The Unbelievable True Story Behind “The Factor About Pam”

Renée Zellweger is understood for her unbelievable appearing vary and flexibility, taking part in each fictional characters and real-life folks all through her profession. The actress is now again on display screen as Pam Hupp in “The Factor About Pam,” a real story concerning the prison behind a heinous homicide.

An upcoming restricted sequence from NBC, “The Factor About Pam” is predicated on the Dateline podcasts by the identical title, which investigated the 2011 homicide of Betsy Faria. Following Faria’s homicide, her husband, Russ Faria, was convicted of the crime in 2013 and practically served two years in jail till his lawyer bought him a retrial. With new proof and extra consideration on Faria’s good friend, Pam Hupp, Russ was exonerated in 2015. However what did Hupp must do with this homicide?

Should you’re curious concerning the unbelievable true story behind “The Factor About Pam,” right here is the whole lot to know concerning the case earlier than the discharge of the sequence on March 8.

How did Pam Hupp and Betsy Faria Develop into Pals?

Alongside along with her husband, Mark Hupp, Pam Hupp moved to O’Fallon, Missouri, in 2001 and started working on the city’s State Farm insurance coverage workplace. It was at her new job that she met Faria, a sort and pleasant 32-year-old who additionally labored on the workplace. The 2 turned pleasant, but it surely wasn’t till Faria was recognized with breast most cancers in 2010 that their friendship grew considerably stronger.

Hupp shortly and closely concerned herself in Faria’s life, taking her to chemotherapy periods and lending an ear to Faria’s rising considerations concerning a monetary inheritance she would go away behind for her household within the case that she died. Faria’s father, Ken Meyer, famous that the summer season she was recognized, she had “been worrying about her two teenage daughters’ spending the cash foolishly, and she or he was afraid that her husband, too, would ‘piss it away,'” in line with St. Louis Journal.

The one different wise choice to deal with Faria’s funds? Pam Hupp. On Dec. 22, 2011, simply 5 days earlier than her homicide, Faria named Hupp the only beneficiary of her $150,000 life insurance coverage coverage.

What Occurred to Betsy Faria?

Dec. 27, 2011, was a standard day for Betsy Faria. She frolicked along with her mom and her mom’s good friend Bobbi Wann earlier than her chemotherapy remedies. By this level, the most cancers had metastasized to her liver and she or he was terminally unwell. Wann took Faria to her therapy that day as a substitute of Hupp, which was out of their normal routine. Nonetheless, Hupp nonetheless confirmed up at Siteman Most cancers Heart the place Faria was getting handled and insisted on driving her dwelling to Troy, MO.

Faria texted her husband, Russ, concerning the change of plans, and that was the final he heard from her. Russ had been out with buddies and was not dwelling. Hupp dropped off Faria at roughly 7 p.m. and was the final particular person to see her alive. When Russ arrived dwelling practically two hours later, he discovered Faria’s bloodied physique on the ground of their lounge and referred to as 911.

Why Was Betsy Faria’s Husband, Russ, Charged and Convicted for Her Homicide?

Simply minutes after discovering his wife’s physique, Russ Faria referred to as 911. A frazzled and shaken Russ initially thought she had taken her personal life and mirrored this to dispatchers. Faria had 55 stab wounds, which made his assumption that the injuries have been self-inflicted suspicious to detectives. In accordance with NBC Information, Russ’s fluctuating feelings, and bodily proof together with a blood-stained slipper belonging to Russ and a handwritten word (presumably penned by Faria) that famous how she was afraid of her husband, made him the prime suspect.

Along with the bodily proof towards him, Hupp painted an image of Russ as an abusive husband to detectives, which helped prosecutors construct a case towards him. Utilizing the proof discovered on the scene, a failed fake polygraph take a look at, and Hupp’s testimony, Russ was discovered responsible of first-degree homicide, together with armed prison motion, and sentenced to life in jail with out the potential for parole, in line with a report by The St. Louis Put up-Dispatch.

Picture Supply: Getty / NBC

How Did Pam Hupp Get Caught?

Following the conviction of Russ in 2013, protection lawyer Joel Scwartz filed a movement for a retrial following a number of new items of proof that would implicate another person as Faria’s assassin. Pam Hupp had collected $150,000 of Faria’s life insurance coverage coverage, all of which was supposed to enter a belief for her two daughters, however this by no means occurred.

Two years after the loss of life of Faria, Hupp lastly arrange a fund for the youngsters with $100,000, and the remaining $50,000 was allegedly for a good friend of Hupp who additionally had most cancers, however she had died earlier than Hupp had the chance to provide it to her, per The St. Louis Put up-Dispatch. Hupp saved the $50,000.

Russ was exonerated in 2015 after the retrial. Whereas there have been a number of suspicious clues that pointed to Hupp because the assassin of Faria, she wouldn’t formally be thought-about a suspect till 2019, three years after she shot and killed a person named Louis Gumpenberger throughout an alleged tried housebreaking. Hupp claimed that Gumpenberger tried to kidnap her to acquire Russ Faria’s cash and get a subsequent $10,000 fee, in line with Folks.

Drawback is, Hupp’s story did not add up. Gumpenberger was bodily and mentally impaired on account of a mind harm, which detectives decided have been elements that inhibited him from finishing up a criminal offense of the way Hupp alleged. They concluded that Hupp arrange the frilly scheme to kill Gumpenberger in an effort to additional body Russ and divert rising suspicions round her involvement in Faria’s homicide.

The place are Russ Faria and Pam Hupp Immediately?

Russ Faria obtained a $2 million settlement from Lincoln County for the wrongful dealing with of the prison trial that convicted him of his wife’s homicide. Pam Hupp was charged with first-degree homicide and armed prison motion and sentenced to life in jail with out the potential for parole for the homicide of Louis Gumpenberger.

In July 2021, Hupp was charged with first-degree homicide and armed prison motion for the loss of life of Faria, however maintains that she had nothing to do with Faria’s loss of life, in line with NBC Information.