Peter Van Sant (2:22)

Apparently no one in the family had.

Detective Daniel Hayes (2:25)

Were there any July 4th plans?

Scott Ferris (2:28)

No, they don't do. He doesn't, he doesn't have a very social life.

Peter Van Sant (2:33)

Scott noticed that Gary's Mercedes was still parked at the farm. He then ticked through the other clues that might indicate Gary was somewhere on the property, beginning with his dad's wallet. When Gary was home, he'd leave that on his dresser in the master bedroom. But it wasn't there. He thought about what else Gary would have taken if he left on a trip or was Staying safely somewhere else. Gary used a CPAP machine every night for his sleep apnea. And Scott knew his father wouldn't spend the night anywhere without it.

Detective Daniel Hayes (3:11)

So the CPAP machine was there?

Scott Ferris (3:13)

Yes.

Detective Daniel Hayes (3:15)

Did y' all look for a cell phone or anything or does he carry that with him?

Scott Ferris (3:18)

Well, I started calling the cell phone and my sister started calling the cell phone. It was going straight to voicemail.

Peter Van Sant (3:23)

But with Gary's car and CPAP machine all on the property, he had to be nearby. At this point, Scott's brother Chris had joined the search. Scott wondered if his father had fallen somewhere.

Scott Ferris (3:38)

I've always worried about him having a heart attack. I mean, just being somewhere on this property, him having a heart attack.

Peter Van Sant (3:44)

They searched the more than 8,000 square foot main house, the barn and surrounding woods.

Scott Ferris (3:51)

I was going to start walking down into the woods to see if, you know, he went off down in there. And then I saw my sister Amanda and my mother standing by the fire.

Peter Van Sant (4:02)

The fire was a smoldering burn pile. It's where they'd burn yard waste.

Scott Ferris (4:08)

She goes, has a goat died or anything? Have you thrown a dead goat?

Peter Van Sant (4:12)

Was there a dead animal in the pile?

Scott Ferris (4:14)

I'm like, no, I haven't done that. I was like, are we having goats to die? She's like, well, come over here and look at this.

Peter Van Sant (4:21)

Scott moved down for a closer look.

Scott Ferris (4:24)

I picked up one little piece. I turned it and realized it was a skull. I immediately just set it back down gently. I said, back up. I'm calling 911.

911 Operator (4:40)

Cherokee county now. We're in the case of emergency. My father has come up missing and I. We just searched the properties of a small farm and I just found something near a farm that doesn't. There was a huge burning brush. Now there's nothing to follow that it could be him. I don't know.

Peter Van Sant (5:07)

Scott was horrified and certain he had just picked up human remains, remains he believed could be his father.

911 Operator (5:15)

All right, sir, I've got him on the. Got him on the way out there for you.

Peter Van Sant (5:23)

Sheriff's deputies and detectives quickly realized that what had happened that day at the Ferris family farm was no accident. They learned that the Ferrises were a dysfunctional family. Accusations went round and round like a sinister Ferris wheel. Investigators now had to figure out if any of those arguments pushed one of Gary's own kin to kill him.

Melody Ferris (5:50)

It has been called the Ferris wheel, and it was, but it was our Ferris wheel.

Peter Van Sant (5:56)

This ferris wheel was powered by distrust over finances, jealousy, and personal betrayal.

Detective Daniel Hayes (6:03)

It's a real life soap opera.

Peter Van Sant (6:05)

And now a murder.

Melody Ferris (6:07)

This is a mother's worst nightmare.

Peter Van Sant (6:10)

A nightmare that would go on for years. Dragging them through a carnival of lies, turning into a murder case the likes of which I have never before experienced. I'm Peter van Sant from 48 Hours. This is Blood is Thicker. The ferris wheel Episode 1 Big Daddy is Missing. When Gary and Melody Ferris bought their 10 acre property in 2013, it was meant to be the beginning of a new era. The two had raised four kids, Chris, Scott, Emily and Amanda, and were now grandparents. The idyllic well groomed acreage was lined with a winding black painted fence and a long gravel road that could take you through the trees, past the pond, the main house and all the way up to a huge horse barn. By 2018, Gary and Melody had owned the place for five years. They were in their 50s and had known each other for most of their lives. And how old were you when you first met Gary?

Melody Ferris (7:27)

16.

Peter Van Sant (7:28)

They met in Florence, Alabama. She first saw him when visiting a church there.

Melody Ferris (7:34)

He worked at Fuller's Big Star. It was a little grocery store that was there in town. It's where that you would run to to go pick up things.

Peter Van Sant (7:42)

They dated for a few years and then eloped. In 1979, Gary was a sophomore at the University of North Alabama studying finance. Melody also studied there for about a year but dropped out to start working.

Melody Ferris (7:59)

Chris was born when I was days before I was 20 years old.

Peter Van Sant (8:03)

She ended up working at her parents hardware store.

Melody Ferris (8:07)

I could take Chris to my parents hardware store. He grew up in a hardware store.

Peter Van Sant (8:12)

Do you have warm memories of that?

Melody Ferris (8:13)

Very much so.

Peter Van Sant (8:14)

Three and a half years later they had their second Scott.

Melody Ferris (8:19)

Scott was a handful but you loved him anyway. Precious little boy.

Peter Van Sant (8:24)

Meanwhile, Gary decided to study law.

Melody Ferris (8:27)

We had Emily one month to the day before he graduated law school. We moved to Birmingham. We had Amanda.

Peter Van Sant (8:36)

Gary practiced commercial real estate law and quickly climbed the ladder at his firm. Melody said Gary was smart, book smart.

Melody Ferris (8:46)

Workaholic, an absolute workaholic.

Peter Van Sant (8:50)

When Gary opened the firm's office in Atlanta, Melody was a full time mom. She took charge of the home and the kids and made sure their upbringing was special, especially during the holidays. I understand you're a big Christmas decorator.

Melody Ferris (9:09)

Love to decorate my home for Christmas. I think it became more and more because we would have the Christmas party at our house for the law firm. So it became more, more and more.

Peter Van Sant (9:18)

One home video shows a Ferris family Christmas that could be a scene from a Hallmark movie. There's a tall Christmas tree covered in ornaments overlooking A happy family ripping open their gift. Gary was the provider and patriarch of it all, and he was a big presence. The people closest to him even called him Big Daddy. The nickname made sense. After all, he was about 6 foot 4 and nearly 300 pounds. Gary had gray hair, a goatee, and this deep, gregarious voice with a southern drawl.

Scott Ferris (10:06)

You can read my dad like a book.

Peter Van Sant (10:08)

Scott talked about his father to investigators in 2018.

Scott Ferris (10:12)

He's very, very predictable. He will come in from work, usually he will stand in the driveway, smoke a cigarette, and he will go from his bedroom back to the garage, grab a Mountain Dew, grab his briefcase, and go down to the basement in his office, and he will stay there until dinner's ready.

Peter Van Sant (10:35)

The family revolved around Gary both as their father and financier. The central axle, if you will, in this Ferris wheel to the normal person.

Melody Ferris (10:46)

He makes an astronomical amount of money, but I couldn't give you a certain amount of what he even makes. I'm not privy to that.

Peter Van Sant (10:54)

While Gary controlled the money, that didn't mean he was holding back dollars from his children. Take oldest son Chris. He was married to his second wife and had kids from his first marriage. But Melody said Gary helped him out.

Melody Ferris (11:10)

I mean, he's got a 300 something dollar cable bill every month. He's got, you know, over a $300 cell phone bill. Now, I don't know whether that's just his or it's him and his two girls. Just. I mean, there's airline tickets out the union.

Peter Van Sant (11:25)

Melody said their daughter Emily, who was married and living in Tennessee, was also counted on her dad for help. Same goes for Scott. The only adult child who Melody said wasn't depending on Gary was their youngest daughter, Amanda. As detectives put it, Gary was giving away money like it grew on trees.

Detective Daniel Hayes (11:48)

It sounds like everybody was suckling on the teeth for a farm phrase.

Melody Ferris (11:53)

They were, except for Amanda.

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Peter Van Sant (12:55)

As detectives worked to figure out what had happened in the days lead to Gary Farris murder, they took a deeper look into the family. There was Chris, the oldest, back in 2018. He was 38, married, and had two daughters. The second oldest, Scott, turned 35 two days after the remains were discovered. He was single, living and working on his parents property and didn't have any children. Scott and Chris looked like they could be twins even though they're three years apart. Emily, their third child and first daughter, was 30, married with one young daughter, and she was the only sibling who lived out of state, building a life in Tennessee. And finally, Amanda, their youngest. At the time, she was 29 and engaged. Her wedding was set for the upcoming spring. The last time Amanda and Emily saw Gary was the weekend before he disappeared. The whole family had gotten together to celebrate Gary's 58th birthday. They had a cookout at the farm. Scott told detectives that the last time he saw his father was at a restaurant called Johnny's Cherokee Ranch, not far from the farm. This was on July 3, two days before finding the human remains.

Detective Daniel Hayes (14:25)

Were y' all having dinner or did

Scott Ferris (14:26)

you just run into him there or having lunch? I was actually having lunch. I. I was having lunch with my mother. He was there already.

Peter Van Sant (14:34)

This is from an interview with Detective Hayes.

Scott Ferris (14:38)

My dad eats their lunch.

Detective Daniel Hayes (14:40)

Is that a usual that y' all went and sit together or not? Oh, yeah.

Scott Ferris (14:42)

I mean, it's. Yeah, that's. He left before, so he was already there.

Detective Daniel Hayes (14:47)

So he was almost done already?

Scott Ferris (14:48)

Yeah, he was almost done already. So.

Detective Daniel Hayes (14:50)

So then he left. And after that, did he say what he was doing the rest of the day?

Scott Ferris (14:55)

I didn't. We didn't. We see. See each other so much. We don't always talk to each other.

Peter Van Sant (15:00)

He said that he and his mom didn't stay much longer before heading their separate ways. Later in the day, his brother Chris stopped by the farm with his daughter. She wanted to see big daddy. Here's Chris talking to detectives in 2018.

Chris Ferris (15:17)

We pulled up and he's, you know, I'm working. And he said, he's like, I would hug you, but I'm all hot and sweaty. I'm just gonna kiss you. And told my daughter. And she said, what are you doing?

Peter Van Sant (15:27)

Gary was in the midst of collecting items for the burn pile.

Chris Ferris (15:32)

We were there for maybe 20 to

Peter Van Sant (15:34)

30 minutes after Chris and His daughter left. Melody told Detective Hayes that Gary lit the burn pile.

Melody Ferris (15:43)

He started it and then he went up to the very front entrance and was messing around up there. And it's Gary. Don't leave that fire. Please don't leave the fire.

Peter Van Sant (15:54)

She estimated the last time she spoke with him was around 8 or 8:30 on the evening of July 3rd. In a final exchange of words, Melody said she warned him not to leave the burn pile burning.

Melody Ferris (16:08)

Said, you are not going to bed and leaving that fire.

Detective Daniel Hayes (16:11)

How big was the fire when he lit it? Massive.

Peter Van Sant (16:14)

As massive as the fire might have been. Melody said something else caught her attention that night. The horses had escaped the gated pasture.

Melody Ferris (16:24)

I had two horses who got out, so I was chasing them.

Peter Van Sant (16:29)

She called Scott, who spent the day at his friend's lake house. Scott remembered getting back to the farm that night at around 11 or 11:30 when he saw a glow in the distance.

Scott Ferris (16:42)

Immediately when I pulled in the driveway, I could see the fire going in the woods.

Peter Van Sant (16:48)

He assumed Gary was being irresponsible. Early the next morning, Scott said he called Melody he needed the debit card. He and Melody used the same card that had Gary's name on it.

Scott Ferris (17:05)

She walked it out to me, handed to me out the door and I went, got some cash out of the atm, came back, gave her the card and I left. I went to go play golf.

Peter Van Sant (17:18)

He had a 7:30am round of golf planned and then was heading back to his friend's lake house. Melody was heading to the same lake as Scott, but a different area. She was going to spend the day with her daughter Amanda, along with Amanda's fiance and his daughter. According to Amanda, Gary didn't accept an earlier invitation to join in the holiday fun. Melody said they didn't see him when they returned in the evening. In the Ferris family, that was just normal for gary. After spending the 4th of July at the lake, two of the Ferris grandchildren slept over. By the time Amanda showed up at the house the next morning, the grandkids were asking Melody if they could see their grandpa, Big Daddy, and they said

Melody Ferris (18:11)

they couldn't find him. Well, about that time, Scott showed up at the house. And I said, hey, have you seen your dad over at the barn. His immediate reaction, there's a gun missing. He took off and went into the house. Amanda followed him immediately. I went on into the house going, what is he talking about? What did he say?

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Peter Van Sant (18:48)

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Detective Daniel Hayes (18:51)

There's a guy screaming into his phone.

Peter Van Sant (18:53)

He's like, I just saw Charlie Kirk get assassinated right in front of me. Every week is a new episode and a new story. It was so chaotic, it's almost like

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Peter Van Sant (19:10)

give me a sense of how this story started for you.

Detective Daniel Hayes (19:14)

It was a typical day at the office for me.

Peter Van Sant (19:17)

We had just finished lunch in 2024. Detective Daniel Hayes drove us to the Ferris family property. He told me about the moment he got that call.

Detective Daniel Hayes (19:27)

I believe I was in the car with Detective Kuykendall and we heard the radio call.

Peter Van Sant (19:32)

What did it say?

Detective Daniel Hayes (19:33)

That a body was found in a fire. The family had called at 911 and said they had just found their father and his remains in the fire.

Peter Van Sant (19:42)

He was familiar with this affluent part of Cherokee county and figured what happened here was an accident.

Detective Daniel Hayes (19:50)

It was a hot day in July. We thought from what it sounded like, sometimes it happens. Somebody's by fire. It's already 90 something degrees outside. A medical episode happened and he fell into the fire.

Peter Van Sant (20:03)

They didn't even think the case would take long.

Detective Daniel Hayes (20:08)

Detective Kuykendall and I both were, you know, let's, let's go up here and get this knocked out so we can get home in time for dinner.

Peter Van Sant (20:15)

Once he drove up the Ferris long driveway, Detective Hayes got out of his car and made his way to the burn pile. Give me a sense of what you saw as you're walking up to it. Describe it for me.

Detective Daniel Hayes (20:28)

You went past their three car garage and a big chicken coop, and we walked through the backyard. It was wooded, you know, the trees. There was no grass or anything like that. And it was a gradual downhill slope. And we were taken to this very large pile of debris that was still smoldering. It was still smoking.

Peter Van Sant (20:49)

And while Detective Hayes had never investigated a body found in a burn pile before, one thing was certain.

Detective Daniel Hayes (20:58)

This guy didn't have a heart attack or a heat stroke and fall into the fire and burned the side of his arm. This guy's been in this fire burning for quite some time, in my opinion,

Peter Van Sant (21:07)

which suggested someone must have placed him there.

Detective Daniel Hayes (21:09)

I found it hard to believe that he could be missing from this property with this affluent family for any length of time back there burning, you know, so that indicated to me that someone likely possibly knew that he was back there burning and was helping it continue to burn.

Peter Van Sant (21:28)

What Detective Hayes first thought could have Been a tragic accident.

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Peter Van Sant (21:33)

Looked like a murder. They brought in canines to help search the property. Detective Hayes went inside the house. Any evidence whatsoever in the house of a break in?

Detective Daniel Hayes (21:44)

No.

Peter Van Sant (21:45)

Any sign of a struggle inside that house, that a battle had gone on there?

Detective Daniel Hayes (21:49)

The house was. Other than a few visible drops of blood that were left on the floor, the house was in pretty immaculate condition.

Peter Van Sant (21:58)

Investigators then checked if there was more blood, invisible to the naked eye, by spraying a special chemical across the floor.

Detective Daniel Hayes (22:07)

You spray it on blood and take a picture of it. If there's blood there, it's supposed to glow. They found some on the floor upstairs. They found some on the floor downstairs in the basement. They found some on the stairs leading down to the basement on the carpet. There was blood evidence.

Peter Van Sant (22:20)

And does that suggest in any way some sort of progression of an attack on Gary?

Detective Daniel Hayes (22:26)

That's what we interpreted as. As we started looking at it.

Peter Van Sant (22:31)

Spots of blood weren't the only things they found in the basement. One of Detective Hayes colleagues later noticed something on the floor.

Detective Daniel Hayes (22:41)

He sees it, kind of sees a shiny object or something, gets closer, looks and says, that's a bullet.

Peter Van Sant (22:48)

Outside, sheriff's deputies found more evidence.

Detective Daniel Hayes (22:52)

It was pointed out to us that the tractor was parked in a area, a position that is uncommon.

Peter Van Sant (22:59)

Scott told detectives that the tractor Gary regularly used was parked in the yard and not under the shed where Gary usually parked.

Detective Daniel Hayes (23:08)

This tractor has been moved by someone who left it there on purpose. Forgot that, you know, Gary's rules about it.

Peter Van Sant (23:16)

Once detectives got a closer look, they noticed something.

Detective Daniel Hayes (23:21)

Gary's blood was found on the tractor around one of the steps.

Peter Van Sant (23:25)

We're talking, though, a couple of drops, right?

Detective Daniel Hayes (23:27)

Not much. Yeah.

Peter Van Sant (23:28)

There was also blood on an rtv. Detectives talked to the oldest, Chris Farris. Chris was already en route to pick up his daughter from her sleepover at the farm that morning when Amanda called with news that their father was missing. Chris recounted his movements in an interview with detectives a few weeks after the remains were discovered.

Chris Ferris (23:53)

I was mad because nobody seemed to have any sense of urgency about this.

Peter Van Sant (23:58)

Chris said that he was on the RTV looking for his father when he spotted Melody walking towards the burn pile. He was suspicious. No one in the family had checked that area until after he arrived.

Chris Ferris (24:15)

It's like, well, somebody about to find something out, so let's get it over with. You know, that's.

911 Operator (24:20)

I don't.

Chris Ferris (24:20)

I mean, that's just what pops into my mind, like, why? Why did it take me getting there

Peter Van Sant (24:26)

for this to happen? Scott also told detectives about something he thought was strange. Back on the first day of the investigation, Scott noticed more than just his father was missing. A few weeks before Gary disappeared, Scott said he saw an unfamiliar.38 snub nose revolver in a basement drawer.

Scott Ferris (24:48)

It wasn't a gun that I've grown up seeing.

Peter Van Sant (24:52)

However, when he searched the house the day of his father's disappearance, the gun was gone. Later, he told detectives that during that same search, Melody walked up to him holding something that belonged to Gary.

Scott Ferris (25:07)

She came back out with his wallet.

Peter Van Sant (25:09)

That didn't sit right with Scott. He had looked earlier for that wallet because he said his father only kept it in two places, a dresser or his back pocket.

Scott Ferris (25:21)

I'm like, where'd you get this? Well, it was in the car. It was underneath his cigarettes. He never leaves his wallet underneath cigarettes in the car.

Peter Van Sant (25:30)

Detectives spoke to Scott that night until the early morning of July 6th. That's when Detective Hayes decided to let Scott in on a major new discovery.

Detective Daniel Hayes (25:41)

I gotta tell you something, and it's not easy, but there's no good way to say it.

Peter Van Sant (25:45)

Detective Hayes told Scott that investigators had recorded a temperature of 230 degrees Fahrenheit in the spot where they found the remains, destroying a ton of DNA. But the extreme heat hadn't destroyed an ominous object.

Detective Daniel Hayes (26:04)

They've been excavating and sifting the ashes. They found a piece of ribs and it has a bullet in it. So the evidence is showing that your. The remains, if they are in fact your father's, has been shot.

Scott Ferris (26:22)

It was in the ribs, not the head, Correct?

Detective Daniel Hayes (26:25)

So far, that's what they found.

Scott Ferris (26:30)

Did y' all search that house for that. 38?

Detective Daniel Hayes (26:32)

They're doing it right now.

Peter Van Sant (26:37)

Due to the conditions of the remains, the autopsy report would take almost a year to confirm it was Gary Farris who had been shot and. And killed, and that it was his body placed in that burn pile. He weighed 300 pounds. But when the bones were actually. The skeletal remains were actually removed, how much did they weigh? Do you remember?

Detective Daniel Hayes (27:01)

It was right around 33, 34 pounds, I believe, is what was recovered of him.

Peter Van Sant (27:05)

And why would somebody want to burn a body?

Detective Daniel Hayes (27:07)

Cover up a crime, destroy evidence.

Peter Van Sant (27:11)

Detectives knew for sure they were dealing with a murderer. A missing murder weapon, and that a killer was on the loose. The Ferris wheel was spinning. Melody told detectives she worried one of her children might be the killer. That's next time on Blood Is Thicker. The Ferris wheel. From 48 hours. This is Blood is Thicker. The Ferris Wheel. Produced by Sony Music Entertainment. I'm your host Peter Van Sant. Judy Tygard is the executive producer of 48 Hours original reporting by 48 Hours producers Betsy Schuller, Ryan Smith and Hannah Vehr. Jamie Benson is the senior producer for CBS News podcasts and Mara Waltz is the senior story editor. Recording assistance from Alan Peng and Alana Myers. Special thanks to CBS News Podcast Vice president Megan Marcus Blun is was written and produced by Alex Schuman. Stephanie Serrano is our editor. Our executive producer is Shera Morris. Our associate producer is Zoe Culkin. Theme and original music composed by Hansdale Shee. Cedric Wilson is our sound designer and mix the episodes. We also use music from Epidemic Sounds. Fendal Fulton is our fact checker. Our production manager is Tamika Balance Kolasny. If you're enjoying the show, be sure to rate and review. It helps more people find it and hear our reporting. Thanks for listening.

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