The Burn Pile Murder — Victim to Verdict

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: The following program contains graphic images. Viewer discretion is advised. Jared, you got in that one location of your emergency. [00:00:07] Speaker 2: My father has come up listening. The question you got to answer in this trial is not was he murdered, not how was he murdered, but who did it? [00:00:17] Speaker 3: He said he's gone. We think he's in the burn pile. [00:00:22] Speaker 4: I have seen what burned the bodies of life, and this looks like a body. [00:00:27] Speaker 5: They were so close with each other, but they also had so much hatred for each other. [00:00:33] Speaker 6: So you don't know how you received at least one gunshot wound? [00:00:37] Speaker 7: No, I do not. [00:00:39] Speaker 8: I don't know if my mom did this or not. I don't know. But all the f*** she's done for the last 10 years. Are you sorry that your husband is dead and no longer with us? No comment. [00:00:50] Speaker 9: I just remember crying. Like after I got off the phone with him, I just sat on the couch, and me and Jenna just cried together. Did you murder your father? [00:01:00] Speaker 4: I absolutely did not murder my father. [00:01:03] Speaker 10: Without a doubt, I loved him. You don't believe that you'll be able to come to a unanimous decision? [00:01:09] Speaker 11: In your opinion, is the wrong Ferris in prison? Yes, sirs. [00:01:14] Ted Rollins: After Gary Ferris, a prominent Georgia attorney, was found dead in a burn pile, the list of suspects was quickly narrowed down to members of the Ferris family. Affairs, theft, and near-constant infighting resulted in a murder mystery that some believe ended up landing the wrong Ferris in prison. I'm Ted Rollins, and this is Victim to Verdict. About 40 miles north of Atlanta, Georgia, just outside the city of Alpharetta, there's a handful of spectacular and very expensive homes, many of them with horses and several acres of land. [00:02:11] Speaker 13: This community really has developed into a hobby farm hotspot where certain successful members of the Georgia community want that small farm with a luxury farmhouse with all of the trimmings. This is the part of Georgia they built those in. [00:02:25] Ted Rollins: There's a 10-acre estate at 2155 Purcell Lane. It has a beautiful main house, a barn, and a pond. In the summer of 2018, it was home to the Ferris family. [00:02:38] Speaker 14: The Ferris family consisted of Dad Gary, prominent attorney, his wife of 38 years, Melody, and their four kids. Two boys, Chris and Scott, and two girls, Emily and Amanda. All of the kids in 2018 were in different stages of adult life. The family as a whole was very unique. [00:02:58] Speaker 5: They were so close with each other. Obviously, there was the dynamic of the wealth, but they were so close with each other, but they also had so much hatred for each other. And, you know, you don't see that every day. [00:03:11] Speaker 11: I mean, it was just all of them just going in a circle of being moderately okay with each other to being mad at each other, some being mad at other ones, and then that changing. And everybody was always upset with somebody else. Nobody was always good with every single member of the family, including Gary. Gary Ferris was 58. [00:03:34] Ted Rollins: He practiced commercial real estate law. At 6'4 and over 300 pounds, his nickname was Big Daddy. And by all accounts, including his home office trash can, Gary consumed a steady diet of cigarettes and Mountain Dew, which, according to his family, likely contributed to his numerous health issues. In July of 2018, only three members of the Ferris family lived on the Purcell estate, Gary, Melody, and their son, Scott. [00:04:05] Speaker 5: So Scott lived in an apartment above kind of this horse barn area. It was a converted apartment. It was relatively nice-sized apartment. One bedroom, one bath, and then a living area with a kitchenette. And Scott's job at the time was he was essentially the property manager of this family. I mean, it was a toy farm. It wasn't really a farm. It was just for the enjoyment of the family and the grandkids. But he was a property manager. [00:04:34] Speaker 13: So with Scott living in the barn, Gary and Melody had the entire house to themselves. But really, Melody had the house. While still technically married, Melody lived a completely separate life from Gary. Gary had been banished to the basement with his own bedroom and his own shop area. Melody had the entire rest of the house to herself. [00:04:54] Speaker 11: Melody did cook. Cook for him. You know, make his dinner at night. Pick up food. You know, all that thing. So they had somewhat of a normal relationship. But in terms of the intimate parts of, you know, the husband and wife, that was long gone. [00:05:06] Speaker 5: He lived in the basement. She lived upstairs. They lived separate lives. Financially, they were still together. Much like a business, but the love, it was gone. [00:05:14] Speaker 14: Chris Ferris lived about 45 minutes away in Buckhead. He shared custody of two daughters. And he still relied in part on his family's wealth. Amanda was the youngest. She was engaged and very close with her mother. Emily was married, had a young daughter, lived out of state in Tennessee, and she was the only Ferris that didn't rely on Gary's money. [00:05:36] Ted Rollins: On the morning of July 5th, 2018, Emily was on her way to work when she received a call from her brother, Chris. [00:05:45] Speaker 15: He said, so I just talked to Amanda, and apparently they can't find Daddy anywhere. And I just think I said, what do you mean? Like, what do you mean they can't find him? [00:05:55] Ted Rollins: Gary Ferris was missing. In fact, nobody had seen him for more than a day. Scott, Melody, and Amanda were there searching the property. Gary's CPAP machine was next to his bed, so they figured he didn't leave overnight. They found Gary's wallet, and his Mercedes was parked in its usual spot in the garage. [00:06:16] Speaker 4: I started to, you know, get worried because I was worried that, you know, I hope something didn't happen to him that where he had like a heart attack or something. [00:06:26] Speaker 16: So then it just escalated into, it's all kind of a blur, but it escalated into, we need to find him. [00:06:32] Ted Rollins: The three searched the house and the 10 acres of property. Scott checked the trail camera, but reported that he didn't see anything. Then, Melody noticed something odd in a smoldering burn pit that Gary had started on the afternoon of July 3rd. She called Scott over to take a look. [00:06:50] Speaker 4: I walk up and look, and I already started seeing bones. And then I looked down, and it appeared to me that it was the inside of a skull. The backside was gone. So I grabbed a very, very small corner of it, and I lifted it up just enough to where I saw teeth and the eye socket. Gary, do you kind of have a limitation of your emergency? [00:07:19] Speaker 17: 2-1, uh, 2-1-5-5 or so, Lane. Uh, my father just come up, listened, and I, we just searched the properties of a small farm, and I just stood up near a farm that stood up. There was a huge bottle of glass, you know, it's still from the far as that. It could be him, I don't know. I'm ex-military, I was deployed to Iraq, I've seen what burned up bodies look like, and this looks like a body. [00:07:54] Speaker 15: The next call I got was from Chris. [00:07:57] Speaker 3: And he said, he's gone. I said, what do you mean he's gone? What are you talking about? And he said, Emily, he's gone. I was like, where did he go? He said, no, he's gone. He is gone. He's, he's like, what do you think he's in the burn pile? [00:08:23] Ted Rollins: Sheriff deputies and crime scene investigators responded to the Ferris farm. Given Gary's health situation, there was a possibility that he may have had an incident and possibly fallen into the fire as he tended it. As technicians sifted through the burn pile, recovering what would later be confirmed as Gary's remains, detectives pulled each member of the family aside [00:08:49] Speaker 13: to talk to them individually. At this point, the deputies investigating really didn't know what happened to Gary and were thinking it could have been a health episode. When the deputies started speaking with Scott, it became very apparent Scott blamed his mom and threw her under the bus immediately. And mom, Melody, she did the exact same thing to both of her sons. [00:09:10] Speaker 7: Chris, my son that's here, we've been having trouble with him taking money. I mean, over $900 a month. Scott's checking account routing them. It's serious money. I mean, it's not. It's serious money. Scott that lives in our barn, he hasn't worked since he came back from Iraq, except for a very short time. And I can't make him work. Just last week, I mean, he's played golf three days. He's gone to the lake. He's gone, I mean, you know, it's just like, come on now. This is Scott that's done all this? [00:09:41] Speaker 6: So he's just enjoying life. [00:09:42] Speaker 7: He's enjoying life to the fullest. [00:09:44] Speaker 6: Did you think Chris would have hurt Gary? You don't think there was an argument? [00:09:48] Speaker 7: I don't think so. [00:09:49] Speaker 6: No reason for Scott to do anything? [00:09:50] Speaker ?: Yeah. [00:09:52] Speaker 7: They're going to play up there, they're going to try. [00:09:54] Speaker 14: While detectives are talking to Melody and the rest of the family, things take a major turn. The crime scene detects find a projectile from a bullet lodged in one of Gary's ribs in the burn pile. This obviously rules out an accident. They go back to tell Melody what they found to get her reaction. [00:10:13] Speaker 6: They have found a projectile and some bones. It does not appear to be self-inflicted. [00:10:21] Speaker ?: Okay. [00:10:22] Speaker 7: So, I mean, do we know what kind or what? [00:10:26] Speaker 6: The location of where the wound was received on the body from the evidence that we can tell is not a typical self-inflicted place. Shoot yourself. [00:10:36] Speaker 7: It wouldn't take long [00:10:51] Ted Rollins: for investigators to rule out suicide. They also ruled out the possibility of an outside intruder. The reality was that Gary Ferris had been murdered and it appeared that either his wife or one of his two sons was the killer. [00:11:08] Speaker 4: Coming up. She would slip up and leave it laying like on the counter or something. [00:11:13] Ted Rollins: Plus, Melody caught in a lie about an affair. Are you currently in an affair with anyone? No. In the weeks after Gary Ferris, a prominent Atlanta-area attorney, was found dead in a burn pile on his 10-acre family hobby farm, investigators were able to quickly narrow down the list of suspects. Gary's wife, Melody, was the last person to see him alive and the tumultuous state of their 38-year marriage had raised some eyebrows. There were also Gary's two sons, Chris and Scott. It was possible that one of them could have murdered their father. [00:11:53] Speaker 8: Scott and Chris Ferris [00:12:08] Speaker 14: are asked to come down to the Sheriff's Department. It's been three weeks since Gary's death. They both have already given separate statements, but now they're together. The interview lasts about three hours and starts with questions about July 3rd, which is when Gary decided to light the burn pile. [00:12:25] Speaker 4: When I came home, I saw the fire going in the woods and, you know, didn't think of anything out there because it wasn't, you know, uncommon for my dad to even talk about [00:12:35] Speaker 13: burning up tall. When you watch this interview, you'll see they're not being treated like prime suspects. In fact, most of what they talked about was Melody during that three hours. [00:12:46] Speaker 8: I don't know if my mom did this or not. I don't know. But all the she's done for the last 10 years has really added up to, like, [00:13:01] Speaker 4: I mean, what else are we going to look at? In my personal opinion, I saw her more upset over when her dog died a couple of years ago. I mean, immediately, as soon as she saw that dog was dead, she was boo-hooing and crying and she was like that for the rest of the day. and all. But this, yeah, I mean, it's just that her behavior is just, it just hasn't seemed right for a grieving widow. [00:13:27] Ted Rollins: Before this interview with the brothers, investigators had already caught Melody Ferris in multiple lies. In the hours after Gary's death, she was asked about affairs and whether or not she had multiple cell phones. [00:13:41] Speaker 6: I understand that at some point there was an allegation of an affair? [00:13:46] Speaker 7: Yes, but, I mean, that's been our entire marriage. [00:13:48] Speaker 6: Are you currently in an affair with anyone? No. Is anyone pursuing you? [00:13:53] Speaker ?: No. [00:13:54] Speaker 6: There's no jealous boyfriends? No. Did you have any other cell phones? [00:13:58] Speaker ?: No. [00:13:59] Speaker 6: Talking to some other people, multiple people have said that they have seen you with another phone in a different case? [00:14:07] Speaker 4: First of all, [00:14:31] Speaker 13: it's never a good idea to make a statement when you're the big suspect in a murder. But if you're gonna speak with the police, don't lie about something, especially something so easy to be caught on, like an affair. It's guaranteed 100% of the time that affair is gonna come out. [00:14:47] Speaker 14: Melody was having an affair with a man named Rusty Barton. Investigators first saw his name when they found his credit card in Melody's purse along with some birth control. The family, including Gary, had suspected the affair, especially after Melody invited Rusty to Emily's wedding. [00:15:07] Speaker 15: At that point, we were kind of aware that maybe something more was going on with him between her, my mom, and Rusty. And he came to the wedding. And from what I understand, they were like dancing together, like canoodling, if you will, during the reception. It turns out [00:15:33] Ted Rollins: that Rusty wasn't the only one that Melody had an affair with. Ten years earlier, she'd been involved with a family friend named Ted Wiley. Gary found out, and while they stayed together, it was the end of normalcy in the Ferris marriage, which is why Scott, who found Gary's skull in the burnt bed, says he suspected his mother right away. [00:15:55] Speaker 4: Gary actually made [00:16:18] Speaker 14: a video to show the plate incident and the mess left behind. Melody was asked about the plate after the murder. [00:16:29] Speaker 7: There was a whole collection of plates in the home theater, and there was Mountain Dew on the floor, and there was, I mean, you know, everything, and I'm just like, ugh. And when I came out, I mean, I did, I whirled the plate. The gear was at the barn, you know, [00:16:43] Speaker 5: and it broke all over. To escalate from a broken plate or some little argument like that to murder, that is a huge leap. And that's where our stance always was on that. We got a broken plate and then murder, not even on the same plane. [00:17:01] Ted Rollins: If, in fact, Melody Ferris murdered her husband Gary, investigators needed to figure out how. Inside the house, tiny blood droplets were found on the kitchen floor, on the stairs, leading to the basement, and on the basement floor. There was also a bullet projectile, the same kind found in Gary's rib, just laying on the floor in the basement under an ottoman. The murder weapon, which they know was a handgun, was never found. Scott Ferris told investigators that there was a pistol missing from this cabinet, which Melody was asked about. [00:17:37] Speaker 6: We have information that there was, probably about a month, month and a half ago, that there was another firearm found in your house, seen in your house, and you said that all there should be is a shotgun. Are you aware of any other guns in the house? [00:17:53] Speaker 7: No, there's a shotgun and there's a .22. [00:17:55] Speaker 6: Like a .22 rifle? [00:17:58] Speaker 7: Yes. [00:17:59] Speaker 6: Okay. But no other guns? [00:18:01] Speaker 7: I do know that there was a pistol over the barn or all, and I haven't seen it in a long time. Scott took it [00:18:08] Speaker 6: and that it'll lay. Do you remember what kind of pistol [00:18:11] Speaker 14: would it look like? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know anything about guns. The blood and the projectile make investigators believe that Gary was shot in the house, but if that is true, how did he get to the burn pile? It was an issue that investigators brought up to Chris and Scott in that interview that they did a few weeks after the murder. [00:18:30] Speaker 18: The holes that we need to fill are the weapon and just realistically speaking, if someone of a 5'4", 130-pound stature was able to transport somebody that's 6'5 and 208 pounds. Right. I mean, we figure if somebody had to help, that person needs to be found as much as anybody else. [00:19:00] Speaker 8: Right. Okay? I tell you that the two people that I told that lieutenant of Rusty Barton, the citizen agent right there, and Ted Wiley [00:19:08] Ted Rollins: from Florence, Alabama. Ted Wiley and Rusty Barton, Melody's lovers. They both had alibis for July 3rd, but investigators paid multiple visits to Rusty in Tennessee in an attempt to pressure him. Then, on July 24th, three weeks after Gary's murder, Rusty and his lawyer told detectives that he wanted to come clean about a conversation he said he had with Melody on the morning of July 4th, before Gary's body had been found. [00:19:39] Speaker 4: Let's talk about that conversation that Gary filled. It was probably the last minute of the last conversation. She said, Gary is in the burn pile. No, she said, he is in the burn pile. And I said, what? And she said, he's in the burn pile. And I said, [00:20:05] Speaker 19: do not say another word and do not tell me anything. [00:20:10] Speaker 4: That's what I do not need to know. [00:20:12] Speaker 13: This is a game changer. Melody telling Rusty Gary's on the burn pile before Gary's even been reported missing. That's the whole case. This is the exact kind of evidence you use to get an arrest warrant. But in this case, that's not what happened. [00:20:28] Speaker 5: Coming up. He failed a polygraph test and nobody, and we couldn't get that in front of the jury. [00:20:35] Ted Rollins: Weeks turn into months before anyone is arrested for Gary's murder. [00:20:39] Speaker 4: That was another clue right there. that's not right for it to be there. [00:20:49] Speaker 16: Donna Adelson was part of a conspiracy to kill her former son-in-law, Dan Markell. He's not going to survive. [00:20:57] Speaker 2: Oh, my God. [00:20:58] Speaker 14: Dan saw Donna as dangerous. [00:21:01] Speaker 3: She's the matriarch mastermind. She's just being a parent, not a killer. [00:21:05] Speaker 1: Victim to Verdict with Ted Rollins. Season finale next Saturday at 8 Eastern and Pacific. And during the finale, don't miss an exclusive preview for the new season of Interview with a Killer only on Court TV. [00:21:20] Ted Rollins: In the months after the remains of Georgia attorney Gary Ferris were found in a burn pile on the family's 10-acre estate, investigators were working to determine which one of three family members was the killer. Melody, Gary's wife of 38 years, was clearly the main suspect. she'd lied to investigators about an affair and was on the property when Gary was killed. Gary's sons, Scott and Chris, were also possibility. Drops of blood and a projectile fired from a 38-caliber handgun with Gary's DNA were found in the house. So that's where detectives believe he was likely shot. But there was no murder weapon or a clear answer as to how Gary ended up [00:22:06] Speaker 13: on the burn pile. Melody is clearly the top suspect for investigators. But how did she get a body the size of Gary's onto a burn pile? We're talking about a small, petite woman and Gary's 6'4", 300 pounds. One of the boys could have certainly moved this body. [00:22:25] Speaker 14: But Melody by herself? Detectives had a couple of working theories as to how Melody could have gotten Gary's body to the burn pile. If Gary ran out of the house after he was shot, theoretically, Melody could have rolled him down the hill to the burn pile. She also could have used some of the equipment that was on the farm, including an RTV and a tractor that had a front scoop that could pick up a body. Both machines [00:22:50] Ted Rollins: were tested for blood. There were traces of Melody's on the RTV and Gary's on the tractor, but nothing was found in that scoop. Scott, however, told investigators that the tractor was parked in an unusual spot after the murder. [00:23:05] Speaker 4: I discovered the tractor being parked where it was, and that was another clue right there that immediately I was like, that's not right for it to be there. How well does your mother operate that tractor? She asked me to teach her how to use it back in early spring. Honestly, that tractor was so easy to operate, I could teach my 13-year-old niece. [00:23:25] Ted Rollins: On June 20, 2019, just shy of a year since Gary's murder, Melody Walker-Farris was arrested in Tennessee and extradited back to Georgia for the murder of her husband. John Luke Weaver and Michael Ray represent Melody Farris. They believe one of the brothers, Chris, or Scott, is the actual killer. Scott was living in an apartment above the barn and was under pressure to get a job, according to Melody, and recent texts from Gary. On the night of July 3rd, Scott returned home at approximately 11.30 p.m. [00:24:02] Speaker 5: I believe he was intoxicated when he got home and his dad was burning the burn pile, and I believe [00:24:09] Speaker ?: and I believe [00:24:09] Speaker 5: a confrontation occurred somewhere either at the burn pile or over at the barn. And I imagine that his dad through all of these messages and weeks leading up to this, like, you're going to start working, you're going to start doing stuff. I think it kind of came to a head that evening and I think Scott snapped. [00:24:28] Ted Rollins: Melody's attorneys point to the fact that the murder weapon was missing, but Scott had .38 caliber ammunition on his nightstand and claimed that he didn't own a pistol. There was also the apartment, which was filthy, except the spotless bathroom and shower, which had been cleaned with a magic eraser. [00:24:49] Speaker 5: He failed a polygraph test. There was a previous prosecutor on the case that actually was taking that very seriously, but he wound up going into private practice and that version, that possibility of where that case was going to go ended at that time. [00:25:01] Speaker 11: The prosecution's theory is there's some sort of altercation between Gary and Melody inside the house where Gary is then shot and flees the house or dies in the house and then is taken out of the house. How did Melody move him out of the house? If Gary fled from the house, where is the blood on the outside of the house? There's no blood found going out of the front of the house or going out the side door where the three or four blood droplets are found in the basement along with that spent bullet with Gary's DNA on it laying almost underneath the ottoman in front of the couch. [00:25:31] Speaker 5: With a magic bullet, I mean, there is no evidence that this bullet went through, pierced anything in that basement and somehow magically gets underneath an ottoman. It almost looks like that bullet was just placed underneath that ottoman. And that's bizarre. When you look at also, you've got tiny little, I mean, minuscule droplets of blood that's not consistent with being shot with a .357. [00:25:55] Speaker 11: The issues with the blood is that it was never tested. It was never collected. It was never sent to the crime lab, so it was never determined definitively that it was Gary's blood. [00:26:04] Speaker 5: Alternative theory was Chris. So they never were able to close the fact that he didn't have an alibi. He did not sleep with his wife that night. So you have a gap of somewhere between 12 and 9-ish hours that nobody knows where Chris was. They never checked or traced his cell phone. And that's a huge gap in time for Chris. [00:26:31] Speaker 14: Powerful opening statements on day one of the burn pile murder trial. Melody's murder trial took place at the Cherokee County Courthouse in Canton, Georgia. There was an incredible amount of interest in the case. At this point, the Ferris family is divided into two camps. Chris Scott and Emily believe Melody is guilty, while Amanda, the youngest, believes her mom is innocent. [00:26:55] Speaker 13: A wife accused of murdering her prominent attorney husband and the defense involves blaming her own sons? This is the biggest kind of case out there, and the pressure on the prosecution was enormous because this wasn't a slam-dunk case. The DA even began the opening telling the jury, you're going to have to decide which Ferris is the actual killer. [00:27:17] Speaker 2: The question you have to ask is, who did this? This is a heinous murder. It was shot, killed, put it on a burn pile, burnt. [00:27:30] Speaker 14: The state's opening statement laid out their entire case, but they spent a lot of time talking about Rusty and the fact that Melody told him that Gary was on the burn pile even before he was reported missing. [00:27:44] Speaker 11: All right, Mr. Ray, you ready to proceed? All right, go ahead. 13 minutes after law enforcement arrives, Scott Ferris is already blaming his mother. [00:27:55] Speaker 10: Coming up, they're standing up there behind the chair. [00:27:57] Ted Rollins: I'm sorry, you're going to sit down. Rusty's news story about that phone call with Melody. Plus, both brothers take the stand. Did you murder your father? No. In November of 2024, Melody Ferris was on trial for the murder of her husband, Gary. Her defense was simple. She didn't do it. One of her sons, Chris or Scott, was the real killer. Both were called as witnesses by the prosecution, starting with Chris. [00:28:32] Speaker 20: Is it fair that you're a little nervous? [00:28:34] Speaker 14: I'm a little nervous. I think that everybody was nervous inside that courtroom when Chris took the stand because up till now, everyone was hearing his name and now he's about to testify. [00:28:44] Speaker 20: When you heard about the bullet in his rib, what was going on in your head? [00:28:50] Speaker 9: I just remember crying. Like after I got off the phone with him, I just sat on the couch and me and Jenna just cried together. [00:28:57] Speaker 13: Chris really did a great job on the stand. He answered everything, had the right emotions, was basically a great witness. The real question is how Scott is going to do on the stand. [00:29:08] Speaker 2: You're about presenting this man. There's the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. So happy God. Yes, sir. [00:29:15] Ted Rollins: Scott Ferris spent hours on the witness stand over two days, taking the jury through the Ferris family history and stories about his mother, Melody, including the plate incident. She came out of my dad's [00:29:29] Speaker 4: office doors and screaming and cussing and she threw a plate up against the wall of the house and she screamed, I can't wait to the day he f***ing dies. I can't wait to the day I don't have to live with him anymore. Did you murder your father? I absolutely did not murder my father. [00:29:52] Ted Rollins: Without a doubt, I'd love to. On cross-examination, Melody's defense attorney, John Luke Weaver, asked Scott about the fact that his apartment shower was spotless after the murder. Your apartment's [00:30:06] Speaker 5: kind of a bachelor pad. It's kind of a mess. Yes? [00:30:12] Speaker 4: I mean, it wasn't picture perfect, but yeah, I wasn't bringing, you know, ladies up there, so I wasn't worried about having it spotless. But your shower was. Isn't that odd? No, [00:30:27] Speaker 11: I always clean my bathroom. The conditions of the apartment, you know, from the photographs that we got from law enforcement were pretty horrendous, you know, dog feces all over the place. I mean, it wasn't, you know, horrid, but, you know, it definitely wasn't great. Especially, you know, when we found the photograph the law enforcement took of the magic racer and everything in the bathtub. [00:30:47] Speaker 5: That bathroom was immaculate. He was a typical bachelor, Scott was. Bathroom was immaculate. It didn't line up. It never has [00:30:55] Ted Rollins: and it never will. And what about the ammunition found on Scott's nightstand? [00:31:01] Speaker 4: I remember that I had a friend that came out. There was a group of friends that came out and one of the persons that came out had some ammunition that they left. [00:31:12] Ted Rollins: Then, there was the trail camera. During the search for Gary, Scott deleted the images, which he said was just out of habit to save memory. The defense believed that that was suspicious. Did you delete the things off the camera? [00:31:27] Speaker 4: I did because it's just, you know, natural habit. This, like I said, this is prior to us discovering my dad's remains. So, every single time I ever went to go check my trail camera, you know, I always delete, just kind of free up the SD card. [00:31:44] Ted Rollins: Attorney Weaver finished his cross-examination of Scott by having him stand up and showed the jury that he was 6'5", 280 pounds and that he was the only one capable of moving 300-pound Gary onto the burn pile. And one person on the property who could move him did move him and that's you. That's all I had. Rusty Barton also testified his story about Melody telling him that Gary was on the burn pile before he was even reported missing had now changed. he was telling the jury that he lied and that Melody actually told him that after Gary was found. [00:32:28] Speaker 5: The district attorney is putting their case on the words that come out of your mouth. So I need you to explain those words to that jury right there. [00:32:35] Speaker 19: She said those words to me. I heard them. I just in my confusion and pressure of I got to do something. You know, they're going to arrest me. They're going to ruin my name. They're going to put me, you know, line me up. It just, it came out. [00:32:54] Speaker 5: So that's just what you felt like you had to do to preserve yourself. [00:32:58] Speaker 13: Yes. Rusty becomes a big question. Is he a sophisticated operator trying to protect Melody or is he just a good old boy country bumpkin trying to tell the truth? [00:33:08] Ted Rollins: When it came time for closing arguments, the state leaned in on several themes, especially some testimony from an investigator that determined that Gary's phone was moving around the farm during the time when Melody was the only one there. [00:33:23] Speaker 20: See where that guy is? And that's Gary's phone. The morning of the 4th at 6.37 a.m. till 7.21 a.m. Right there at that burn file. We know Gary's dead and we know it goes from the house to the burn file and then it goes back to the house. 7.58, 8.21, 9.05 back in the house. And you know Scott's location during this time. He left for the lake. He was 20 minutes away. The only one home was Melody. That phone was either on Melody or on Gary's dead body. [00:34:14] Ted Rollins: The defense concentrated on Gary's weight, bringing in bags of rock salt and stacking them into a 300-pound mass, which was clearly difficult to move. [00:34:26] Speaker 5: This is 320 pounds. I really wanted that jury to see what 300 pounds looks like and what it takes to move. And I know I'm not in the best shape, but I did everything I could to move it and some folks have said, even since, oh, that was dramatic. No, really, after that, [00:34:47] Speaker 13: I was exhausted. Using the rock salt was a smart idea and I really liked how it illustrated that there was no way Melody Ferris could move a body the size of Gary's. [00:34:58] Speaker 10: Coming up, we, the jury, asked to count one. Plus, [00:35:02] Ted Rollins: a mother goes after her son. [00:35:04] Speaker 14: I've never seen anything like it before and I bet I never see something like that again. [00:35:14] Ted Rollins: By late October 2024, jurors tasked with deciding Melody Ferris' fate had heard from just about everyone. All four Ferris' children, two men Melody had affairs with and a woman who says she had an affair with Gary. But would they get to hear from Melody herself? [00:35:34] Speaker 10: Are you ready to let me know this morning what your plan is? [00:35:38] Speaker 11: I will not testify. All right. She testified so much by the recorded calls on the callos. There really wasn't much significant that Melody could add. But there was a whole lot, you know, that could really hurt her. Our advice was do not testify. [00:35:55] Ted Rollins: The big question now, has either side done enough to convince the jury beyond a reasonable doubt? Deliberations begin on Wednesday and by Thursday, jurors send a note to the judge. They're stuck. [00:36:10] Speaker 10: You don't believe [00:36:11] Speaker 13: that you'll be able to come to a unanimous decision. A deadlocked jury doesn't mean this is over. The jury's going back to continue deliberating under an Allen charge. I'm going to instruct you to return back to the jury room and continue to deliberate until such time as you can reach a verdict. This is basically the court telling the jury, go back there and finish this. Are you holding up with all of this? [00:36:35] Speaker 14: You didn't testify. Do you think you should have? I tried asking Melody some questions at the end of day two. She had nothing to say. And then the jury deliberated for a full day. On the fourth day, we had a verdict. Conceded. You could cut the tension in that courtroom with a knife. Everybody was on pins and needles. What would the jury decide? You had the family divided clearly in different sections of the courtroom, not making any eye contact, and then it was time. We, the jury, find the defendant guilty. [00:37:14] Speaker 10: I think I'll hand it back to Bayless. Madam Bayless will just show it to counsel. [00:37:23] Speaker 14: After the verdict, Melody covers her mouth as the jury is pulled. And then she starts to take off her jewelry because up till now, she was out on bail. But she knows she's going to prison. Melody was taken [00:37:35] Ted Rollins: into custody immediately and made no comment about her conviction, waiting, apparently, for the right time to speak her mind. That would come at sentencing. [00:37:45] Speaker 5: I saw her walk in with her notes. And she'd already been in custody about a month. And our stance on that was, you know, you've reached the point where, you know, you've been convicted. You're 64 years old. You can say what you want, Melody. And she did. [00:37:59] Speaker 10: All right, Ms. Harris, do you have a statement? [00:38:02] Speaker 7: I do. I've written this so that I can get the alarms. [00:38:07] Speaker 21: Okay. [00:38:07] Speaker 7: Not only [00:38:08] Speaker 21: did I not do this, but I know you did. I know Scott killed his father. [00:38:18] Speaker 14: Everybody in that courtroom was in shock. She's calling her own son a killer, pointing the finger at him, doubling down on her defense. And I'm right behind Chris and Scott and they are shaking their heads and then they start to cry. [00:38:34] Speaker 7: Scott, I have spent an entire life of loving and protecting you. But this, I refuse to cover for you. My mother, your mom, begged me to take the blame for this. She said, after she talked to you, after Gary died, that she knew you had done it. Her exact words were, you are his mother. You have to take blame for this. [00:39:07] Speaker 14: Melody Ferris unleashing on her family, pointing the finger at her son as the true killer. It was very awkward. I've never seen anything like it before. [00:39:17] Speaker 7: A mother, or at least not this mother, does not blame her child unless she knows he did it. Not thinks, knows. And I would never sit here and let the attorneys lay blame to him [00:39:33] Speaker 13: if I didn't know. It was shocking and heartbreaking to watch a mom blame her own child for the murder she's getting sentenced for. Emotionally, [00:39:42] Speaker 14: it was brutal. The judge had a choice in this case of sentencing Melody Ferris, life with the possibility of parole or without. The only determination [00:39:51] Speaker 10: I have is whether I would be with parole or without parole. I don't believe this is the case that justifies a life without parole. I recognize that is likely a life sentence for you. [00:40:05] Ted Rollins: Coming up, a juror takes us inside the deliberation room. [00:40:09] Speaker 22: I would say it started probably like maybe nine for guilty, three for not. [00:40:17] Ted Rollins: What did they think about the possibility that Scott was involved? [00:40:22] Speaker 22: We had to decide if we thought that they were a reasonable enough doubt. So that's what we did was talk about Scott. [00:40:28] Ted Rollins: What was once the Ferris Farm, the property that Melody said her son Scott wanted so badly he killed his father for was sold to new owners after Melody's arrest. She is now settled into her new home, the Pulaski State Prison, hours away from her old life. Juror Bethany Weaver says deliberations began with several jurors still undecided. [00:40:59] Speaker 22: I would say it started probably like maybe nine for guilty, three for not, when we did [00:41:07] Ted Rollins: our first vote. Jurors began by trying to eliminate the alternate suspects that the defense had pointed to. [00:41:14] Speaker 22: The very first thing we did though is we decided we had to rule everybody else that they were accusing or that it seemed like the defense was accusing. We had to decide if we thought that they were a reasonable enough doubt. so that's what we did first was talked about Scott. I think we briefly talked about Rusty but they made it clear that he wasn't anywhere around. [00:41:36] Ted Rollins: Jurors agreed that Scott had reasons to kill his dad but were swayed by the state's exhibits showing Gary's phone moving around the property after he was dead when only Melody was at home. [00:41:48] Speaker 20: Okay at 758 through 905 what are we looking at there? [00:41:53] Speaker 16: This is showing again the Google location precision location [00:41:57] Speaker 22: of Gary's handset during these times. When you looked at the actual evidence and the facts it didn't logically make sense that he was that he even had the time to do it based on the time that he was on the property. [00:42:12] Ted Rollins: That left just Melody but jurors did struggle with the question of how did she get her 6 foot 5 husband's body to the burn pile by herself. For Bethany that issue was cleared up when the jury visited the Ferris farm. [00:42:28] Speaker 22: The biggest thing for me was that how slopey it was from the house down to that burn pit. When I saw that I was like that's when I took me in my I just like maybe it's not that big of a deal. [00:42:42] Ted Rollins: As to motive for Weaver it came down to believing that Gary wasn't okay with the status quo anymore. [00:42:49] Speaker 22: I genuinely think that something was changing that she knew that he had plans to make changes about maybe their finances or their living arrangements or whatever I don't know but I genuinely think that she thought that that was her moment to do it because if she didn't get it done whatever he might have divorced her. [00:43:10] Ted Rollins: Weaver says she got a sense of humility who Melody is from the mountains of text messages and emails between her and her family saying Melody caused strife between the kids and between the kids and Gary. [00:43:23] Speaker 22: It made it very easy to believe yeah she's probably the type of person that would be selfish enough to kill him so that she didn't miss out on money or whatever. [00:43:33] Ted Rollins: Jurors had completed their service long before Melody's speech about Scott but Bethany Weaver was definitely watching. [00:43:41] Speaker 21: Not only did I not [00:43:43] Ted Rollins: do this [00:43:44] Speaker 21: I know who did I know Scott killed his father. [00:43:53] Speaker 22: I feel like if she's that type of person that could turn on her own flesh and blood like that it's just not a stretch to believe that she would turn on her husband like that who she clearly despised. [00:44:05] Ted Rollins: Melody Ferris was 64 years old when she was convicted she maintains her innocence and while her attorneys are appealing her case it's likely she'll spend the rest of her life in prison. I'm Ted Rowlands. Thanks for watching Victim to Verdict.