Just five days before her murder, Betsy Faria made Pam Hupp the beneficiary of a $150,000 life insurance policy. After serving four years in jail, Russell Faria’s conviction for the murder of his wife was overturned.
A new miniseries starring Renee Zellweger as an accused killer is based on a harrowing, real-life story.
In the new Peacock show, “The Thing About Pam,” Zellweger is nearly unrecognizable as a woman named Pam Hupp, who is accused of stabbing her best friend to death in Missouri in 2011.
The victim, Besty Faria, had been stabbed more than 50 times, and her body was discovered by her husband, Russell Faria.
“I went down to the floor where she was and realized she was no longer with us. And I was really in a state of shock,” Faria told Inside Edition.
Russell Faria was the prime suspect, and detectives interrogated him for hours.
“To be accused of this, I was just appalled. I just wanted to be with my family. I had just lost my wife,” Faria said.
He was found guilty and sentenced to life plus 30 years.
But something about the case didn’t add up.
Just five days before her murder, Betsy Faria made Pam Hupp the beneficiary of a $150,000 life insurance policy, cutting out her husband, Russell, and everyone else.
Hupp was sued by the slain woman’s daughters, who were appalled that she was named the beneficiary. In her deposition, Hupp had trouble coming up with basic information, including where she went to college and what year she graduated.
But she was crystal clear about one thing.
“[Besty] wanted me to be beneficiary. She did not want her daughters to have the money. She didn't want her mother to have the money, her sister to have the money,” Hupp said.
After serving four years in jail, Russell Faria’s conviction was overturned. He described Hupp as “evil incarnate.”
Pam Hupp is currently serving life in prison without parole for the killing of a disabled man she lured to her home in an attempt to frame Russell Faria for his wife Betsy's murder. She has pleaded not guilty in the upcoming murder trial of her friend.
