Ep 12 | Farrell Cross Transcript

Ep 12 | Farrell Cross 

Transcript

Before we begin this podcast, please be advised that the following episode contains language that some listeners may find offensive and inappropriate. The opinions expressed by the host and guests are their own and do not reflect the views of the podcast producers. Listener discretion is advised.

Tell us your side of the story now.

You think she wouldn't listen to my side of the story? Where were you the day that this murder occurred? I didn't even touch her. Who would have killed her? Why would she be out at that location? Do you know anything? The only thing I know is they found her out in the woods in a long lane down there and she'd been shot in the head.

So I sat there like a dummy and just got convicted for something that I didn't do. It threw me under the bus man.

You are now listening to the podcast Voices of a Killer. I'm bringing you the stories from the perspective of the people that have taken the life of another human and their current situation thereafter in prison. You'll see that although these are the folks that we have been programmed to hate, they all have something in common.

They are all humans like us that admit that they made a mistake. Will you forgive them or will you condemn them? They're currently serving time for their murders, and they give us an inside glimpse of what took place when they killed and their feelings on the matter. Now here are the voices of those who have killed.

In this episode, we bring you the intriguing case of Farrell Cross, a man who was initially charged with the murder of his ex-wife in 1991 and only convicted for the same murder. 23 years later, a crime he adamantly denies committing. As we explore his story, we uncover troubling inconsistencies and raise compelling questions about the validity of his trial, the testimony of witnesses, and his own recollection of exactly what happened on that fateful day.

We will explore the challenges he faced, the twists and turns of the legal system, and the impact it all had on him and his family. Join us as we uncover the captivating and complex truth behind Farrell Cross's journey and seek to shed light on a crime that took 23 years to reach its resolution on Voices of a Killer.

All right, so, Farrell, where are you from? I'm from Rolla, right now. Yeah. How old are you now, Farrell? I'm 82. 82 years old. You don't sound like you're 82. I don't know what's supposed to feel like when you're 82. That's what people ask me. They say, man, I hope I'm in good shape like you 82, how do you feel? 82. I said, I dunno.

It's the first time I've ever been 82. I'll let you know when I get to the second time. So what year have, what have you been born? What is that? 1940. I'll be 83 next month. Do you feel like you've seen this country go through a lot of changes? I do. Have I seen my country go through a lot of changes? Yeah. Yeah.

The problem is I don't hear very well either. Okay. I'll speak up for you. Do you feel like you've seen this country go through a lot of changes? Oh, definitely. Oh, it's gone through tremendous changes since I was born, and it's going through changes right now that's terrible.

Describe your childhood for me. Did you have a rough time growing up or what? No, I had a real good mother and father and all that stuff. I was just born in the cotton fields down in southeast Missouri, man, and we moved to Michigan then when I was like, fourteen years old and lived in Michigan until 1965 and I moved to California. Yeah.

Stayed in California and stayed there for about nine years. Ended up back in Missouri, right around Rolla area. Yeah, so. That's where I'm in. Yeah, so you didn't witness any kind of violence in your family or anything like that growing up? No, no. You have brothers and sisters? No, I have three sisters. I still got two that's still alive. Do they support you? Yeah, we get along great. They don't send me any money or anything. They both live in Florida. Are you married right now? Yes. Yes, I am. I've got to talk to my wife before I called you. Okay. Is she pretty supportive of you? Oh yeah. Oh yeah. She's been with me all the way. See, I've got these charges put on me back in 1991.

My first time they arrested me for this and they set my bail at a half a million dollars, but reduced it down to a hundred thousand property bonds, so I got my friends there in Rolla and around to go my bond for a hundred thousand. And then, when I eventually went back to court for the preliminary hearing, the judge said there wasn't enough evidence to go to trial, so it was dropped with prejudice. And nineteen years later, they arrested me again. And you said you had two more kids, right? Yeah, I've got an older daughter, and then my son, he was nine months old at that time. Yeah. And he's 33 now, and he was there with me in trial, and the whole nine yards, going through all of it.

Farrell Cross, now 82 years old, has what I think is a youthful voice. With a vibrant spirit and a hint of humor, he reflects on the changes he's witnessed throughout his life. Born in 1940, Farrell grew up in the cotton fields of Southeast Missouri before his family moved to Michigan when he was 14.

Eventually, he found himself in California for nine years before returning to Missouri. Despite the tranquility of his childhood and the support of his family, his life took a dramatic turn in 1991. Farrell's ex wife, Pammy Jo Cross, was tragically shot and killed in February of 1991. He was initially charged with her murder but released due to insufficient evidence.

However, in a surprising twist, Farrell found himself arrested again in 2010, facing the same accusations. The prosecution alleged that Farrell committed this heinous act to evade child support payments and to silence Tammy, who had filed assault charges against him and his new wife.

So in 1991, you got arrested for murder, and then it basically fell through and then they recharged you again.

Who was the victim in this case? My ex-wife. Your ex-wife. How did she die? She was shot. Tell me what you know about her murder. The only thing I know is , they just, they said that they found out in the woods in a long lane down there and she'd been shot in the head. I didn't know anything about it. How long were you married to her?

Oh, about three years. We had one, one daughter. Do you still talk to this daughter? No. In fact, that's the one that brought it up, the charges up. I let her move to Idaho with her aunt and her grandmother there. They're the ones that spilled her head full of crap that I had killed her mom. And after all these years, she brought the charges back up again.

She went through school and all that stuff, forensic science, and she married to a, uh, FBI agent and she worked for Attorney General's a couple of different times and I guess she had a lot of power behind her and I corresponded with her for a few years. She was nine years old. When she went to Idaho and then, I had sent her money, we talked back and forth, and I, we wrote and all that stuff, and then all of a sudden, I couldn't get a hold of her, couldn't call her or anything, and that's when the thing started happening.

I guess she was getting all of her little ducks in a row to press charges against me again.

When you got charged way back in 1991, what did they have on you to charge you with it at that time? Nothing. Nothing. Actually, it was all circumstantial. Tell me what the circumstances were. Let's see, there's some people, this is way out in the country, out on a place called the P Highway, and I can't remember the name, there's a little lane that goes down there about three or four miles, they call it Three Mile Road, and she was down there, and I guess she told people that she was leaving to go meet me down there, which was not true, she met somebody, but it wasn't me, so this is what the people said that she said, I don't know if she said that or not, I'm sure she's been down here several times without me, but she, every time I see her, she's trying to get me to go out with her or something.

And all she's trying to do is start trouble with me and my wife now. The one woman I'm married to now. It's a messed up, mixed up deal, man. She would never leave me alone when I was out places. She'd come up and want to buy me beers and stuff like that. And I'd say, go away, leave me alone. All you're doing is trying to start some trouble.

Yeah. But, the guys, some of the people that testified against me, my first attorney, which is Ron White from Rolla. He became a judge later and he was going to be a witness. Got a conflict of interest and he was out of the same firm that the two attorneys that I had hired to defend me. So, I couldn't use them, so I had to go to a public defender, and that's where I really messed up. Yeah. Because I was, I was out on bond for three years before I ever went to trial.

What was that like, being on bond, waiting to go to trial for the murder of your mother's child? It was unusual, because I couldn't correspond with my daughter at that time. I tried to, but I never could get ahold of her, and I couldn't drive to Idaho. I tried to call they changed her phone number and all that stuff. I felt terrible about her having to go through that, and I just wanted to talk to her about it, but I never could get ahold of her. I'd seen her in court sometime, and she'd just stare daggers at me, and a friend of mine went up and tried to talk to her. She said, no, she didn't want to talk to me or him either. So, it was a terrible situation.

Farrell's relationship with his ex wife Tammy Cross was short, and although the couple had been married for three years and shared a daughter together, cracks in their relationship led to a divorce. The tragic murder of Tammy in the woods near their small town in Missouri marked out Farrell as the prime witness in the case.

His frustration at not being left alone by her and owing her child support money were indicators of a motive. And although he was charged with the murder at the time, the circumstantial evidence did not lead to a conviction in 1991. It is interesting to note that Farrell expresses his limited knowledge of the circumstances surrounding her murder.

Now, while this could be a sign of old age, it could also be that he wasn't there, which is something we'll dig into deeper in this episode. One thing that is clear is that Farrell deeply regrets not being able to correspond with his daughter at the time, and his pain felt at the emotional burden she carries is palpable.

I was curious if his daughter's involvement in bringing the case against him to court made him resent her, or whether his guilt at not being there for her was truly one of the driving factors behind wanting to talk to me.

If you could say something to your daughter, what would it be if she's listening to this? If she listened to me today, I just wish she would have confronted me too instead of listening to her aunt and her grandma and all, and their side of the story, and get my side of the story. She never would talk to me about what happened, because I wasn't there. Tell us your side of the story now. You think she would listen to my side of the story?

I think that If she can listen to this in private and not know that somebody's thinking she's listening, then she's gonna hear this. Oh, okay. Alright. I really think she will hear it. So, if you want to, you can take a minute and you can tell your side of the story as if she's listening. My side of the story is that, uh...

I wasn't there and I didn't have anything to do with it. Where were you the day that this murder occurred? I was at, uh, well, I had seen her earlier the day before they found her at Newburg Pool Hall is where last time I'd seen her. We were in there drinking and she tried to buy me a beer and I told her I said I don't want no beer.

I got my check today, said I was going to buy you a beer, with my child support check. And I said no. I said all you're trying to do is start a trouble, so just go away and leave me alone. I should have left right then, but I didn't. I stayed around for later, but then she left, I don't know what time it was, 10 or so, I don't know. That was the night of the murder?

Yeah, that night, last time I seen her, that was that night. I guess the next day is sometimes when they found her out in the woods, out on that place called Three Mile Road. I didn't hear about it until the next day. I was at the Eagle's Lodge with my wife. We were at a benefit for a friend of ours, Barb Schaefer.

And that's when somebody came up and said they had found Tammy out at Three Mile Road. I think they said it was. So that's when I left and went to the sheriff's station. And that's when they told me that they had found her out there.

Whenever you got notified about this, you went directly to the Sheriff's Department? Yes. What did you go down there for, to find out the details? Yeah. To find out if it was true or not. But in that one paper, it says I went down there and it said that I said "what is she dead?" I never said anything like that. I just went down to find out if it was true or not, and I didn't know. Right. You know, people get stuff started like that.

Sure. So I went down to the Sheriff's Department and I said, Is it true that what I've heard while I go is about Tammy, my ex? They said, yep, it's true. Did they immediately question you or just you got the news and you left? They questioned me a little bit about it, but they didn't arrest me or anything. They arrested me maybe a couple of weeks later or something.

I can't remember exactly. So the night that she basically disappeared, you actually saw her at this pool hall and she offered you a beer? Yeah. And was there any kind of arguments that night with her? No, no. We got along good. We never argued at all or anything. When I'd see her, you know, I would give her money.

She just says, you got to not give her money all the time. Just about every time I've seen her, I give her money. But, then she got, like I said, later on, matter of fact, it was June 24th. It was my birthday. Uh, that's when she showed up there, I think it was, 91? 90? Anyway, that's when she showed up drunk and wanted to take my daughter with her.

That's when I told her no and that's the only time that we ever had words and then I got a divorce. I'm looking for a motive and the only thing that I can find, and you can tell me a little bit about this, it says that, your motive would have been trying to get out of child support.

Yeah, that's the That's one reason they said that I killed her, but it's not true. I did pay child support, but I paid it to her directly when I would see her downtown or something in Newburg before I realized that I was supposed to went to the court. So when I finally realized, and evidently I know child support, which I wasn't.

They said I owed 1900 dollars. So I went to the bank and borrowed 1900 dollars. I took it to the courthouse and paid them. Well, I talked to my ex wife and I told her, I said, I've been paying you. So when you get this check, I want you to get my money back. She said, okay. And I did. I went and paid them. She got the check and she got the money and gave it back to me, which I can't prove.

But a friend of mine, a guy named Terry Duncan, James Terry Duncan was there, but he never got on the stand to testify about anything like that either. As a matter of fact, I don't even know if I've talked to my public defenders about it. That was paying $150 a month, then later on she wanted 350. So, that's when I hired another attorney out of Houston, Missouri.

And we went and had a conversation and I agreed to pay 250. And that's when I started getting behind on the payments through the courthouse. But I did take money and give it to my wife because my ex wife wouldn't let me go pick my daughter up. I go out to pick her up. She wouldn't let her go with me.

And when I would go out to pick her up or something, I'd have my wife go pick her up sometime and bring her to the house and stay the weekend and I would have her to take money out and give it to my daughter's great grandma where she lived at. My ex wife lives on the farm out there where her great grandma and grandpa owned 200 acres out on G Highway. Yeah. And she was very well taken care of.

Farrell yearns for the opportunity to mend his fractured relationship with his daughter, to confront the haunting shadows of the past, and to share his side of the story directly with her. Recollections of his last encounter with Tammy at the Newburg pool hall the day before the murder provides us with an element of friction between the pair and an air of uncertainty hangs heavy.

Although Farrell claims to not have been at Three Mile Road at the time of the murder, court documents reveal that witness statements placed him at the crime scene. During the trial, it was revealed that witnesses supported Farrell's evidence. about their interaction, and that at around 11pm Farrell told Tammy that, quote, if she did not quit fussing, he wasn't going to meet with her, unquote.

She then got in her car and headed out of town, going south on T Highway toward Three Mile Road. Approximately 30 to 45 minutes later, Farrell left the bar and got into his Ford van and was seen driving in the same direction. The same witnesses then claimed to have seen Farrell's van turn onto Three Mile Road, where Tammy was waiting in her car.

They then said Farrell pulled the driver's side of his van next to the driver's side of Tammy's car, as if they were going to meet. The prosecution argued that this information, along with other circumstantial evidence pointed towards Farrell's presence at the crime scene, and therefore he was guilty.

Now, along with this, the prosecution also argued that it was the fact that Farrell had to pay child support to Tammy that motivated the killing. I wanted to know more about this from Farrell himself and if there was anything else that could have been construed as a motive.

So, one of the things that I researched, it said that you and your now wife had some charges against you that your ex wife filed.

Yeah, she came to our house early one morning, I'd say one or two o'clock in the morning, drunk. Her and a friend of hers, and wanted to take my daughter, I had my daughter with me that weekend, and wanted her to go with her and I said no, you're not taking our daughter and tomorrow's Sunday. I'll bring her home tomorrow.

She said she's going with me tonight. She's going now. I said, no, and my wife now Becky was standing behind me and she put her head around me and says, Tammy, go home. We'll bring her home tomorrow, and that's when Tammy reached out and grabbed my wife and pulled her off the porch. They fell out in the yard. Wrestling and fighting around and my ex wife Tammy got the worst end of it.

And after she left, she didn't take my daughter with her. I would not let her go. And then later on, we were filed charges against us for assault. Did y'all, did those charges go through before she was found dead? I don't remember. No. My wife, I think she went up and talked to uh, The judge or somebody and they said don't worry about it.

Nothing. She came to your house and she dragged your wife out or she dragged Becky out and I don't know how and why she filed charges against you guys But I didn't even touch her, but my wife now did. They got out in the yard and they were fighting around and she punched on her and stuff, blacked her eye or whatever it was, but she didn't really hurt her man.

As we continue to search for a motive in this perplexing case, the prosecution's suggestions that Farrell's motive for the murder may have been an attempt to escape his financial obligations or vehemently denied by Farrell. It appears that there were complications and discrepancies surrounding the child support payments, with amounts changing and difficulties in picking up his daughter due to his ex wife's resistance, but that Farrell held no resentment towards Tammy because of it.

These issues were further exacerbated by the assault charges filed against Farrell and his now wife by Tammy, alleging an altercation that took place. place at their home. However, these charges were dropped because of Tammy's tragic and untimely death. While he cannot prove that she returned the money, Farrell mentions a friend, Terry Duncan, who could have potentially testified to this fact, although he never took the stand.

This raises another element to the case that Farrell has hinted at previously. The complications and mystique around witnesses and counsel at his trial. The clouded nature of the information surrounding these matters raises more questions than answers. And although Farrell doesn't know the full details of this, perhaps there was somebody else that did.

So did you know Farrell in 1991? Yes. I was married to him. We got married in 1988. Who do you think would have killed his ex wife? I don't know. All I heard later on is... It's that she owed money for drugs.

Hello. Hey, Becky, it's Toby. How are you doing? Oh, I'm good. How are you doing? I'm doing good. Do you have some time to talk? Yes, I'm good. All right. Obviously, you know, I talked to Farrell and what I basically want to do is just ask you, you know, he's a little bit fuzzy on some of the things that he's trying to remember.

So, did you know Ferrell in 1991? Yes, I was married to him. We got married in 1988. Who do you think would've killed his ex-wife? Who? I don't know. All I heard later on is that she owed money for drugs. That's why I had heard, that's what I had always heard. Was Ferrell pretty bitter about having to pay child support?

Would that be-. No. No. He really wasn't. I mean, he didn't, if he does, he didn't let me know about it. He would get like, sometimes he's like, well, you're not going to get him and stuff like that or get her. But No. Would you consider Farrell to be violent? No. To do something like that? No, he would not do that because he wouldn't do that to his child. He would not take his child's mother away from her.

There's just no way because he loved her. He still does. But I'm just saying there's no way. Do you think it's possible that Farrell did this? No. No, because he was with me at that time. They said he left the bar and came straight home. He was at home. And our next door neighbor even seen him pull in the driveway at that time, but she's an older lady and she said she's seen him pull up in the driveway and made a statement to his attorney, I think it was at the time. And-

When you say pull up in the driveway, he was obviously, if he pulled up in the driveway, he was somewhere before that. Could he have been in that place? Not with the time frame, no. Because they told, I guess, the people down there at the bars, knew what time he had left and I guess what time she had left or something and then the time frame was not, there's no way that he could have made that and been back home.

So did this neighbor get put on the stand? No, she made a statement. Nobody got put on the stand except me, but she made a statement and then when it went back the second time, we said what about her, we was trying to pull up information of things and they said that they couldn't find that. It was gone.

Really? Yeah. So the attorney. And she was elderly. Elderly then. And was he, and then he had switched attorneys because of like a conflict of interest. It's hard for me to remember all the stuff too because there was so much crap. But, oh yeah, he had like lots and lots of witnesses. A lot. We had a really good attorney at first and we were, and then all of a sudden he said there's going to be a conflict of interest because of the person that was going to be calling to the stand was his prior lawyer and all this stuff where he never was called up to the stand. There was nobody called up to the stand but me. Every witness, he ended up getting some public defenders and they were doing really good at first. Awesome. And then all of a sudden they just stopped. I mean, like they had been like threatened because, anyway I'll get to that, I'm jumping all around but, so, every witness, they told not to come.

Even the witness, a big major witness that was a police officer at the time, they had rented him a car from Illinois to come down and everything, told him not to show up. A guy that was-

Who's they told him not to show up? Those lawyers. Every witness, they told him not to show up. They told them no.

Every single, there's probably about 30 of them and there was not. Why do you think they would tell him not to show up? I think that they, I think that they were told by the prosecutor and then because they were public defenders, I think they were told not to do that.

Becky is Farrell's supportive and long suffering wife. She's been through thick and thin with him, supporting him throughout this harrowing experience. She emphasizes that Farrell loved his daughter and would never want her mother, Tammy, taken away, despite the hearsay to do with drug money. Becky also says that Farrell never harbored any resentment or bitterness for having to pay child support to Tammy.

Becky firmly asserts that Farrell couldn't have committed the murders because he was with her at the time. She mentions that her neighbor, an elderly lady, witnessed Farrell pulling into their driveway. Although this neighbor didn't testify in court, she provided a statement about seeing Farrell arriving home during the relevant time frame.

However, the defense faced challenges with some of their witnesses. Becky recalls that when they tried to gather information about the neighbor's statement, it seemed to have mysteriously disappeared. Additionally, she mentions a conflict of interest that led to a change in attorneys, and ultimately, public defenders were assigned to Farrell's case.

According to Becky, the public defender initially showed promise but later seemed to falter. She alleges that they may have been threatened, as all of the witnesses they had lined up were instructed not to appear in court. The reason behind this concerted effort to prevent witnesses from testifying remains unclear. Leaving us with a cloud of uncertainty surrounding the case. What is also uncertain is the validity of the witnesses that took the stand during Farrell's trial.

And the people that said that I was there are definitely lying. And my public defenders should have proved that in court. Because I had depositions that would say otherwise. What these people that testified against me. I had depositions that they never would bring up in court to prove that I wasn't there and the public defenders that they had a special public defender that the governor had appointed from the federal department. He lied all the time. He lied a lot about what happened.

He said there was three women, I guess, that drove by the road out where my daughter's mother was killed and said they'd seen a vehicle that looked like mine, but when the mother said they didn't see who was in it, but she had seen vehicles around before that look like mine. But later on, and I don't remember this, but my wife told me that they, that woman changed her mind.

She says, yes, she's seen me in the van. It's not true. It can't be true. She said that her daughter was one of them that testified against me too, and she came in with her orange suit on. They took her out of the county jail, and my wife says, I think the reason that she changed her mind was to get her daughter out of jail.

So let's drop some charges on her if she testified against me or something the same way that these other people that are supposed to be my friend, these told my attorney, the first attorney, they tried to hire him for cases, they said, I can't defend you if you're going to testify against Farrell Cross for the murder of his wife.

And they said, we don't know anything about it. We have no idea what you're talking about. We have no idea what you're talking about. So later on when, I guess, the prosecutor or somebody was making deals with them, then all of a sudden they come up with, Oh, yeah, I remember. Then they started telling stories that wasn't true.

And they're the ones that testified against me. And my public defenders never chimed in or nothing to help me. I just looked at them. I said, You gonna say something? Do anything? And it's always, everything's good everything's cool. So I sat there like a dummy, I just got convicted for something that I didn't do. So was there any like other physical evidence like finding the murder weapon or gun residue on your hands or was it just hearsay, like people saying you were around there?

Just hearsay.

During Farrell's trial, several key witnesses took the stand, offering testimonies that played a crucial role in the case against him. Murl Payne, A fellow inmate in the Phelps County Jail in 1991 when Farrell was held for the initial charges. Testified that Farrell had admitted to him while they were in jail together.

That he followed his ex wife, shot her, and left her body on a country road. However, it was revealed that Payne had sought a deal in his own pending murder case requesting 90 days of shock time. He eventually pled guilty to second degree murder and received a 15 year sentence. While Payne claimed that his testimony against Farrell was not part of any deal, the defense questioned the circumstances surrounding his reduced sentence in an appeal in 2016.

Another significant witness, Thomas Lortz, a long time friend of Farrell, testified about a conversation they had. Lortz claimed that Farrell offered to kill Lortz's ex wife if Lortz would kill his ex wife Tammy. Lortz declined the offer, and Farrell allegedly offered him $3000 to carry out the murder.

Additionally, Lortz mentioned an incident a few years after the murder where Farrell made a statement that seemed to imply getting away with murder. However, Lortz admitted that he did not know the context of the statement, a point that was also highlighted in Farrell's 2016 appeal. These testimonies raised concerns about the credibility and reliability of the witnesses.

Payne's potential motives for cooperating with the prosecution were evident. As he sought a reduced sentence for his own murder case. Furthermore, the circumstances surrounding Lortz's statement, particularly the lack of context for Farrell's alleged statement about getting away with murder, leaves room for doubt.

Adding to the complexity of the trial, Farrell claimed that there was a mother and daughter who claimed they saw Farrell on the road of the crime scene. According to court documents, this was Barbara Foster and her daughter, Tammy Foster. Farrell claims that their evidence was modified in court to try to get Barbara's daughter out of jail.

While there is no concrete evidence of this happening, this raises questions about the potential alternate scenarios or motives that might have influenced the events leading up to the murder. The trial's handling of witnesses testimonies and the lack of cooperation or further investigation into Farrell's claims cast further doubt on the validity of the witnesses and the overall fairness of the trial.

With the doubts surrounding the witnesses and the lack of comprehensive investigation into the alternative scenarios, The question remains, was justice truly served? I wanted to know if Ferrell perhaps knew more about the motives behind the tragic killing of his ex wife Tammy.

Do you think that whoever killed her brought her out to that location or is that somewhere that she would have been driving down?

Who would have killed her? Why would she be out at that location? Do you know anything? Uh, the only thing that I think, what is was, is she liked her dope. And even the people out there testified that they were out there looking for someone to buy some cocaine or some dope of some kind. She liked her dope pretty good. When I met her she used to get high a lot and matter of fact one of her sister's even told me that. Farrell, I. That she got with you because I got her off of it. And then after I got a divorce, she got back on it pretty bad, I guess, because she was out looking for coke or something, and it says that in the depositions and the testimony of the people that testified.

That night she was looking for drugs? Yeah, earlier that evening I know she was looking for drugs because that's what the girls said that was running around with her. If you had to guess what happened, do you think it was a drug deal gone bad? Somebody brought her out there to do drugs with her and killed her? What would your assumption be?

That was exactly What I would think, because one of the girls that I know, Angie McDowell, she said she used to party a lot. She said she heard at this one party, this Delbert Smith and Dave Lewis, they all get high together, and she didn't pay too much attention to it, but they was talking about my ex wife, and they said that they had taken care of her because she owed them money and she wouldn't pay them, and they said they took care of that, but they never would call her, I said call her up on the stand, they never did call her, never had her deposition, which I have, and they never presented it to the jury or the judge or anybody.

They just threw me under the bus, man. So really, the only way you got convicted was people said that you were in the area of where the murder occurred? Is that right? Yeah, the woman said that there was a vehicle that looked like mine. And then later on, which, like I said a while ago, I don't remember saying that, but my wife said that she changed her story.

She said, yes, it was his vehicle. And she seen me, but It was not my vehicle and it was not me, but the prosecutor evidently got her to say that. So, my wife says because she could get her daughter out of jail, but she showed up to testify in her jail suit, the orange suit. Yeah. And testify against me, and then later on they let her out of jail.

And this Delbert Smith and stuff, he's just a habitual liar, man. He is just totally no good, man. And he is one of the ones that said I paid him and another guy, Bob Sharp, $500 or $5000. I can't remember exactly what it was now, to kill my ex wife. And so why don't you go get them, see if they killed her. But I had never, ever, I don't, I don't like Delbert Smith, I've known him for years.

He's dead now, but he is just totally no good and never was any good. I've never had anything to do I never had any kind of dealings with him. So are you saying that the girl that testified against you, she was in jail and they used that as leverage to get her to talk, you're in jail and if you go do this we'll get you out? That's what my wife come up with. I know that jail is used as leverage so I can see that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. In order to get her daughter out of jail, then I think she changed her story. And that's exactly what my wife said, but I never thought of it that way. Because there was three girls, they said they were coming back for some auction or something over St Robert's. They were driving down P Highway, and P Highway connects onto that little, what they call a three mile road.

They drove by and seen her car sitting there facing back towards the highway. And a vehicle pulled in and shined the lights into the vehicle where she was sitting. And they could see her there with her head down on the steering wheel. But they said they'd never seen who was driving the vehicle that turned in until later, the prosecutor-.

So, was there any other evidence presented at trial besides someone seeing a vehicle around the murder scene? No, nothing. That's it? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

You were convicted of murder from somebody spotting the vehicle around there? That's crazy. No, it, I had no representation. The public defenders, if I'd have went ahead and hired somebody else, like Dan Birdsong with $125,000 in debate, hell, the whole world, you know, 125,000, and so I went with the public defender, which was my bad mistake. They did nothing, man. Obviously court works tremendously different than a phone call podcast, and I know that you gotta hear both sides and there's evidence presented and there's a defense to that evidence and, but if what you're telling me is the, their evidence is you had some beef with your ex wife, and a couple of run ins, and probably sour about child support, which everybody is, so that really doesn't count, because everybody's sour about child support, even when you agree to pay it.

Yeah. That's pretty crazy. Yeah.

In the search for answers surrounding Tammy's murder, there are several motives and circumstances that cast doubt on Farrell's conviction. It seems that Tammy had a history of drug use, and on the night of the murder, she was reportedly looking for drugs. Witnesses testified that she was involved with individuals who were also seeking drugs that evening. Farrell recalls a conversation where he was told by Angie McDowell that she heard Delbert Smith and Dave Lewis talking about taking care of Tammy because she owed them money. However, despite having this information, they never called Angie to testify, and her deposition was never presented to the jury or the judge.

Farrell believes that these individuals were all part of a plot to frame him. Furthermore, the only evidence presented at the trial was the sighting of a vehicle resembling Farrell's near the murder scene. However, even this testimony is questionable, as Farrell's wife claims that the witness changed her story under the influence of the prosecutor in order to secure her daughter's release from jail.

It appears that leveraging jail time played a role in coercing testimonies against Farrell. As we delve deeper into the details surrounding Tammy's tragic murder and Farrell's conviction, it becomes clear that the evidence presented against him is far from conclusive. The motives attributed to Farrell seems weak, and the witnesses testimonies are riddled with inconsistencies and potential coercion.

The trial's reliance on circumstantial evidence and the lack of robust defense representation raises serious doubts about the fairness of the proceedings. After the break, Farrell's message for his daughter.

You've already exhausted all your appeals, right? Yes, I have a guy that, matter of fact, he's my wife's cousin, was in here, might have still locked up in prison, but he should be getting out in October, and he's been locked up about 50 years, and he was my paralegal in here for the last, I don't know, six, seven years, working my case.

Yeah. And he's this paralegal, he said, man, they screwed you around, you shouldn't even be here. I said, I know, it's Melvin Leroy Tyler, and he's pretty sharp on this stuff, but... Yeah. He's exhausted everything they evidentiary hearing. Which I had another public defender, which didn't do anything, just absolutely threw me under the bus.

Yeah, I read that you also exhausted your 2915 with ineffective assistance of counsel, which... Yeah. But to me it just, the evidence is not there, but I think, I don't know, I think fighting the evidence through appeal is a lot more difficult than the 2915.

In the end, Farrell finds himself in a heartbreaking situation. He has exhausted all his appeals and has reached a dead end in his fight for justice. His paralegal, who has been supporting him tirelessly, acknowledges the injustice and expresses his disbelief that Farrell should even be behind bars. As our call came to a conclusion, I wanted to let Farrell have the last words.

Now in his 80s, not only is he missing his own children, but also his grandchildren. Moreover, I felt compelled to give Farrell an opportunity to convey a message to his daughter. A poignant moment for a father unjustly separated from his child. It is a chance for Farrell to express his love, his pain, and his unwavering belief in his own innocence.

So, at this point that we're at now, and I know this sounds harsh, but you're gonna die in prison. That's what I'm afraid of. For something I didn't do. How does that make you feel? It hurts my heart man, I got two grandsons out there one's 10, one's 11. I got my wife, she just turned 60. I got my son who's 33 years old. I'd love to see my daughter again, and be with her and explain to her a little bit and make her listen to my side of the story, but I just don't think it's possible to do that. So... I let her know that I did not kill her mom. I would never do that, just take her mother away from her. I've given you a platform to explain your side. So now, what would you like to say to your daughter besides the case? Besides that case, man, I love her and I miss her, I miss her bad man I always have and I love her and always will and its too bad this happened I just wished to god this hadn't happened and we could have had our correspondence all through the years. I know she's got kids too that I'll never see too. I want to see them. If she heard this, would you give her permission to reach out to you? Oh man. Sure. Like you bet I would. If she would. I would love to. I hope that she does. I've talked to a lot of people doing this podcast that are in there for murder.

Some say they're not guilty, some say they are, but I think that I can so far, I'm sure there's gonna be one I run across that is not remorseful. But even the people that have committed murder, they're all remorseful. They all are sorry for what they did. Yeah. So whether you did this or didn't do this, I feel like it would be good for your heart and for her heart to be able to connect before you pass through this world Yes, I think so too. I really do and I hope it can happen. I hope she will talk to me or Correspond with me somewhere another little bit. I think she'll hear this. I really do. Okay. So Farrell I appreciate you opening up to me.

I'm sorry about the unfortunate event. Yes There really isn't a whole lot of evidence here. Of course, this is a podcast. It's not court. So there's, I'm sure there's a lot that goes into it, but maybe you'll find some peace while you're in there and then hopefully your daughter reaches out to you. Okay, buddy?

I hope so too. Thank you very much. It's good talking to you okay? You too. Okay, see you bye. Bye-bye. The caller has hung up.

On the next episode of Voices of a Killer. Amanda Bennett was sentenced to life in prison today for her role in the murder of Kaytlin Root. Since I am a psychopath, he's giving me the maximum sentence possible, which is life imprisonment. You guys had actually reached out to several people on Facebook Messenger and whoever answered, y'all were gonna kill them.

Part of the deal was that he had to kill a certain amount of people a year or something to continue his deals or something like that. It had to have killed her brainwaves because she wasn't like humanly functional after that. She was more just bodily functional after that. My heart just broke because my grandma said I deserved to die.

That's a wrap on this episode of Voices of a Killer. I want to thank Farrell for sharing his story with us today. His ability to be open and honest is what makes this podcast so special. If you would like to listen to the raw recordings on these interviews, you can visit patreon.com/voicesofakiller.

By becoming a patron, you can access not only this, but hours of bonus recordings, correspondence, and you can contribute to the way the show is produced.

A big shout out to Sonic Futures who handled the production, audio editing, music licensing, and promotion of this podcast. If you want to hear more episodes like this one, make sure to visit our website at voicesofakiller.

com. There you can find previous episodes, transcripts, and additional information about the podcast. Lastly, if you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving us a review on Spotify, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Your feedback helps us improve and reach new listeners. Thank you for your support, and we can't wait to share more stories with you in the future.

Thank you for tuning in. I'm your host Toby, and we'll see you next time on Voices of a Killer.