TO the outside world, Jamie and Jennifer Faith looked like the perfect couple living their American dream.
But it all came crashing down when Jamie was shot dead by a mystery gunman in front of his wife while out on an early morning dog walk near their home in Dallas, Texas.
Dallas Police Department..Coming Up Roses..Channel 5Jamie and Jennifer Faith appeared to be a happily married couple before Jamie was shot dead outside their home[/caption]
Dallas Police Department..Coming Up Roses..Channel 5Jamie was shot by Darrin Lopez, Jennifer’s high school sweetheart (pictured together)[/caption]
Dallas Police Department..Coming Up Roses..Channel 5Lopez had been led to believe that Jamie was raping and abusing Jennifer[/caption]
Initially doorbell cam footage pointed towards Jennifer as a distraught victim, who had also been beaten by the killer.
But the tale took a shocking twist when evidence found on her phone later revealed she’d been conducting an ‘affair’ with ex-military man Darrin Lopez – and Jennifer was in fact the orchestrator of her husband’s death.
The twisted wife spun a web of lies and used a series of fake email accounts to convince Lopez, her former high school sweetheart, that Jamie was raping and abusing her – and encouraging his friends to do so too.
She led Lopez to believe that Jamie had one last sick act of depravity planned that would surely end her life – leading the former special forces soldier to decide to kill Jamie before he could murder Jennifer.
Speaking on a new Channel 5 documentary about the jaw-dropping case, Lopez says: “When I found out it was all lies I was devastated.
“Not only the fact that I took an innocent life, but that Jennifer lied to me and used me in this way. To get rid of her husband for I don’t know why.”
Jennifer’s friend and neighbour, Shamona Jackson, says: “Jennifer had painted this picture of Jamie as this monster who had raped her and beat her, and that was not the picture.
“You have women that suffer everyday… getting abused… getting beat, that cannot say anything. And for you to take their voice – why would you do that?”
It was October 9, 2020 when shock video doorbell footage captured the sound of shots being fired, Jennifer’s screams and neighbours rushing to help.
Jamie, an American Airlines manager, had been shot dead and Jennifer claimed to have been ambushed by the shooter before he ran away.
Shamona recalls: “I got there and Jamie’s body was still on the pavement. I got close enough to see the gunshot wounds to the head.
“That was devastating, to see somebody that you love and that you care about just laying there like nothing.”
Detectives immediately knew this was not your average murder case.
Homicide detective Eric Barnes says: “We deal with a lot of murders here in Dallas. But the one thing that stood out about this case was that this was a family going for a morning walk. It was a little more unusual.”
Crucial clue
U. S. DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF TEXASDoorbell footage showed the couple leaving their home on the early morning dog walk, seconds before Jamie was gunned down[/caption]
Dallas Police Department..Coming Up Roses..Channel 5Jamie’s body on the road where he was shot outside his house[/caption]
Coming Up Roses..Channel 5Jennifer’s friend and neighbour, Shamona Jackson, says she painted a false picture of Jamie as a monster who had raped her and beat her[/caption]
Coming Up Roses..Channel 5Homicide detective Eric Barnes says the case immediately stood out as being unusual[/caption]
Doorbell footage Jennifer gave police showed a man standing in the backyard of the residence next door to her house around 2-2.30am on the morning of the murder.
But she told police she thought the man was a neighbour who had been evicted from his house and sometimes gets drunk and wanders around.
In the meantime Jennifer was making tearful appeals in the media, saying what a wonderful man Jamie was and begging for people to come forward with information about her husband’s murder.
Friend Regina Owens says: “Jennifer got an abundance of support, mainly from the neighbours.
“Some of them would come over with flowers – they even set up a GoFundMe to help with some of the expenses. It was over $60,000 that was raised.”
Jennifer got an abundance of support, mainly from the neighbours. Some of them would come over with flowers – they even set up a GoFundMe to help with some of the expenses
Friend Regina Owens
But police had got their first lead.
Detective Barnes says: “While we were canvassing the neighbourhood, a witness heard the gunshots, heard yelling, and he rushed out of his house and was able to take a picture of the vehicle that the shooter fled the scene in. It was a black older model Nissan pick-up truck.”
Police enhanced the photo and spotted a white ‘T’ sticker on the back windscreen.
The fact that Jamie had been shot so many times also rang alarm bells.
District attorney Brandi Mitchell says: “Him being shot like that seemed way more targeted than somebody coming up and hoping that you have an iPhone on you and a ring.”
But Jennifer stuck to her story that they had a perfect, happy marriage and there was no reason for anyone to want to harm Jamie.
Jennifer was living on a trailer park when the couple met on a blind date 15 years previously, and Jamie changed her life.
Shock texts
Coming Up Roses..Channel 5Friend Regina Owens says Jennifer got ‘an abundance of support’[/caption]
Courtesy of Faith FamilyThe fact Jamie had been shot so many times rang alarm bells with police[/caption]
To ensure there wasn’t something Jennifer wasn’t telling them, police analysed her phone.
Shocking texts between Jennifer and a friend revealed she’d been having an emotional affair with her old high school boyfriend, Darrin Lopez, but had since ended it.
Police believed that because Darrin had been rejected by Jennifer, he had a motive for murder.
Background checks revealed he was a military veteran who had served in a special forces unit and done several tours of Iraq.
I really believed that we had our guy. That this was the individual who shot Jamie and killed him
Homicide detective Chris Walton
Police flew over his house in Nashville, Tennessee and saw he had a black truck with the distinctive white ‘T’ sticker.
Mobile phone data showed he had left his home the day before the murder and was hitting every mobile phone mast towards Dallas.
He arrived two blocks away from Jennifer’s home around 2-2.30am on the day of the murder – matching the footage.
Homicide detective Chris Walton says: “I really believed that we had our guy. That this was the individual who shot Jamie and killed him.”
Lopez was arrested in his truck and police found a gun, which tests confirmed was the same weapon that had fired the casings at Jamie’s murder scene.
Web of lies
U.S. District Court for The Northern District of TexasA neighbour snapped a photo of the killer’s ‘getaway vehicle’ – a black pick-up truck with a white ‘T’ sticker on the back[/caption]
U.S. District Court for The Northern District of TexasThe truck was photographed outside Lopez’s house[/caption]
U.S. District Court for The Northern District of TexasLopez captured on CCTV footage in the area at the time of the murder[/caption]
Police had their man – but wanted to know what Jennifer’s involvement was.
Phone records revealed Lopez and Jennifer had spoken on the phone hundreds of times and exchanged thousands of texts in the days and weeks leading up to the murder.
But she denied any knowledge of Lopez’s involvement.
Her friends and neighbours believed her, and thought Lopez was a crazy, jealous ex who had killed Jamie because Jennifer had broken his heart.
But texts found on Lopez’s phone revealed they had continued to be in contact in the days after the murder, discussing Jamie’s life insurance.
And another bombshell came when Jennifer text Lopez telling him to remove the ‘T’ sticker from his truck.
District attorney Brandi Mitchell says: “Her web of lies was coming undone and it was those text messages that showed direct involvement in covering up this murder.”
In February 2021, Jennifer was arrested for obstruction of justice relating to her husband’s murder.
But the following month investigators uncovered emails which indicated that Jamie had gotten wind of their emotional affair and was not happy about it, warning Lopez to stay away from his family.
The emails between the two men started to get darker, with Jamie apparently threatening extreme sexual violence against Jennifer.
This caught investigators off-guard.
Her web of lies was coming undone and it was those text messages that showed direct involvement in covering up this murder
District attorney Brandi Mitchell
“Everything they had investigated prior to seeing these emails was that he was a good person and would never hurt her,” says Lopez’s defence attorney Juan Sanchez.
Lopez adds: “He would email me the things he was doing to her. How he had her tied up, or how he had more guys involved in sexually assaulting her.”
There were also pictures of bruises and burn marks.
Lopez says he wanted to call the cops, but claims Jennifer didn’t want that because she didn’t want their daughter to know what Jamie had become.
But the alleged abuse ramped up.
“Eventually, around September, she told me he had taken her out to their hot tub and he had her perform sexual acts and was drowning her and she actually lost consciousness,” says Lopez.
“She gained consciousness with him actually giving her chest compressions to get the water out. So I became extremely concerned then.
“He started telling me that he had something special planned for their anniversary on October 9. He was going to see how long she could survive in the hot tub with all his friends.
“She was calling me asking me if I could think of any ways she could get rid of Jamie, like poisoning him or something.
“It was at that time that I told her I didn’t want her doing anything like that. I told her, once you take a life, it changes you forever. I had done that being in the military because of the actions I had to take in Iraq.
“And so if it was coming to that point, I would be the one to take on that burden and do what needed to be done.”
‘Rescue mission’
Coming Up Roses..Channel 5District attorney Brandi Mitchell says Jennifer’s text messages showed direct involvement in covering up Jamie’s murder[/caption]
U.S. District Court for The Northern District of TexasLopez genuinely feared for Jennifer’s life after receiving emails from fake accounts[/caption]
Courtesy of Faith FamilyAnalysis of Jennifer’s computer revealed that she had created a new email account for Jamie[/caption]
Lopez claims he didn’t think Jennifer would be able to survive that weekend so he decided to take matters into his own hands.
“Basically in my eyes I was performing a rescue mission, taking out the bad guy so the victim could be free,” he says.
On the morning of the murder, Lopez saw Jennifer and Jamie come out of the house with their dog – the first time he had laid eyes on her in 30 years.
“As soon as she got in front of me I just stepped out and fired,” he says.
Lopez then went to make it seem like a robbery gone wrong, so attacked Jennifer.
But police discovered that the email address used by Jamie to send emails to Lopez was not his actual email address.
Analysis of Jennifer’s computer revealed that she had created a new email account for Jamie.
Ms Mitchell says: “Everything that was being said in these emails, including any violent acts and abuse, and all the photos, was fake.”
Jennifer was charged with use of interstate commerce for the purpose of facilitating a murder for hire.
To avoid the death penalty she pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison.
Lopez pleaded not guilty to murder, using the fact that he believed Jennifer was in danger as his defence.
But he was found guilty and sentenced to 62 years in prison.
Lopez says: “Jennifer set me up to use me to pull the trigger.”
My Wife, My Killer & The Secret footage airs tonight (Wednesday September 3) at 9pm on Channel 5.
Dallas County JailTo avoid the death penalty, Jennifer pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison[/caption]
Dickson County Sheriff’s OfficeLopez was found guilty and sentenced to 62 years in prison[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
