Family Dysfunction Leads to Murder: Who Killed Gary Farris?

Gary Farris was a well-known Georgia attorney when he was found dead, his remains in a lit burn-pile on his property. The culprit? His wife, Melody, who would go on to blame their own son for killing Gary and trying to hide his remains. — This episode is sponsored by: Rocket Money https://onboarding.rocketmoney.com/infl/?_forward_params=1&_smtype=3&utm_campaign=kendallrae&utm_medium=podcast&utm_source=podcast&wpcid=kendallrae&wpcn=kendallrae&wpsnetn=podcast Function Health https://www.functionhealth.com/a/tckr - promo code: TCKR100 Olipop https://drinkolipop.com/pages/offer52325b/?utm_source=aisle&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=tckr Check out my foundation: Higher Hope Foundation: https://www.higherhope.org/ Watch my documentaries: 530 Days: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjUWkmOjNLk Apartment 801: https://bit.ly/2RJ9XXr True Crime with Kendall Rae podcast: Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3rks84o Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3jC66pr Shop my Merch! https://kendallrae.shop Check out my other podcasts: Mile Higher (True Crime) @milehigherpod YouTube: https://bit.ly/2ROzJcw Instagram: http://instagram.com/milehigherpod The Sesh (Current events, a little true crime, pop culture, and commentary) https://bit.ly/3Mtoz4X @the_seshpodcast Instagram: https://bit.ly/3a9t6Xr *Follow My Social!* @KendallRaeOnyt Instagram: http://instagram.com/kendallraeonyt Facebook: https://bit.ly/3kar4NK True Crime TikTok: https://bit.ly/3VDbc77 Personal TikTok: https://bit.ly/41hmRKg REQUESTS: General case suggestion form: https://zfrmz.com/yg9cuiWjUe2QY3hSC2V0 Form for people directly related/close to the victim: https://zfrmz.com/HGu2hZso42aHxARt1i67 Join my discord to chat with other viewers about this video, it’s free! https://discord.com/invite/an4stY9BCN C O N T A C T: For Business Inquiries - [email protected] mailto:[email protected] Send me mail: Kendall Rae 8547 E Arapahoe Rd Ste J #233 Greenwood Village, CO 80112

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Kendall Rae?

  This podcast covers some tough cases, but it also highlights the heroes in every story. Advocates, investigators, first responders, people who know their purpose and are using it for good. If you want a career that helps others, Southern New Hampshire University can help you. Their online programs are designed to give you job-specific skills that you'll actually use in the field. With a cybersecurity degree, you could analyze digital evidence. With a criminal justice degree, you could guide victims through the legal process. With a business degree, you could start a nonprofit. And no matter your goals, SNHU makes college feel possible. There are no set class times, so school fits your schedule. And their online tuition is some of the lowest in the US. Put your purpose into action with a degree from Southern New Hampshire University. Visit SNHU.edu/ Kendall Rae.

• 0:45Speaker 01

  Everyone talks about how challenging it is to raise kids. But what about protecting them? Outlet covers, kitchen cabinet locks, baby gates. Where do you even start? Well, protecting your home and auto is a great place to start. Progressive offers customized coverage options. You can be sure you have the right coverage for you and your loved ones. They're basically the outlet covers, the kitchen cabinet locks, and the baby gates of insurance. Don't wait. Get your quote today at progressive.com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company, affiliates and other insurers. Not available in all states.

• 1:29Kendall Rae?

  Hello, everyone, and welcome back to another episode of True Crime with Kendall Rae. Thank you so much for joining me today. And if you're new to the show, then welcome. So guys, today, oh my God, the case that we're going to be talking about, I can confidently say has just had my head spinning. This case is just riddled with family drama and dysfunction and lots and lots of finger pointing. Today, we're going to be talking about the murder of Gary Ferris, who is a father of four, a very well-loved man. He was known as Big Daddy, which I will explain. And you may have heard this case referred to as the Harris Wheel, which is a name that their family is not all that fond of,

• 2:14Kendall Rae?

  but that is definitely what the media has dubbed it. We do have a lot to go over. This one is quite complicated. Like I was saying, we're gonna be talking about Gary Ferris. And he was born on June 27th, 1960, in Tuscumbia, Alabama, to his parents Betty and Jean, along with his three younger siblings, John, Patricia, and Sherry. Now, he was a lot of things, but one thing that really stood out to me was just how everyone spoke about his work ethic and his drive. He received his bachelor's degree from the University of Northern Alabama and his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Alabama Law School. And while there, he was the editor in chief of the Alabama Law Review. And on top of that, like I mentioned in the beginning of the episode, he was a husband and a father.

• 2:57Kendall Rae?

  And he and his wife actually met when they were just teenagers. And her name is Melody. And by his sophomore year in college, the two of them were married and pretty quickly had their first child. Now, Chris was their firstborn son, but he was followed by three more kids, Scott, then Emily, and then Amanda. And while Melody was home with the kids, Gary was at the office. After graduating, he first joined the law firm Burr and Foreman as a commercial real estate attorney in Birmingham. And then in 2013, due to his success, he moved his family to the Atlanta area, where he was asked to open a new branch of the firm. And Gary was a hardworking family man through and through. I mean, I truly mean it. And when the kids were growing up, family vacations were always tied to places where he had work seminars.

• 3:41Kendall Rae?

  But despite his long hours and very demanding responsibilities, as you can imagine, he still made time to coach baseball teams and attend school events. He was still very involved in his kids' lives. And they said that you remember their childhood as a very happy one, for the most part. They had kind of a traditional setup, you know, a dad who worked to provide for them, and then a loving mother who took care of everyone. And Gary, like I mentioned at the beginning of the episode, was nicknamed Big Daddy because he was just this big, friendly guy who everyone adored. And when I say Gary was big, I mean that literally. He was like six foot five. And weighed about 300 pounds.

• 4:22Kendall Rae?

  And you would think that it would be quite difficult for someone that size to go missing. But Gary did. So that brings me to July of 2018. And I think to best understand the nature of his disappearance, you'll need to understand a little bit more about their living situation. So when he and his family moved in 2013, Gary bought a 10 acre hobby farm in Alpharetta, Georgia. Now, this really seemed to be Melody's dream. Okay, so they had horses, goats, chickens, and it was exactly what she had always wanted. And in 2018, that's where the two of them and their son Scott were living. And by that point, the kids were all grown up and several of them already had families of their own.

• 5:06Kendall Rae?

  But Scott ended up living in this kind of apartment-like studio converted situation above the barn after serving in Iraq. And he worked on the farm, taking care of the animals and the property. So that's kind of how that arrangement came to be. So with all of that in mind, let's go to July 3, 2018. And on that day, everything was very business as usual. It was a Tuesday and Gary's oldest son, Chris, stopped by with his daughter so she could see her grandparents and say hi to the ducks that lived on their pond. And she had asked her grandma if she could spend the night, but Melody said no. And then at some point, her and her dad went back home. The next day, though, was the 4th of July. And of course, here in America, that's a holiday.

• 5:51Kendall Rae?

  And so the two of them came back over due to the holiday. And this night, she was allowed to sleep over. And I believe one of her cousins was also being dropped off. And so it was the two of them playing on the farm the whole day. And then they were going to have this sleepover and they were very excited about it. And at some point, the two of them wanted to find their grandfather. They wanted to find Big Daddy, but they weren't able to. Now, it's important to note that this property was so big that you could definitely go a full day without seeing someone who was living on the farm or who was at the farm at some point. The next day, July 5th, there was still no word or sight of Gary.

• 6:36Kendall Rae?

  And that's when everyone started to worry. So that morning between 8:30 and 9:00, Scott says that he woke up and just started his day as usual. He went down to the barn to check on the animals. Then he got ready to leave the property to go get a haircut. And as he was on his way out, he noticed that his sister Amanda was sitting on the porch talking with their mom. So he decides to stop and say hi to them. And this is when Scott says that his mother Melody told him that they couldn't find Gary. Now, Scott didn't think that his dad could have gone that far because he could see that his RTV and his Mercedes were still parked at the house. And if Gary was gonna go anywhere, he would have taken one of those two vehicles. Also, Gary's physical health wasn't that good.

• 7:18Kendall Rae?

  And basically, it was a well-known thing that if he was on the property, he was gonna be using his RTV. So Scott figured he had to be close by. How far could he have gotten, right? But according to Melody, neither she nor Amanda could find him. So, long story short, he decides to start looking through the house and see if he could find him or maybe even any indication of where he might be. And immediately, there were two things that stood out to him. The first being his dad's CPAP machine was still next to his bed, which Gary slept with a CPAP machine every night. He had sleep apnea. He needed it. So this immediately tells him that his dad hasn't left for long, if he did leave. He hasn't gone on a business trip or anything like that

• 8:01Kendall Rae?

  because he would not leave without a CPAP machine. And the next thing that stood out to him was the fact that his dad's wallet wasn't on the dresser, which, according to Scott, the only two places Gary kept his wallet was either in his pocket or on the dresser in the primary bedroom. Now, it's important that you know that the primary bedroom was not where Gary actually slept. And this is gonna become obvious quite quick in this episode, but Gary and Melody's marriage was not a happy one at all. The two of them had sort of divided the house up. He actually had a whole different part of the house where he lived. Pretty much all the time. If he was home, he was there or he was like out on the farm and stuff.

• 8:43Kendall Rae?

  But they were rarely spending time together. So he kind of had his own sort of man cave situation set up. And that included his own bedroom, his own living room space. And all of this was downstairs just off of the kitchen area. However, according to Scott, Gary still used the primary bedroom to store some of his things. But anyways, when Scott sees the CPAP machine and no wallet, he thought that was really, really weird. And then he thought it was even weirder when his mom approached him saying that she had the wallet. And I guess she told him that she had found it in his car. So at this point, alarm bells are starting to ring for Scott because it looked like his dad should be home, but he wasn't anywhere in the house.

• 9:27Kendall Rae?

  And like I said earlier, Scott felt like, how far could he have gotten without his two vehicles? And in the health that he's in. And he also knew that Gary wasn't in the barn because he didn't see him there all morning and he was there earlier. So initially, Scott's mind is going towards something has happened to Gary. Like he's had some type of health episode somewhere on the property. Keep in mind, again, this is a huge property. He thought maybe he had a heart attack or something like that. And he was out on the farm somewhere. And to explain his health a little bit more, Gary was a smoker. And apparently he also drank like a case of Mountain Dew per day. So there was that.

• 10:08Kendall Rae?

  But in the years leading up to all of this, he had also developed what he had called these spells, where he would get very weak and just sick out of the blue. And no doctor could ever diagnose him with anything. And three months prior, he actually ended up in the hospital with one of these spells. So now that he's missing, like I said, Scott was worried that he was having some sort of health episode, one of these spells, something along those lines. And so after looking through the house, he gets onto the RTV and starts searching the property, which.

• 10:38Kendall Rae?

  I can imagine would be a very, very scary feeling. And this is roughly around the time that Amanda ends up calling Chris to let him know what's going on. And he was actually already on his way to the farm because if you remember, his daughter had spent the night there. So he was coming anyway to pick her up. And his reaction was very similar to Scott's. He first wanted to know if his vehicles were there. And he wanted to know about his wallet and CPAP machine and if they were still at the house. And when he found out that all of those things were still at the house and Gary wasn't, he came to the same conclusion as his brother, worried that something happened to him and he is somewhere on the farm. So he rushes there to help everyone else look for him.

• 11:20Kendall Rae?

  My husband had braces growing up and like so many people, he did not continue to wear his retainers as he got older. And he didn't want to go through the whole braces process again. So that's how we found SmileSet and it could not be easier, you guys. My husband is currently straightening his teeth while he sleeps. SmileSet delivers doctor prescribed clear aligners for under $1,900. That's 60% less than traditional braces or in-office treatment. And what's so cool is a licensed doctor reviews your case and builds you your own custom treatment plan. You start with an at-home impression kit and your aligners chip straight to you. Progress is then monitored remotely through the SmileSet app with doctor check-ins available whenever you want them. SmileSet has treatment options and payment plans that fit around your life.

• 12:05Kendall Rae?

  And like my husband is doing, nighttime only aligners mean you can straighten your teeth while you sleep. And monthly payments start at just $89. There have been over 2 million smiles treated with this technology. And they offer a 30-day money-back guarantee after starting treatment. Listeners of my show get an additional 35% discount when they go to smileset.com/tckr. With this discount, you can get the smile of your dreams for under $1,200 bucks. Go to smileset.com/tckr to get started. Smileset.com/tckr.

• 12:35Speaker 01

  Everyone talks about how challenging it is to raise kids. But what about protecting them? Outlet covers, kitchen cabinet locks, baby gates. Where do you even start? Well, protecting your home and auto is a great place to start. Progressive offers customized coverage options. You can be sure you have the right coverage for you and your loved ones. They're basically the outlet covers, the kitchen cabinet locks and the baby gates of insurance. Don't wait. Get your quote today at progressive.com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company, affiliates and other insurers. Not available in all states.

• 13:16Kendall Rae?

  Now, when he got there, he sees Amanda and Melody are sitting on the front steps outside the house. And so he, just like Scott, starts looking around the main house area. But eventually he makes his way outside. And when he does, he sees his brother and mom walking towards the tree line. And that's when something clicked in Chris's brain. A few days prior, Gary had mentioned that there was a burn pile somewhere on the property that he was planning to set on fire. Now, if you don't know what a burn pile is, it's just a pile of dry vegetation that farmers and people will intentionally set on fire to get rid of dead branches and leaves and stuff like that. And I guess Gary was known to make these quite often and really loved a good burn pile. So when Chris saw them walking that way,

• 14:00Kendall Rae?

  he remembered that that's where his dad was planning on burning a bunch of stuff. But before he even got the chance to make it over there, Scott and Melody had already made the discovery. According to Scott, he had just finished checking the trail cameras, which is important, we'll come back to that later. And he was already making his way over to the pond area. And then he gets a call from Melody. She wanted to know if he had thrown a dead goat on top of the burn pile. And Scott said, no, I did not. And so as soon as he got over there, that's when he saw the bones. I guess he gently lifted up the corner of what looked like a skull. And as soon as he saw teeth and an eye socket, he just knew right away that this was his dad.

• 14:44Speaker 03

  Our father has come up missing. And we just searched the property, it was a small farm. And I just found something near the pond that doesn't... There was a huge burning brush now, just something to find that...

• 15:00Speaker 03

  It could be him, I don't know.

• 15:04Speaker 03

  We've been walking around looking for him. And I went where the fire is still smoking. I'm ex-military, I was deployed to Iraq. I assume what burned the bodies look like. And this looks like a body fire.

• 15:19Kendall Rae?

  Now shortly after this call, emergency services arrived. And considering Gary's body was almost entirely ash and bone, they could tell that the fire had been burning for a while. And right away, they began to investigate. Starting with Melody. The lead investigator brought her back over to the house. And that's when she shared what she knew. Now, according to her, the last time she saw her husband was on the evening of July 3rd. It was around dinnertime, and he had come into the kitchen asking if she was going to make them something to eat. But she says she told him that there was already food in the fridge and that if he wanted to eat, he'd have to go and get it himself. And she also mentioned that this was the night he lit the burn pile. Now, Melody said that she remembered telling him that he needed to put it out before he went to bed

• 16:04Kendall Rae?

  so that it didn't actually catch the whole property on fire.

• 16:07Speaker 04

  So he started the fire before you guys discussed anything?

• 16:13Speaker 05

  It was long back to say, I mean, I don't know. I mean, when we were in and out discussing all that. But yeah, I mean, at some point in time when we were discussing Jerry and that kind of stuff, I said, why did you start that fire? And what difference does it make? Well, because it's dry, it's 4th of July, it's, you know, I can give you 100 reasons. You set my house on fire once before. And I just don't know if to hear you back to watch that fire.

• 16:44Kendall Rae?

  And then after that, he walked downstairs. And she figured that he was going to go check on the burn pile before going to bed. And according to her, that is the last time that she saw him. Now, as for the fourth, Melody said that she didn't see him at all. But she also said that it wasn't that abnormal to go a day without seeing one another, considering they slept in separate bedrooms and because the property was also so big. Although she says that the only reason that they slept separately was because his CPAP machine was loud. She conveniently just leaves out the part where their marriage was in absolute shambles. But she did tell investigators about these spells that Gary was having and how sometimes he would spend entire days unable to do anything because of how sick he was.

• 17:29Kendall Rae?

  And she did make sure to mention that Gary was also a smoker who drank more than 12 sodas per day and that he was on blood pressure medication. And of course, all of that suggested that he may have accidentally just fallen into the burn pile during some kind of health-related episode. And her story had some overlap with Scott's, mainly that he had also last seen Gary on July 3rd, that the fire was lit that night, and that he wasn't a very healthy guy. However, those weren't the only similarities because it was clear right from the jump that Scott had a different theory about what happened, and he was quick to point the finger at his mom. And when I say quick, I mean quick.

• 18:10Kendall Rae?

  Within like 13 minutes of law enforcement arriving on scene, he mentioned that a gun was missing from the property and suggested that she may have something to do with it. And specifically, he said that he found a pistol in a cabinet drawer behind the couch in the downstairs living room, and when he went to look for it, it was gone. Now, it didn't take long at all before a discovery was made that seemed to support what Scott was saying. Okay, so while the scene was being processed, a fragment of a bullet was found lodged in Gary's rib cage. And of course, with this discovery, any idea that Gary had some type of health issue

• 18:51Kendall Rae?

  or one of these spells and had fallen into the burn pile went right out the window. And this was information that investigators kept to themselves at first. They first swabbed Scott and Melody's hands for gunshot residue, which did end up being negative for both of them, and then they brought them to the station to continue being questioned. And this was the point where investigators shared their findings.

• 19:13Speaker 04

  So Scott is the one that told us about a month and a half ago that he saw the pistol in the basement. The AT&T guy was there to do some repairs or to do something. He was trying to find a remote. Found the pistol. That pistol's not there anymore. Where it was. Didn't know anything about a pistol.

• 19:34Speaker 04

  So you were the last one to see Gary alive on Tuesday night?

• 19:39Speaker 05

  Right.

• 19:40Kendall Rae?

  Now, in her interviews, Melody swore that she did not hear gunshots the night of July 3rd. She did say she remembered hearing the sounds of fireworks and firecrackers, which, you know, is very common, even the night before 4th of July, or the whole week of 4th of July, I feel like I was hearing them every night, even where I live, like in the suburbs. But, of course, that could be a very convenient lie. And then when she was asked if Gary had any issues with either of their sons, she was very quick to point her finger at them. And according to Melody, it really just all came down to money. She explained that her husband was basically an ATM to Emily, Scott, and Chris, and claimed that all of them were stealing from and taking advantage of him.

• 20:25Kendall Rae?

  So all of their kids except Amanda. She said that Chris had been caught stealing checks from him, and that Emily was married to someone who had been in and out of jail for theft. And I'm not sure if that meant stealing from Gary, though, but anyway, Melody placed just a huge emphasis on the fact that her three kids were using their dad for his money, and that it was causing a ton of problems within their family. And she specifically really emphasized Scott. She said that they had a bunch of tension and had recently gotten into a big fight. And when it came to guns, she said that Scott was the one who had a pistol. And she also pointed out that this pistol that he had, he claimed was stolen from him years ago, but that she had seen one in the barn at some point.

• 21:10Speaker 05

  My dad had some pistols. But now Scott has them, and I don't know what's left of them. I don't know. I don't know. I remember Scott took them, he was in the military, and Scott took them, um, and took them to Columbia, where he was. And suppose the house got broken into and had... But now I do know that there was a pistol over the barn for a while, and I haven't seen it in a long time. Scott took it and put it away.

• 21:42Speaker 04

  Do you remember what kind of pistol it was, or don't have any idea?

• 21:45Speaker 05

  I don't know. I don't know about guns.

• 21:47Kendall Rae?

  And she also made it sound like Gary was just finally fed up with all of their behavior and that he was going to stop being so forgiving when it came to their spending. And I guess there were text messages between Gary and his kids that alluded to him cracking down, which based on that, it sounded like this could have been a financially driven murder with many of them having a possible motive. But investigators also had to consider other usual motives like infidelity, for example. However, Melody was adamant that there was no unfaithfulness in their marriage. Everything was good in that department. And she also said that Gary didn't have any life insurance and there were no assets in her

• 22:31Kendall Rae?

  name, therefore making it seem like she wouldn't have anything to gain from this. But her sons, on the other hand, she said they definitely did. And Scott and Chris completely denied her accusations, though. Sure, their dad was very generous with his money, but they said it wasn't anything like what Melody was trying to make it seem. Scott, for example, says that he earned his dad's money by living and working on the farm, whereas she said he wasn't working at all and was simply mooching off Gary. Now, as for Chris, he denied her accusations of theft, and he said that any money he did receive his dad was in good faith.

• 23:12Kendall Rae?

  My husband had braces growing up, and like so many people, he did not continue to wear his retainers as he got older. And he didn't want to go through the whole braces process again. So that's how we found SmileSet. And it could not be easier, you guys. My husband is currently straightening his teeth while he sleeps. SmileSet delivers doctor prescribed clear aligners for under $1,900. That's 60% less than traditional braces or in-office treatment. And what's so cool is a licensed doctor reviews your case and builds you your own custom treatment plan. You start with an at-home impression kit, and your aligners chip straight to you. Progress is then monitored remotely through the SmileSet app with doctor check-ins available whenever you want them. SmileSet has treatment options and payment plans

• 23:56Kendall Rae?

  That fit around your life and like my husband is doing nighttime only aligners mean you can straighten your teeth while you sleep and monthly payments start at just $89. There have been over 2 million smiles treated with this technology and they offer a 30 day money back guarantee after starting treatment. Listeners of my show get an additional 35% discount when they go to smileset.com/tckr. With this discount, you can get the smile of your dreams for under 1,200 bucks. Go to smileset.com/tckr to get started. Smileset.com/tckr.

• 24:28Speaker 01

  Everyone talks about how challenging it is to raise kids, but what about protecting them? Outlet covers, kitchen cabinet locks, baby gates, where do you even start? Well, protecting your home and auto is a great place to start. Progressive offers customized coverage options. You can be sure you have the right coverage for you and your loved ones. They're basically the outlet covers, the kitchen cabinet locks and the baby gates of insurance. Don't wait. Get your quote today at progressive.com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company, affiliates and other insurers, not available in all states.

• 25:09Kendall Rae?

  Now, the two of them were not hesitant at all when they were asked what they thought happened. They both agreed that their mom should be looked at. They explained that Melody loved soap operas. She loved the show Days of Our Lives, I believe it was, like the soap opera, right? And she wanted to live the soap opera life, like everything she did was very dramatic. And she was someone, according to them, remember, all of this is coming from them, but she was someone that you did not want to piss off. And if one person upset her, they all took the brunt of it and it took very little to anger her. Plus, according to Scott, there was that missing gun. So based off of their calculations and just their experiences

• 25:50Kendall Rae?

  and how they felt, all of this pointed to Melody. However, investigators did find it a little odd that Scott brought up this missing gun before he even knew that his dad was shot. And that is certainly weird, isn't it? They also found 38 caliber ammunition. Scott's dresser, which is the same caliber as the ammunition used on Gary. And to be clear, that's not to say it was a matching bullet. I don't think they were ever able to actually determine that, but it was the same caliber. Although, that being said, Scott explained that sometimes he and his friends would go out shooting and it wasn't uncommon for ammo to be left behind. And then another weird thing investigators noted about him was the fact that he had deleted all of the images from one of their trail cameras.

• 26:33Kendall Rae?

  So remember back when Scott was looking for his dad initially before they found him in the burn pile? One of the things that he did was go check their trail cameras. But apparently, when he didn't see anything suspicious on it, he just deleted the footage, which is undeniably very odd, right? It's very suspicious. But Scott said that it was just kind of a habit, that basically he was constantly deleting the footage to free up space on the SD card. And I don't have a trail camera, but I've talked to other people who have them. And if there's nothing interesting on the trail camera, oftentimes you delete it. So when there was nothing on the trail camera, but like a few squirrels and raccoons, he just erased it.

• 27:16Kendall Rae?

  Which is weird in this specific situation, when your dad is missing, you would think you would just want to save that footage. And also, you would think he wouldn't even have the time or like the thought to delete that footage in that moment. But anyway, it's definitely not looking good that he erased it. And I'm sure you're starting to get the picture here. This investigation is quickly turning into a finger pointing match between everyone in this family. And so, in order to try and narrow down who could have done it, investigators really needed to start by trying to understand the timeline of when Gary's murder took place. And the boys were able to help add context to this timeline. So, like I said earlier, Chris had come by on the 3rd to let his daughter hang out and play.

• 28:01Kendall Rae?

  And he says that he last saw his dad around 4:45 PM. And if you remember, Gary mentioned to Chris that he was going to light that burn pile, which was also corroborated by Scott. He says he last saw his dad that day around 1:00 or 1:30 PM at the Cherokee. Key Ranch Restaurant. But after that, he went to the lake with friends. And then after that, he was at one of their houses until about 10:55 PM, because that's roughly when he said Melody called him, asking if he could come home and help wrangle some horses that had escaped. But by the time he got home, which was about 11:30 PM, they were already back where they belonged. And this is when he said he saw the glow of the burn pile in the distance.

• 28:44Kendall Rae?

  So now, there are three witnesses saying that they saw a fire that night. So investigators were confident at this point that the fire was started on the 3rd. But what they didn't know at this point was what time Gary was put into the burn pile. So in order to determine that, they needed to look at the crime scene. And I'm not talking about the burn pile. I'm talking about 100 yards away, inside the house. So, based on blood evidence they found inside the house, investigators thought this is where the shooting took place. However, since this was a suspected shooting, you might think that there would have been a decent amount of blood somewhere, especially considering that there wasn't a bunch of blood found in or near the burn pile itself.

• 29:28Kendall Rae?

  But when investigators did Blue Star testing inside the home, the blood they found was minimal. But of course, minimal isn't nothing. Droplets of blood were found in the kitchen, leading down the stairs, towards the basement area where Gary, as I explained, spent most of his time. There was also some blood found on the wall by the front door, and evidence that some blood had been cleaned up, although it wasn't clear how much. But that wasn't all. While they were processing the downstairs living room area, a crime scene investigator found a spent bullet casing at the edge of the rug, which further suggested that he was shot inside. The odd thing, though, was that there weren't any holes in the wall or in the floor to indicate that bullet's trajectory.

• 30:12Kendall Rae?

  And there also wasn't any blood near where it was found. It was almost like someone had just dropped it there, maybe while cleaning up or something, because the place they found it just felt super random. It felt maybe like an accident. Regardless though, investigators used all of this to develop a theory, which was that the first shot was fired in the kitchen. And then Gary was shot again as he came down the stairs and out the sliding glass door. But if that's the how, they still need to know when. If they can figure out a window of time for the murder, then they can try to match it to whoever was at the house. And interestingly, Gary's CPAD machine ended up being a big help.

• 30:56Kendall Rae?

  It turns out that this machine recorded user data, and it was able to determine that he hadn't used the machine on the night of July 3rd. It also showed them that he normally went to bed between 11:00 PM and 1:00 AM, and also that he never went a night without it. And because he didn't use it, they were now certain that he was killed sometime on the night of the 3rd. And knowing that Gary's phone was tracked to a restaurant that night, which placed him back at home around 9:30 PM, they think that he was killed sometime between 9:30 PM and 1:00 AM. And the only two people that we know were home that night were Scott and Melody. Of course, that being said, Scott, as he explained, wasn't home until 11:30 that night. And Scott's story about his timeline that night

• 31:41Kendall Rae?

  definitely checked out because a surveillance camera outside of his friend's house captured him leaving just around the time he said, 10:55, and it was about a 30 or so minute drive back to the farm. Still though, of course, that doesn't rule him out. And after all, if Gary was shot in the house, but then ended up on the burn pile, he had to have been placed there. And considering how small Melody was, it's hard to conceptualize, at least at first, how she could have gotten her 300-pound husband all the way out there. But Scott, on the other hand, made a little bit more sense because he was built a lot more like his dad. So in theory, he would have had the strength to move him. But there was something that he and Chris had told investigators

• 32:23Kendall Rae?

  that made it difficult for them to turn their attention away from Melody. And that was the name Ted Wiley. Big shocker here, but it turns out that Melody was not honest with investigators when they asked her if she had an affair. Turns out that she did have an affair with this guy named Ted, who had been dating Gary's sister for over 20 years. And this wasn't a one or two time situation, okay? She would spend weeks at a time with him and it was actually no secret to Gary. So it's surprising she tried to pretend that there was never any unfaithfulness because it was pretty easy to uncover this. And to make matters worse, she had also secretly withdrawn a $50,000 home equity line of credit without his knowledge,

• 33:06Kendall Rae?

  which he eventually did find out about and is what prompted him to file for divorce. She had been away with Ted for quite a while at this point and Gary had enough. He wanted a divorce because quite frankly, Melody sucks. But somehow, you guys, this wicked witch was able to convince Gary to stay with her and he withdrew his petition to end their marriage. And he basically just told their kids that they needed to forgive her as well. And so they did. And the reason I call Melody a witch, I call her a witch for so many reasons. But I feel like she also had some type of spell over Gary because it sounds like he even bought the farm for her. As I mentioned, that was really her dream to have this big farm.

• 33:50Kendall Rae?

  And he did that. He bought the farm after all of this had happened in order to try and save their marriage. But he was never able to fully trust her again after this, of course, because why would he? And because he didn't trust her at all, investigators found out that Gary had been tracking her spending because he was worried that she was out spending his money on other men. And one text from Gary to Melody in March of 2018 reads, "Your profligate spending must stop. I work every day and between you, Scott and Chris, I cannot keep up. You treat me like I don't exist, which is offensive, given how you repeatedly betray me." So investigators started to wonder if maybe Melody was

• 34:33Kendall Rae?

  becoming increasingly angry at him for tracking her spending when their kids seemingly had free rein. And then they also learned about something that blew my mind, okay? So they figured out that Gary had Had a hospital visit back in April of that year and it was prompted by one of those spells that he had, which according to Chris, this spell came after a heated argument between his parents. Apparently, after they got into this big fight, Melody brought Gary a big plate of cookies as like a peace offering. And he couldn't resist. I mean, the man loved his cookies. And so after he ate them, his throat started to burn and he began to feel

• 35:15Kendall Rae?

  sick. And Gary even told Chris that he thought that she had poisoned him. Now I have to be really clear here, there is no proof of that. But in my opinion, I think that is what happened. I think this was a failed poisoning. Again, no proof. But the timing and circumstances, I think we can all agree are very hard to ignore. But the biggest red flag that they found so far was what they found in her purse, which was birth control and another man's credit card. But it wasn't Ted Wiley's credit card. Remember the man that she had had an affair with before? It was some other guys. This card belonged to a man named Roy Barton.

• 35:56Kendall Rae?

  And no shock here, but of course, Melody completely downplayed this situation. In one of her interviews, she said that it was an old credit card that she hadn't used in over four years, that had been given to her by her cousin Martha Jane, who was married to Roy before he passed away. And she was adamant that if investigators looked into the car, that they wouldn't find any purchases or activity over the last four years. But let's be real, investigators knew that she was lying through her damn teeth. So they kept pressing her and pressing her and finally, she started to open up. And it was gradual, but Melody eventually explained that months and months prior to all this, she was seeing a guy named Rusty Barton. So yeah, now we have another name. Now Roy was Rusty's dad.

• 36:41Kendall Rae?

  And she said that he, Rusty, had given her the credit card for emergency use only because he knew how controlling Gary was about money. But of course, Melody made it sound like this relationship was not that serious at all. It was only after investigators found out that he had given her A secret phone. And once they looked through all the records from that phone, they could see that her and Rusty were talking like all day, every day. So of course, investigators decide it is time to pay Mr. Rusty a visit. And at first, they didn't get much out of him, uh, which wasn't for lack of trying. They went pretty hard at him during their line of questioning, and he went just as hard back. Rusty was angry because he said he didn't know anything about the murder,

• 37:24Kendall Rae?

  but investigators were just as mad because they didn't believe him. However, he did have an alibi that proved that he couldn't have been the one to physically do it. But here's the thing. The more they looked into his phone records, the more suspicious Rusty seemed. For one, he had changed Melody's name in his phone to XO, which they thought was strange because she actually had an XO tattoo that she claimed was a tattoo for Gary. Like, they had already asked her about this XO tattoo, and she was like, "Oh yeah, it's just me and Gary's thing." Um, but now it's looking a little differently because it's looking like that tattoo was for Rusty, which means that they had to have been serious if she was tattooing something in honor of him on her body.

• 38:07Kendall Rae?

  Then they saw that he had been Googling wedding bands. And that is not it, you guys. Man, I gotta say, I am just continually blown away by how people are so dumb when it comes to Google searches. This one really, uh, was, was excellent. Thanks Rusty for the laugh here because he Googled, "If the police have a cellphone number, can they get all your text messages?" And "How police get your text messages?" So at this point, mm, not looking good for Rusty. And of course, he does have an alibi. He couldn't have been the one to physically do it, but investigators felt like he had to know more than what he was saying, and therefore they wanted to keep a close eye on him.

• 38:51Kendall Rae?

  And not long after this interview, they found more evidence proving that he had lied. He had initially told them that he had last spoke to Melody about a week before the murder, but they found that he spoke to her three times on July 3rd for a cumulative 114 minutes. So of course, they end up going back to Tennessee where he was living to question him a second time because this is not looking good. And this is when they struck gold. Get this, you guys. Rusty ended up telling them that during a phone call with Melody around 2:00 a.m. on July 4th, she told him that Gary was in the burn pile.

• 39:33Speaker 06

  Let's talk about that conversation that you feel. So 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.

• 40:03Kendall Rae?

  Now, if you remember, Gary wasn't found until the 5th. On the 4th, she's acting all confused, doesn't know where he is, hasn't heard from him. The kids are looking for him. So the fact that she allegedly told him this on the 4th, that he's in the burn pile, it would suggest that she knew that he died before anyone else. And of course, this made Miss Melody the prime suspect real quick. And they thought that now they had Rusty on their side because he had agreed to record their conversations going forward. But this dipshit ended up telling her that the police were recording them and then he bought her another phone so she would feel comfortable talking to him.

• 40:45Kendall Rae?

  That's right. My husband had braces growing up and like so many people, he did not continue to wear his retainers as he got older. And he didn't want to go through the whole braces process again. So that's how we found Smile Set. And it could not be easier, you guys. My husband is currently straightening his teeth while he sleeps. Smile Set delivers doctor prescribed clear aligners for under $1,900. That's 60% less than traditional braces or in-office treatment.

• 41:16Kendall Rae?

  And what's so cool is a licensed doctor reviews your case and builds you your own custom treatment plan. You start with an at-home impression kit and your aligners chip straight to you. Progress is then monitored remotely through the SmileSet app with doctor check-ins available whenever you want them. SmileSet has treatment options and payment plans that fit around your life. And like my husband is doing, nighttime-only aligners mean you can straighten your teeth while you sleep. And monthly payments start at just $89. There have been over 2 million smiles treated with this technology. And they offer a 30-day money-back guarantee after starting treatment. Listeners of my show get an additional 35% discount when they go to smileset.com/tckr. With this discount, you can get the smile of your dreams for under

• 41:58Kendall Rae?

  1,200 bucks. Go to smileset.com/tckr to get started. Smileset.com/tckr.

• 42:05Speaker 01

  Everyone talks about how challenging it is to raise kids, but what about protecting them? Outlet covers, kitchen cabinet locks, baby gates, where do you even start? Well, protecting your home and auto is a great place to start. Progressive offers customized coverage options. You can be sure you have the right coverage for you and your loved ones. They're basically the outlet covers, the kitchen cabinet locks, and the baby gates of insurance. Don't wait. Get your quote today at progressive.com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company, affiliates and other insurers. Not available in all states.

• 42:46Kendall Rae?

  He clearly just didn't give a shit that he was suspected of murder because they continued to date one another and speak all the time after all of this. And it turns out their relationship was a terribly kept secret. Turns out, the two of them hadn't known each other forever, but they had become romantic in 2014 when Melody started taking care of her second cousin, Martha Jane. And Martha Jane was married to Rusty's dad. And remember Martha Jane, she comes back into things later on, in a very big way. Now, long story short, Rusty's dad had gone sick, and so did Martha Jane. So Melody started going to Tennessee to take care of them. And this is how she ended up with Roy's credit card.

• 43:26Kendall Rae?

  Roy, as a reminder, is Rusty's dad. But then her visits became personal, if you know what I mean. And everyone knew that she was doing this, including Gary. And get this, you guys. When her daughter Emily got married in 2016, Melody invited Rusty to the wedding and spent most of that evening dancing and flirting with him. And if you're watching this episode, take a look at this family picture from the wedding. I mean, the looks on Gary and Melody's faces really just say it all. And as he should have been, Gary was super disturbed by it all. But he didn't want to ruin his daughter's day because he was a good dad. And so he sort of just had to suck it up and let it happen.

• 44:10Kendall Rae?

  But yeah, by this point, she is definitely number one suspect on their list. And investigators continued to interview the kids to collect more information about her. And they were able to learn just how angry she was with Gary seemingly all the time and how little it took to set her off. In fact, just two days before he vanished, Scott said that his mom came screaming out of the house, yelling at Gary for leaving a dirty plate downstairs. So when he says, "Little things set her off", they all were saying, "Little things set her off", that's a great example of it. A dirty plate like sent her over the fucking edge. She literally smashed it on the ground and said, "I can't wait until that man's dead.

• 44:54Kendall Rae?

  I can't wait until I don't have to live with him anymore." And Gary even recorded a short video of the aftermath of it all, which was so eerie when you think about the fact that he was killed just a day or two later.

• 45:11Speaker 06

  Forget to take it upstairs.

• 45:17Speaker 06

  A minor temper tantrum. Of course, I had supper tonight and it was six for me, so I'm sure I'll be feeling poorly here within minutes, but we'll see.

• 45:29Kendall Rae?

  This is just heartbreaking and so, so scary. I mean, the fact that he said he'll probably start feeling sick after eating her food, literally dude makes the hair on my arms stand up because he knew, Gary knew that she wanted him dead. And the reality is, Melody stood the most to gain. Even if Gary had become more critical of their children for spending his money, it wouldn't make sense at the end of the day for any of them, especially Scott, to have him killed. In the state of Georgia, Melody would have legally obtained the property in the event of his death, and the property is what she said he was after. And clearly, they didn't have the best relationship, to say the least. So if Scott was the one to

• 46:13Kendall Rae?

  kill his father, he would have just been sabotaging his own life because his mom definitely wouldn't have continued to let him live there with such financial freedom, right? The dots were just not connecting logically or physically. And listen to this, when investigators pinged Gary's phone to try and get a better understanding of the timeline, they saw that his phone had movement at 5:52 a.m. on July 4th. It was moving around for roughly an hour, and then at 7:21, his phone was at the burn pile. It then moved towards the house and then ultimately stopped pinging at 9:05 a.m. Now, let's not forget, investigators

• 46:54Kendall Rae?

  were certain that Gary had to have been killed on the night of July 3rd because he never used his CPAP machine. It's the only timing that would make sense. So, think about it. The only reason that his phone could have been moving to and from the burn pile is because the killer was the one moving it around. And Melody was the only person who was home early that morning. Scott had left just before 7 a.m. to go play golf with some friends, and then, like we know, he went to the lake and then over to a friend's house. Melody also left the farm that day, but not before Gary's phone was seen moving around. So, everything at this Point, even if circumstantial, is pointing at her. And so finally, on June 18th, 2019, they were able to make an arrest.

• 47:39Kendall Rae?

  And Melody, funny enough, was actually with Rusty in Tennessee when they got word that the arrest was coming. And he drove her to the police station so she could just turn herself in. And I found it sort of interesting that it took almost a year to arrest her because it sounds to me like they had most of this evidence pretty early on, but I guess the real holdup was the autopsy. And it's just horrible to think about, but because of how badly burned his body was because he was out in that burn pile for so long. It took a while for them to make a positive identification on him and confirm his cause of death. But once they got that, though, they arrested her for malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, concealing the death of another and making false statements.

• 48:24Kendall Rae?

  And honestly, it was really Rusty's admission of what Melody told him about Gary being on the burn pile that convinced them of her guilt. And I'm sure Melody was pissed at Rusty for that. But at the end of the day, getting justice was not easy and it did not come fast. It actually wasn't until October of 2024, so almost a year ago now that Melody went to trial, which was over six years since the murder took place. During that time, she was out on bail, living her life, and the Ferris family became even more divided than they were before. Scott, Chris and Emily all agreed that their mom was responsible for the murder of their dad, whereas Amanda, the youngest, didn't waver in her support for their mom.

• 49:07Kendall Rae?

  Which is really interesting when you think about it, how Amanda was the one sitting with her mom, comforting her when they couldn't find Gary. And mind you, she was the only child that Melody never seemed to point the finger at. And it was always the others that she said took advantage of Gary. It was never Amanda. Which was actually something that Amanda had said since the beginning. During the interview process, early on, she had mentioned that she was worried about her brother's behavior towards their mom. She even said that Scott had been making threats against Melody, including threats. About burning the house down. And for whatever reason, she just couldn't believe that her mom would do this. And I definitely would love to hear your opinions as I go through everything that happened during the trial,

• 49:51Kendall Rae?

  which is a lot. And if you're new here, this is just a reminder that I am not a lawyer. I will not be able to give you a step by step breakdown of the trial, or we would be here for a long time. And like I said, I'm just not an expert enough to do that. But I'm here to share the big picture of what went down during this trial, because it was a roller coaster. And here's what the prosecution's big picture was. They believe that Melody killed Gary on the night of July 3rd, during the time that she said that she was wrangling up those horses on the property, and that the shooting first transpired in the kitchen during some type of argument. And then based on blood evidence, they believe that Gary then began to move downstairs into the living room area where he was possibly shot at again.

• 50:37Kendall Rae?

  And then he went out the sliding glass door where the trail of blood ended. Now, I'm sure a lot of you have been thinking about this, wondering about this. How the hell did Melody get Gary down to the burn pile? And this was one of, if not the biggest point of contention during the trial. And I mentioned it earlier, but Melody was small and Gary was not. Again, he was six foot five, about 300 pounds. He's known as Big Daddy. Wouldn't it have been pretty difficult for her to move his body to the burn pile from the house? And yes, it would have been difficult, but difficult does not mean impossible. During the trial, the jury heard testimony from Scott that their father's tractor was not parked in an area where he normally left it,

• 51:21Kendall Rae?

  suggesting, of course, that it may have been used to move him. And they even did a forensic examination, of course, and they found spots of Gary's blood on the side of it. However, it seemed like it wasn't a significant amount of blood. And they didn't find blood or DNA in the front bucket part of the tractor, you know, the part that is used to lift things up, which is where you would expect a body to go if it was used to move a body. But then there was Gary's RTV, and they Did find evidence of Melody's blood on the gear shifter, but besides that, there wasn't any DNA to suggest that it had been used to move a body either. The defense also pointed out the grassy area just outside the living room.

• 52:02Kendall Rae?

  That was still perfectly manicured, meaning that if a tractor or RTV had driven on it, they would have been able to tell. However, there were some tractor tire marks down by the burn pile. But to the defense's point, those marks could have easily been found all over the property. So who's to say that they were related, you know? But anyways, even though it would have been difficult, the prosecution argued that Melody was still the one to move him, even if it meant rolling him there. And not to mention, it was downhill. And so they believed that she was the one who did it. They argued that she was the only person with the means, motive, and opportunity to kill Gary. And they say her motive came down to money, sex, and starting a new life.

• 52:46Kendall Rae?

  Ultimately, her and Gary's relationship had been contentious at best, and she found someone else that she wanted to be with more. And rather than leave her husband and lose her luxurious life, they say she killed him to have the best of both worlds. After all, his $2 million life insurance policy was going to be hers in the event of his death.

• 53:09Speaker 07

  In this trial, what you have to do is ask yourself, what is the truth? You have to ask yourself certain questions. 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? The evidence demands an answer, and the answer is close, is at hand.

• 53:40Speaker 07

  It's close to me? It's close to you?

• 53:45Speaker 07

  It was close to Gary. That brings us to what we call means, motive, and opportunity. Let's first talk about opportunity.

• 53:56Speaker 07

  The reason why you strike the world down and you will see at the times of this case, when he was killed and when his body was moved, when things are going on, the only person is going to be at that house, the only person is her. No one else. Just her. Means. Means is how could you have done it? Because the question you're going to have in your mind and it's going to boil down to this case is how did that little lady get that big man on the burn pile? She's a cowgirl, farm girl. Her daddy owned a hardware store growing up. She's been around it. She had ropes, leads, straps, tow lines. Did I mention they had a tractor? Did I also say they had, I'll tell you they had an RTV? Motive.

• 54:42Speaker 07

  In my business, there's nothing new under the sun. Let me introduce you to a person called Rusty. Rusty and the defendant became romantic in about 2014. Their love, they talk like junior high kids in love for the first time. All the time. They had a regular pattern. When you see the opportunity, the means and the motive. Money, sex, new life, the truth.

• 55:11Speaker 07

  As sad as it is, as hard as it is, as I said, the defendant.

• 55:18Speaker 07

  Murdered.

• 55:20Speaker 07

  And desecrated her own husband.

• 55:22Kendall Rae?

  Now, the defense, on the other hand, would want you to believe that Melody knew nothing about her husband's financial situation and that she was totally oblivious to his income and that he had no problem with how she spent money. And a big part of their argument for why the jury shouldn't find her guilty had to do with the questions that they said were still unanswered. And one of those questions, of course, was how Gary got to the burn pile. And then another question had to do with the murder weapon. Where was it? Because investigators never actually found it despite an extensive search effort. But what they did find, though, was 38 caliber ammunition in Scott's room and Scott's room only, which they pointed out. Was never thoroughly searched for blood.

• 56:07Kendall Rae?

  In fact, they said that Scott's room was messy, but his bathroom was uncharacteristically clean. And so at the end of the day, they argued that Scott was the person who should be on trial. They said that he was the one who wanted Gary gone so that the farm could finally be his. And the one thing they pointed to a lot was how quick he was to call it a homicide. And if you remember, he had mentioned a missing gun before a bullet was even found in Gary's rib cage. And then, of course, all of us and the jury have to consider the fact that Scott definitely would have been able to move the body far more easy than his mom would have.

• 56:48Kendall Rae?

  And not only that, they also pointed to how suspicious it was of him to delete that trail camera footage that I told you guys about earlier. On top of that, the defense was adamant that investigators acted with confirmation bias and only looked for evidence against Melody because that's who they wanted to be guilty. They even said that there was a perfectly reasonable explanation for the blood drops that were found inside the house. According to the defense, those droplets came from Gary being bit on the ankle by a dog. And considering how little blood was actually there, they said it wouldn't be reasonable to assume that it came from a gunshot wound.

• 57:27Kendall Rae?

  My husband had braces growing up, and like so many people, he did not continue to wear his retainers as he got older. And he didn't want to go through the whole braces process again, so that's how we found SmileSet. And it could not be easier, you guys. My husband is currently straightening his teeth while he sleeps. SmileSet delivers doctor prescribed clear aligners for under $1,900. That's 60% less than traditional braces or in-office treatment. And what's so cool is a licensed doctor reviews your case and builds you your own custom treatment plan. You start with an at-home impression kit, and your aligners chip straight to you. Progress is then monitored remotely through the SmileSet app with doctor check-ins available whenever you want them.

• 58:09Kendall Rae?

  SmileSet has treatment options and payment plans that fit around your life. And like my husband is doing, nighttime only

• 58:15Kendall Rae?

  Aligners mean you can straighten your teeth while you sleep. And monthly payments start at just $89. There have been over 2 million smiles treated with this technology. And they offer a 30-day money-back guarantee after starting treatment. Listeners of my show get an additional 35% discount when they go to smileset.com/tckr. With this discount, you can get the smile of your dreams for under $1,200. Go to smileset.com/tckr to get started. Smileset.com/tckr.

• 58:42Speaker 01

  Everyone talks about how challenging it is to raise kids. But what about protecting them? Outlet covers, kitchen cabinet locks, baby gates. Where do you even start? Well, protecting your home and auto is a great place to start. Progressive offers customized coverage options. You can be sure you have the right coverage for you and your loved ones. They're basically the outlet covers, the kitchen cabinet locks, and the baby gates of insurance. Don't wait. Get your quote today at progressive.com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company, affiliates and other insurers. Not available in all states.

• 59:25Kendall Rae?

  Now, one thing that I did find to be particularly interesting is that on the morning of July 4th, Ms. Witch over here, Melody, ended up going over to Wally World. And why did she go to Walmart? Well, apparently she was out of bleach, of all things. And on the stand, one law enforcement officer actually testified that he remembered smelling cleaning solution as soon as he entered the home. And his testimony was one of many powerful ones that was given throughout the trial, including testimony from their neighbor Terry, who said that in 2016, Melody texted her, quote, "I hope he dies alone and a gruesome death." The jury also learned that she told Chris there was no point in having a funeral because,

• 1:00:10Kendall Rae?

  quote, "Why have a funeral when there's nothing left?" Melody was just incredibly cold when it came to her husband dying and the things she said about wanting him to die, leading up to his actual murder. And just how cold she was was reiterated. Through her kids' testimony, Chris, Scott, and Emily all took the stand to testify against their mom and made it clear there were longstanding marital issues. Each of their testimonies reflected a very troubled marriage and family life, namely due to the actions and infidelities of their mom. And Chris literally said that his dad once told him that every day of his life with Melody was the worst day of his life. Let that sink in.

• 1:00:55Kendall Rae?

  That's incredibly sad. And also, don't forget, Chris was the one that Gary confided in about Melody possibly poisoning him with those cookies that resulted in him going to the hospital. He also talked about his mom's affair with Ted Wiley, which at one point prompted Gary to file for divorce. And he also said his dad had always been open with him about their marital problems, and this was just one instance of that.

• 1:01:20Speaker 08

  Well, what my dad told me is he was kind of suspicious. My brother, I believe, was the one who kind of initially had those suspicions. But my suspicion, I always thought Ted Wiley was just a little bit too, I don't know, like, I guess maybe flirtatious with my mother?

• 1:01:41Speaker 09

  Who is Ted Wiley?

• 1:01:43Speaker 08

  Ted Wiley was actually in a relationship with my Aunt Sheri.

• 1:01:48Speaker 09

  And how did you know? How were your suspicions confirmed?

• 1:01:52Speaker 08

  I was living in Buckhead with my ex-wife Jenna, and my father told me, he's like, "I need you to come up to Alpharetta tonight and have dinner with me." I said, "Okay." And he sat me down, and he said, "Chris, I don't think we're gonna be able to have Christmas this year." And he began to explain that, why we wouldn't. He told me that my mother had withdrawn, I believe, $50,000 from a home equity line of credit without his knowing about it, or just... And he told me, "I don't know if we're gonna be able to have Christmas this year because of this."

• 1:02:32Speaker 09

  At any point, did your mom leave your dad?

• 1:02:38Speaker 08

  Yes.

• 1:02:39Speaker 09

  Can you tell the jury about that?

• 1:02:41Speaker 08

  She would leave and be up in Florence, Alabama for months at a time, weeks, sometimes weeks, sometimes months.

• 1:02:47Speaker 09

  How did you know where she was going?

• 1:02:51Speaker 08

  My father would tell me.

• 1:02:55Speaker 09

  Was that around the same time as the Ted Wiley?

• 1:02:59Speaker 08

  Yes.

• 1:03:00Speaker 09

  Affair, okay. Is that what prompted your dad to file divorce papers?

• 1:03:05Speaker 08

  Yes.

• 1:03:06Speaker 09

  Did they end up getting divorced?

• 1:03:07Speaker 08

  No.

• 1:03:09Speaker 09

  Do you know what happened?

• 1:03:11Speaker 08

  She came home.

• 1:03:14Speaker 08

  He called me one day and said, "She's coming home. I want you to forgive your mother and accept her back."

• 1:03:19Speaker 09

  And did you do that?

• 1:03:22Speaker 08

  I told him I would.

• 1:03:24Kendall Rae?

  And as we know, he suspected that his mom had something to do with the murder very early on.

• 1:03:31Speaker 08

  They told me that they found a bullet in my father's rib. And now this was being treated as a homicide.

• 1:03:40Speaker 08

  And I, that, there were some follow-up questions, you know, and they asked me, you know, who would, would anybody ever benefit from your father being killed?

• 1:03:55Speaker 08

  And I, I was very frank. I said, "Well, yeah, I mean, it was my mom and whoever he's related to as far as financially."

• 1:04:10Speaker 08

  I mean, at this point in time, my brain had kind of already switched to thinking something had happened to him that wasn't falling in a fire.

• 1:04:26Speaker 09

  Why did it switch?

• 1:04:28Speaker 08

  Because of my mother's behavior when the police were there and just how she was acting.

• 1:04:37Speaker 09

  What was that behavior? How was she acting?

• 1:04:39Speaker 08

  Just not like somebody whose husband had just been found in a burn pile.

• 1:04:42Kendall Rae?

  Now, as for Scott's testimony, there was obviously a lot to be said. And to summarize it, he spent a lot of time speaking about the events that took place between July 3rd and July 5th, which included the moment that he discovered his dad's remains. And I've just got to say, being the one to discover your dad's remains in that condition is just horrendous beyond words. I feel so, so bad for Scott. In one of his interviews, he was talking about how he wouldn't wish that experience even on his worst enemy. And God, I just truly can't imagine what that would be like.

• 1:05:18Speaker 07

  Ultimately, you did find the remains of your father, is that right?

• 1:05:22Speaker 10

  Yes. How I found it, like I said, I was going to check the other side of the pond, you know, across the dam. And I started walking that way, and I believe I got either halfway across the dam or got to the other side, and then Melody called me. And she called me and asked, "Have you thrown a dead goat on the burn pile?" I'm like, "No, we haven't had anything to die, and also I wouldn't throw it on the burn pile." And she said, "Well, come up here and look at this." So I was like, "Okay." Well, I turned around and started walking, and I see Amanda walking.

• 1:06:04Speaker 10

  She was almost kind of like right in front of my dad's office, coming from the, you know, the burn pile area, walking back up towards the driveway. She was walking there, and Melody was standing over near the burn pile. And I walk up and look, and I could already start seeing bones. And then I looked down, and it appeared to me that it was the inside of a skull. The backside was gone, and...

• 1:06:40Speaker 10

  You could see like the little blood vessels, I think it was, but it didn't look like a rock or something. So I grabbed a very, very small corner of it and I lifted it up just enough to where I saw teeth in the eye socket and I immediately put it right back. And, you know, I was crouched down and she was standing right there next to me. And I raise up, I put my hand on, you know, across her chest and push her back and go, "These are human remains. I am calling 911 right now. Nobody's allowed down here."

• 1:07:16Kendall Rae?

  And one thing that Scott really made clear is that his mom's reaction to all of this just was not normal. And I think we can all agree. Like Chris, he didn't think that she was acting like someone whose husband was just found dead in this horribly gruesome way, like just burned to basically nothing left in a burn pile on his own property. Anyone else who even had a little bit of love left for their spouse would just be destroyed by that. And he said that her tears didn't seem genuine at all. It was almost like her reaction was just completely fake.

• 1:07:51Speaker 10

  She didn't get angry with anybody and she showed no, I didn't notice any of her freaking out or anything like that. The only time that I saw her actually try to kind of show some emotion is after the deputy and the paramedic came back up from the burn pile to say, "Yes, those are human remains." And then just the way that she started acting, I've seen my mother cry, I mean, hundreds of times throughout my life and all. It appeared to me to be fake.

• 1:08:26Speaker 07

  Up until that point, has she cried or anything?

• 1:08:29Speaker 10

  No.

• 1:08:30Kendall Rae?

  And when he was asked the toughest question of all, Scott cried when he was asked if he had anything to do with his father's murder.

• 1:08:38Speaker 07

  Scott, would you look at the jury and answer this question? Did you murder your father?

• 1:08:47Speaker 10

  I absolutely did not murder my father. Without a doubt, I loved him.

• 1:08:57Speaker 07

  Look at me.

• 1:09:00Speaker 07

  Did you have anything to do to help your mother dispose of and burn your father?

• 1:09:05Speaker 10

  Absolutely not.

• 1:09:06Speaker 07

  Tell them, let me.

• 1:09:07Speaker 10

  No.

• 1:09:13Speaker 10

  Like I said, I love my father. He was the backbone.

• 1:09:27Speaker 10

  He was the glue to our family.

• 1:09:33Speaker 07

  Who's that question? All right, it's time to take a break.

• 1:09:37Kendall Rae?

  And I think seeing him like that, it says a lot. I mean, my heart really, really goes out to Scott and everything that he's been through through all of this. It's just horrendous. Now, when Emily testified, she talked a lot about their marital issues as well, including testimony about the affair with Ted Wiley. She also discussed the $50,000 home equity line of credit that her mom took out without Gary's knowledge and how things were really never the same after this. And one thing that I thought was really interesting that she shared was how her mom was very insistent that she hand over the letter from the coroner that confirmed his death. Because this letter could be used to claim his $2 million life insurance policy.

• 1:10:18Kendall Rae?

  And then, of course, Emily had to describe the painful moment when she found out that her dad was missing. She was living in Tennessee and she had gotten a call from Chris. So she left work, grabbed her husband and their daughter, and they drove to the farm as fast as they could. And Emily remembered actually having a strange feeling because on the 4th, she had sent a picture of her daughter in a family email thread. And Gary never replied, which was very unlike him. He loved his grandchildren, he loved his kids, and so he always replied to pictures of them. And she even said that Melody was asking her if she had access to Gary's bank accounts while he was still missing. And her obsession was just hard to ignore. And Emily described her mother as being hostile about it after his death.

• 1:11:01Kendall Rae?

  But her opinion and the opinion of her brothers was definitely not shared. By their sister Amanda, who testified for the defense. I will say, it seems that Amanda was torn at this point. And of course, that's just my opinion based on her testimony. It doesn't seem like she was outright saying that her mom was innocent, no matter what. I mean, her testimony was more like, I'm going to believe she's innocent until she's proven guilty.

• 1:11:29Speaker 07

  And it's fair to say that you're biased in favor of your mom?

• 1:11:33Speaker 11

  I wouldn't say how I'm biased in favor. I believe that somebody is innocent until they're proven guilty.

• 1:11:40Speaker 07

  So would you, would you say that you do believe, you do believe in your mom, though?

• 1:11:44Speaker 11

  She has told me that she's not guilty. And all I can do is believe that until somebody can prove she is guilty. So I would like to believe that my mother had nothing to do with this.

• 1:11:55Kendall Rae?

  She also talked about her siblings' habits with their parents' money, including Chris's alleged stealing and how Scott leached on them. And she did corroborate that dog bite that the defense said Gary sustained. Amanda's testimony was honestly really emotional because you can see how torn up she was about this. She said that she lost her whole family that day. And regardless of who she believes or what she believes, my heart truly goes out to her because it's a hard situation to be in. And she did lose her whole family that day. I understand wanting to believe someone you love, especially your parent, couldn't have possibly done something so horrific to your other parent.

• 1:12:38Kendall Rae?

  That must be hard to wrap your mind around and accept.

• 1:12:45Kendall Rae?

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• 1:13:27Kendall Rae?

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• 1:14:01Speaker 01

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• 1:14:42Kendall Rae?

  Now, switching gears a little bit, I wanted to talk a little bit more about Melody's affairs. Since that was part of the state's motive, it was obviously a big focus during the trial, and rightfully so. For starters, they brought Ted Wiley in to testify, but I'll be honest, he didn't add much more than we already knew. He explained how they met, the extent of their affair, and there was some discussion about money that she had given him over the years, but he didn't have much information to offer on her financial situation. Rusty's testimony, on the other hand, was a lot more insightful. And it was interesting because it almost sounded like he was, like, trying to protect her, which makes sense. In the early parts of his testimony, he talked about how the two of them met, which, if you remember, was through his stepmom and her second cousin, Martha Jane.

• 1:15:27Kendall Rae?

  Then he somewhat hesitantly described their affair and the frequency with which they spoke and saw one another, which was a lot.

• 1:15:35Speaker 07

  Tell the jury how that happened. What was going on?

• 1:15:39Speaker 06

  You know, we were just in close contact with each other. Almost day in, day out, trying to handle everything and it just, it became, we became a thing.

• 1:15:52Speaker 07

  So your relationship with her started in 2014?

• 1:15:56Speaker 06

  Yes.

• 1:15:57Speaker 07

  Did you know she was married?

• 1:15:58Speaker 06

  I did.

• 1:15:59Speaker 07

  Did you know she was married to Gary?

• 1:16:01Speaker 06

  I did.

• 1:16:02Speaker 07

  In the beginning, I think, did y'all meet there monthly?

• 1:16:06Speaker 06

  I don't remember the, how often and when and that. I'm sure there's records, but I don't.

• 1:16:12Speaker 07

  Did it progress to meeting weekly?

• 1:16:15Speaker 06

  At times.

• 1:16:16Speaker 07

  Did you meet more than one time during the week?

• 1:16:19Speaker 06

  It's possible that we did. I do not recall that we did, but I'm.

• 1:16:23Speaker 07

  You wouldn't dispute if that was the case?

• 1:16:26Speaker 06

  No, no. Again, I know there's records, so.

• 1:16:31Speaker 07

  But you did love her in the past, correct?

• 1:16:33Speaker 06

  Correct.

• 1:16:34Speaker 07

  You were in love with her, fair to say?

• 1:16:37Speaker 06

  Yes.

• 1:16:37Speaker 07

  And she was in love with you, fair to say?

• 1:16:40Speaker 06

  Yes.

• 1:16:41Speaker 07

  How many times a day, tell the jury, how many times a day would you talk to her on the phone? Whether it's by voice or by text messages?

• 1:16:49Speaker 06

  All day, all day.

• 1:16:51Speaker 07

  Almost every day?

• 1:16:53Speaker 06

  Almost every day.

• 1:16:54Kendall Rae?

  But of course, this trial wasn't about the affair. It was about Melody killing her husband. And as we know, Rusty did play a big part in her arrest. But what's interesting, however, not really surprising, is he seemed to flip-flop on what side he was on. If you remember, he agreed to record his phone calls with Melody after Gary's murder. But then he ended up telling her that the police were recording the call, which he admitted was very suspicious.

• 1:17:23Speaker 06

  Nope.

• 1:17:23Speaker 07

  So why are you having these other phones to talk out, outside of the phone calls?

• 1:17:27Speaker 06

  I wanted to make her comfortable so we could, I could find out if there was anything that wasn't known.

• 1:17:36Speaker 07

  You wanted to make her comfortable?

• 1:17:39Speaker 07

  So you just had to go buy these other burner phones to the law enforcement and didn't know that y'all were talking?

• 1:17:44Speaker 06

  Correct.

• 1:17:46Speaker 07

  You agree that's suspicious, right?

• 1:17:48Speaker 06

  Of course it is.

• 1:17:49Kendall Rae?

  Yeah, very suspicious. And there was also a pretty suspicious phone call between the two of them after Melody got arrested.

• 1:17:59Speaker 05

  You all right? No.

• 1:18:03Speaker 05

  Uh huh. Well, you know, back a long time ago, I said, "Stop talking." Right. I haven't done anything. I know that, Darwin.

• 1:18:16Speaker 05

  But somehow or other, you know, from what you keep talking about, you're going to single-handedly hang me.

• 1:18:23Kendall Rae?

  Now, if she really hadn't done anything, there wouldn't be anything that Rusty could say that would hang her, which does make me wonder what he knew. And what's wild is he admitted on the stand that she told him not to speak to police. Take a listen.

• 1:18:41Speaker 06

  Sir?

• 1:18:41Speaker 07

  You can answer the question. Did she talk to you and tell you not to talk to law enforcement because they were trying to get information on her?

• 1:18:49Speaker 06

  I don't think it was spread out verbatim like that. It was just, "Don't talk."

• 1:18:56Kendall Rae?

  But we know that he did because not long after the murder, Rusty had that infamous interview where he told investigators that Melody said that Gary was on the burn pile. But here's the thing with that, though. He recanted the statement, or at least the timing of it. He said that Melody did say those things, but it didn't happen when he first said it did. Initially, he said that she told him that before Gary was reported missing, but then he changed his story and said that the call didn't take place until after Gary was found. And I think the timing of it, obviously, matters a lot. And he recanted that statement just a day after the jailhouse call that I just played a minute ago. Take a listen.

• 1:19:40Speaker 07

  On July 24th, 2018, while meeting with your attorney, who was present, and Detective Hayes and Sergeant Pope, you told them that the defendant, 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." Those were your words to law enforcement in July the 24th of 2018. Is that true?

• 1:20:21Speaker 06

  Yes.

• 1:20:22Speaker 07

  And at the time that she made the statement to you, that you said she said, "On July 4th, about 2 o'clock in the morning, Gary had not been reported missing yet." Isn't that true?

• 1:20:35Speaker 06

  Yes.

• 1:20:36Speaker 07

  Now, in July of 2018, he never came back and said, "I need to recant that." That was wrong.

• 1:20:41Speaker 06

  Not in July of 2018.

• 1:20:43Speaker 07

  Correct. And he didn't do that. You actually didn't recant until your statement in June of 2019. Isn't that true?

• 1:20:52Speaker 06

  That is true.

• 1:20:53Speaker 07

  And after she was arrested, a couple of days later, you then get in contact with law enforcement and want to tell them something. Is that true?

• 1:21:00Speaker 06

  Yes.

• 1:21:01Speaker 07

  So, this meeting in June of 2019, after the defense been arrested and you were with her and all that, what did you tell law enforcement? That what was wrong with the first statement about being on the burn pile? How did you retract that? What did you say?

• 1:21:18Speaker 06

  I don't know that I said a date. I just said that I had gone to Martha's house. Martha had told me. And then while I was there, Melody had called and then she told me.

• 1:21:30Speaker 07

  You were saying it could have been July 9th?

• 1:21:33Speaker 06

  I do not know what day it was.

• 1:21:36Speaker 07

  But looking at the calendar on the floor there, July 2018, you talked to the GBI, excuse me, the sheriff's office with the TBI on July 10th of 2018. You agree with that, right?

• 1:21:50Speaker 06

  Yes.

• 1:21:51Speaker 07

  And then you talked to him again on July 24th of 2018. You agree with that, correct?

• 1:21:56Speaker 06

  Yes.

• 1:21:57Speaker 07

  And on July 24th, 2018, you tell them, "Melody told me Gary's in the burn pile. I don't want to know about it. Don't want to talk about it." Right?

• 1:22:05Speaker 06

  Yes.

• 1:22:06Speaker 07

  So, you're saying that... At some point, you got the date wrong. Would it have been before the 24th?

• 1:22:13Speaker 06

  Yes, it was before the 24th.

• 1:22:16Speaker 07

  Was it closer to the 9th of July or a different date?

• 1:22:19Speaker 06

  I don't think anything transpired on the 9th of July.

• 1:22:22Speaker 07

  So tell us, what day did this conversation happen where the defendant said Gary's in the burn pile, that she says a different date from July 4th at 2 o'clock in the morning?

• 1:22:34Speaker 06

  I do not know the date.

• 1:22:37Speaker 06

  But I do know that

• 1:22:42Speaker 06

  it happened after Detective Hayes and Sergeant Pope had been up, because after they left, I went to Martha's house, and that's when it was. So it would have been after that.

• 1:22:55Kendall Rae?

  Now, the defense would basically go on to say that he was under duress the first time that he made that statement. The investigators were getting up in his face, and they basically pressured him into it. But what many believe is that Rusty was telling the truth the first time. And only after speaking with Melody did he decide to change his story. And I've just got to say, I believe scenario two. And we know from phone records that the two of them spoke on the phone three times the night of July 3rd going into July 4th, which is when prosecutors argue that Gary was killed. And that's what makes sense to me. I'm sure it makes sense to you. And don't forget, Melody and Rusty lied about having spoken that day, which is just extremely sketch. So to me, there are just too many instances

• 1:23:37Kendall Rae?

  of them lying to ignore. And the truth, at the end of the day, if it is the truth, it isn't hard to keep it straight. And really, guys, the truth is, Melody and Rusty were starting to plan their life without Gary around. Now, I'm sure there will be varying opinions on whether or not he knew, which is fair. I mean, I'm not totally sure either way. But I do think it's safe to say that Rusty was anticipating Gary's death. He told the jury that Melody told him that Gary had esophagus cancer. So they were starting to discuss what life might look like together once he died. There was talk of wedding bands, and also that they were going to wait six months after his death to start dating publicly. And it's possible that Rusty really believed this. whole cancer bid. Plus, it's not like he was ever charged with anything to suggest

• 1:24:22Kendall Rae?

  that he was in on it. So I definitely want to hear your opinions on that one because just because he wasn't charged doesn't mean that he wasn't involved. But there's just not any evidence to show that he was. But like I said, though, it's clear, in my opinion, allegedly, Rusty knew that Gary's life was coming to an end. Whether he knew how that was going to happen, I don't know, but he knew. Regardless, though, I do think his testimony actually helped the prosecution quite a bit, even though he was pretty resistant with some of his answers. And I know this has been a long episode, so thank you for sticking with me, but we still have two more witnesses to go over, and this next one is going to shock you. And the witness is Martha Jane. Now, it may not sound like Martha Jane's

• 1:25:07Kendall Rae?

  testimony would be super shocking, but, oh my God. Because the shocking part is that she wasn't slated to testify, as in, that was never the plan. She had actually been at home, just watching the trial on TV, and she ended up calling the sheriff's department because she believed that Rusty misspoke on the stand. At one point, he had been asked about his guns, and he said that none of them were missing. He also said that no guns were missing at Martha Jane's house either, but she said that that was not true. In the midst of the trial, she gets in contact with the investigators and says, there's something heavy on her heart she's got to share. And then she eventually shared it with the jury as well. And that information was that a .38 caliber pistol was missing

• 1:25:48Kendall Rae?

  from her house. Now, this gun was actually a gift from her husband in the 70s, and Melody was one of the few people who knew where it was. Now, the defense did try to argue that Martha Jane was just lying on the stand because she was embarrassed to learn about the affair on TV. But that seems like a pretty aggressive thing to lie about, if you ask me, even if she was pissed about the affair. And unfortunately, we may never know if Melody took that gun or not. Seeing as the murder weapon, to this day, has still never been found. And lastly, I need to mention a woman named Angela Phillips. Okay, so she was Gary's longtime secretary, and she also took the stand. And there were two notable things that she said that I just had to mention.

• 1:26:31Kendall Rae?

  So one thing that she mentioned was that after Gary died, Melody called her to say that Gary had one of his spells and fell, suggesting that his death was accidental. But she said that just didn't make sense to her. She claimed that even though he would get unexpectedly sick, it was never to the degree that he would have fallen into a fire and then been unable to get back out. Like, he was weak at times, but not that weak. Which leads me to the next thing that Angela said. And this is so, so eerie. But she said that Gary once told her, quote, "You'll know what to tell Dateline if I die mysteriously." I mean, come on, isn't that just wild? And then his case was covered on Dateline,

• 1:27:14Kendall Rae?

  which is, oh my god, insane foreshadowing, if you ask me. And she did have more to say, but those two things were definitely what stood out the most. Now, for closing arguments, everything was pretty standard. The state was strong in their conviction that only Melody could have done this, and the only outcome that makes sense is her being found guilty. And the defense continued to reiterate that there were too many questions unanswered and too much reasonable doubt. During closing, though, there was this reenactment, if you will, where the defense attorney brought in these, like, big bags of salt. He very dramatically throws them all down into this burlap bag to emphasize how heavy they are. And then he starts pulling on them.

• 1:27:58Kendall Rae?

  And he only gets a few feet before he throws his arms up and says, "That's all I got," and acts like he can't catch his breath. And his point, of course, being that it was hard for him, a 180-pound man, to drag something that weighs 320 pounds. And obviously, he's making the argument that if he's struggling to do it, how could Melody have moved Gary's body 100 yards? Take a look.

• 1:28:23Speaker 07

  This is 320 pounds. And I have 185 pounds.

• 1:28:35Speaker 07

  And that's all I have?

• 1:28:40Speaker 07

  I think it is.

• 1:28:46Kendall Rae?

  And I gotta say, I know that he's just doing his job, and it was creative. I'll give him credit for that. Um, but I just found it to be kind of funny, silly and goofy. I mean, I think we can all agree, it's a bit ridiculous and it looked a little, um, there was some acting going on. But when it was all said and done, the prosecution just had a stronger argument. And after three days of deliberating, the jury ultimately found Melody Ferris guilty on all charges. And there actually was a point during deliberations when they told the judge that they were deadlocked, but he encouraged them to give it another try, go back in there, figure it out, and that's when they came to their decision. And some jurors actually spoke out later on, and they said that the cellphone data was really what persuaded them that it only could have been her.

• 1:29:30Kendall Rae?

  And this is actually a really interesting theory that one of the jurors had come up with and shared. Um, but they theorize that maybe she forced him to walk to the burn pile at gunpoint, which would explain how she got his body there, which, I mean, once I thought more about that, I think it definitely could be possible. And I really want to know what you guys think of that theory. Now, when it came to Melody's sentencing, after not speaking at all during the trial, she gave a very unexpected and wild speech. Now, that hearing took place on December 5th of 2024, and rather than start asking for mercy, Melody took this as her opportunity to further point the finger at her son, Scott.

• 1:30:14Kendall Rae?

  Now, her statement was 20 minutes long, and I'm surprised that she was able to go on that long. And I just had to play some of it for you, even though it's 20 minutes. We're obviously not going to play 20 minutes of it right now, but you can always look it up if you want. But I had to share some of it because it is wild.

• 1:30:31Speaker 12

  I'm Joel Adapio. 2018, six years. Five months ago today, began the worst nightmare that I could have ever imagined. Not only my world, but my family's world was absolutely destroyed at the hands of one person. I want to make sure that my children, my grandchildren, and Gary's family, and to be honest, at this point in time, the entire world who has viewed this.

• 1:31:01Speaker 12

  I have waited for years to make this statement to everyone.

• 1:31:07Speaker 12

  I want the world to know who did this. I have always heard that the courtroom is the last place you're gonna get the truth. And has that ever been proven to be the truth in this case? Not only did I not do this, I know who did. I know Scott killed his father.

• 1:31:33Speaker 12

  He took my husband, the father of Chris, Emily, and Amanda. Scott,

• 1:31:42Speaker 12

  this is unforgivable. Scott has spent an entire life of loving and protecting you, but this, I refuse to cover for you. My mother begged me to take the blame for this. She said, after she talked to you, after Gary died, that she knew you had done it.

• 1:32:05Speaker 12

  Her exact words were, "You are his mother. You have to take blame for this."

• 1:32:11Kendall Rae?

  The judge even did have to stop her a few times and redirect her because she was bringing up allegations that weren't even, you know, verified, weren't even part of the trial. Um, so it was only in the last five minutes or so that she did start asking for mercy.

• 1:32:26Speaker 12

  I spent eighteen-plus months in the Cherokee County Jail over something that I did not do.

• 1:32:36Speaker 12

  The last thi-- I thought that that was the last thing I could do to Gary, for him, to get justice for him. I can remember

• 1:32:45Speaker 12

  thinking, "It's okay that I sit here. I just want answers." That's all I want.

• 1:32:53Speaker 12

  And I still haven't gotten them. And I don't think that I ever will. And that scares me to death. I know that in my heart, body and soul, who did this? And I am begging for help. I'm begging you, Judge Cannon. Please do not send me to prison for something I didn't do. If I had done this, I would take this charge gladly. If it would bring Gary back, I would gladly go to prison. Please do this for Gary and my family. I have missed years with the people that I love dearly. I do not want to wait years for justice, years that I may not have. I know this is something that you may never have seen before.

• 1:33:37Speaker 12

  And I plead with you to throw this verdict out. Help me get justice for the correct person. As bad as it sounds, I want to be there to watch him chained and shackled and brought to justice. I plead with you. I'm begging you, not for me, but for Gary and my children and my grandchildren.

• 1:34:00Kendall Rae?

  Now, people in their lives just couldn't believe that she would stoop to that level at the end of all of this, that she would really blame her son and leave him with that much pain. And if you're watching this episode, you probably saw Scott. He was in the courtroom and he looked absolutely stunned. He said it took everything in him not to like burst out in court and just maintain as much

• 1:34:26Kendall Rae?

  calm energy as he could as his mother is accusing him of the murder of his father when she is very clearly guilty. Here he is, ready to close this chapter after everything they have been through over the last couple of years. And his mother is taking it as one more opportunity to try and drag him down and make other people believe that he did this. And to insist that she's taking the fall for him is just evil, if you ask me. It's so, so brutal. I can't imagine saying that to your own child, knowing damn well that you did this. And I 100% believe that she did. I'm sure maybe there's even some of you who wonder, and that's fair. In my heart of hearts.

• 1:35:11Kendall Rae?

  In my brain, I guess I could say, I don't know. I just, I feel very strongly that she is responsible for Gary's murder. So for her to sit there and try to put all that on her son, as probably the last interaction that the two of them will ever have. Yeah, it's just evil. I don't think there's any other word for it. And luckily, the judge saw right through that bullshit. And in the end, he sentenced that witch to life in prison, with the possibility of parole in 30 years. But she also received an additional five years for concealing his remains, and five more after that for making false statements. So even with her parole eligibility, she'll be well in her 90s before she even got the chance to be released. So chances are, she's getting life in prison. She's not gonna see another free day.

• 1:35:56Kendall Rae?

  Or at least, I truly hope that that is the case. And of course, because she's Melody, she is still maintaining her innocence to this day. And she said that she's not gonna stop fighting until the truth is revealed. Now, what's interesting too, is the lead detective on the case said that as soon as she was found guilty, all of a sudden, she started making up all these crazy things about Scott, which sadly doesn't shock me, but my heart really hurts for Scott, that his own mother is willing to do that, knowing damn well what she did. And of course, we do see people doing that a lot, as some sort of last ditch effort. But it just hurts when it's your own mother. Now, this has been a very long episode, so thank you to all of you who have stuck through till the end. I really, really wanna know your thoughts on this one, because I have so many.

• 1:36:40Kendall Rae?

  I had to kinda limit my commentary to some degree, or else this just would've been an unbelievably long episode. And I'm not going to end here with some big outro, since we've been going long enough. But I, like I said, I really do wanna know your thoughts on this case. So sound off in the comments. And I guess what I wanna know the most is, do you think they got the right person? Or was this investigation botched, like Melody said? Do you think Scott is actually the one who killed his father? I gotta say, I strongly disagree with that, right off the bat. And I just feel bad for Scott, that he even still has to deal with those allegations. But if you feel differently, I wanna know why. So let me know. And let's have a chat in the comments, because I'm eager to know what you think.

• 1:37:25Kendall Rae?

  That is gonna be it for me today, guys. Thank you for joining me for another episode. And make sure you follow the show on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. It really does help me out. If you want to watch the video version of this show, you can find it on my YouTube channel, which will be linked, or you can just search Kendall Rae. I will be back with another episode soon, but until then, stay safe out there.

• 1:37:54Speaker 13

  She's been thinking about this sleepover all week, but I think about her food allergies all the time. Fortunately, her doctor prescribed Zolair, omalizumab. It's proven to significantly reduce allergic reactions if a food allergy accident happens.

• 1:38:07Speaker 14

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• 1:38:51Speaker 14

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