Inspiration for hit TV miniseries has murder charges refiled against her to get trial moved closer to scene of crime

Pamela Hupp new trial

FILE – Pamela Hupp is escorted into the courtroom for a hearing at the Lincoln County Justice Center, Tuesday, July 27, 2021, in Troy, Mo. A Missouri prosecutor, on Friday, Oct. 27, 2023, dropped and refiled the murder case of Hupp, a killing that inspired a TV miniseries. Lincoln County Prosecuting Attorney Mike Wood charged Hupp with first-degree murder in July 2021, accusing her of killing her friend, Betsy Faria, a decade earlier. (Christian Gooden/St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP)

A Missouri prosecutor has dropped and refiled murder charges against Pamela Hupp in a case so wild it was developed into a TV miniseries starring Renée Zellweger.

Lincoln County Prosecuting Attorney Mike Wood said in a press release sent to local media outlets that he dropped the case only to quickly refile charges in hopes the trial could be moved closer to the St. Louis region. Lincoln County is about 60 miles northwest of St. Louis. The trial had been moved to Springfield, about four hours from Lincoln County, because of all the publicity.

“I agree that a change of venue from Lincoln County – the scene of the crimes – is still appropriate. However, as my office has continued its in-depth planning to conduct what we estimate will be a month-long trial, it is more and more apparent that the physical distance between the scene of the crimes and Greene County will cause cumbersome and inefficient delivery of justice,” the press release said.

Hupp, 65, is accused of stabbing her friend Elizabeth “Betsy” Faria 55 times on Dec. 27, 2011. Faria’s husband, Russell Faria, was originally charged and convicted of murder but was acquitted in a 2015 retrial. Wood charged Hupp with murder in 2021. The motive, prosecutors allege, was financial: Hupp had allegedly convinced Betsy Faria to make her the beneficiary of a $150,000 life insurance policy days before the murder. Hupp had repeatedly stabbed the victim in order to make it look like a crime of passion which is what led to Russell Faria’s conviction, prosecutors said.

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