the grieving widow, had a lover, a secret romantic partner. This guy's name, Rusty Barton. In her purse, she had a debit card, a financial transaction card, a credit card to some sort for Roy Barton. It was visually law enforcement learned that that Roy Barton is actually Rusty Barton. Melody began her relationship with Rusty, unbeknownst to a lot of people, to almost everyone, and that relationship continued until Gary was killed. That caused a lot of issues as it should. My mother hated my dad, and my dad was trying everything he could do to keep her from having these affairs. They have been looking at houses. There was a lot of planning going on between the two of them. And I don't think it was just idealistic. I think it was practical planning. And Gary not being in the picture was part of that plan. So, I think she wanted that to come to fruition, and she was done waiting for it to, and just made it happen herself. Initially, Melody Ferris told police that a fair ended about a year or so before the murder of Gary Ferris. However, she said she still cared about him, and they talked on occasion. Melody and Rusty had a number of calls the night of July 3rd, which is the night that Gary died. And one of those calls was at 2 o'clock in the morning. They had never spoken that late, ever. The length of the call was also significant. So, police tracked down Rusty Barton, and they confront him directly about his relationship with Melody. On June 28th, you have search history in your internet search on your phone, search and windry. Who would you be searching that for? Probably Melody. Because we had talked about, you know, if we ever got together, if we ever were us, that we would wear a plain gold band. That was what we talked about, that we would, whether we were, quote, "legally married" or not. How's it looked that seven days before her husband was found murdered? You're looking at Wendman's for this one. Listen, there is no more Melody. There is no Rusty in Melody from this point forward. Keep in mind, police still didn't know how Melody Ferris got Gary Ferris' body from the house to the burn pile. They have to take a look. Is this lover of Melody Ferris involved in some way? GPS data puts Rusty Barton in Tennessee at the time of the murder. But they dive in and they're wondering what exact role did the lover Rusty Barton play. So they dial in and they threaten to file charges of conspiracy against Rusty Barton if he did not cooperate in the police investigation. Conspiracy is an act that can be both before the crime or after the crime. So it's a fair accusation that police threw at Rusty Barton to gain his cooperation. That conversation ended up paying off. I think there was only one conversation that is what you're looking for. Probably the last minute of the last conversation, she said, "Gary is in the burn pile." No, she said, "He is in the burn pile." And I said, "What?" And she said, "He's in the burn pile." And I said, "Do not say another word and do not tell me anything. I do not need to know." And that is everything. When she said, "He is in the burn pile." What was your substance? That she had something to do with him. Yeah. That he was dead and burning up. That statement was made around the time his remains were found. So obviously, if it was made the night of the third going into the fourth, that is extremely incriminating considering his remains had not been found until July 5th. It shows her knowledge that he was actually dead and she was the only one there at that time. Police in the district attorney never charged Rusty Barton with a crime. Rusty Barton allegedly saw the light after this tough questioning from police detectives. So at this point, he told police he would be willing to record conversations that he had with Melody Ferris going forward. My **** eyeballs are running that poem out on the steam, baby. I know it. I know you were scared to death and so am I. I can assure you there's nothing in that house. Did you get rid of a gun? There was no gun. What makes you so stupid with the cops different kind of easily? Because there was no gun in there. Baby, do you know who did it? No, I do not know. Nobody killed him. No. No. Who could have done it? I don't know. All right. And so I don't want to be confused. But I remember you telling me he's on the burn pile. Where you lying about Scott, Scott, I mean, do you think that? I don't know. You tell me what? I can tell you that there should not have been as much damage as there was done. I don't know what that means. That body should not have been burned up. So who burned it up? I think Scott knew. I just don't know what to say or not to say. You know, if we both get locked up. You don't say anything. You say nothing. Detectives build their case. They gather evidence and nearly a year after Gary Faris was murdered on his property, Melody is arrested. This is a moment that the Faris family has been waiting for. The next day I got a call, I say we've arrested your mother. That was the biggest sense of relief. This trial was extremely heavy emotionally because of the family and the people involved and just the unique nature of it. No one wins in murder trials. No one. Everybody would like to turn the clock back and start over. October 7, 2024. Melody Faris and only Melody Faris goes on trial. The charges, malice. murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, concealing the death of another and making a false statement. When prosecutors take a look at charging murder, they often look at was their intent, was their not intent. Georgia has malice murder. Malice murder is the intent to kill. felony murder is the killing. You do not have to ask yourself was Gary murdered. He was. You do not have to ask yourself was Gary Ferris burned on a burn pile. He was. The question you have to ask is, who did this? When you shrink the world, no robbery, no humiliations, no enemies, no rogue rage, nothing like that. When you shrink the world, in a case like this, husband and wife, wife kills husband, husband dies. The answer to the question who did it, it sits right there. Melody Walker, Ferris. Where you see the deceit and the lies in this case, that points to he did it. When you see the opportunity, the means and the motive, money, sex, new life, the truth, the saddest it is, as hard as it is, is that the defendant murdered and desecrated her own innocent. But what Melody's defense wants the jury to understand is there's no direct evidence. The prosecution's case is purely circumstantial and they make the argument that from day one, police had tunnel vision and were only looking at her. You're going to see from the evidence in this case, from day one, the investigation, everything that was done in this case was tailored specifically to attempt to convey Melody, the death of Gary Ferris. There's just kind of the low-hanging fruit. You know, it's easy to, you know, to really focus in on the spouse. When we're talking about unanswered questions of how did we get to the birth box? Where's the gun? Where's the bullets? Where are these simple things that we should be able to find? Yeah, here we are, with Melody Sharers, with Malice murder, Bellevue murder, Haggisole. So ladies and gentlemen, when this, when you have unanswered questions in a case like this, really the only answer is not guilty. Another huge unanswered question is, who moved Gary's body? The state and the defense put on over 40 witnesses, including Gary and Melody's son Scott Ferris. Look, both sides know that the jury is going to have questions about his alleged involvement, what he really knew, and whether he helped his mom after the fact. Look at me. Do you have anything to do to help your mother dispose of and burn your father? Absolutely not. Tell me I'm not me. No. Like I said, I'll love my father. He was the backbone. He was the glue to our family. Another question. You are how tall? Six, six, I know. And how much do you weigh? Currently about two, maybe. You understand that you are the only person, own the property, who could have physically pulled off what the district attorney's office and the state has alleged that your mother did. This came across me many times because of my father. Yes, I was going to be looked at like that, but I had nothing to do with it. But just when the state is about to rest their case, something lands. This game-changing phone call, and suddenly, this trial shifts completely. I received an email actually from the captain of CID with an attachment. There was no body in the email, just an attachment, and it was an MP3, and it was titled Martha Barton. This case had one of those twists that doesn't happen very often. Martha Jane was the second cousin of Melody Ferris. Melody would drive up and help Martha Jane. Interesting enough, Martha Jane was also a stepmother to Rusty Barton. This is Martha Barton in Tellohama, Tennessee. How are you, ma'am? Well, I've got a heavy heart. I'm sorry to hear that. I was sure you're very aware of the case of Melody Ferris that's going on right now. I am. My husband gave me a 38-snub dose special. I even bought him a 357 magnum for Christmas one year. I was very weak one day when she was here, and I told her for several things that I shouldn't have, but she had a way of, well, she was family. And I told her where those two guns were. Well, after she was arrested, the 357 magnum was there. My 38th facial was gone. I have also searched this half over to see, I mean, I'm not seen now. I'm in very poor health, but that gun is gone. I've had stuff in my trials where you got all that's kind like a Perry Mason or whatever you want to call it. Martha Jane's introduction to the trial was shocking for everybody. I think the jury had a big impact by that. Outside of the defendant, did you tell anybody else where your pistol was? No. Did anybody know you were calling along? No, they didn't. Did you feel like you just had to tell the jury about it? I felt like it was the right thing to do. When Martha Jane Barton came forward, that puts a gun in her hand that we didn't have before that we needed the jury to hear about. After almost four weeks of witnesses, evidence, testimony, both sides are ready to make their final arguments. This case is about Gary Wayne Ferris. And you're here because Melody Ferris shot him, concealed his death by putting him on a burn pile on their property, like he was trash. Mr. Ray or Mr. Weaver will get up here and talk about how we just have grave suspicion of Melody. She was merely present at the home when he died. No, no, no. We have way more than that. What they have is a grave suspicion of Scott, which is based on speculation and conjecture. We're here because Melody is sitting in that chair. And we have proven, beyond a reasonable doubt, that she is the one that murdered Gary Ferris. She burned the remains of her husband for almost 39 years in the hopes it would look like an accident, all because she wanted his money and to live a life of rusty. The evidence and the law demands a verdict of guilty in this case. To have shot, killed, moved, and burned Gary Ferris. This is no easy task. That's a death. The shot is in on one person and it's not Melody Ferris. It's Scott Ferris. He's sitting here today. Everything that was presented to the jury was that the crime scene was in the basement of the house. That's what I was trying to show to the jury. That it was truly impossible for a 120-pound lady to move a 300-plus-pound man. I contend to you, ladies and gentlemen of the jury. That because you can't explain what happened that night, they have not proven this case beyond your reasonable doubt. And I ask you to please hold to your oath and find my client, Melody Walker Ferris. Not guilty. Following nearly 14 hours of deliberation, the jury comes back with a verdict on all five counts. But here's how they do it. They actually go in reverse. They start with count five, making a false statement. We the jury has to count five. We find the defendant guilty. Then count four, concealing the death of another. We the jury has to count four. Find the defendant guilty. Count three, aggravated assault. We the jury has to count three. And then the final two counts of malice and felony murder. We the jury has to count two, find the defendant guilty. And we the jury has to count one, find the defendant guilty. We're going to get some good news today and finally, finally. Get some, you know, justice for my dad. And we did, once you hear that guilty, it's like everybody now knows what I know, and it confirmed everything. Before the sentence is handed down, the Faris children submit this statement that's read aloud by Prosecutor Frankish. Your honor, since our father was taken from us, our lives have been filled with an unbearable boy. Every day it feels like a constant reminder of what we've lost. Gary was a father, grandfather, brother, uncle, friends, and colleague to men. We miss his laughter, his warmth, and his presence in our lives. It's a pain that will never go away. This loss is only made worse by the betrayal of trust we feel for our mother. To know that the first thing that caused this suffering to our family was someone we relied on the most is a wound that made never healed. No sentence can ever bring our father back, but a just punishment can offer semblance of closure and prevent another family from experiencing this unimaginable pain. And then, Melody herself gets a chance to plead her case. My family's world was absolutely destroyed at the hands of one person. I have waited for years to make this statement to everyone. I want the world to know who did this. Not only did I not do this, but I knew she would proclaim her innocence, but I did not know she would regurgitate the falsehoods and lies that her attorneys tried to paint in court as facts. You're still trying to talk crap about your own family, like what is wrong with you? Scott, this is unforgivable. I'm begging for justice for Gary, for my children, for my grandchildren, for Gary's family. And I am begging that you throw out this verdict, for the thirteenth year of help us get justice. Despite Melody's efforts, there's nowhere for her to go. The legislature has spoken an affinity for murder is life. Life sentence is a minimum 30 years before you'd be considered for parole at this point. I recognize that it's likely a life sentence for you, but you'll have the hope and possibility of parole. We're not required, and neither is prosecution required to have a motive. But frankly, we want to know why. In Georgia and Louisville, and it will was not located, property goes to the spouse. Melody stood to gain everything. And she believed so much in her heart that she wanted to be married to Rusty Barton, but she wanted all the money. She didn't want half the money or whatever she would have gotten in a divorce. I have suspicions that this was a planned execution of my father. I never thought that I was ever going to be happy again. That's not true, with help and with time and with just general support, there is light at the end of the tunnel. We absolutely adored our father. He was a larger than life man, had a fabulous sense of humor, and we all miss him very dearly.