Pamella Marie Hupp, also called Pam, from the State of Missouri in the United States was born on 10th October in 1958. She is a convict in the murder case of Louis Gumpenberger who was suffering from psychological and physical impairments as a result of an accident a few years prior to his death. Pam Hupp is currently serving her life sentence without parole.

Betsy Faria and Pam Hupp: The “Good Friend”

Betsy Faria, who was suffering from cancer, was a friend and co-worker of Pam and they worked together in State Farm. Betsy lived a few miles away from Hupp’s residence in Troy and had raised money to help another family, one of whose members was also suffering from cancer. She had intended to fund that family as well as help fund her two daughter’s futures with the money that she had in her insurance policy.

Pam managed to become a very close friend of Betsy and eventually had Betsy name the sole beneficiary of the insurance amount from her husband Russell Faria to Hupp. This eventually led to the authorities suspecting her husband instead of questioning Pam Hupp, who was the last person to see Betsy alive.

What is the Story Behind the Murder Case of Betsy Faria?

It all starts from the time Betsy had raised money for helping the other family about which her family was not aware of. In 2011 she was diagnosed with breast cancer and later that year in December she underwent chemotherapy. After the treatment from the Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center, she visited her mother’s place of residence in Troy.

Betsy had already arranged for a family friend to drop her home from her mother’s house but ended up being dropped by Hupp. Later in the evening around 9:40 pm, Betsy’s husband Russ calls 9-1-1 and informs about her wife who he saw lying on the floor of their house drenched in blood, lifeless with multiple stab wounds and a knife pierced through her neck.

The law enforcement team made a quick investigation and arrested Russ on charges of murdering his wife. His claims of his wife killing herself seemed “ludicrous” by the medical team who had arrived at the site of the murder on the night before.

A shoe with bloodstain was found in his closet and this was enough for the authorities to put charges against him.  It was all too clear to the authorities that Russ was responsible for Betsy Faria’s murder.

Why did Pam Hupp Kill Betsy Faria?

With all this investigation and charges put against Russell, Pam found it possible to get away forever. However, Russell’s lawyer Joel Schwartz questioned the fact that he was not allowed to present the pieces of evidence he had against Pam Hupp including the location of her phone around the time of Betsy’s murder and his presence in his friend’s house as well as buying things from a grocery store that night before coming home to the incident.

The trial judge, Chris Mennemeyer, had refused to allow the presentation of the evidence in the court and also rejected the second trial that was going to be held for Russ Faria. Betsy had named Pam as the sole beneficiary of the amount which was $150,000 and this was used against Russ as a reason by the Prosecuting attorney Leah Askey, for him murdering Betsy.

In 2014, this case gained the attention of the Fox 2 KTVI with news of Shwartz having evidence against Pam Hupp because of which the second trial of Russ started.

The trial judge, Mennemeyer, and the persecuting attorney, Leah Askey involved in the Betsy murder case were voted out of office due to mishandling of the trial. On September 8th, 2021, the charges against Russ were dropped and he received $2million as a settlement.

“Dateline: The Thing about Pam”

Pam Hupp shot Louis Gumpenberger on 16th august 2016 as an attempt to divert people’s attention from her as the possible murderer of Betsy after new evidence was revealed of the murder case in the press.

The story inspired the mini-series The Thing About Pam which is based on this Missouri murder and the mishandling of the case and trial. The documentary series captures every detail of the case and its first season was aired on 8th March 2022 on NBC.

The twists and conspiracies in the murder case had baffled the public as well as the authorities. It does not fail to make people aware of the possible dangers in society and how sometimes even the justice system fails to give justice, often by wrong conviction.