Scott (10:43)

But I personally am lazy and I'm also very anxious socially and so I avoid customer service at all costs.

Narrator (10:51)

So for years I let all of.

Scott (10:52)

These unused subscriptions just happen. I knew that they were happening. I knew I was wasting money on subscriptions I wasn't using anymore, but I.

Narrator (11:00)

Didn'T want to deal with them.

Scott (11:00)

I didn't want to deal with customer.

Narrator (11:01)

Service, and I just didn't want to.

Scott (11:03)

Take the time to figure out which ones were active that I wasn't actually using. Now I don't have a single subscription that I am not using and if I decide I don't want to use one anymore, Rocket Money takes care of it for me. Rocket Money is a personal finance app that helps you find and cancel your unwanted subscriptions, monitors your spending, and helps you to lower your bills so you can grow your savings. Rocket Money shows you all of your expenses in one place, including subscriptions that you forgot about. And if you see a subscription you don't want anymore, Rocket Money will help you cancel it. And their dashboard is so nice. It lays out your total financial picture, including bill due dates and paydays, which is so, so useful for me as I'm someone who tends to forget things. You can even automatically create custom budgets based on your past spending. And if you've got a goal that you'd like to save for, Rocket Money can analyze your accounts to find the best time each month to put that extra money aside. Rocket Money will even try to negotiate.

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To lower your bills for you.

Scott (11:49)

The app automatically scans your bills to find you opportunities to save and then goes to work to get you better deals. And they'll even talk to customer service so you don't have to, which is my personal favorite part about Rocket Money and Rocket Money' 5 million members have saved a total of 500 million in cancel subscriptions, with members saving up to $740 a year. When you use all of the app's premium Features. So cancel your unwanted subscriptions and reach your financial goals faster with Rocket Money. Just go to Rocket Money.com Kendra today that's Rocket Money.com Kendall Ray once again, Rocky Money.com Kendall Ray.

Narrator (12:23)

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, 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.

Melody (13:50)

Our father has come up missing and I we just searched the property as a small farm and I just found something here to find that doesn't. There was a huge bundle of brush. Now there's something about that. It could be him, I don't know. Okay. All right, sir, we've been walking around looking for him and I went where the fire is still smoking. And I'm ex military. I was deployed to Iraq. I assume what burn the bodies look like from this Looks like a body. Okay.

Narrator (14:26)

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

Melody (15:13)

So he started the fire before you guys discussed anything. It was long about the same. I mean, I don't know. I mean, when we were in and out discussing all that. But yeah, I mean, at some point.

Narrator (15:28)

In time when we were discussing during.

Melody (15:30)

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 viral. He didn't know. I just don't think you've got to watch that fire.

Narrator (15:50)

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. And 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. 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 p 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 3, that the fire was lit that night, and that he wasn't a very healthy guy. However, those were 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. 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. Support what Scott was saying. Okay, so, while this 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 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.

Melody (18:19)

So Scott is the one that told us about a month and a half ago that he saw the pistol in the basement AT&T guy was there to do some repairs or to do something. He was trying to find the remote. Found pistol. That pistol's not there anymore. Where. Didn't know anything about one. Didn't know anything about a pistol. So you. We're the last one to see Gary alive on Tuesday night, right?

Narrator (18:46)

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. The. 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. 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. 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.

Melody (20:16)

My dad had some pistols, but now Scott has them and I don't know what's left of them.

Rusty (20:23)

I don't know.

Melody (20:25)

I remember Scott took them. He was in the military, and Scott took them and took them to Columbia where he was. And supposedly the house got broken into and. But 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. Do you remember what kind of pistol where it was like or don't have any? I don't know anything about guns.

Narrator (20:53)

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 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. I choose function because it's the only.

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Scott (22:48)

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Scott (23:11)

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Scott (23:26)

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Narrator (23:37)

Own your health 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. It's 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 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 in 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. 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. 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 camera, 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.

Melody (25:43)

It.

Narrator (25:44)

So when there was nothing on the trail camera but like a few squirrels and raccoons, he just erased it. Which is weird in this specific situation when your dad is missing, you would think you just want to save that footage. And also you would think you 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 third to let his daughter hang out and play. And he says that he last saw his dad around 4:45pm 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 or 1:30pm at the Cherokee 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 10:55pm because that's roughly when he said Melody called him asking if he could come home and help. Help wrangle some horses that had escaped. But by the time he got home, which was about 11:30pm they were already back where they belonged. And this is when he said he saw the glow of the burn pile in the distance. 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 third. But what they didn't know at this point was what time Gary was putting 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 a hundred 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. 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 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. 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. 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 CPAP machine ended up being a big help. 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 11pm and 1am 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 third, and knowing that Gary's phone was tracked to a restaurant that night, which placed him back at home around 9:30pm they think that he was killed sometime between 9:30pm and 1:00am 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 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 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, 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. 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 called 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. 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 becoming increasingly angry at him for tracking her spending when their kids seemingly had free reign. And then they also learned about something that blew my mind. Okay, so they figured out that Gary 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 offer, 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 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. And no shock here, but of course, Melody completely downplayed this situation in one of her interviews. She said that it was an old cred 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 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. 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, 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, but investigators were just as mad had 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 exo tattoo that she claimed was a tattoo for Gary. Like, they had already asked her about this exo tattoo, and she was like, oh, yeah, that's just me and Gary's thing. 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. 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 was. Was excellent. Thanks, Rusty, for the laugh here, because he Googled, if the police have a cell phone number, can they get all your text messages and how police get your text messages? So at this point, 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. Like he had to know more than what he was saying, and therefore, they wanted to keep a close eye on him. 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 2am on July 4, she told him that Gary was in the burn pile.

Melody (38:07)

Let's talk about that conversation that you filled.

Chris (38:10)

So probably the last minute of the last conversation, she said. 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.

Narrator (38:37)

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. Him. So the fact that she allegedly told him this on the fourth, that he's in the burn pile, it would suggest that she knew that he died before anyone else. And of course, this made Ms. 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 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. That's right.

Scott (39:25)

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Scott (39:40)

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Scott (41:00)

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Narrator (41:17)

He clearly just didn't give a 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 had 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 gotten 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. 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 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. But yeah, by this point, she is definitely number one suspect on their list. And investigators continued to interview the kids to collect 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 edge. She literally smashed it the ground and said, I can't wait until that man's dead. 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 when you.

Chris (43:39)

Lay the fight.

Gary (43:42)

For get to take it upstairs.

Melody (43:49)

A minor temperature, temper tantrum. Of course, I had separate tonight and.

Chris (43:53)

It was fixed for me, so I'm sure I'll be feeling poorly here within.

Melody (43:57)

Minutes, but we'll see.

Narrator (44:00)

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 to 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 5:52am on July, July 4. 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 9:05am now, let's not forget, investigators 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 while 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 7am 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 out at her. And so finally, on June 18, 2019, they were able to make an arrest. 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 hold up was the autopsy. And it's just horrible to think about. But because of how badly burned his body was, was because he was out in that bird 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. 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 getting 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 Amand, the youngest, didn't waver in her support for their mom. 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 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, which is a lot. And if you're new here, this is just a reminder that I am not a lawyer. 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 3, 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. 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. Trial, and I mentioned it earlier, but Melody was small and Gary was not. Again, he was 6 foot 5, 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, 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 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, 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. 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 two million dollar life insurance policy was going to be hers in the event of his death.

Kendall Rae (51:40)

In this trial, what you have to do is ask yourself, what is the truth? You have to ask yourself certain questions, 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. It's at hand. It's close to me, it's close to you. It was close to Gary. That brings us to what we call means, motive and opportunity. Let's first talk about opportunity. The reason why you shrink the world down. And you will see at the times in 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 that'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.

Rusty (52:57)

Farm girl.

Kendall Rae (52:58)

Her daddy owned a hardware store growing up. She's been around it. She had ropes, leads, straps, toe lines. Did I mention they had a tractor? Did I also say they had. I tell you, they had an RTV motive. 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. They're in 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, sad as it is, as hard as it is, is that the defendant murdered and desecrated her own husband.

Narrator (53:54)

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. 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. 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. 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. 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. And not only that, they also pointed to how suspicious it was of his. 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 there, they said it wouldn't be reasonable to assume that it came from a gunshot wound.

Martha Jane (55:59)

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Melody (56:21)

Threats?

Martha Jane (56:21)

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Narrator (56:57)

This message is sponsored by Greenlight. With school out, summer is the perfect time to teach our kids real world money skills they'll use forever. Greenlight is a debit card and the number one family finance and safety app used by millions of families helping kids learn how to save, invest and spend wisely. Parents can send their kids money and track their spending and saving while kids build money, confidence and skills in fun ways. Start your risk free Greenlight trial today@greenlight.com iheart that's greenlight.com iheart now one thing that I did find to be particularly interesting thing 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, 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 their mom and made it clear there were long standing 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. That's incredibly sad. And also, don't forget, Chris was the one that Gary confided in about Melody possibly poisoning. 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.

Emily (59:29)

Well, my dad told me. Is he. He was kind of suspicious. My bro, 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.

Narrator (59:49)

Who is.

Scott (59:50)

Who is Ted Wiley?

Emily (59:51)

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

Narrator (59:57)

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

Emily (60:03)

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, 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's. He told me, I don't know if we're gonna be able to have Christmas this year because of this.

Narrator (60:42)

At any point, did your mom leave your dad?

Emily (60:47)

Yes.

Narrator (60:47)

Can you tell the jury about that?

Emily (60:50)

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

Chris (60:53)

We.

Emily (60:54)

Weeks, sometimes weeks, sometimes months.

Narrator (60:56)

How did you know where she was going?

Emily (61:00)

My father would tell me.

Narrator (61:03)

Was that around the same time as the Ted Wiley.

Emily (61:08)

Yes.

Narrator (61:08)

Affair.

Rusty (61:09)

Okay.

Narrator (61:10)

Is that what prompted your dad to file divorce papers?

Emily (61:13)

Yes.

Narrator (61:14)

Did they end up getting divorced? No. Do you know what happened?

Emily (61:19)

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

Narrator (61:28)

Did you do that?

Emily (61:30)

I told him I would.

Narrator (61:32)

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

Emily (61:40)

They found a bullet in my father's rib and now this was being treated as a harm homicide. 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? And I was very frank. I said, well, yeah, I mean, my mom and whoever he's related to as far as financially. 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.

Scott (62:34)

Why did it switch?

Emily (62:36)

Because of my mother's behavior. Behavior? When the police were there and just.

Melody (62:43)

How she was acting.

Narrator (62:45)

What was that behavior? How was she acting?

Emily (62:47)

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

Narrator (62:51)

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 3 and July 5, 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 an inter. 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.

Kendall Rae (63:27)

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

Gary (63:30)

Yes.

Narrator (63:32)

How?

Gary (63:32)

I found my.

Narrator (63:33)

It.

Gary (63:33)

Like I said I was going to check the other side of the. 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. 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 can already start seeing bones. And then I look down and.

Narrator (64:40)

It.

Gary (64:40)

Appeared to me that it was the inside of a skull. The backside was gone. And you can 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 and an 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.

Narrator (65:25)

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 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.

Gary (65:59)

Did you get angry with anybody and she showed?

Chris (66:02)

No.

Gary (66:03)

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.

Kendall Rae (66:33)

Be fake up until that point. Has she cried or anything?

Gary (66:37)

No.

Narrator (66:38)

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.

Kendall Rae (66:47)

Scott, I want you to look at the jury and answer this question. Did you murder your father?

Gary (66:56)

I absolutely did not murder my father. Without a doubt. I love Tim.

Kendall Rae (67:06)

Look at me. Do you have anything to do to help your mother dispose of and burn your father?

Gary (67:13)

Absolutely not.

Kendall Rae (67:14)

Tell them, not me. No.

Gary (67:21)

Like I said, I love my father. He was the backbone. He was the glue to our family.

Melody (67:42)

All right, time to take a break.

Narrator (67:45)

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. That'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 fifty thousand dollar 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 his death, because this letter could be used to claim his two million dollar life insurance policy. 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. 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.

Kendall Rae (69:37)

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

Rusty (69:41)

I wouldn't say how I'm biased. And favorite, I believe that somebody is innocent until they're proven guilty.

Kendall Rae (69:48)

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

Rusty (69:53)

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.

Narrator (70:03)

She also talked about her siblings habits with their parents money, including Chris's alleged stealing, and how Scott leeched 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 so horrific to your other parent. That must be hard to wrap your mind around and accept.

Martha Jane (70:54)

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Angela Phillips (71:52)

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Narrator (72:27)

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

Kendall Rae (73:20)

Tell the jury how that happened, what was going on.

Chris (73:25)

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. We became a thing.

Kendall Rae (73:36)

So your relationship with her started in 2014?

Chris (73:40)

Yes.

Kendall Rae (73:41)

Did you know she was married?

Melody (73:43)

I.

Kendall Rae (73:43)

Did you know she was married to Gary? I did in the beginning, I think. Did y' all meet there monthly?

Chris (73:50)

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

Kendall Rae (73:57)

Did it progress to meeting weekly at times? Did you meet more than one time during the week?

Chris (74:03)

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

Kendall Rae (74:08)

You wouldn't dispute if that was the case?

Chris (74:11)

No. Again, I know there's records, but you.

Kendall Rae (74:16)

Did love her in the past, correct?

Chris (74:17)

Correct.

Kendall Rae (74:19)

You were in love with her. Fair site?

Chris (74:21)

Yes.

Kendall Rae (74:22)

And she was in love with. With you? Fair to say.

Chris (74:24)

Yes.

Kendall Rae (74:26)

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.

Chris (74:34)

Off and on, all day.

Kendall Rae (74:36)

Almost every day.

Chris (74:37)

Almost every day.

Narrator (74:39)

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.

Chris (75:07)

Nope.

Kendall Rae (75:08)

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

Chris (75:12)

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

Kendall Rae (75:20)

You want to make her comfortable, so you just had to go buy these other burner phones from law enforcement. Didn't know that y' all were talking.

Chris (75:28)

Correct.

Kendall Rae (75:30)

You agree that's suspicious, right?

Chris (75:32)

Of course it is.

Narrator (75:34)

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

Melody (75:44)

You all right? No. Well, you know, like a long time ago. I said stop talking, Right. I haven't done anything. I know that, darling, but somehow the other, you know, what you keep talking about, you're going to Single handedly hang me.

Narrator (76:08)

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, sir.

Kendall Rae (76:26)

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?

Chris (76:34)

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

Narrator (76:41)

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.

Kendall Rae (77:25)

July 24, 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 24th of 2018, is that true?

Chris (78:06)

Yes.

Kendall Rae (78:07)

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

Chris (78:19)

Yes.

Kendall Rae (78:20)

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

Chris (78:26)

Not in July of 2018.

Kendall Rae (78:28)

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

Chris (78:36)

That is true.

Kendall Rae (78:38)

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

Chris (78:45)

Yes.

Kendall Rae (78:46)

So on 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?

Chris (79:03)

I don't know that I set 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 it.

Kendall Rae (79:15)

You remember saying it could have been July 9th?

Chris (79:18)

I do not know what day it.

Kendall Rae (79:20)

Was, 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?

Chris (79:35)

Yes.

Kendall Rae (79:36)

And then you talk to him again on July 21st, 4th of 2018. You agree with that, correct?

Chris (79:41)

Yes.

Kendall Rae (79:41)

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

Chris (79:50)

Yes.

Kendall Rae (79:51)

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

Chris (79:58)

Yes, it was before the 24th.

Kendall Rae (80:00)

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

Chris (80:03)

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

Kendall Rae (80:07)

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 2:00 in the morning?

Chris (80:19)

I do not know the date, but I do know that.

Narrator (80:27)

It had.

Chris (80:28)

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.

Narrator (80:40)

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 when 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 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, 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 bit. Plus, it's not like he was ever charged with anything to suggest 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. 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, may not sound like Martha Jean's 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 as well. And that information was that a.38 caliber pistol was missing 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. 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 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 kind of covered on Dateline, 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. 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 drive 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.

Kendall Rae (86:07)

This is 320 pounds. I am 185 pounds. And that's all I have. I think it's is.

Narrator (86:30)

And I got to say, I know that he's just doing his job, and it was creative. I'll give him credit for that. 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. 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 cell phone data was really what persuaded them that it only could have been her. And this is actually a really interesting theory that one of the jurors had come up with and she shared. But they theorized 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. 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. 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 long. Wild.

Rusty (88:15)

On July 5, 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, to be honest, at this point in time, the entire world who has viewed this, I have waited for years to make this statement to everyone. I want the world to know who did this. I have always heard that the courtroom is the last place you're going to 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 you did. I know Scott killed his father. He took my husband. The father of Chris, Emily and Amanda. Scott. This is unforgivable. Scott has spent 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. Her exact words were, you are his mother. You have to take blame for this.

Narrator (89:55)

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. So it was only in the last five minutes or so that she did start asking for mercy.

Rusty (90:11)

I spent 18 plus months in the Cherokee County Jail over something that I did not do. The last thing I thought that that was the last thing I could do to Gary for him, to get justice for him. I can remember thinking, it's okay that I sit here. I just want answers. That's all I want. 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'm begging for help. I'm begging you, Judge Gates, 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 enough. This is something that you may never have seen before. And I plead with you to roll 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.

Narrator (91:44)

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 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 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 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, 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 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 into her 90s before she even got the chance to be released. So chances are she's getting life in prison. She's not going to see another free day. 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 going to 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. 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 want to know your thoughts on this one because I have so many, I had to kind of limit my commentary to some degree or else this just would have 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 want to know your thoughts in this case. So sound off in the comments and I guess what I want to 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 got to say I strongly disagree with that right off the that and I just feel bad for Scott that he even still has to deal with those allegations. But if you feel differently, I want to know why. So let me know and let's have a chat in the comments because I'm eager to know what you think. That is going to 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 Ray. I will be back with another episode soon, but until then stay safe out there.

Martha Jane (95:38)

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Angela Phillips (96:36)

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Kendall Rae (97:07)

Not all meals are created equal for everybody. Instance, breakfast has the spicy egg McMuffin.

Narrator (97:13)

For a limited time and lunch doesn't.

Kendall Rae (97:17)

McDonald's breakfast goes first.