In Dallas, Texas’s Oak Cliff area, neighbors rushed onto their calm street in October 2020 after American Airlines director Jamie Faith was shot to death. Several doorbell cameras, including one at Emery Wilson’s house, recorded the ensuing commotion.
“I walked to the end of my walkway, and I saw what looked like feet and a body laying in a street,” Wilson said. “But as I started running that way, the killer appeared in the walkway. He was in a mask and a hoodie. I didn’t get a chance to see his face, ‘cause I see him with a gun in his hand and ran back in the house.”
Wilson claims that after returning inside to get his rifle, he immediately ran back outside. The morning walk with their dog had just begun for Jamie Faith and his wife Jennifer. A shooter showed up shortly after they walked out of their front door, shot Jamie seven times, duct-taped Jennifer’s hands, tried to take her rings, and then fled in a black pickup truck.
Investigators concluded that the death wasn’t just a random homicide or robbery because of how brutal it was. Who would have a reason to assassinate the man who was so adored, though, wondered many who knew Jamie?
The mystery surrounding the case is explored in a new “20/20,” which will premiere on Friday, Sept. 29 at 9:00 p.m. ET. It will feature interviews with law enforcement, journalists, and those close to the Faiths. “I have not been involved in a case that had more twists and turns than this particular case,” federal prosecutor Rick Calvert said.
The friends of the marriage rallied around Jennifer and her daughter Amber when detectives started looking into Jamie Faith’s death. Jennifer had a GoFundMe set up, and more than $60,000 was raised. For months, neighbors prepared meals for Jennifer and Amber alternately.
Jennifer Faith appeared on local television, two months after Jamie’s m*rder, and begged viewers to keep an eye out for a pickup truck with a “T” emblem on the window, as shown in a blurry photo of the fleeing car.
However, despite the fact that Jennifer pretended to be a distraught widow and claimed to not know who ki!!ed her husband, investigators’ text conversations show that she was aware of the m*rderer.
Police in Tennessee detained a man by the name of Darrin Lopez in January 2021. To the surprise of Jennifer’s friends, Lopez was her prom date and high school sweetheart. Friends recall being horrified to find that Lopez had been taking part in a group chat where Jennifer would inform them of the investigation’s progress.
US Attorney N. Texas shared a post on Twitter about prosecutors introducing into evidence a video of Ms. Faith:
At her sentencing hearing, prosecutors introduced into evidence a video of Ms. Faith describing the killing to a @DallasPD homicide detective the morning of her husband’s death. pic.twitter.com/C8lO6p8VsQ
— US Attorney N. Texas (@NDTXnews) June 21, 2022
Lopez was a retired Green Beret who served three tours in Iraq and sustained a catastrophic brain injury. He had also recently divorced his wife. He had three daughters and two stepdaughters, and he resided in Cumberland Furnace, Tennessee.
Lopez and Jennifer Faith had reunited online during the start of the outbreak, according to the investigators. After Lopez sent Jennifer her first email, the two started expressing their love and interacting frequently. According to authorities, they sent and received up to 500 messages and emails daily on average. They secretly had sporadic conversations and even began discussing their future as a couple.
With the exception of texting a close friend to let her know she was having a passionate emotional affair, Jennifer kept this a secret from the majority of her pals. Things between the two appeared to be blissful for weeks, but then Jennifer started alleging that Jamie had been abusive to her.
Then, Lopez started getting emails from Jamie that he initially took to be threats, in which Jamie claimed to know about the affair and threatened to physically and s*xually harm his wife if Lopez didn’t leave his wife alone. Jennifer said that several of these emails contained pictures of injuries she claimed were caused by the alleged abuse.
Lopez advised Jennifer to call the police, but she refused, stating that she didn’t want their kid to see her father’s arrest. Lopez started writing Rob, who he thought was Jennifer’s friend and who she claimed was aware of the abuse, at Jennifer’s suggestion to see if there was anything they could do to assist her.
The claimed abuse appeared to halt for a while.
After that, Rob sent Lopez an email informing him that Jamie was being abused once more and that it was becoming worse. According to court records, Jennifer told Lopez over the phone that the only way she would be secure was if Jamie perished. The two then allegedly came up with their strategy.
Lopez traveled from Tennessee to Texas by automobile on October 8, 2020, to execute Jamie’s m*rder. Lopez hopped in his car and headed back home after the shooting.
Jennifer gave her permission for her phone to be searched on the day of the m*rder. Authorities discovered the text she sent to her friend telling her about Lopez even though she had deleted all of her correspondence with Lopez. Jennifer was unaware at the time that Lopez’s complete name and address had been discovered by investigators in her phone.
In a quick search of Lopez’s property, the police discovered a black Nissan Titan pickup vehicle with a “T” sticker. Lopez’s phone and bank data were retrieved by the investigators, who used them to piece together Lopez’s pre-mu*der activities. Authorities were able to locate Lopez at the crime scene by mapping his route to Texas using his cell phone and financial information.
Jennifer texted Lopez to beg him to remove the “T” sticker from his truck after going on the news to draw attention to the situation. He texted Jennifer a few days later, “Sticker done.” Federal officials in the meantime acquired surveillance pictures of the truck without the “T” emblem. During a traffic check on January 11, 2021, Lopez was taken into custody and accused of ki!!ing Jamie.
The m*rder weapon was discovered by investigators while searching Lopez’s house. Additionally, they secured a search warrant for his phone, which had months’ worth of correspondence with Jennifer that revealed their m*rderous scheme.
About a month later, Jennifer was taken into custody. Justice obstruction was the initial accusation against her. The allegations against Jennifer described her deceit and deception, shocking Jennifer’s pals. A few months later, Jennifer was indicted on federal accusations of m*rder for hire when her charges were enhanced.
Investigators discovered Jennifer had used phony email accounts to pretend to be her husband and friend Rob in emails to Lopez, which revealed her involvement as the mastermind behind the m*rder plot in a startling turn of events.
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Investigators concluded that Jennifer made up every single accusation of abuse made against Jamie, including the images she gave to Lopez. Investigators found that some of them resulted from a car accident she had been in years before, not from abuse. One of the injury pictures, according to Jennifer, was a stock photo from the internet.
Jennifer Faith accepted a plea agreement in order to avoid the death penalty and received a life sentence.
For m*rder, Darrin Lopez entered a not-guilty plea. In July 2023, his case went to trial. On the witness stand, Lopez described the agony and pain he felt after realizing he had ki!!ed an innocent man and expressed his sincere belief that he had ki!!ed the victim to protect Jennifer. Lopez was found guilty by the jury following a week-long trial, and he was given a 62-year prison term. Lopez is contesting his verdict.
Jamie and Jennifer Faith’s friends are still processing what happened as they continue to grieve Jamie’s passing. “Not having Jamie in our group of friends, it definitely left a hole. It left a hole. I just miss my friend,” Jamie’s friend Chad Van Ness said.