{"id":3237,"date":"2022-05-16T12:24:26","date_gmt":"2022-05-16T12:24:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wickedness.net\/?post_type=murders&p=3237"},"modified":"2022-09-30T15:21:19","modified_gmt":"2022-09-30T15:21:19","slug":"louis-gumpenberger","status":"publish","type":"murders","link":"https:\/\/wickedness.net\/murders\/louis-gumpenberger\/","title":{"rendered":"Louis Gumpenberger"},"content":{"rendered":"
In 2016, Louis Royse Gumpenberger was a 33-year-old man living with his mother, Margaret Burch, in St Charles, Missouri.<\/p>\n
Eleven years prior, in 2005, Louis Gumpenberger had been in a severe car accident that had crushed his skull and later left him with significant developmental delays. He was described as child-like and was unable to process complex sentences. He also walked with an obvious limp and his left hand was completely useless. Due to his accident, Louis was unable to drive and rarely left the house that he shared with his mother unless it was for short walks.<\/p>\n
At the time of his death, Louis Gumpenberger had two children from separate marriages: Desi and Trevelyan.<\/p>\n
On August 16, 2016, a woman named Pamela Hupp called the police to say that she had shot a man who had broken into her house and threatened to kill her. It was 33-year-old Louis Gumpenberger. Pam Hupp claimed that Louis had demanded “Russ’s money” and threatened to assault her. That’s when she retrieved her gun and emptied the revolver into him. When police arrived at Pam Hupp’s home, they found that Gumpenberger had $900 and a note with instructions that directed Grumpenberger to “kidnap Hupp, get Russ’s money from Hupp at her bank, and kidnap and the to, “Take Hupp back to the house and get rid of her. Make it look like Russ’ wife. Make sure the knife sticking out of the neck.”<\/p>\n
Immediately after the shooting, Hupp voluntarily went to the O’Fallon Police Department. Her first words in the recorded interview were, “Is this going to be filmed? Because I always appear on the news with [KTVI reporter] Chris Hayes.”<\/p>\n
Elizabeth “Betsy” Meyer Faria worked with, Pam Hupp at State Farm and lived with her husband, Russell “Russ” Scott Faria. The two women became close and were considered good friends. Betsy was diagnosed with terminal cancer in 2010 and given only a few short years to live.<\/p>\n
In 2011, Pam Hupp and Betsy organized a collection for another family that had been affected by cancer. It would later be revealed that the family never knew of this fundraiser and never received profits from it. There was never any indication that Betsy knew it was a scam and had told friends and families that she was excited about it. One of her friends, Kathleen Meyer, said, “This was going to be a legacy for her, to leave something like this behind in her memory.” Though this was brought to Lincoln County authorities’ attention, it was not investigated any further.<\/p>\n
On December 22, 2011, Betsy Faria changed the name of the benefactor of her life insurance policy from Russell Faria to Pam Hupp, which was $150,000. None of her family knew anything about this sudden change. Pam would claim that Betsy Faria had asked her to give the money to her children when they grew up but later claimed that Betsy asked her to keep it for herself.<\/p>\n
Five days later, on December 27, 2011, Betsy Faria underwent a session of chemotherapy and then visited her mother. Originally, Russell Faria was going to pick Betsy up, but Pam Hupp showed up unexpectedly and insisted on driving her home. This was the last time that anyone saw Betsy alive.<\/p>\n
Russ Faria, who had spent the evening at his friend Michael Corbin’s house, returned home at and called the police at 9:40 p.m. He described how had come home to find his wife on the floor with a knife in her neck, and in his shock, said that he believed that she might have committed the suicide that she had been threatening to do due to her terminal cancer. When police searched the property, they found a pair of bloodstained slippers in his closet.<\/p>\n
Russ was arrested by Lincoln County police and charged with the murder of his wife, Betsy Faria. Though the evidence would show that he was not in the area at the time the murder was committed, the prosecuting attorney Leah Askey successfully argued that his alibi was false.<\/p>\n
The defense was not permitted to question or suggest the involvement of Pamela Hupp despite evidence that implicated Hupp. This includes the life insurance that was changed to Pam Hupp’s name days before the murder and the records indicating that Pam Hupp’s phone was in the area at the time of Betsy Faria’s murder. Pam Hupp’s testimony was accepted into the case and used against Russ Faria.<\/p>\n
On November 21, 2013, Russ Faria was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison, plus 30 years, with no possibility of parole.<\/p>\n
After judge Mennemeyer recused herself from the case, 22nd Circuit Court Judge Steven Ohmer granted a motion for a new bench trial based on the evidence that had emerged. Russ Faria was released on bond pending the new trial.<\/p>\n
On November 7, Russ Faria’s conviction was overturned, and he was released from prison after having served almost four years.<\/p>\n