The explosive, first-ever insider’s account of the case that’s captivated millions — the murder of Betsy Faria and the wrongful conviction of her husband — told by Joel J. Schwartz, the defense attorney who fought for justice on behalf of Russel Faria, and New York Times bestselling author Charles Bosworth Jr.
On December 27th, 2011, Russell Faria returned to his Troy, Missouri, home after his weekly game night with friends to an unthinkable, grisly scene: His wife, Betsy, lay dead, a knife still lodged in her neck. She’d been stabbed fifty-five times.
First responders concluded that Betsy was dead for hours when Russ discovered her. No blood was found implicating Russ, and surveillance video, receipts, and friends’ testimony all supported his alibi. Yet incredibly, police and the prosecuting attorney ignored the evidence. In their minds, Russ was guilty. But prominent defense attorney Joel J. Schwartz quickly recognized the real killer.
The motive was clear. Days before her murder, the terminally ill Betsy replaced her husband with her friend, Pamela Hupp, as her life insurance beneficiary. Still, despite the prosecution’s flimsy case and Hupp’s transparent lies, Russ was convicted—leaving Hupp free to kill again.
Bone Deep takes readers through the perfect storm of miscalculations and missteps that led to an innocent man’s conviction—and recounts Schwartz’s successful battle to have that conviction overturned. Written with Russ Faria’s cooperation, and filled with chilling new revelations and previously undisclosed evidence, this is the story of what can happen when police, prosecutor, judge, and jury all fail in their duty to protect the innocent—and let a killer get away with murder.
I remember watching an episode of Dateline some years ago that focused on this unusual story. At the time it struck me as bizarre, but there are so many true crime stories that go beyond belief, and I added this one to the list. Last month I rewatched the Dateline episode, reigniting my interest in the case, and immediately watched Peacock’s newest show, The Thing About Pam starring Renee Zellweger, taking my fascination to a whole new level.
After watching this peculiar show I started reading Bone Deep and I don’t know if it’s because of watching the miniseries or what, but I found this novel dry. It has a very elementary, matter-of-fact feel that made reading a struggle for me. I got bogged down in the details that I already knew and I found myself skimming more than reading, which is never a good sign. Though this is a bizarre case that is truly stranger than fiction, the details truly defying logic, it wasn’t enough to keep me interested.
The book is very heavy on the trial, which is to be expected given who one of the authors is, but I also felt quite a bit of bias, which was also a turn off. If you know nothing of the Betsy Faria/Pam Hupp case then I could see Bone Deep being a rich resource for you but if you’re like me, and well versed in this case, I think you find yourself bored.
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