Charges against Pamela Hupp refiled to move trial

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FILE – Pamela Hupp is escorted into the courtroom for a hearing at the Lincoln County Justice Center, Tuesday, July 27, 2021, in Troy, Mo. A Missouri prosecutor, on Friday, Oct. 27, 2023, dropped and refiled the murder case of Hupp, a killing that inspired a TV miniseries. Lincoln County Prosecuting Attorney Mike Wood charged Hupp with first-degree murder in July 2021, accusing her of killing her friend, Betsy Faria, a decade earlier. (Christian Gooden/St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP)

A Missouri prosecutor has dropped and refiled murder charges against Pamela Hupp in a case so wild it was developed into a TV miniseries starring Renée Zellweger.

Lincoln County Prosecuting Attorney Mike Wood said in a press release sent to local media outlets that he dropped the case only to quickly refile charges in hopes the trial could be moved closer to the St. Louis region. Lincoln County is about 60 miles northwest of St. Louis. The trial had been moved to Springfield, about four hours from Lincoln County, because of all the publicity.

“I agree that a change of venue from Lincoln County – the scene of the crimes – is still appropriate. However, as my office has continued its in-depth planning to conduct what we estimate will be a month-long trial, it is more and more apparent that the physical distance between the scene of the crimes and Greene County will cause cumbersome and inefficient delivery of justice,” the press release said.

Hupp, 65, is accused of stabbing her friend Elizabeth “Betsy” Faria 55 times on Dec. 27, 2011. Faria’s husband, Russell Faria, was originally charged and convicted of murder but was acquitted in a 2015 retrial. Wood charged Hupp with murder in 2021. The motive, prosecutors allege, was financial: Hupp had allegedly convinced Betsy Faria to make her the beneficiary of a $150,000 life insurance policy days before the murder. Hupp had repeatedly stabbed the victim in order to make it look like a crime of passion which is what led to Russell Faria’s conviction, prosecutors said.

Wood said in the press release that moving the trial closer to Lincoln County would be better for all involved.

“More important is the emotional and financial impact the distance will have on witnesses and the loved ones of Betsy Faria,” he said. “Many of the witnesses we will call upon to testify have been involved in this case for well over a decade. Additionally, Betsy Faria’s loved ones have also waited for well over a decade for true justice to be delivered in this matter. If possible, we should seek to make the burden these parties have been forced to shoulder a bit more manageable and have them avoid the time, cost, and stress of traveling to a location hundreds of miles away over multiple weeks.”

Hupp already is serving a life sentence for murder after she allegedly killed Louis Gumpenberger, luring him to her home northwest of St. Louis where she shot him to death. She claimed she killed Gumpenberger in self-defense after he had tried to kidnap her at knifepoint. But prosecutors later uncovered she tricked him into coming to her home after she posed as a “Dateline” producer wanting to reenact a 911 call. It was all a ruse to make it seem like Russell Faria set up the kidnapping and divert wary investigators off her path, according to prosecutors.

Hupp ended up taking an Alford plea in the case, meaning she maintained her innocence but conceded there was enough evidence to convict her at trial.

The 2022 miniseries “The Thing About Pam” starred Zellweger as Hupp. It aired on NBC.