The wife of a murdered American Airlines executive who went on television pleading for information about her husband’s slaying has been charged by prosecutors with murder-for-hire over his death. The charge carries a potential death penalty in the state of Texas where she lived with her husband in Oak Cliff, close to the headquarters of American Airlines.
Prosecutors described the love triangle murder-for-hire plot as “depraved and calculated” as further court documents detailing the alleged crime were unsealed on Wednesday.
Jennifer Lynne Faith, 49, had already been charged with obstruction of justice following the murder of her husband, American Airlines technology director Jamie Faith, on October 9, 2020. Darrin Ruben Lopez, with whom Ms Faith was having a “full blown” affair with has been charged with his murder.
It is alleged that Lopez drove from his home in Tennessee and laid in wait outside the couple’s home in Dallas until they both left to walk their dog. Prosecutors claim Lopex gunned down Mr Faith outside his own home.
Approaching Mr Faith from behind, Lopez shot him seven times at close range – three times in the head, three times in the torso, and one time in the groin.
It is now alleged that Lopez was convinced to carry out the murder by Ms Faith because he was falsely led to believe that Mr Faith was physically and sexually abusing his wife.
To make her abuse story convincing, Ms Faith allegedly set up two fake email accounts where she assumed the identities of her dead husband and a friend. “She preyed on her boyfriend’s protective instinct and his pocketbook in order to convince him to execute her husband,” commented Acting U.S. Attorney Prerak Shah.
“Jamie Faith’s brutal murder was a tragedy. His death has been a double blow to his family and friends, who had just begun to absorb the news of his murder when they were confronted with evidence of his wife’s alleged involvement,” Shah continued.
During the Spring and Summer of 2020, Ms Faith emailed her boyfriend multiple times pretending to be her husband and taunting Lopez with graphic details of “extreme physical and sexual abuse” that he had falsely dished out on his wife including choking and burning her.
Ms Faith even attached photos of fake injuries to make her story more convincing but prosecutors have found “Absolutely no evidence” of domestic or sexual violence.
Using a second email address, Ms Faith took on the identity of a friend who emailed Lopez pleading with him to help free Ms Faith from the abuse.
“I know I won’t feel better about her situation until she is out of the house away from him or she lets me put a bullet in Jamie’s head,” Lopez responded to one email in May 2020.
Lopez was first linked to the crime because his black Nissan Titan pickup truck which had a distinctive “T” decal on the back window was seen fleeing the scene of the murder. Ms Faith and Lopez later exchanged text messages about getting rid of the truck – an evidence trail that Ms Faith tried to wipe by having a factory reset performed on her cellphone.
Ms Faith allegedly withdrew $58,000 from a GoFundMe account that had been set up to support the family in order to help fund Lopez’s lifestyle, including buying a large-screen television and airline tickets.
She also kept Lopez up to date with the progress of a $629,000 life insurance claim.
If convicted, Ms Faith faces life in federal prison and the possibility of the death penalty. Lopez faces life imprisonment in a state penitentiary if convicted of the murder charge.
There is such thing as divorce. Killing is stupid.