Suicide or murder? A forensic animator examines the evidence | Forensic Files

only two people know what happened in the early morning hours of New Year's Day 2012 and unfortunately one of them
is dead so we contacted Scott rer who's a forensic animator to take a look at the existing evidence to try to
determine did Ashley fallis commit suicide or was she shot by her husband and we went with Scott rer to the fallis
house in Evans Colorado to get a better sense of the scene where are we now well we're in in
the bedroom of Ashley and Tom well we've marked off their bed uh We've also marked off the
headboard uh and then you can see here there was a nightstand uh and then this is the the
the the extremely important parts uh particularly on this part of the bed this is where Ash Ashley was shot
correct yeah this is where the gun was found in an approximate location here is uh obviously the most important piece of
evidence which is the um bullet uh the bullet uh uh strike on the uh interior wall we've got an angle here of about
14° in an upward slope from zero is this telling me that the gun had to be here shooting off correct so if if I'm look
at this trajectory doesn't that mean that she couldn't have been standing up when she was shot she had to be at least
down like this right right right she could be crouched she could be in a position where she uh could have been
struck and been on the way down and then I'm I'm in that position now right here
too right okay but it does make sense also that she could have been down like this okay now Tom in his statement had
indicated that Ashley was on her knees and he said she shot herself is this though trajectory consistent with that
it is right and is it though also consistent if in fact someone had been holding a gun to
her head it is consistent with that as well would the blood spatter end up here if she is either crouching or on her
knees around here well you're in a perfect position right now okay so the Bullet entered on the right side of her
head just behind her ear behind her ear back here on the right side of the head okay and exited at an upward angle this
way this way now there would have been a lot of velocity and a lot of force when
that bullet passed through her which would have caused her head to turn and then exit wound would have made these
high velocity spatters uh pattern on the wall and then she would have collapsed at some point there was a large a
smaller blood stain here several droplets of blood all throughout here and then right right about there was
that large blood pooling

"48 Hours" correspondent Erin Moriarty and forensic animator Scott Roder visit the Evans, Colorado, home of Ashley and Tom Fallis to see if the evidence at the scene could fit Tom's story of his wife shooting herself or if it could fit her family's theory that he shot her. For more, watch "Death After Midnight" Saturday, Oct. 22 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on CBS.

Brief Summary

Forensic animator Scott Rer investigates Ashley Fallis's death, questioning if it was suicide or murder based on bullet trajectory and blood spatter evidence.

Key points

Forensic Animation Investigation. Forensic animator Scott Rer examines the crime scene for evidence of Ashley's death.
The Mystery of Ashley Fallis. Investigators explore whether Ashley Fallis committed suicide or was murdered by her husband.

Episode highlights

The Mystery of Ashley FallisInvestigators explore whether Ashley Fallis committed suicide or was murdered by her husband.“Did Ashley Fallis commit suicide or was she shot by her husband?”0:15Apr 10, 2015

Episode quotes

Only two people know what happened in the early morning hours.

WatchApr 10, 2015

More from 48 Hours

Solve the Crime

Read a real case one clue at a time, then see how your call held up against the investigators.