Review – Bone Deep: Untangling the Betsy Faria Murder Case

Posted February 22, 2022 by Carole in Reviews / 7 Comments

I received this book for free from the publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Review – Bone Deep: Untangling the Betsy Faria Murder CaseBone Deep by Charles Henry Bosworth, Joel Schwartz
Published by Kensington Publishing Corporation on February 22, 2022
Genres: True Crime / Murder / General
Pages: 384
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
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four-stars

The explosive, first-ever insider's account of the case that's captivated millions - the murder of Betsy Faria and the wrongful conviction of her husband - told by Joel J. Schwartz, the defense attorney who fought for justice on behalf of Russel Faria, and New York Times bestselling author Charles Bosworth Jr.

Two days after Christmas, 2011, Russel Faria returned to his Troy, Missouri home to find his wife, Betsy, dead, a knife still lodged in her neck. She had been stabbed fifty-five times in a brutal murder that would set off a chain of events leading to one man's wrongful conviction and imprisonment, another man's death, the revelation of a diabolical scheme, and an astounding miscarriage of justice left unresolved for another ten years.

First responders concluded that Betsy was dead for hours when Russ discovered her. No blood was found implicating Russ, and surveillance video, receipts, and friends' testimony all supported his alibi. Yet incredibly, police and the prosecuting attorney ignored the evidence. In their minds, Russ was guilty. But prominent defense attorney Joel J. Schwartz quickly recognized the real killer.

The motive was clear. Days before her murder, the terminally ill Betsy replaced her husband with her friend, Pamela Hupp, as her life insurance beneficiary. Still, despite the prosecution's flimsy case and Hupp's transparent lies, Russ was convicted--leaving Hupp free to kill again.

Bone Deep takes readers through the perfect storm of miscalculations and missteps that led to an innocent man's conviction--and recounts Schwartz's successful battle to have that conviction overturned. Written with Russ Faria's cooperation, and filled with chilling new revelations and previously undisclosed evidence, this is the story of what can happen when police, prosecutor, judge, and jury all fail in their duty to protect the innocent--and let a killer get away with murder.

I found this book to be interesting. I live in St. Louis and this case happened locally. It was covered very heavily by the local news stations and it is such a strange case that I was eager to read a more in-depth look at what really happened. This is definitely one case that is stranger than anything you could make up. I do feel like I have a much better understanding of the case after reading this book.

I am not going to rehash all of the details of the case but it is rather sad. After finding his wife dead, Russell Faria was suspected and eventually convicted of her murder. This is despite the fact that the last person to see her alive was the same woman who had just become the beneficiary of her life insurance policy. At the second trial, he was found not guilty only to have the same woman attempt to frame him for a second murder. It is really amazing what Pam Hupp was almost able to get away with.

I knew a lot about the case going into the book since I have seen quite a lot of the coverage so the book started out rather dry for me since it was rehashing things I already knew for the most part. Things did get more interesting as the book progressed and I did learn a lot of things that I didn’t know before picking up the book. I do want to mention that one of the co-authors is actually Russ Faria’s defense attorney. I think that is important not only because he had a lot of knowledge about the case from an insider’s point of view very early on but also because of the possibility of some bias in the narrative.

I would recommend this book to others. I found this to be an eye-opening account of a case that I wanted to know a bit more about. I am glad I decided to give this book a try.

I received a digital review copy of this book from Kensington Books via NetGalley.

7 responses to “Review – Bone Deep: Untangling the Betsy Faria Murder Case

  1. My friend who likes True Crime would enjoy this one. I get more interested when books cover local cases, too. Wow, that Hupp gal sounds like something else.

  2. I’ve watched a few crime shows on this case and it is crazy! I need to pick up this book. It sounds like an interesting read.

  3. It’s always so fascinating to read a story that delivers into actual events that you were close to and was located in your area. I am so thrilled that you had a good time with this one here.

    Great review Carole!!

  4. This sounds fascinating. I’ve heard about the case on something like Dateline before. It’s just crazy. And I think there’s a mini series coming out soon about Pam.

    Lauren

  5. Wow, I don’t know why they wouldn’t have suspected Hupp being that she became the beneficiary of a life insurance policy just days before Betsy’s murder. I’m not familiar with this case, but that seems like a red flag to me. Maybe the husband was cheating, though? I love Forensic Files, Dateline and other types of shows that detail the events of true crime. I’ll have to look this one up.