LINCOLN COUNTY, Mo. — Russ Faria spent more than three years in prison, charged with the 2011 murder of his wife Betsy. On Monday, Faria and an insurance company for the Lincoln County police officers who investigated Betsy Faria's death agreed to a settlement worth more than $2 million.
Joel Schwartz, one of the lawyers who represented Faria, said the two sides came to the agreement Monday, but the deal had not been signed yet. In the settlement, the officers will not admit to wrongdoing during the investigation.
Faria and his lawyers said the officers arrested him without cause and wrongly focused on him rather than Betsy's close friend Pam Hupp. He was found guilty, but the conviction was overturned and he won the retrial a year later.
Hupp is serving a life sentence for the 2016 killing of Louis Gumpenburger.
Prosecutors believe the murder of Gumpenburger was all part of her plan to distract from the investigation into Faria’s 2011 murder. Russ spent three years in prison for her death before he got a new trial and his freedom when the finger was pointed at Pam Hupp.
Hupp collected Betsy’s insurance money and reportedly later told investigators she also was Betsy's lover.
Hupp has never been charged with the death of Betsy Faria. In 2019, the Major Case Squad of Greater St. Louis said it would launch a new investigation into the case.
