Chapter 1: What happened to Ashley Fallis on New Year's Day 2012?
When beloved family patriarch Gary Ferris went missing, his family looked everywhere on their property until they came across something horrifying. It's a homicide. Absolutely. The blame game in this family went round and round. This is Blood is Thicker, The Ferris Wheel.
I don't see how anyone can look at this story and think they were happy.
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It is incredibly unbelievable to see your kid laying in a bed with a bullet hole through them.
He shot her. I know he shot her.
I did not shoot my wife.
What was that that made you decide this was a case worth investigating?
There was enough there to suggest that there wasn't at least a thorough investigation. And so I thought I owed it to the family to look at that. I received a tip about this last week and have been working on it. It was brought to my attention by a Fox 31 report. The new investigation that began after our story first.
Probably four days after New Year's Eve 2011, a family came to me and said someone killed our daughter and got away with it.
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Chapter 2: What were the circumstances leading up to Ashley's death?
And that's the last we saw our daughter. I heard her gun cock, and I looked out. I was like, what are you doing? There was smoke. I just ran over to her, and I just grabbed her head. I called 911. I told them our address, and I told them that my wife shot herself. From the very beginning, for whatever reason, Devon's Police Department ruled Ashley's death as a suicide.
They said basically that it had been closed as a suicide within 24 hours, and it was never looked at as a homicide.
The central question that I had to look into as a reporter was whether or not on January 1st of 2012, whether Ashley Fallis, this mother, shot herself in the head, or whether her husband, who was also a sheriff's corrections officer, shot her and then covered it up.
We hired a forensic animator who examined all the evidence at the death scene, and he reached two equally plausible explanations. One murder. One suicide. That's a difficult case, then, when the evidence could go either way.
It's a difficult case. It was different than anything I'd done before. I fielded phone calls in the middle of the night more times than I can count.
I mean, I'd never had a case where I did become part of the story. You start on this case, and then all of a sudden, what you uncover changes everything. It did. Did you ever expect what you would uncover would actually lead to an indictment?
No, I did not. I didn't, you know, I never expected there to be a trial.
He watched the most dramatic and traumatic thing any human being could ever be forced to watch. Go in the courtroom and you see Tom Fallis at the defense table. Isn't that what you always wanted? Absolutely. I desired to see justice served. I think everyone looks to a trial to resolve a case, to come to the truth. It doesn't always, does it? It doesn't.
After she died, even the day after she died, in my mind I couldn't comprehend that I would not speak to her every day.
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Chapter 3: How did the investigation into Ashley's death unfold?
I don't think we've had maybe one or two armed robberies since I've been here in almost eight years.
Even though Tom Fallis had called in the shooting as a suicide, police brought him in for questioning early that morning while his parents watched the children. Investigators were suspicious right away. She'd have to go like this. Because the neighbors said they heard yelling. Tom was questioned by Detective Rita Wolf. She's telling you to get off of her.
I wasn't on her.
Why do you think someone said that they could hear her vividly say, get off of me, get off of me?
I wasn't on her.
Somebody's just making that up, Tom?
My wife never told me to get off of her.
And so when you went upstairs, you were arguing with her. That wound on the back of her head isn't where she could do it herself, Tom. It is not. Bull . It is not. Bull . Bull .
Bull . I didn't shoot my wife.
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Chapter 4: What evidence was presented in the trial against Tom Fallis?
How would you describe the last two years?
It's definitely a roller coaster.
It's hard to grieve. In early 2014, Jenna Fox and Joel Ragunden were still convinced that their son-in-law Tom Fallis murdered their daughter Ashley after the New Year's party in 2012. Why would he kill her?
Out of anger. I think it's a high possibility because of the divorce papers, because of everything that was going on.
But the Evans Police Department did rule Ashley's death a suicide and close the case. And it remained closed until reporter Justin Joseph got a call. I had a source with law enforcement who called me and said, something isn't right about this case. Joseph, who is also a CBS News consultant, spent months investigating and interviewing neighbors who had initially spoken to police.
And then in April 2014, he got a major break.
Jeremy, as you know, this is a complicated case with many layers.
A young next door neighbor, Nick Glover, told Joseph something about Tom Fallis that was not in the police reports.
I saw him walk out, so we all ducked underneath the windowsill, and his parents were standing outside, and he's saying, oh, my God, I can't believe I did it, three or four times, and then his parents said, what? What are you saying? And I remember I heard him say, I shot her.
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Chapter 5: What were the key arguments made by the prosecution and defense?
Chief Brandt insists there was no cover-up, that his officers just made some mistakes. But he can't really explain why his department concluded so quickly, just days after Ashley's death, that she committed suicide, especially when there was so much circumstantial evidence pointing to foul play.
The pictures, the divorce papers, numerous witnesses at the party reported that Tom was angry that night. Aren't those inconsistencies very troubling?
I'm not informed to that level of detail on cases. I get kind of overviews, briefings, where we're at. So much of the detail that you're talking about now, in hindsight after reviewing it, yes, those draw questions.
Chief Brand says his less experienced officers called in the CBI, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, for assistance, and then later closed their own investigation. I mean, that's a really important question. Why would you close the case when you still have lab results pending?
I think that was a mistake. I don't think you do close a case when there's lab results pending.
So why was it closed?
I can't answer that question.
But this is your department.
It is my department, but I don't run investigations.
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Chapter 6: What was the jury's verdict in the case of Ashley Fallis?
When I heard him saying, oh, my God, what have I done? Oh, my God, what have I done? And he proceeded to say, I shot my wife.
How certain are you or are you not that the voice you're hearing is Tom Fallis' voice that you're seeing standing in that quadrant of your driveway?
I'm 100%. I wouldn't forget or not hear something like that and not remember it.
But Tom's parents deny that conversation ever happened.
Never.
And others who were right there with Nick that night say they also didn't hear it. Nick's mother, Kathy Glover, then tells the jury about a 1 a.m. phone call she got from neighbor Chelsea Arrigo.
When I answered the phone, she said, please tell me you called the police because your neighbor just shot his wife.
But her story is undercut when Chelsea Arrigo herself takes the stand and says she doesn't even remember the call. All I remember was hearing some arguing, but that's it.
Do you recall any particular statements?
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Chapter 7: How did Ashley's family react to the trial's outcome?
Has she struggled at points in her past? Sure. Had a lot of people? Absolutely.
Does that mean she committed suicide? No. He's in a rage. That's the man that was in that house. That's what's going on in his head. That's what's going on in his heart. And that is the person that was in that bedroom with Ashley Fallis.
They have to prove that he had her gun beyond a reasonable doubt. Held the gun to her head beyond a reasonable doubt. and pulled the trigger beyond a reasonable doubt. You all must be convinced of that. Tom Fallis' future hangs in the balance. To see him in the courtroom, I felt like we had a shot of hope that justice would be served.
As key witnesses for the prosecution, Ashley's parents were not allowed to view much of the trial outside of their own testimony. But from what they heard from those inside the courtroom, the case against Tom Fallis might not be the slam dunk they thought it would be. He was losing the love of his life. But Jenna and Joel remained hopeful as the case went to the jury.
However, they soon got a jolt. The jurors were out how long? Three and a half hours. Three and a half hours, and an hour of that was their lunch. Did that seem right, three and a half hours? No. No.
The jury has reached verdict.
Four years after Ashley's death, the judge read the jury's decision.
We, the jury, find the defendant, Thomas Fallis, not guilty of murder in the second degree and all lesser included offenses.
Tom Fallis was free. Tell me that moment when you heard the verdict. Shock. I was just like, Tom just got away with murder again. For Ashley's parents, the speed of the verdict made it even worse. They're talking about the life of my daughter and the well-being of my grandchildren. And for them to make that decision that quickly is sickening to me. It really is. It's haunting.
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Chapter 8: What does the future hold for Ashley's children post-trial?
But jurors say that in the isolation of the courtroom, the case seemed straightforward. They believed Ashley Fallis was in a dire mental state, which led her to take her own life. Was this a case of reasonable doubt for you all? Is this just there wasn't enough evidence to go? Or are you absolutely convinced you know what happened? I'm convinced.
I think it was a perfect storm just waiting to happen. Devonna believes, though, that the truth of what happened may not have been what either side presented in the courtroom. I think that the argument that they had that night was probably a little bit more intense, but I don't think that he did it. I don't think that he actually pulled the trigger.
There was nothing there that said Tom was holding the gun. I just couldn't put it there. And they question how the case even made it to trial. I don't think there was enough evidence to reopen the case. I think the case was reopened just due to pressure from the media. I feel that's what Jenna Fox and Joel Rogan were out to do. They were out to get justice for Ashley.
And they needed some media attention to reopen the case.
I received a tip about this last week and have been working on it. For me, my job as a reporter were to get as many facts out there and to get those to the jury.
And I certainly have no regrets about the integrity of our reporting. But in the end, the police department and the Weld County Sheriff did not do their jobs the night this happened. The jury didn't have what they needed to be able to decide whether or not Tom Fallis pulled the trigger. And from that standpoint, the jury made the right decision.
Tom Fallis declined to speak with 48 Hours. The verdict changes nothing for Ashley's family. They still believe Ashley would never take her own life and leave her children behind. Is it at all possible that she just, after her husband got so angry with you, she just couldn't handle the stress? And she took her life. No way. I don't think so. Absolutely not.
As they wrestled with their frustrations after the verdict. Don't, don't, don't. I know you're pissed, but don't. Pissed. Ashley's parents could barely contain their emotions. Especially because of how they believed their daughter was portrayed in court.
They made her look bad by calling her a spitfire, and this jury fell for it. They were up there calling her a spitfire, like it was this bad thing. That's what she used to call me.
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