Detective’s story on wife’s death doesn’t add up, psychiatrist brainwashes patient, more | 48 Hours | Forensic Files

Amy wrote, "Shadows are created around us whenever something or someone blocks the light. We are created to live in the
light. He is calling me out of the darkness. Turn toward the light and the truth. Truth.
Amy's outlet was her journaling. She wrote to me about the Bible and having faith. I believe that her faith was
important to her because she lived by her faith. She was the salt of the earth, genuine and loving.
I found out that Amy had passed in a phone call from our mutual friend. >> The next sentence, [music] I found out
how she had passed. It's not a phone call you know you want to get. >> 911 is recorded. What's the address of
your emergency? >> Hi, this is Brian Tanya. I'm at North Road. My wife just shot herself. Can you
send me some help? >> All right, Brian. We'll get him right out there. Okay. >> I remember my supervisor telling me, "We
have a death investigation in Westfield and it's a police officer's wife." That was a rarity to me. I had not
experienced a case like that. >> She's gone. God. >> Okay. Are you sure? >> Yes. Yes.
Brian's role at the Westfield Police Department. He was their uh evidence guy in the detective bureau.
>> We both knew Brian. >> He was very well respected. >> When you walked in the Fion house, what
did you see? >> Then I walked into the dining room and that's when I observed the body of Amy
Fion and a pool of blood on the floor >> with a gunshot to the right side of her
head. I saw the 45 caliber [music] Smith and Wesson firearm on the stairs that led to
the breezeway. There was a police radio, paperwork, mail, and so forth. Chairs pushed about. And on top of this dining
room table, you had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich intact on a plate. You had an empty plate that had some blood
smear on it. >> What was Brian's demeanor when you arrived? >> He seemed like he was in a state of
shock. He was looking straight ahead. >> Just she snapped. >> The gun just exploded. Just so quick,
hesitate at all. I'm the only one that could make her that angry. >> I offered him my condolences. I told
Brian that, you know, that I was going to conduct a thorough investigation, that it was going to be by the numbers.
>> Is it standard for the district attorney's office to be involved in a suicide investigation? Yes. Part of our
duties at the district attorney's office was to investigate all deaths. What can this deceased tell us about
what happened right before she found herself in that state? So, I'm taking in everything that I can
about that scene. And I saw the entry wound to her head. It didn't seem right in that moment. How
would something like that happen? >> [music] [music] >> It It was 1 p.m. on May 8th, 2018 when
Massachusetts State Police detectives arrived at a farmhouse in Westfield. 51-year-old Amy Fanan laid dead in the
dining room from a single gunshot wound to the head. Detective Mike McN. >> Amy was essentially in a pile of blood
that was beginning to congeal under her left side. Amy's husband, Brian Fanan, a
detective in the Westfield Police Department, had called 911 minutes earlier, reporting that his wife had
shot herself. The dining room, rearranged to accommodate medical personnel, was in disarray as detectives
worked to identify clues of what may have happened. >> There was a blood spatter around that
window frame from that dining room into the breezeway. There was a pair of glasses that looked like it had some
kind of red brown spatter on it. >> And then there was the bullet. Detectives Brendan Oll and Mike
Blanchett. >> The actual projectile was in that front enclosed porch area. The spent shell
casing was still in the dining room. >> We could see the direction that it traveled through Amy's head.
That round impacted that dresser, came to arrest right around there in the breezeway.
>> Brian was sitting in a chair with his back to the wall and he's with the chief
of police from the Westfield Police Department who's talking with him. Everyone was [music] in a state of
shock. >> Everyone, including Amy's brother, Eric Hansen, who told detectives that he had
just finished playing disc golf behind the house when he heard Brian's cry for help. And that's when he walked into the
house, saw Amy on the floor, a [music] gun next to her, and Brian holding Amy's hand.
>> So, he picked up the gun himself and moved it out of Brian's reach >> because he was worried about Brian's
state of mind, having just lost his wife. >> Yes. >> What kind of gun was used? >> It was a Smith and Wesson uh MMP45,
Brian Fion's duty weapon. >> Did that give you any pause that it was Brian Fion's weapon? Yes, it gave me
pause. At [music] this point, I know that I'm going to really do a detailed investigation.
>> To avoid conflict of interest, ul said he decided that his unit, the Massachusetts State Police, would be the
sole investigators and he wanted to get Brian away from the house to get a statement.
>> I asked if he would accompany me to the Massachusetts State Police barracks in
Russell. And I took a uh tape recorded statement from him. Tuesday, May 8th, it's 2:41 p.m. I'm with Brian Fion.
Brian, um, do you understand I got a recorder on right now? >> Yes. >> Brian told Detective Oul that he left
his office at the Westfield Police Station around 11:45 a.m. and drove to North Road to meet his wife, who was on
her way home to prepare their lunch. >> What was she making? Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Brian said that when
he arrived, they continued an argument from the night prior. An argument that had gotten pretty heated that evening.
>> Oh, when you say heated, I guess what? >> Just uh I don't know. She just uh was very
angry. >> What was the argument about? >> Um I'm retiring soon. We're discussing what
each of us expects retirement to be. Brian said he told Amy that he didn't want to spend his retirement maintaining
their 200-year-old home, which Amy still loved. They also discussed their aging dog and his reluctance to get another
one. >> Yeah, I don't want to be tied down by a dog. >> She always wants to have a dog. I want
to travel more than she does. >> According to Brian, that afternoon during lunch, Amy told him she had
scheduled them to attend a family member's play. on the day Brian wanted to attend [music] a disc golf
tournament. >> I just said, "No, I don't like that stuff. Why would you commit me when
you're without asking?" >> That's when, according to Brian, things soon took a turn for the worse.
>> I took my gun out of the holster and put it on our hutch because I had to use the
bathroom. >> Where's the hutch located? >> In the dining room. Brian said he closed
the bathroom door and when he came out, Amy had the gun in her hand. >> She has the gun pointed up to the right
side of her head. What did you hear her say? >> I think she said, "I guess you don't
want it's you don't want me around or you don't want to be around me." >> Was she seated or
>> No, she stood up. She was standing. Okay. >> According to Brian, he was four to 5t
away when he tried to stop Amy from pulling the trigger. >> Tried to get to her.
I almost did. The gun just exploded. Just so quick at all. I just went over and I just held
her hands. >> Just held her hands. >> 911 recorded. What's the >> Ryan called 911 and yelled out to Amy's
brother, Eric, for help. >> Eric, uh, what is how do you spell your last name? Hansen. H A M S E N.
>> Eric told detectives that Brian said he and Amy had been having a tense argument.
>> And she grabbed the gun. He just was so distraught. >> Are you saying what they were arguing
about? >> No, I was just trying to consolate. It's not your fault. It's not your fault.
>> Amy's death had shocked the Westfield community. My name is Stephanie Barry and I'm a
reporter for the Republican in Springfield, Massachusetts. Amy's maiden name was Hansen. She came from a fairly
large family. She and her sisters were all known as some of the prettiest girls in school, some of the smartest, and
some of the nicest. It was 1983 when 16-year-old Amy met 19-year-old Brian Fannon. Fion came from
a long line of police officers and politicians. And in Westfield, the Fian name was a source of pride.
>> The Fanions were kind of like the Kennedys of Westfield. They were well regarded.
>> Brian and Amy tied the knot [music] in 1985, and the couple eventually had two
children, Travis and Victoria. Amy's close friend, Terry Lardi, says Amy loved being a stay-at-home mom. Amy's
focus was raising her children. She thought that being a parent was [music] the best job in the whole world. The
Fians, deeply committed to their faith, dedicated their lives to God and community service, with Brian serving as
a church deacon and working as a missionary to build wells [music] in Mexico. After 30 years of marriage, the Fians
were planning their next phase of life when those plans derailed. Is there any knowledge that Amy Fine had any mental
health issues or suffered from depression? >> So I I asked Brian and u he mentioned um
many years earlier when she was having some psychological issues and was on medicine for a period of time. Other
than that nothing nothing recent. >> But what Brian did stress was that Amy had bouts with anger.
>> She had a temper but she hid it well from everyone but me. She she only got that angry when we were alone.
>> Midway into the interview, Detective Oul asked Brian if there were any female
friends in his life. >> I have a woman who lives in Pittsfield that I met recently.
I did a mission trip to Mexico and we became good friends. >> What's that lady's name?
>> Corey. >> Does she have a last name or Corey? >> Nolles. K N O W L E S. You guys aren't going to contact
her, are you? For Detective Oul, Brian Fan's admitted friendship with another woman raised
questions. Ryan had told detectives that Karen Nolles, known as Corey, was a fellow
missionary at a nearby church. The two met in November 2017 on a mission trip in Mexico, and a friendship developed,
but it had never gone beyond that, an emotional affair. He said there was some flirting, but he qualified it that it
wasn't >> sexual >> a sexual. It was not a his term was it was not a friends with benefits.
>> At the end of the interview, Detective Oul asked Brian to turn over his personal phone.
>> I turned off the recorder and that's when Brian told me, he said, "You're going to see [music] some things
on there and it's not what it appears to be." >> A red flag for you? Yeah, there are
several red flags. As a an investigator, you have to keep an open mind. >> Within a week of Brian's interview on
May 14th, 2018, Amy's wake was held. Brian planted a tree in nearby Stanley Park in his wife's memory.
But the investigation into her sudden death was just beginning. Detectives recovered a treasure trove of deleted
text messages from Brian's phone. There were just hundreds of texts that expanded
the relationship that he was having with Cy. On May 7th, the day before Amy died,
Brian and Corey exchanged 72 text messages until 9:47 p.m. that evening. In one exchange at 9:23 p.m., Brian
writes, "Good night, my love. I hope you have wonderful dreams of amazing days and nights to come." And Corey responds,
"Good night, my love. I will dream of you and all that the future holds for us. The next morning at 10:30 a.m., Corey
texts, "When can I hold you again?" To which Brian responds, "Not soon enough." Turning into a very long morning
and within an hour or two, Amy Fannon is dead. >> Yes. >> Heading for a female party who possibly
intentionally shot herself. police in route. >> Brian has not been entirely truthful to
us at this point and so we want to speak with him again. >> On May 17th, 2018, 3 days after Amy's
wake, Brian Fannon arrived at the district attorney's state police office for another round of questioning. Brian,
so we just needed to, you know, clarify some things. We know you're Miranda, right? So, I'm going to read them off
this form. >> The other day, you didn't do this. Has something changed? >> So, you're not you're not under arrest
or anything. >> Well, I know that. >> And on that same day, across town, detectives met with Corey Nolles to
learn more about her involvement with Brian. >> If somebody was to say, "Who's Cy? Who
are you?" Corey Nolles, a 48-year-old wife, grandmother, and member of her church's choir, told detectives that
Brian's friendship helped her work through a troubled second marriage. >> Brian's very easy to talk to. Nothing
but affirmation and love, and I'm here for you. >> But over time, their relationship moved
from friendship to flirtation. >> Did I feel passion for him? Absolutely. By April 16th, 2018, 5 months into Brian
and Cory's relationship, their texting gave way to something more intimate when Corey visited Brian's house before they
left for volunteer work. >> Was that the first time you were intimate that you kissed on that April
day the 16th? >> Yeah. >> And then where was that? >> Once the kitchen >> cuz I got there before Amy got home.
Corey told detectives that by late April, she and Brian were having passionate makeout sessions in her
truck. Brian left work early, met up with Corey in Westfield at Stanley Park, and they
made out. There was some sexual touching, >> but according to Corey, Brian could not
perform. a little bit more light because I'm still married to to Amy. >> We've seen the text messages.
>> In all honesty, Brian, it looks like it's a lot more than a friendship. You know,
>> I know it escalated and I'm completely embarrassed by it, ashamed of it, and shouldn't happen.
>> But a lot of people have affairs and >> correct >> don't kill their wife. >> Correct.
Detective Oul then asks Brian to go back over his statement of what happened, beginning at the moment when Brian said
he placed his gun on the hutch and went inside the bathroom. >> All right. So, you come out of the
bathroom, right? And she's at the table. Where where just indicate like where between the table and the hutch
>> in a chair right there? >> I don't know if she was sitting or standing. I think she was standing.
>> I mean, she interesting. >> Now, when we were trying to get these stepbystep details, he seemed to be
wavering. >> So, you come out of the bathroom. Okay. And then what's the first thing that
happens? >> I just remember her saying that that you obviously don't want me around.
>> And then Detective Oul asked Brian to demonstrate what Amy did with the gun. >> Just remember seeing her hand come up
with towards her head. >> Yeah. So she puts it to the side of her head. >> Yes. >> Okay.
>> And and where was the gun when it went off? Was it the same to her head? >> But there is a problem. What Brian did
not know was that a CSI report and Amy's autopsy results had arrived. >> The gunshot entrance wound was not
consistent with a self-inflicted wound. >> Fair to say it took this case in a whole
new direction. >> Yes. During the second interview with Brian Fion, detectives Zo and Blanchett found
themselves facing a challenge that tested their experience as investigators. >> This is not a a normal interview for
myself and Mike. We've done thousands of interviews. You know, we're pretty good
at it, but it's hard >> when it's a police officer because he knows exactly how we work.
It was a difficult interview. >> There's a problem. I'll be straight. >> Detectives laid out what they considered
to be crucial evidence in their investigation. >> There's no indication whatsoever so far that she had a gun
close to the side of her head. >> I'll get wrong cuz she did. because I saw it. I didn't have it.
>> You know, >> how do you say there's no indication? >> Well, I mean, that's what that's what,
you know, that's what it's showing us right now. >> The medical examiner listed Amy's manner
of death as undetermined. And combined with CSI findings, investigators did not believe that Amy
died of a self-inflicted wound. I mean, there's no doubt she was shot. But but the question is from what
distance? >> It was right freaking there. I'm telling you. Do what you need to, but I'm
telling you, it was right there. >> In Amy's case, distance mattered. This is because with self-inflicted gunshot
wounds, debris known as gunshot residue is expelled from the firearm and leaves [music] a distinct pattern on and inside
the wound known as stippling as demonstrated here. >> Like Brian, you you understand like guns
and stippling and all that stuff. >> I do and I can't. >> There's none on her, Brian. There's none
on her. >> There has to be cuz the gun was there right freaking there. >> There's none honor.
then they're wrong. I'm telling you, they're they're flat out wrong cuz it was right freaking there.
>> The other option is you got pissed and you're a foot [snorts] or few feet away
and you shot her in the head and she's sitting eating her sandwich. >> Didn't happen.
>> Didn't happen. >> Did not happen. >> With Fion's affair exposed and CSI reports in [music] hand, detectives
suspected Fannon had likely shot his wife, but they still needed more evidence. On May 24th, 2018, detectives
obtained a search warrant for Fion's home. And when detectives arrived, >> Brian asked if I was there to arrest
him, and I told him I wasn't. And then he asked me if I thought he did it. >> Were you surprised he asked you that?
>> I was noting it. I didn't know how to feel, and I didn't answer his question.
Detectives took additional measurements to analyze the trajectory of the bullet.
Fan's home electronics were confiscated and at the same time his desktop computer and laptop at the Westfield
Police Station were seized for data extraction. Do you see any signs that Brian Fan
planned to kill his wife? Any evidence that points to that? >> We see a totality of all the evidence
here. um we're not the factf finders. Um we're we're detectives. So we we collect
all this information and then it's going to be presented. Someone else is going to make a determination on that.
>> And that someone would be Hampton County Assistant District Attorney Mary Sandstöm. New to the homicide division,
Sandstrm had arrived in Massachusetts by way of New York. >> Is it fair to say you were a fish out of
water a bit? [laughter] It's always um hard not being from the area in which you prosecute. Uh it's a
very small, very intimately connected town. So yes, you're never at an advantage where you don't know everybody
by name. >> Adding to the difficulty, Brian Fannon is a detective. >> Yes. >> And respected
>> very much in in that community. As spring gave way to summer, Corey ended her relationship with Fion. And by
early 2019, Fannon retired from the police force. The investigation into Amy's death continued.
>> We're still trying to get some testing done because we want to have as strong a
case as possible before we go in before the grand jury. >> And a complication in the form of a
letter was among the case files. Amy's family members expressed their unfailing support of Brian Fionan, [music] saying,
"We are certain Amy took her own life." The letter was signed by Amy's siblings [music] and even her own mother.
>> That's got to be tough for you. >> It's an awkward position for a prosecutor where your victim family
isn't supporting you. It was an odd spot to be in. >> An odd spot perhaps, but not a
deterrent. On November 6th, 2019, 17 months after Amy died, detectives arrived at Brian
Fan's door. >> Brian came to the dining room door pretty quickly as I recall it. And he
said something to the effect of, "Come in." Then Mike Blanchett began to describe to Brian, "Brian, we have an
arrest warrant for you." >> Police say Brian Fion told them [music] that his wife shot herself with his gun
while he was at home on a lunch break last year. I remember telling him, "Put your hands
behind your back." I took out my handcuffs. >> Through their investigation, they only
solidified their suspicion that Brian pulled the trigger. >> He was eating [music] assorted nuts, was
uh popping some in his mouth, and as he put his hands [music] behind his back, we let him drop to the floor. We
transported Brian to the Russell State Police barracks and he's processed, photographed,
fingerprinted. stands accused of killing his wife in what was originally reported.
>> I assess the feeling of despair on Brian's face like I can't believe this [music] is
happening. Stephanie Barry, a crime reporter at the Republican newspaper, recalls the
unusual scene that played out 15 miles away in Springfield, Massachusetts, inside the Hampton County Superior Court
in early November 2019. There's no one who spent any amount of time in Westfield who didn't know who
Brian Fan was. It was a pretty full house and the kind of palpable shock remained throughout the entire
proceeding. >> Fannyon, who appeared for his initial arraignment, entered a plea of not
guilty, and sitting right behind him were members of both Brian's and Amy's family. I can't think of another
instance when I've seen the family of a victim sticking up for the accused murder of their loved one.
>> And despite the absence of support from members of Amy's family, Ada Sandstöm
continued to build her case. >> What was Amy Fion like? >> She sounds like a fairy tale.
giving, selfless, completely dedicated to her family. >> According to Sandstöm, the night before
Amy died, she was making a gift for an upcoming baby shower that she planned to attend and was texting her daughter,
Victoria. Did anyone ever say that Amy was ever suicidal? >> She wasn't a person who was ready to
die. Amy was healthy. She was happy. >> What do you think Brian Fan's motive was?
He was ready to start a new chapter of his life that did not include Amy Fanion. He's chosen his life partner in
Corey. Amy's the only thing standing in the way now. >> And that's always the million-dollar
question. Why not divorce? >> He can't divorce Amy for how he's going to be seen in this community. Divorce is
public, but in his mind, murder doesn't have to be. The trial started today for a former
Westfield police officer who's accused of murdering his wife. >> On February 23rd, 2023 in what would be
Westfield's most publicized case, Brian Fan's trial began. He faced a life sentence for the first degree murder of
his wife. 48 Hours made several interview requests to Brian Fion, his attorney Jeffrey Brown, as well as
family members of both Amy and Brian, but never received a response. This is a big case, a lot of attention. How are
you feeling? >> For any trial, you're always nervous. And this was probably the most
high-profile case I've ever done. >> Opening statements revealed conflicting accounts of the circumstances
surrounding Amy Fan's death. >> The defendant was a deacon at Wyven Union Church and an officer for the
Westfield Police Department. The evidence will show that while the defendant was repulsed by continuing his
marriage with Amy, he couldn't divorce her either, leaving him trapped. And once that evidence is before you, I will
ask you to find the defendant guilty of murder in the first degree. >> Fion's defense focused on Amy's anger
issues and claimed she suffered from anxiety. Brown alleged that on the day of Amy's death, an argument over Brian's
retirement plans and his refusal to attend a family member's play pushed her over the edge.
In the days before Amy shot herself, Amy was very mad at him. He had to tread lightly around Amy for fear of setting
her off. And at the conclusion of the evidence in this case, outlast that you find Brian Fion
not guilty. Thank you. >> Anna Hansen, Amy's younger sister, was the first witness for the prosecution.
She was the only family member who signed the letter of support that willingly testified against Brian
Fanion. Anna stated that during the investigation into Amy's death, her brother-in-law confided that he was
worried about searches he had conducted on his computer. >> I asked him what that search was, and he
said, "How to make a murder look like a suicide. He specifically said he searched quote how to make a murder look
like a suicide. >> Those were his exact words. >> Anna told the jury that when she asked
her brother-in-law why he made this search, Fion told her that Amy asked him to do it after they watched a CSI show.
It was a show that Anna questioned if Amy had ever watched. >> Did she ever state that she liked those
shows? >> She never shared that with me. The prosecution's next witness was Fion's
former lover, a divorced Corey Nolles, now Corey Hasty, who told the jury that Fion was concerned about ending his
marriage. >> Did the defendant ever talk about what could happen to him if he were to
divorce Amy? >> Yes. If Amy was to ever leave, excuse me, or he'd have divorced her, that she
would take him for everything that he's got because he wouldn't y stay on retirement.
The prosecution called Tom Forest from the cyber crimes unit. All of Fion's devices were examined, but it was Fion's
office computer that produced some curious results. Forest said Fion visited >> common and dangerous poisons, which drug
causes the most deaths each year, 16 common household items that could kill you.
But it's only when this affair starts up that all of these incriminating searches
start to appear. >> Carbon monoxide, the invisible killer, household poisons, common prescription
overdoses. >> And 11 days prior to Amy's death, Fion used his office computer to view a news
report on YouTube called What Gunshot Residue Tests Tell Us. >> He wasn't assigned to any active
investigations in April and May of 2018. that would necessitate looking up gunshot residue.
Nobody in the Westfield Police Department does gunshot residue testing. >> I was trying to keep a very open mind
about what the evidence was going to show, but I didn't think that was great news for Brian Fion.
>> Morning. Detective John Shrine, a ballistic expert and a crucial witness for the prosecution, testified that
Amy's wound was not self-inflicted, citing the absence of gunshot residue near the wound coupled with the
trajectory of the bullet. Shrine concluded that Amy Fannon was shot from a downward angle and at a distance of at
least 18 in, not at close range as Fion had claimed. Could you form an opinion as to whether or not the defendants
firearm was discharged at a distance of 18 in or greater? >> Over 18 in without anything intervening. That's
correct. >> After 12 days of testimony and 27 witnesses, the prosecution rested. But
waiting in the wings was a defense poised to introduce a significant element [music] that could potentially
unravel the DA's case. Any prosecutor who's not worried about a defense probably isn't a good prosecutor.
Defense attorney Jeffrey Brown, whose client faced life in prison, launched a counterattack
when he cross-examined Fan's former lover, Cory Hasty. According to this state, Fion's affair was the primary
motive for murdering his wife. But Hasty admitted to the defense that when she ended their relationship, Fion
didn't try to stop her. >> When ultimately you ended it with Brian, his response was, "Okay." Isn't that
right? >> To my recollection, >> he didn't say to you, "Oh my god, I killed Amy for you and you're leaving
me." He never said that, right? >> Correct. >> And what about the websites? Detective
Forest from the cyber crimes unit said Fion visited >> carbon monoxide, the invisible killer,
common and dangerous poisons, 16 common household items that could kill you. >> The defense argued that some of the
websites he visited were related to an aging house, an old wood burning stove, and the potential hazards it might pose
to a young family member. Did you know that the Fions um were beginning to have a young niece, a child stay in their
home during that time frame? >> No, I did not. >> But what the defense couldn't reconcile
were Fion searches about gunshot residue days before Amy's death. And there was Amy's sister, Anna, the only family
member who willingly testified for the prosecution. >> She claimed that Brian told her he
searched how to make a murder look like a suicide on his computer. You didn't find any sites that were
searched or visited relating to the terms how to make a murder look like a suicide. Isn't that true?
>> That is true. >> The defense narrowed its focus and scrutinized Amy's personality
by cross-examining Amy's own mother, Patricia Taran. >> Did your daughter Amy have a temper?
Yes. >> A temper, according to Amy's sister, Holly, that would typically be directed
toward [music] her husband. >> Well, did she snap at Brian in front of you? >> She would. I was embarrassed for it. You
don't usually talk to your husband kind of in that way. Maybe the you reprimand a child, but not a husband.
But would Amy's temper lead to an impulsive decision such as grabbing Fion's gun? According to Amy's son,
Travis, it would. I could easily picture or envision her grabbing the gun impulsively to make a
point that she picked it up intending to complete a trigger pull and and shoot herself.
But what would explain the [music] lack of gunshot residue on Amy? >> Her wound is consistent with a
close-range gunshot wound. Based on >> Alexander Jason, a senior certified crime scene analyst testified for the
defense. [music] >> That's the foundation of the whole prosecution. And this whole idea that it
had to be 18 in because the absence of gunshot residue is not valid. >> Jason says the lack of gunshot residue
was not due to distance. It was due to Amy's hair. What could Amy Fion's hair have told us?
>> Amy Fion had very dense, thick hair that will block the gunshot residue. >> Jason's research effect of hair on the
deposition of gunshot residue was published by the FBI's forensic science journal in 2004. Jason says there could
have been gunshot residue, commonly known as GSR, embedded in Amy's hair. The crime scene analyst did not test her
hair. >> What they should have done is taken the hair and then analyzed those little
specks to see if their gunshot residue or not, which was a mistake. >> Jason's testimony was limited at trial.
To support his theory, he and his daughter Juliana met us at a gun range in California to demonstrate what may
have happened to Amy Fion. and I'm going to fire two times. >> Using a 45 caliber gun and ammunition
identical to what was found at the scene, Jason fired a single round into a mound of hair backed by a ballistic skin
simulant. So, you just shot a 45 caliber gun 3 in away through hair. >> Yes. Amy Fion had considerable hair,
maybe more dense than this, where the bullet entered. and the hair will act as a filter and prevent the gunshot residue
from reaching her skin. >> For comparison, Jason positioned the gun at the same distance using identical
ammunition and fired into the skin simulant without hair. >> I pull this away. >> Wow.
>> You can see there's a big difference. Look at that. That's a very clean wound.
That's a very dirty wound. >> That's incredible. All from the hair. >> All from the hair. The hair acted as a
filter. It's >> pretty fascinating. While Jason believes this scenario is what happened to Amy
Fion, he stopped short of saying whether or not Fannon killed his wife. >> Filtered that stuff out.
>> But what he does believe is that basing the case on the absence of gunshot residue is wrong.
>> And he should not be convicted on that basis. That's my bottom line. After 40 witnesses and 15 days of
testimony, >> closing arguments, >> she raised the gun up to her head in a fit of rage and in effect caused her own
death. >> This defendant murdered Amy Fannon with deliberate premeditation. >> On March 21st, 2023, the jury got the
case and after 2 days of deliberations, the verdict. person. What say you? Is the
defendant guilty or not guilty? >> Guilty. Guilty of what? Guilty of what degree?
>> Brian Fannon was found guilty of the firstdegree murder of his wife Amy Fannon
and sentenced to life without parole that same day. Brian's side of the aisle just collapsed
in sobs. These people loved Brian and sincerely thought that he was innocent. For assistant district attorney Mary
Sandstöm, Fion's conviction [music] was bittersweet and hard one. >> It's never a [music] victory. Amy Fion
should be here. she should be with her daughter and son and her now [music] grandchildren and she's not.
And it was all for [music] nothing so that Brian Faniel could enjoy his life and
end hers. Was the Ferris family a happy family? No. >> A wealthy man's murder leads to a
mother's unthinkable accusation. >> I want everyone, especially my children, to know I didn't do this. I know who
did. >> 48 Hours is all new. CBS Next and streaming on Paramount Plus. This is definitely one of the stranger
cases I've covered. It seems like it comes right out of a novel. On November 12th, 2012,
Jake Nolan set out to the office and home of Dr. Michael Weiss. Jake had with him a duffel bag with a
massive sledgehammer, a stake knife, zip ties, and he's walking through the streets of Manhattan with this.
>> When you walked into Dr. Michael Weiss's office with that duffel bag, with the
weapons that were inside. >> What did you intend to do? >> You know, I intended to kill him.
>> This is not a who done it. He did what he was accused of doing. But the big question was why?
I saw Jake Nolan brainwashed by Dr. Pamela Buckbinder, >> an Ivy trained psychiatrist.
>> She's brilliant. >> I would have done anything for Pamela. >> It happens so slowly that you don't
really recognize this growing feeling inside of you that one day you wake up and say, "I'll kill for this woman."
>> By the end of this manipulation by Dr. Bookbinder, [music] Jake Nolan had become weaponized
to attack [music] Dr. Weiss, the man with whom she had been fighting over custody of her son.
>> They hated each other and in turn she made me hate him. She had already told me that she wanted me to hit him over
the head playing like you know Maxwell Silver Hammer by the Beatles repeatedly in the house.
>> Maxwell [singing and music] made sure >> Jake Nolan suffered from bipolar disorder. He had these learning
problems. He had personality problems. >> Pamela took someone who she knew was severely mentally ill and she morphed me
into whatever she wanted me to be. And I obeyed just like a puppet. >> She used him for her own benefit. She
sacrificed him. His office door was open and I see Michael sitting in a chair. I think this is really when I became
fully psychotic. I don't buy Jake's story that he was brainwashed and manipulated. He knew
exactly what he was doing. >> And do you believe that each step of the way Jake could have made the decision to
leave? >> Of course he could have. >> And Dr. Bookbinder claims that she had no involvement at all in this. [music]
That anything Jake Nolan did, he did completely on his own. >> 911. Where's emergency?
>> Hi. I can hear someone out in my hallway screaming in pain, but I don't know what's going on out there, and I'm
afraid to go out. >> And what was so odd about this is he didn't [music] try to flee. Jake Nolan
starts snapping selfies of himself covered in blood. I mean, who would possibly snap a selfie
of themselves right after they tried to murder someone? Heat. Heat. [music] >> [music]
[music] [music] >> There's never going to be a night I don't fall asleep feeling awful for what
I've done. >> To this day, Jake Nolan insists his mind was not his own when he set out to kill
Dr. Michael Weiss at his office on November 12th, 2012. >> The knife was in my pocket and the
sledgehammer was over my shoulders. He sees the sledgehammer and charges at me and I reached for the knife.
Here I am with this knife and the guy's bleeding and I'm bleeding and I'm thinking, "Oh my god, this is
terrifying. It's as if I woke up from a bad dream." After Jake stabbed him, Dr. Weiss fought back furiously. Both men
ended up in the hallway of the Manhattan high-rise. >> 911 emergency. >> There's guys screaming like crazy for
help. Both men were rushed to the hospital where Jake was placed under arrest for
attempted murder and handcuffed to his bed. In the weeks ahead, Jake's bizarre story unfolded. His claim that he had
been manipulated to kill by his own cousin, psychiatrist Pamela Bookbinder. My experience with Pamela looking back
was incredibly frightening. Incredibly frightening. >> Jake's target that day, Michael Weiss,
was Pamela's ex-boyfriend and another psychiatrist. Do you believe he was brainwashed?
>> Yes. >> To be honest, I try and come in here as little as possible because it's just too
many memories. Debbie and Jim Nolan. Jake's parents are devastated. >> He is basically a really good kid who
doesn't have a mean bone in his body. >> Nolan, it's a pleasure to meet Jacob. >> When we met Jake in the summer of 2016,
he seemed rational. >> I've been on meds now for over a year and a half that have finally worked for
me. >> But he says that wasn't always the case. Jake's parents insist that to understand
how and why their then 20-year-old son could have been conditioned to kill, you have to go back to his childhood.
>> Jake was our third and our youngest child. He was a absolute delight. He was gifted. He was smart. He liked to invent
things. >> But Jake also had problems. By the age of five, he was diagnosed with ADHD,
attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. [music] >> There was something with him that just
wasn't the same as everybody else. And we started to notice significant changes in his personality and his demeanor
around the ages of 14, 15. >> What did you see? >> He went through these large mood swings.
Still, Jake had moments of brilliance while in high school in Miami. He made news after he won a prestigious [music]
contest, co-inventing a study tool app for iPhones called Flash Me. >> And then a month later, I couldn't get
out of bed. My parents bribed me with everything to get out of bed. Please get out of bed. Please get out of bed, Jake.
You got to go to school. Please go to school today. Don't miss another day of school. Jake was then diagnosed with
depression and anxiety. These episodes worsened to the point where at the age of 17, Jake threatened to kill himself.
He got a butcher knife from downstairs and he took it upstairs to his room and he said he was going to kill himself.
We were terrified. >> Jake was hospitalized and was also diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Bipolar
disorder is a severe and chronic mental illness that's characterized by severe mood swings.
>> Psychiatrist Dr. Sasha Bardday has evaluated Jake for the defense. >> Swings that go from deep, dark, suicidal
depressions to periods of incredible elation, grandiose ideas, poor judgment. He's a mess. He's such a prisoner of his
own mind that he can't he can't get anywhere in life. >> There's not a day that goes by that I
don't think of killing myself. >> By the time Jake was in college, doctors had prescribed some 30 medications to
treat him with little success. >> Some of these medications change brain chemistry, do they not?
>> Well, these are powerful psychotropic medications. His disorder, his problems
were so profound, sometimes he's taking four, five, six medications at once. >> Jake admits he was also doing illegal
drugs and drinking, barely making it to class. The Nolans thought their prayers had been answered when Dr. Pamela
Bookbinder, Debbie's own niece, offered to help. >> We thought this was great. I adored Pam.
>> You trusted her? I trusted her with my most prized possession, my child. >> The plan, Jake would live part-time with
Pamela in her Manhattan apartment. She would give him therapy sessions and monitor his meds.
In return, she proposed he helped take care of her then four-year-old son, Calder, in spite of Jake's mental
illness. >> Pamela and I had formed a relationship when I was really young. I mean, this is
my cousin. This is someone I really knew and I entrust everything into this one woman. I mean, this woman is going to
save my life. >> By all accounts, the plan seemed to be working. [laughter] >> I thought he was very happy and I
thought he was quite stable. >> So, you guys must have felt everything's coming together here. Thank you.
Finally. Thank you. Right. But the Nolans now say sending their son to live with Pamela was the biggest
mistake they have ever made. [music] >> It's a total horrible nightmare. >> To hear more of the 911 calls, join us
on Facebook at 48 Hours. When Jake Nolan went to live with his psychiatrist cousin, Dr. Pamela
Bookbinder, he had no idea he'd end up on the front lines of a physical [music] and psychological war.
>> The relationship between Dr. Bookbinder and Dr. Weiss was very toxic from the
outset. >> Reporter Rebecca Rosenberg has covered the case for the New York Post.
>> The relationship was on again, off again. There were allegations of domestic violence on both sides.
>> It definitely got physical. >> Roland Asdo is an attorney for Dr. Michael Weiss. Is it true that Pam once
attacked Michael with broken glass? She was arrested and charged with an assault. He receives stitches. I mean,
there's physical proof that he was attacked. >> Is it true that Michael Weiss has also
been arrested in the course of this war with Pam? >> Yes, Pamela contended that Michael
threatened her or attempted to assault her. In each incident, the charges were dismissed. But the war of the
psychiatrists moved onto another battlefield, the courtroom, [music] as Pamela and Michael fought over the
custody of their son. >> These are two psychiatrists. Couldn't they talk it out?
There was no communication. But back during the times when he and Pamela were communicating big time, Michael Weiss
attended [music] family parties, including Jake's bar mitzvah. >> Pamela and I just want to wish you
congratulations on your bar mitzvah. Um, we're both so happy for you. >> We were inspired by all of the speeches
about opportunity and charm and character, and we think you have them all. And that [music]
makes it even more incredible that Jake would target him. >> This is a man who respected me and who I
respected greatly. >> Michael and Pamela never married and broke up for good soon after their son
[music] Calder was born. >> Ready? >> Yeah. >> When Calder was four, Pamela asked Jake
to be her child's godfather. Shortly before she took Jake in, Jake's mother is convinced. That is when Pamela began
to manipulate his mind. >> Jake had been feeling so bad about himself. And here all of a sudden, I'm
so important to Calder. Everything I do has to be right. >> Yeah. >> This was a kid that I loved more than
life. >> Jake wants a normal life. Defense psychiatrist Sasha Bardday says Pamela
knew how to give Jake the life he craved. >> He wants to be a successful, respected
family man with a nuclear family and a happy life. >> There's a photograph of the [snorts]
three of you in bed basically in your underwear. What should we take from that picture?
>> I guess that just goes to show you the level of comfort that I really felt there. It was not unusual in the morning
for her to invite me into into bed with Calder and I and to share that familiar moment. You know, really feel like a
family together. >> But Dr. Bardday finds these images deeply troubling. >> When you think that you're seeing
pictures of essentially a a a patient and his psychiatrist, it's really horrific. It's really
creepy. Just as troubling for Jake's family were text messages discovered on his cell
phone. >> Let me read to you some of the texts that Pam Bookbinder sent to Jake. You're
just the most fun person to love. You're so beautiful. She'd call him lovey sweet
Jab. You are remarkable. You are brilliant. I have so many thoughts about you. >> Well,
this is almost sickening. And there was never any romantic or sexual relationship ever between these two
people. So what this is is all mental manipulation. >> I miss you terribly. She would say when
you were away. That sounds romantic. >> You know it does. I don't know what her intentions were to
this day. I wouldn't be able to tell you. And as Pamela was apparently building Jake up, he says she was tearing Michael
Weiss apart, claiming Michael was refusing to pay Cers's child support and worse.
>> She had me convinced that he was being molested at his father's home. >> How many times did she say this? Was
this repeated over and over? >> Oh, this was every day. >> Has Michael Weiss ever ever abused his
son in any way? Absolutely not. Michael worships that child. >> Jake, what real evidence did you have
that Michael was sexually abusing his son? >> There was no evidence. >> But at the time, Jake says that's how
Pamela was able to pull him into the plot to kill Michael Weiss. >> Part of the indoctrination process was
[music] to get Jake to participate in developing the plan. And the plan, if you believe Jake,
was horrific. >> Pamela was determined for me to torture Michael before killing him. She wanted
me to inject him with some, you know, poisonous chemicals. She wanted to burn him alive in front of a group of people.
>> Jake's story is dramatic, but is it true? Despite Jake's accusations, he was the only one charged.
But Michael Weiss sued Dr. Bookbinder for the attack. And in court papers, she calls the claims against her utterly
baseless and states, "I never asked Mr. Nolan to attack or harm Mr. Weiss." >> Dr. Bookbinder also claims that there's
no smoking gun here. There there's no evidence of emails or text messages that show that she and Jake plotted this
together. You can't deny the footage that shows her in Home Depot buying a sledgehammer.
>> Jake insists this surveillance video at a Home Depot in New York City proves his
claims. That's Pamela standing next to him, paying for the very tool that police
would find the next morning on the floor of Michael Weiss's office. Jake, there's no one that really
disputes that you suffer from mental illness. But could you have another problem as well? Could you be a
sociopath? >> No, I could not. Had I never met Pamela Bookbinder, this wouldn't be my story.
As Jake Nolan's eyes opened on the morning of November 12th, 2012, the day he was supposed to kill Michael Weiss,
he says he wasn't alone. Pamela was there in bed rubbing my back, telling me how much she loved me, that I
was a savior, that I was the greatest person ever, that no one else understood her.
>> Just the night before, Pamela had bought this sledgehammer at a Home Depot in New
York. >> That is Pamela Bookbinder paying for the sledgehammer. She's right there. She has
cash in her hand >> with plans Jake claims [music] of having him bash her ex-boyfriend in the head.
>> You know, I intended to kill him. >> Jake says that Pamela's [music] loveydovey mood quickly changed
as she allegedly packed [music] a duffel bag with weapons. >> She was hysterical, crying tears as she
put the sledgehammer into a duffel bag with a kitchen knife. like she's packing a a bag to head off to school, except
this is to head off to a murder. >> Exactly. >> And there was one more item that was
vital to the scheme. >> The night before she had provided me with the map and how to get into his
apartment. She handed me that. >> This map, which Pamela drew herself, showed the multiple entrances of Michael
Weiss's building. Michael's attorney, Roland Asdo. Do you believe essentially this was a battle
plan map? >> I believe it was a map that Jake was provided to allow him to get access to
Dr. Weiss's apartment without going through the normal security measures. >> Pamela says she never gave Jake the
knife and that the map was given to Jake to help care for Calder. It had the daycare
where he was going. It had Dr. Weiss's building. >> Jake says Pamela said goodbye that
morning with just one goal in mind. >> Today is the day. Life is going to be so much better after
Michael is She used the word terminated. After Michael is terminated. >> Clutching that handdrawn map.
Jake headed to Michael's [music] Midtown Manhattan high-rise. >> He kind of scoped out the building on
different sides. It had two separate entrances. Entered through the business entrance.
>> Jake signed in, writing that he was heading to a tutoring center in the building called Bright Kids. It was
marked on the map. He didn't even bother using an alias. >> They signed in with my own name.
Remember, I was willing to die for this woman. I wasn't trying to hide anything.
>> Jake went straight to the 12th floor and walked in on Michael in the middle of a session. Jake left the office
[music] and waited in a stairwell while Michael finished with the patient. What are you thinking to yourself?
What's going through your head? >> I think I was really nervous. I think I wanted to back out, but I didn't have a
means to do it because I couldn't go back [music] to Pamela without this done. I felt like I had no choice. After
the patient left, Jake asked Michael for some financial forms for Calder School.
Pamela claims picking up those forms was the only reason Jake was there. But Jake
says it was Ola Ruse to distract Michael while Jake went to the restroom to prepare.
I grabbed the sledgehammer. I put the knife in my pocket. From here on out, it's it's um I
remember bits and pieces. >> But according to Michael Weiss's attorney, Michael remembers it all too
well. >> Jake came out of a bathroom in Michael's office and hit him with a sledgehammer.
Michael managed to duck just in time, missing the full brunt of the 10 lb tool. Still, the sledgehammer made
contact with his shoulder. That's when Michael says Jake reached for the knife. >> That's when I first stabbed Michael
Weiss. And then from there on out, it was just it was a fight. >> And then he stabbed Michael seven or
eight times in various places. the stomach, the back, the chest. >> Michael, who's 6'3 and 205 pounds,
managed to overpower Jake >> on the ground standing up. You know, I got stabbed multiple times.
I thought this I thought that someone was bound to die. >> The two men stumbled into the hallway
where neighbors heard the commotion. >> I think it's a psychologist, so we might
have had a client who went nuts. >> Good morning, man. hand colon the patient breathing.
>> Yeah, but I got a lot of blood. You're losing a lot of blood. >> Then as he sat on the floor bleeding,
Jake lifted his cell phone and took that selfie. >> Why did you take a selfie? >> You know, we were sitting right next to
each other and I was reporting back to Pamela like, "What do I do next?" >> Jake says Pamela didn't respond. A short
time later at the hospital, Jake tried texting her again. >> This is what you wrote. In hospital,
please come. Michael bleeding badly. Same. I walked into office. He stabbed me with my knife in the heart.
>> This time Pamela answered with a single word. Where >> there was no plan for after the attack.
I think it was Pamela's plan to just dismiss me and like, oh well, he tried to kill him, he lost. You know, try
again later. I mean, I really believe it's her plan to try again later. Hospital records say Jake was in a manic
state after the attack. Pamela eventually showed up at the ER, but was not allowed to see Jake.
>> I was in full-blown psychotic episode. I was heavily medicated on morphine. Michael Weiss suffered multiple cuts to
his upper torso and legs. He was stitched up and released from the hospital. Jake was still recovering from his own
wounds to his chest and hand when the reality of his arrest for attempted murder hit him.
Could Jake have backed out of the attack? See more of the crime scene photos at 48 hours.com.
After his arrest for attempted murder, Jake Nolan spent 4 days recovering in the hospital. He then appeared before a
judge and was freed on $200,000 bail pending trial. Jake was allowed to fly [music] home to live with his
parents outside of Miami. >> Ready? What would you have said to Calder one day if he asked you why did
you kill my father? >> I don't know. >> I gave everything for this child. I was willing to kill someone for this child.
That alone can only show how sorry I feel when he finds out about this later on in life.
>> But what of Pamela Bookbinder? Soon after the attack, Michael sued for custody of their son, claiming Pamela
was the mastermind. A family court judge considered the evidence in that case, including the Home Depot images, and
granted Michael Weiss full custody of Calder and barred Pamela from any contact for 5 years. The evidence showed
and the family court agreed that Pamela was involved in the plan or plot to attack and kill Michael.
>> Despite the evidence presented in family court, Pamela was still not criminally
charged in the attack. Why not? The district attorney's office will not comment. But Michael Weiss's attorney
thinks part of the problem is the key accuser in this case. Jacob, because he contends that he has
this history of mental illness, is perhaps not the most reliable witness for the prosecution.
Jake spent much of his time awaiting trial in and out of treatment centers for both his mental problems and drug
and alcohol addictions. Despite those efforts, his life almost came to a tragic end in May 2015. What happened
that caused you to be in this hospital bed? >> I tried to kill myself. I tried to take
my own life. >> This time, Jake ended up in a coma after poisoning himself. >> This was probably the worst day of my
life because they told us they didn't think Jake was going to make it. >> [music]
>> Finally, in March 2016, three and a half years after the attack, Jake's trial
gets underway in New York. >> The prosecution portrayed Jake as kind of a spoiled rich kid.
>> Just one of many challenges for the defense. >> Jake Nolan was a very unreliable
narrator of this event. For one thing, it wasn't until weeks after the attack that Jake claimed Pamela had manipulated
him. Another problem, >> he gave at least three different versions of what happened. Each was
meant to cast him in the [music] most innocent light possible. >> In one version, Jake tried to put the
blame on Michael Weiss. >> When the first responders showed up, he immediately pointed the finger at Dr.
Weiss and said, "He stabbed me." In another account, Jake told investigators he never swung the sledgehammer.
>> This was a big hammer. I couldn't even lift the thing up. >> Jake claims he only brought the
sledgehammer and knife because he was afraid of Michael. Perhaps most stunning of all, a third
version. >> He claims that Dr. Weiss pulled the sledgehammer out of his bag and attacked
him first with it. So that really doesn't make any sense. I mean, how would Dr. We rise even know that the
sledgehammer is in the bag. >> Jake has said he had been convinced the attack on Michael was the only way to
save Calder. But at trial, prosecutors hinted at another motive. Michael Weiss had taken out a $1.5
million life insurance policy. >> The beneficiary was his son, who probably at the time was three or four
years old. But there was a catch. Just 3 days before the attack, Michael agreed to make Pamela the policy's irrevocable
trustee. >> What does that mean in English? >> Irrevocable means can't be taken back.
>> So if Michael dies, >> if Michael passed away, the child would get the $1.5 million, but she would be
the person that controlled the money for the child. Jake insisted he had no clue before the
attack that money may have been involved. >> I had no idea Pimla never mentioned that
to me. >> Her plan was for you to kill him. >> Mhm. >> But the most damning evidence came from
Jake himself. The prosecution psychiatrist interviewed Jake before trial and clips from the exam were
played to jurors. in one a shockingly frank discussion about another item Pamela bought at Home Depot.
>> What was it? Zip ties for >> She wanted me to like torture Michael. Um, which I didn't tell her, but I wasn't
down to do that. >> So, you were down to kill, but not torture. >> Yeah. >> Okay. What did she want you to do to
torture him? >> She wanted me to cut off his balls. She said >> that was a line too far for you.
>> Yeah. >> How come? I don't know. I've never heard anyone before. >> The prosecution saw this as a stunning
admission. On tape, at least, it appears Jake was a willing participant in planning the attack and could draw a
line when he wanted to. >> The crux of the prosecution's argument here is that this is not some babbling
idiot that didn't know which way was up. I think I was in control up to a degree,
but the deal was to kill Michael Weiss. The deal wasn't to torture Michael Weiss.
It might seem like Jake is splitting hairs, but one of Jake's lawyers, Steven Brownstein, says that's exactly how
Jake's mind was working. In fact, it's why he and his legal team argue a risky defense, diminished capacity. You're
going to have to admit that your client did the crime, but his capacity to establish the intent, the motive to
commit that crime, he lacked and therefore he should be found not guilty. >> I understand that the prosecution feels
that clearly Jake never had a gun to his head. In my opinion, psychologically speaking, he did.
>> Dr. Sasha Bardday, who testified for the defense at trial, says Pamela had replaced Jake's free will with her own.
>> It's very much like a cult where there is a shaping of the person's thought processes to meet the cult's ideals.
It's a small cult. It has two people in it. There's the cult leader, Pamela Bookbinder, and the cult member, Jake
Nolan. >> Jake never takes the stand. Pamela Bookbinder never even set foot in the courtroom. Neither side called her
to testify. In March of 2016, after a twoe trial, the jury began its deliberations.
In less than an hour, >> the jury comes back. We have reached a verdict. Guilty.
>> Guilty of attempted murder. It's unjust. I'm no harm to society. >> And a little over 3 months later, the
judge describes the attack as an act of extreme brutality and violence and sentences Jake Nolan to 9 and a half
years in prison. >> You're in just such shock. >> I was like somebody just crushed me from
from top to bottom. Just just totally took my heart right out of me. And what of Michael Weiss, the man Jake
Nolan would have killed if the murder plot had succeeded. >> He's been traumatized by this.
>> I know what I did was very serious. [music] But there is also another party that
needs to take responsibility, too. >> And that person is >> Pamela Bookbinder. >> And her role in this sorted case is
about [music] to take Let's >> Wait till she comes down. >> A dramatic turn. Pamela Bookfinder,
Peter Vans from 48 hours. >> No, she's not. >> I have a simple question. Why did you
buy that sledgehammer? Pamela Bookbinder, the most talked about woman during Jake Nolan's trial,
had always managed to elude the public. But we caught up with Pamela about 4 months after Jake Nolan was sentenced.
>> I have a simple question. Why did you buy that sledgehammer? >> You know what?
>> You can answer that question. >> Were you going to do some home improvement or were you buying a murder
weapon >> of her face? >> I can touch. Get it out of her face. Get it. >> Pamela, you can answer that question.
But on October 19th, 2017, almost 5 years after Michael Weiss was attacked, the law finally caught up with Dr.
Pamela Bookbinder. Bookbinder was arrested at a friend's house outside Syracuse, New York. She
was charged with secondderee attempted murder and firstderee attempted assault. The Manhattan District Attorney accused
Bookbinder of masterminding the plot to send Jake Nolan to murder her ex-boyfriend and the father of her son,
Michael Weiss. >> My name is Pamela and I'm not guilty. >> At the time, Jake Nolan would not
comment on Pamela Bookbinder's arrest, but Michael Weiss's attorney did. >> I was not surprised when she was
indicted and arrested. The prosecutor's office said months ago during the Nolan's trial that they thought she was
involved and I think the evidence against her is significant. >> Pamela is innocent. I'm telling you that
>> Pamela Bookbinder hired two top New York defense attorneys, Ronald Fishetti and
Eric Fron. >> Pamela Buckbinder had nothing to do with that. who say that this video of
Bookbinder buying that sledgehammer is just a sideeshow. >> Pamela Bookbinder is an educated
psychiatrist, not WY Coyote. She didn't plan to orchestrate a murder with a sledgehammer that the man couldn't pick
up. >> Bookbinder's attorneys argued before two judges that their client should be
granted bail, and her family offered to put up a $1.5 million bond to guarantee she wouldn't run off. This despite the
fact that when she was arrested, she had in her possession her passport, birth certificate, and her son Calder's
expired passport. >> The entire world has fallen on this woman periodically, methodically over
the last 5 years. And what did she do? She engaged counsel. She engaged a bondsman. She stayed around and made no
attempts to flee. Her attorneys contend that the case has essentially been solved and that Jake Nolan is the sole
perpetrator. He >> admitted everything. >> When you walked into Dr. Michael Weiss's
office with that duffel bag, with the weapons that were inside, what did you intend to do?
You know, I intended to kill him. Bookbinders legal team later pointed to what they say is an incriminating
[snorts] new piece of evidence found buried in their legal file. A note allegedly written by Jake Nolan
to his mother Debbie after the attack in 2012 as he recovered in the hospital. It
reads, "Pamela has nothing to do with this." >> This man acted completely on his own.
So, it's a very, very crucial piece of evidence. >> Remember, Jake's defense team said he
wrote this letter while he was in what his doctors called a manic state and heavily medicated.
>> That note probably can't be admitted into evidence. In any event, cuz it's hearsay.
>> After the judge heard these arguments, he refused to grant Bookbinder bail. She was ordered held in New York's
notorious Riker's Island jail. where she remained for 5 years through legal wrangling and the pandemic. Then
on September 7th, 2022, in a pre-trial hearing, she made a stunning announcement. She accepted a deal to
spend 11 years in prison in exchange for pleading guilty to attempted assault and
a lesser charge in connection with Dr. Weiss's attack, seemingly bringing her case to a close.
But just one month later, Bookbinder turned her routine sentencing on its head with her lawyers telling Judge
Farber that she wanted to withdraw her plea. She claimed on the day she agreed to the deal, she was exposed to mace on
Riker's Island. She did not take her medication and she inadvertently got a contact high when someone was smoking
drugs on her bus ride to court. But Judge Thomas Farber would have none of it. He ordered the plea deal to stand
and the sentencing to continue. Dr. Weiss showed up to make a victim's impact statement. He did not want to be
recorded while he read his remarks, telling the court that he suffers from PTSD and that he believes Bookbinder has
so much hatred for [music] him that she will do anything in her power to harm him even after she is released from
prison. >> Prosecutor Joel Seidman was next and he did not hold back. >> I think it's necessary to make the
record straight. The defendant tried to have Dr. Michael Weiss murdered. She hated his guts. She sought to destroy
him because of their failed relationship. She stood to control $1.5 million in life insurance on his life in the name
of his son. She >> Bookbinder attorney had heard enough. >> Objection, your honor, has nothing to do
with the underlying allegations in this case. It's a sentencing, not a lynching.
>> I I understand, Mr. Mr. France, but I don't control what the DA says at sentence.
>> And Sidaman kept going. >> She's on video. Her all of her genius in terms of academic genius didn't mean
that she could outwit the NYPD who immediately went to Home Depot when they saw the sledgehammer and they knew where
it came from. And she sent Jacob Nolan with a map. >> Bookbinder's lawyer finally had his
chance to speak. Well, that was a rather unpleasant experience following a negotiated disposition.
The bottom line is her pleading guilty is not a license to step on her throat and just say whatever you want. That's
an injustice. She stands ready for sentence. Your honor, >> Miss Buger, you can speak if you wish
to. You don't have to. >> She was brief. >> If there was one true statement Mr. Seidman said, I missed it.
>> Judge Farber had the final say. There can be no doubt that if you plot to bash
somebody's head in with a sledgehammer that the intent is to cause his death. >> He then reminded everyone that he
presided over Jacob Nolan's trial back in 2017. >> The compelling and powerful evidence at
that trial supported Mr. Nolan's account that Miss Buckbinder planned to brutally
murder Dr. Weiss. Barber then sentenced Bookbinder to serve 11 years in prison. And he also issued an order of
protection for Dr. Weiss. And just before officers took Bookbinder away, she turned to her family and friends who
blew kisses at her. Defense attorney Monica Neeshain says [music] that in 2027, Pamela Bookbinder will be free to start
her life over and even reach out to her son. >> There's no question about her love for
her son. >> [music] >> a son with secrets. >> He just lied to everybody. >> His parents vanish. You know, cars go
off the road. Things happen. What happened to the Haldersons? Not making any sense. It's taking weirder and
weirder turns. >> Nobody saw this coming. 48 hours next on CBS and streaming on Paramount Plus.
There's a saying here in Minnesota, Minnesota nice. And that Minnesota nice only goes so far. And Heidi Fergus, she
went all the way. She was genuine and she loved deep. >> She definitely lived a life of love.
That was the mark that she left and that's hard to let go. >> You know, this is a a terrible, terrible
incident. You know, we're hoping to find other physical evidence that might help
us lead us in a direction toward a suspect. The morning of April 25th, 2010, at 6:30 a.m., Heidi Fergus calls 911.
>> Someone's trying to break into my home. >> She tells the state patrol dispatcher
that someone is trying to break into her house and she's trying to give her address.
>> 1794 Mini Haha Avenue. >> While she's on the phone, you can hear a loud noise
and the phone goes dead. >> Well, I don't know where she went there. Approximately a minute later, Nicholas
Fergus calls 911, says that he and his wife have both been shot. >> Okay. Are you in St. Paul, sir?
>> St. Paul fire paramedics took Nick out to the ambulance and transported him to
Regent's Hospital. He had been shot in the leg. Heidi was struck in the back as she was trying to flee towards the
kitchen. It was a shotgun blast that killed her right away. The shotgun was laying inside front door area. There's a
little foyer. Nick gave a brief story. He heard somebody fiddling around with the door
and that he then armed himself with a shotgun and that Nick and the intruder struggled over the shotgun. The
responding officers uh went up and down the block trying to talk to neighbors. >> I was next door housesitting when the
crime happened. Really, all I heard was kind of this agonizing yell of, "You shot her. You shot me."
>> It never felt right. The story never made sense to me. He tells investigators
that he grabbed a shotgun, loaded it with two shells, and then proceeded to have Heidi go down the stairs in front
of him towards the very door that this alleged burglar was at. Why you would send the unarmed person down in front of
you is beyond me. To me, there were only two people in that house when Heidi was
killed. >> And they were Nick and Heidi. In order to believe that Nick killed Heidi, you have to believe that a good
man with no history of violence killed the woman that he loved more than anything in life for no reason. That's
what you have to believe. We can't get there. >> [music] [music] [music] >> Well, this area of St. Paul, where Heidi
and Nick Furkus [music] lived, I would characterize as generally a quiet neighborhood.
>> Back in 2010, 9 years before she took charge of the Furkus case, Detective Nicole Cypes of the St. Paul Police
Department was a patrol cop who worked this neighborhood. >> Do you remember first hearing about the
Fergus case? >> I do. >> Okay. Hey, are you? >> It was early on a Sunday morning.
>> The 911 call was at 6:30. >> Nick Fergus's story of a burglar didn't make sense to Cypes.
>> Most people are home at 6:30 on a Sunday morning, especially in a family neighborhood like that. The last thing
that most burglars want to encounter are people. >> Did police ever have any luck tracking
down the intruder that Nick described? >> No. >> You know, I'm looking. I didn't see
anybody come out of that house. Brandon O'Connor was housesitting next door to the Fircasses and taking care of
kittens. >> I was woken up by the kittens kind of walking around. Some noise caught my
attention, so stuck my head out the window, kind of listen. >> Brandon says he recalls hearing a
muffled argument coming from the Fergus's house, listening through an open window.
>> That's when I ended up hearing what sounded like gunshots. Around this time, Brandon said he also heard that voice
crying out. >> Kind of this agonizing yell [music] of, "You shot her. You shot me. Uh, please,
please, [music] no." Something along those lines. And then then it was done. >> First responders rushed to the scene.
There was nothing they could do for Heidi. She was pronounced dead. Nick was rushed to the hospital. and treated for
a gray gunshot wound to his leg. He seemed not to be sure whether or not Heidi had been killed.
>> Like I said, we'll do our best to find out how how Heidi's doing. >> Hours later, Nick was transported to the
St. Paul Police Department. >> Then Nick and I started to have our conversation in the conference room.
>> Sergeant Jim Gray took Nick's statement. >> You know, I know this is a very traumatic situation, okay? and I'm just
going to try and ease into it. Okay, so >> Nick said the couple ordered in food the
night before and watched the movie Avatar. [music] They went upstairs to their bedroom
around 11:00 p.m. The next morning, Nick got up around 6:00 a.m. to get a drink of water from the bathroom.
>> Go back to sleep and just kind of fullfully sleep for 10 or 15 minutes and then [music] I heard the screen door
open. kind of let it go for a little while, but then I started hearing >> filling with our doororknob.
>> And is Heidi still sleeping then? >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Like a rock. >> Nick said he retrieved his shotgun from
the closet. >> I keep two shells for it just in case things get weird. So when I heard things
this morning, I did load it and then I wake up Heidi. >> Okay. >> According to Nick, he told Heidi someone
was trying to break in and to call 911. as she spoke with the dispatcher. >> Someone's trying to break into my home.
>> They headed downstairs so they could get out of the house. >> What address are you at?
>> All right. So, you going first down the stairs or is she is she behind you or is
she in front of you or what? Um, she's in front cuz I'm kind of trying to move her along quickly.
>> Nick said as they passed by the front door, it burst open. >> Guy that was there, I think he he
grabbed the barrel. I don't remember exactly what happened, but the gun went off. So my finger slipped onto the
trigger. >> Nick told Sergeant Gray during the struggle over the weapon. The gun fired.
>> Striking Heidi, who he said was in the kitchen. >> Okay. So the guns >> gun's here. Chest high.
>> Yep. You and I are like this. >> Yeah. >> And then the gun goes off. >> Mhm. I I mean I know it hit Heidi. I
just I know it did. She was running away, so I definitely hit her in the back. It
>> hit her in the back. >> Yeah. >> I couldn't believe it. I I didn't want to believe it.
>> It can't be true. That's There's no way. >> Katina and Marcus Sarzen mentored Heidi
at Calvary Church. >> I think she's one of those uh people that you [music] can't not like.
Everyone liked Heidi. >> She genuinely loved people. She was the life of the party. Always finding fun
ways to engage people and u she was very loyal. The couple met at the church and
in 2005, Heidi, 20, and Nick, 22, got married. >> Nick Fergus had a very warm and engaging
personality, always smiling. He carried himself with confidence, and he had high character,
high integrity in the church. That was the reputation he'd built for himself. >> But just a few hours after Heidi's
death, Sergeant Jim Gray found himself questioning Nick Fergus's account. He couldn't figure out why the couple would
leave the safety of their bedroom. >> You come upstairs, you know, hate I hate to tell you this, but my house, you
know, I'm justified in killing you if you come break in my house. >> Yeah. And I guess
>> Nick explained that the couple had a plan in place. >> If they were ever in a precarious
situation, they would avoid a confrontation [music] and escape to their car in the garage
and get away. If we can save ourselves, let's let's do that instead of getting into a situation where
>> his story didn't make a lot of sense to me. >> Sergeant Gray started probing into their
marriage. >> You guys uh have any problems or anything like that? >> Most just the normal stuff like um you
know stresses about finances and quality time, >> vacations, all that stuff. >> Yeah.
>> But you guys aren't behind in the bills or anything. We have in the bills um which is a little stressful. In fact, we
were planning on moving tomorrow. Um moving where? >> Well, we hadn't figured that out yet. We
were and and this is a a hard it's a hard place for us. We were foreclosing or we forclosed on our
house. >> Nick revealed they were behind on their mortgage payments and just 24 hours away
from being evicted from their home. Well, that's kind of I mean [snorts] kind of close notice.
>> It is. And I think the reason is cuz we're both kind of dealing with the shame of the whole thing.
>> Gray says his suspicions were raised. And minutes later, he was struck by the
way Nick asked about Heidi. >> Well, I just want to know the final answer. The final answer on Heidi.
She did make him. I figured that. I mean, >> is that typically how someone asks if
their loved one or spouse has been killed? >> Not only is that not typical that that's
how they'd ask it, but they wouldn't wait an hour and 40 minutes into this conversation to [music] ask that
question. I've watched the interview obviously numerous times. And I understand people react to trauma
differently, but this was different than what I'd seen. Anybody that's watched that
interview cannot help but be struck by Nick's demeanor during it. [music] >> And that demeanor was
>> this was just another day. This was something he had to get through. >> Skeptical of Nick's story, Sergeant Gray
confronted Nick about what happened that day. >> Nick, I you know, part of me wants to
ask you this question. Did you have anything to do with this? >> No, absolutely not.
>> Okay. >> Absolutely not. >> All right. Why is there a party that wants to ask that?
>> Well, Nick, I'm I'm a police officer. Okay. I got to ask got to ask the tough
questions. All right. >> After the interview, Nick left the police station. That day, investigators
returned to the Fergus home with a search warrant. Gray says it did not look like anyone was planning to move
out the next day. >> Nothing was packaged up at all. The closet was still full of clothes. We
noticed that there was still food in the refrigerator. >> And there was something else that
investigators questioned. >> We didn't see any signs of forced entry into the house.
>> Based off of the physical evidence at the scene, his version of the incident couldn't be plausible.
>> What do you think of Nick's story about the intruder? Chat now on Facebook and
X. 107 investigation. >> 48 hours after Nick Furus said an intruder shot and killed his wife Heidi,
police went back to the crime scene to check out his [music] story. >> He told us that there was a life and
death struggle inside the house. >> But Sergeant Gray says the evidence at the crime scene didn't match Nick's
account. >> There was a vase, uh some receipts, a beer bottle, and none of that was
knocked over. So, that kind of raised suspicion to us that if there was such a struggle, why wasn't any of this stuff
knocked over? >> Sergeant Gray says he examined the front door for signs of a break-in and did
notice some markings, >> but it wasn't anything new that would lead us to believe that uh the door had
been forced open the day of the murder. >> In his interview, Nick said he heard someone fiddling with the front door
>> from upstairs. >> Like, what are they doing? I mean, just going like this. Yeah, kind of like
that. >> Yeah, just shaking the knob and >> shoving the door. >> That day, Sergeant Gray and his
colleagues did a reenactment. >> Morning, April 27th, 2010. >> To determine if they could hear the
front door shaking from the bedroom. >> We're in the bedroom looking. >> Sergeant Shackle and Sergeant Wright
were upstairs in the bedroom. >> I'm at the front door. So, let me know when you guys are ready. I'll I'll try
the knob for 15 seconds. Then >> we are ready. They could not hear me filling with the
door. >> Sorry. >> Sergeant Gray says he also doubted Nick's story about the couple's eviction
[music] and a scheduled move the day after Heidi was shot. >> There didn't appear to be anything boxed
up or packaged up to go. There were a few empty boxes in the dining room area. There was not a grand
stack of boxes or anything for that matter that would lead us to believe that they were going to pack up all in
one day. >> Meanwhile, Heidi's mentors from Calvary Church, Marcus and Kina, were learning
the details about her death and the eviction. >> It It just didn't add up. It just
something wasn't right with that story. It seemed so out of the ordinary that she would be moving and not have
notified anyone, not have anything prepared for that because she planned things [music] out and she liked things
to be orderly. On April 30th, 2010, 5 days after her passing, Marcus and Kina attended
Heidi's funeral. >> Yeah, the atmosphere at the funeral was there was a lot of emotion. At the
funeral, Marcus and Kina say they were struck by Nick's demeanor. >> I remember going through the receiving
line and shaking his hand. There was no grief showing. >> It just felt like he lacked emotion.
>> Marcus says he went as far as asking some of the couple's friends if Nick could have shot his wife.
>> And the answer I got was no. There's no way that Nick killed Heidi. He loved her. There there's just no way he could
have done that. and I just wasn't so sure about that. >> From what we gathered during our
investigation, Nick and Heidi were in a loving relationship. There was no problems or issues that anybody saw.
>> Your first impression upon meeting Nick Furus is no way in the world could he
have committed a violent act. The day after the shooting, Nick's family hired attorney Joe Friedberg, who
advised Nick to stop talking to the police. >> It didn't take long to realize that he
was being looked at as a suspect. >> When investigators asked Nick to sit down with their artist to draw a sketch
of the intruder, Freiriededberg advised him not to. >> They were going to use it as an
opportunity to further interview him. Instead, Nick and his attorney hired their own sketch artist.
>> It was quite odd that Nick would work with a private sketch artist >> and brought that drawing to police.
That's the original. >> And at that point, we were basically told that Nick would not be answering
any more questions with regards to our investigation. >> Investigators released Nick's sketch to
the public, but it didn't generate any leads. They kept working the case. Nick moved out of their home a few weeks
after Heidi's death. Two months later, he began a friendship with the sister of one of Heidi's best
friends, Rachel Sanchez, [music] who was going through a divorce. At the time, I
thought because we shared something traumatic, there was a deep connection there. because I had come out of [music]
something traumatic myself in a relationship. I think Nick seemed to be handling [music] things well. It felt
like he was very grounded. He was with his friends a lot and they were processing together. So, I [music] think
just his his steadiness was an attractive quality. >> Rachel says the two bonded over their
faith. [music] They began dating in the spring of 2011. At the time, God played a big part in my life. And I think
that's another quality that I saw in him, that he he loved God like I did. >> One year into their relationship, Nick
proposed. >> I knew it was coming. We had looked at rings beforehand, so it wasn't really a
huge surprise. >> And a few months later, the couple married. They started a family. We did
have kids [music] pretty quickly >> and soon were the parents of three children.
>> He absolutely loves his kids so much. >> Andrew and Emily Ericson are friends of
Nick. They say for a long time, Nick didn't talk much about Heidi's murder. >> It just didn't seem like there was a lot
of room for his grief during that time. >> But they say when he did talk about it,
his story was always the same. >> What did he tell you? >> Same thing. He's always told everyone
from the first day, same thing he'd tell you today that someone was breaking into
the house and they were going to try to get out and there was an altercation and
tragically Heidi was killed. Investigators still did not believe that story. But 5 years after Heidi's death,
with little movement in the case, they finally got a break. Someone called in a tip. There was somebody that looked
exactly like the sketch >> and put a name to Nick's sketch. Somebody called said, "I have an
experience with this guy. I think I know who it is. After five years without a break in
Heidi Fergus's murder case, out of the blue, a tipster called police with a name
after seeing this sketch of the suspect. But there was a problem, says investigator Cypes.
>> He was already in prison on the date of Heidi's death. Nick's second wife, Rachel, says her
husband rarely talked about the case being solved. But >> I had asked him, "Are you going to put
effort into seeing if you can find the person that did this?" He didn't reach out to anyone as far as I know. I know
that from his lawyers, he was told to just stay silent. >> Police found it odd Nick never checked
in. through four investigators in this case. He never contacted one of us to ask the status.
>> Was this case ever considered a cold case? >> It wasn't ever considered a cold case
because >> prosecutors Rachel Crocker and Elizabeth Lawman joined the investigation in 2015.
>> There just was not a lot of new information coming in. >> Heidi's family would check in on her
birthday. Is there anything new development? And there would be new developments when detective Cypes took
over Heidi's case in 2019. >> Seems her fresh set of eyes really made a huge difference.
>> It was absolutely critical. >> I think Cypes definitely restarted something. >> Cypes dug deep, reviewing the entire
case file, [music] including an examination of a financial timeline she compiled with the help of the FBI. I had
the [music] luxury of looking back on all of these things several years later. Cypes learned Nick worked at his
family's carpet installation business. They were contractors for Home Depot. Heidi was a clerk at a financial
services company in St. Paul. Their combined income was about $70,000 a year. >> They seemed like they were on top of all
the bills before they bought the house. But Lawman says the home purchase in 2007 strained the couple's finances
>> and that home was just too much for them. >> By the time Heidi died in April of 2010,
the couple was deeply in debt. >> He had not paid the mortgage in 22 months. >> In fact, the couple had lost their home
to foreclosure and would be forced to move out. But Cypes discovered Heidi [snorts]
apparently had no idea. After reviewing the couple's texts and emails, Cypes saw no evidence Nick ever
told Heidi they were in financial trouble. >> There was no communication between
[music] the two of them to indicate that she had any idea the depth of their financial issues.
I was able to determine through the foreclosure and eviction attorneys [music] that there was no paperwork
Heidi had signed, that nobody had ever talked to Heidi. Nobody met Heidi. Heidi didn't go to the eviction hearing on
March 8th, 2010. >> Cy says Nick and Heidi's family and friends didn't know the couple had to
relocate. >> And if she was serious about moving, she would have gotten the day off.
>> So, she was planning to go to work. >> Yes. Why do you think he kept her in the dark
so long? >> Shame. I believe he was concerned about the shame of what he had done, how it
would look, that he couldn't come clean with her. You know, it had gotten too big at that point.
>> And when Cypes talked to the couple's friends, she learned why Nick wanted to
hide their financial situation. >> He was described by his friends as being wise and being the person that [music]
they would go to for advice. Nick Furkus really presented as somebody who had some of those bigger, tougher
life questions figured out. What kind of person do you want to be? What kind of relationship do you want to have with
God? What does [music] that tell you as you're investigating the case and you see someone in that type of personality?
>> It just became easier to see that this was someone who did not want his friends, his family to know the extent
to which he had failed. CYP says she discovered more of Nick's lies when she learned about a
conversation Heidi had with a friend just the day before she died. >> Heidi had [music] talked to us about how
Nick had told her that they were victims of identity theft. It was somewhere around $180 to $200,000 worth of
identity theft. Wasn't true. They weren't the victims. This was all untrue. But as Cypes [music] tried to figure out
if there was a connection between Nick's lies and Heidi's death, she learned Nick
and Rachel had divorced. I remember very well when Nikki sides came to my door. [music]
>> And that Nick had also kept secrets from her. Did Rachel ever say anything about
why their marriage dissolved? >> She did. There were financial issues between the two of them. Nick was lying
about a lot of things. >> This is a story that's happened before and it didn't end well. That terrified
me. Could there actually have been an intruder? >> After spending 19 months digging deep
into the Fergus case file, reviewing crime scene photos, 911 calls. >> Do you remember what he was wearing?
>> And Nick's video interview. >> She was running away, so I definitely hit her in the back. Investigator Nicole
Cypes had come to one conclusion. >> What really matters is what happened in that foyer and there was no third
person. >> You never found anyone else's DNA. >> No. No DNA evidence, no physical
evidence, no sign of a struggle. To me, there were only two people in that house
when Heidi was killed. >> And they were >> Nick and Heidi. As part of the new investigation, Cypes
reached out to Nick's second wife, Rachel. What did she know? >> In 2020, she came to my door. And I was
like, why are you here? And she was like, to talk about Heidi Fergus. >> At first, Rachel, then divorced from
Nick, says she was reluctant to talk. >> You're asking for a lot when you get involved in something like this, and I
didn't want to, but I also knew that it was the right thing to do, and it was for truth. Rachel told Cypes Nick had
lied about their finances during their marriage. >> I found a letter saying that we hadn't
paid our property taxes and that we were going to get evicted in 2020 if we didn't pay them. And when I saw that, I
was like, "Oh no." Like, he was definitely repeating the same things as he did with Heidi with me. During that
time, Rachel says Nick's dishonesty started to make her question whether he had also lied about Heidi's death.
[music] And I said, "We got to sit down and talk." Rachel secretly recorded the conversation on her phone. Your actions
have caused me to just distrust you completely. If there was going to be a confession, I was going to make sure
that I could prove that he said it. And the fact that your lying was so easy for you to do in front of me
over and over and over makes me think >> that I could murder my wife. >> That you could lie about something.
>> That I could murder my wife. >> Yes. >> When I listen, I think this silence kills me.
He's angry at me. How dare I think those things? Why aren't you saying you didn't? Tell
me I'm not right. >> Rachel later shared the recordings with investigator Cypes.
>> The behavior that he exhibited in his marriage with Rachel was almost duplicative of how he hid things from
Heidi. >> We cannot let this man be out on the street any longer. For prosecutor
Elizabeth Lawman, the time had come to act. >> I told Sergeant Cypes, "We're charging
him. Let's do it." >> 11 years after Heidi was shot to death on May 19th, 2021, a St. Paul police SWAT team arrested
Nick Furus at his house and charged him with secondderee murder. A grand jury ultimately indicted Fergus
on first and seconddegree murder charges. Our minds were absolutely blown. >> Heidi's friends, Marcus and Kina, were
relieved. >> It's hard to to say. I don't know what emotion you even put to it. It's hard to
say excited. >> I felt grateful. We don't understand. >> Nick's friends, Emily and Andrew, you
have to believe that a good man with no history of violence killed the woman that he loved more than anything in life
for no reason. That's what you have to believe. We can't get there. After remaining free on bail for almost two
years on January 27th, 2023, Nick Fus went on trial. Prosecutors would not be allowed to call
Nick's second wife, Rachel, to testify or use her tape conversation with Nick. The judge ruled her testimony and the
recording had no bearing on the case. >> I went into it with an open mind. Natalie Michael served on the jury.
>> Did he appear like a man who would kill his wife? >> No, he did not. A lot through the trial. He was putting
his head down. When they showed the photos of the two of them together, you know, he seemed like he really was in
love with her. >> I think Nick was someone who lived two lives. >> Prosecutors presented an unusual motive.
They told the jurors Nick Fergus staged a burglary because he was desperate and ashamed. His secrets were about to be
revealed to Heidi and everyone else. All of his kind of cards of lies are about to crumble. He would have been exposed
as a complete failure, a liar um to his friends and community and instead he's a
victim. He walks away from this supported by his friends, supported by his family.
>> Nick had no reason. >> Nick's lawyers Joe Freedberg and Robert Richmond say that simply makes no sense
as a motive. >> There was nothing about murdering the woman who everyone agreed he loved that
would help his situation. And they say the state's contention that Heidi didn't know about the couple's finances simply
was not true. >> Nick said she was in on all of the major decisions. He would say to us that
they're making Heidi out to be an imbecile. >> At first, I was wondering how she
couldn't know about the finances or some of the foreclosure, some of the things happening. But Natalie Michael says the
prosecution's case did not hinge on motive. >> The prosecution said it really is. Was
there an intruder in the house or was there not an intruder? >> It was our position that there had been
an intruder exactly the way Nick described to the police on the 911 call. >> Somebody has broken shot
>> at the scene. The information that Nick gave at the scene is that this intruder
came into the house >> at the hospital. >> He just came in >> and to Sergeant Gray
>> guy that was there. I think he he grabbed the barrel. >> Nick's lawyers say police didn't find
the intruder's fingerprints or DNA at the scene. Because as Nick told investigators in his interview at the
hospital, >> what else can you describe from him? >> The intruder was wearing gloves.
>> Gloves. He's wearing gloves. You don't always leave DNA and especially when your hands are covered.
>> So, what am I looking at here? >> But prosecutors say there was something else missing from the scene besides
fingerprints. >> This is a physical model to scale that was created by the FBI. >> They used this model to show the jurors
there was no evidence of a struggle. >> I felt that it was very important for us
to be able to recreate how small that entryway is. >> [music] >> Let's say the intruder gets in. They
have this struggle >> and they have this life and death struggle right in this area with nothing
disturbed >> on the table. >> Exactly. And then Heidi gets shot square in the back in a very clear shot.
>> This animation created by the FBI shows that the bullet that killed Heidi was
most likely shot from shoulder level. The height at which Heidi is shot fits exactly on Nick's shoulder to aim and to
fire. >> Nick's attorneys say there was direct evidence that showed there was an
intruder. >> In fact, there were tool marks in the door, which would be consistent with
someone wedging a screwdriver between the frame and the door. Attorney Joe Friedberg says Fergus's next door
neighbor, Brandon Okconor, testified he heard a voice. >> You shot her. You shot me. Uh, please,
please, no. Something along those lines. >> That means there must have been another
person in that house. Nick was talking to a third person when he said that. But prosecutors say Brandon may have
misheard Nick while he was on the phone with the 911 dispatcher. >> He is screaming about being shot and he
did that over almost 7 minutes. >> Stay on the phone with me. Okay. >> Nick Fus did not take the stand. After
an 11-day trial, the case went to the jury. >> If there's anything in this case,
there's reasonable doubt. >> Yeah. >> See more evidence from the case at 48 hours.com.
It was a hard fought litigated trial. >> As the state and Nick Fergus's defense team presented their closing arguments
on February 10th, 2023, >> we had great we thought circumstantial evidence that what Nick said happened
did not happen. >> Attorneys on both sides were hopeful the jury would make the right decision. It's
not enough if you have a hunch. There was no direct evidence that Nick murdered his wife.
>> In her closing argument, prosecutor Crocker said [music] Fergus shot Heidi while she was on the phone with the 911
operator. >> Someone's trying west. So that call does end with a very very loud noise and the call goes dead and we
believe that that's the gunshot. [music] >> According to phone records, 65 seconds
passed from that moment until Fergus made his 911 call. >> Somebody is broken. >> Crocker reenacted for jurors what she
believed Nick Fus did before he made that call. I walked over in the courtroom to roughly as far as Heidi
would have been on the ground, crouched down, turned her over um to check for a pulse to be sure that she was in fact
deceased. Walked back over, picked up [music] the firearm, and demonstrated how he could shoot
himself and call 911. >> Where is the guy that shot you? >> At 65 seconds, there was more than
enough time for all of that to happen. To prove their theory, Fergus shot himself in the thigh. [music] They point
to marks left by shotgun pellets at the bottom of the front door. >> When he shot himself, we believe that
Nick was about um here, which is how you would brace yourself, [music] probably against the door if you're doing it to
yourself. >> Of his reasonable suspicion, >> but Fergus' attorneys challenged the
65second time [music] frame. Attorney Robert Richmond says phone records also show Fergus misdialed two numbers
[music] before getting through to 911, making it impossible to shoot himself. [music]
>> What they reenacted was 65 seconds, which was ignoring the two [music] miss dials which happened at 38 seconds. The
fact that we cannot find the intruder is not evidence that there was no intruder.
And if anything, because of the next door neighbor, because of the tool [music] marks, because of the 38
seconds, we feel that the evidence supports [music] that there was an intruder. >> This isn't blind belief.
>> Nick's friends Emily and Andrew were convinced the prosecution failed to prove Fergus was the shooter.
>> We were open to hearing inconsistency of what Nick said, but that didn't happen.
On February 10th, 2023, the jurors got the case and in 5 hours returned with a verdict.
>> My last text to Nick was, "It has to be innocent. There's no way that they got
to guilty this quickly." We rushed to the courthouse and we were so wrong. >> Nick Furkus was found guilty on two
counts [music] of murder, premeditated and intentional. I believe justice was served.
>> Marcus and Kina were in the courtroom when the verdict was read. >> Justice may have been slow, but
fortunately the jury got it right. It feels like this is the beginning of healing. It's the beginning of a of a
new chapter. [music] >> Heidi's mom actually said that for so many years they had to live with Nick
Fergus's narrative and they knew it was wrong, but they just didn't have another
narrative. and to finally be able to have him finally held accountable, it it meant a lot to us.
>> For Sergeant Cypes, there is still the mystery of what led to the couple's financial problems.
>> We weren't able to definitively say what the money was spent on. Does that frustrate you greatly? I think it would
help complete the picture for some people. On April [music] 13th, 2023, Nick Fergus was back in court for a
sentencing hearing and to hear victim impact [music] statements. >> Growing up, Heidi was the quintessential
little sister to me. >> Heidi's brother, Peter Ericson. >> Because of the lies we were told as
early as the day after her murder, "It's been virtually impossible to find closure to our grief." [music]
>> Fergus refused to admit guilt. I do maintain and will maintain to my dying breath my innocence of this crime. My
body stands condemned to serve another man's sentence, but my soul my soul remains free.
>> Judge Leonardo Castro imposed the maximum sentence. For it is the sense [music] of law and judgment of this
court that you be committed to the commission of corrections for the remainder of your life without the
possibility of release. >> Good luck to you, sir. Godspeed. [music] >> My kids are always what I think of
first. >> Fergus's second wife, Rachel. >> They lost in this, too, [music] because
one day they had a dad that they thought was somebody and the next day he's not that person anymore.
She often thinks about Heidi, too. >> I like to think I have a connection with Heidi.
She didn't [music] get to have the voice that I have now. And so, I can only hope
that my [music] voice is something she would be proud of. Heidi was a genuine, [music] loving,
sincere young woman who wanted to live life to the fullest. She wouldn't want people to become [music] bitter or angry
because of what she had to experience. [music] I think that Heidi would want people to choose to love regardless of
circumstances. CBS next Saturday. 48 Hours brings you backtoback episodes all summer long.
Next week, social media clues. >> Johnny Alteringer would answer a dating app and disappear.
>> She would track his location. >> 48 hours prime time double feature next Saturday on CBS streaming on Paramount
Plus.

“48 Hours” cases involving convoluted stories told to cover deadly crimes. Watch the YouTube mini-marathon, which includes "The Detective's Wife," "The Psychiatrist and the Selfie" and "Death at the Front Door: Who Shot Heidi Firkus?"

00:00 The Detective's Wife 42:02 The Psychiatrist and the Selfie 01:25:59 Death at the Front Door: Who Shot Heidi Firkus?

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Brief Summary

Amy Fion's death leads to her husband Brian's murder trial, revealing infidelity and inconsistencies in his story before his conviction.

Key points

Amy's Tragic Death. Amy Fion was found dead from a gunshot wound, shocking her community.
Unraveling Brian's Affair. Brian's relationship with another woman raises suspicions during the investigation.
Brian Fion's Arrest. Detectives arrest Brian Fion, suspecting him of murdering his wife, Amy.
Verdict Delivered. After deliberation, the jury finds Brian Fion guilty of first-degree murder.
Jake's Childhood and Mental Health. Jake's early life was marked by ADHD and severe mood swings, leading to tragic outcomes.
The Plan to Kill Michael Weiss. Jake claims Pamela manipulated him into plotting to kill her ex-boyfriend.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I just held her hands.

Brian's emotional response after the incident.

9:40WatchJul 11, 2026

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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