Southeast
Murdered attorney's wife blamed son who found remains in burn pit before suspicions led to her
The wife of a prominent Georgia attorney was found guilty of his murder this week, more than six years after her husband’s body was discovered in a burn pit.
On Monday, Melody Farris was found guilty of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, concealing the death of another and making a false statement, the Cherokee County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement.
The mother of four showed no emotion as the verdict was read in Gary Farris’ killing, Fox 5 Atlanta reported.
“I’ve seen my mother cry hundreds of times throughout my life, and it appeared to me to be fake,” her son, Scott Farris, told jurors, according to the Tribune Ledger News.
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Prosecutors argued Farris was the only person with a motive and the opportunity to kill her husband, noting she was the beneficiary of his $2 million life insurance policy.
According to the Tribune Ledger, they showed the jury that there had been a trail of blood in the couple’s home that spanned from their kitchen, down a set of stairs to the ground level.
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Farris’ attorneys tried to pin the crime on her son, Scott Farris, who discovered his father’s burned body in a pile of ashes on their 10-acre Purcell Lane property in Alpharetta.
They noted that Farris’ son was the only person in their household who owned .38-caliber ammunition, Fox 5 reported, and questioned how the 130-pound woman could have moved her husband’s 300-pound body onto the burn pile alone.
But the younger Farris denied killing his father or helping to dispose of his body.
Originally, investigators believed Gary Farris had a medical emergency, fell into the fire and died, according to the Tribune Ledger. But a bullet lodged in one of his rib bones launched a homicide investigation.
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The younger Farris testified in court that his mother only showed emotion when police told them that the remains found in the pit were human, Fox 5 Atlanta reported.
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Although Farris was married to her husband for more than three decades, prosecutors argued that they had marital issues regarding finances around the time of the killing.
It was also revealed in testimony that Farris had an affair with another man in 2009. The defendant’s daughter, Emily Farris, said her parents’ relationship never fully recovered despite her father’s attempts to reconcile.
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Farris initially told investigators she never had an affair. However, she changed her statement to say she had ended an extramarital relationship with a different man in 2017, People reported.
Farris was removed from joint bank accounts after the affair, the daughter testified, but she still had financial control and influence over family decisions.
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A sentencing hearing has been scheduled for December, according to Fox 5.
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Southeast
Nanny accomplice in suburban double murder seen in police footage after killings
Juliana Peres Magalhães, the nanny for a suburban Virginia family who pleaded guilty to manslaughter last month in a double homicide case, can be seen hyperventilating in new police body camera footage from the Fairfax County Police Department.
Magalhães, a Brazilian national, apparently fell in love with her employer, former IRS agent Brendan Banfield, and the pair have been accused of staging a complex plot to murder Banfield’s wife, Christine Banfield, the mother of his 4-year-old daughter, in February 2023.
A man named Joe Ryan was also killed as part of the alleged scheme after prosecutors say he was contacted on a sexual fetish website and lured to the Banfields’ home with the promise of sex.
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“He started stabbing her,” Magalhães told police in the February 2023 video, referring to Ryan. “I think Brendan shot him, and he asked me [for] help shooting him. … I never saw him before.”
She was 22 when police initially arrested her in October 2023, about eight months after the killings, when authorities charged her with aggravated murder and use of a gun in commission of a felony.
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At the time of her arrest, she had moved into the main bedroom of the Banfields’ Herndon home, with a photo of herself and Brendan together on a nightstand beside the bed, according to authorities.
Fairfax County Police arrested Banfield, a 39-year-old IRS employee, in September, more than a year after the murders. He is charged with four counts of aggravated murder and use of a gun in the commission of a felony.
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Banfield faces a potential life prison sentence for the alleged crimes, while Magalhães faces a maximum sentence of 10 years for the manslaughter charge, according to FOX 5.
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When police responded to a 911 call from the Banfield residence Feb. 24, 2023, they found Christine with stab wounds to the neck and Ryan with fatal gunshot wounds in the upstairs bedroom of the home. Authorities took Christine to the hospital, where she was later pronounced dead.
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Officials recovered a knife and two guns from the house.
It remains unclear exactly what transpired inside the home that Friday morning, but Magalhães and Brendan apparently both admitted to shooting Ryan while the man was holding a knife to Christine.
Viviane Magalhães, Juliana’s stepmother, told The Associated Press she hopes her stepdaughter can return home to Brazil soon.
“We still can’t figure this out. I believe she was fooled by this guy. He brainwashed her,” Viviane Magalhães told the AP in Portuguese, referring to Banfield. “She was never a gold digger in Brazil. For many years, she dated a man who was as humble as she was. We could never think of her living a situation like this.”
Banfield is no longer employed by the IRS.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Southeast
FEMA official fired for directing hurricane relief away from Trump supporters' homes
A Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) official who instructed Hurricane Milton relief workers to skip homes with Trump signs has been fired from her role, a FEMA spokesperson tells Fox News, while Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is investigating the federal agency over the controversy.
The FEMA official, who has not been named by the agency, instructed workers canvassing Lake Placid in Florida to “avoid homes advertising Trump,” as they ascertained what residents could qualify for federal aid, according to internal messages first obtained by the Daily Wire.
The Daily Wire reports that government employees told the outlet that at least 20 homes with Trump signs or flags were bypassed from the end of October and into November due to the “best practices” guidance from the official. The houses were skipped over by the workers, who wrote messages such as: “Trump sign no entry per leadership,” in a government system, per the outlet.
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On Saturday, FEMA’s administrator on employee misconduct, Deanne Criswell, confirmed to Fox News Digital that the employee had been fired, calling her actions “reprehensible” and a clear violation of FEMA’s core values and principles to help people regardless of their political affiliation.
“We take our mission to help everyone before, during and after disasters seriously. This employee has been terminated and we have referred the matter to the Office of Special Counsel,” Criswell said. “I will continue to do everything I can to make sure this never happens again.”
A FEMA spokesperson told Fox News Friday that it is “deeply disturbed” by the employee’s actions and that it is an “isolated incident.”
“FEMA helps all survivors regardless of their political preference or affiliation,” the spokesperson said via a statement.
“The employee who issued this guidance had no authority and was given no direction to tell teams to avoid these homes and we are reaching out to the people who may have not been reached as a result of this incident,” the spokesperson said, adding that the agency has helped more than 365,000 households impacted by both Hurricanes Helene and Milton in Florida and provided nearly $900 million in direct assistance to survivors.”
“We are horrified that this took place and therefore have taken extreme actions to correct this situation and have ensured that the matter was addressed at all levels.”
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The FEMA agents were ordered not to help houses with Trump signs in Highlands County, a deep-red area located in south central Florida that was hit with tornadoes, torrential rain and flooding when the Category 3 Hurricane slammed into The Sunshine State in October. President-elect Trump won nearly 70% of the vote there on Tuesday.
DeSantis slammed the federal agency Friday after learning about the official’s actions and announced his administration will investigate FEMA over the incident.
“The blatant weaponization of government by partisan activists in the federal bureaucracy is yet another reason why the Biden-Harris administration is in its final days,” DeSantis wrote on X.
“At my direction, the Division of Emergency Management is launching an investigation into the federal government’s targeted discrimination of Floridians who support Donald Trump. New leadership is on the way to D.C., and I’m optimistic that these partisan bureaucrats will be fired.”
U.S. House Oversight Committee and Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., also took aim at the agency, in particular for not firing the official.
He said it comes despite the IRS trying to force whistleblower Gary Shapley out of that agency. Shapley, an IRS supervisory special agent, brought claims of political influence in the Hunter Biden investigation to Congress, along with Joseph Ziegler, IRS criminal investigator.
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“FEMA hasn’t fired this person… But the IRS has been trying to force IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley out for blowing the whistle! We must hold these unelected bureaucrats accountable,” Comer wrote on X.
“FEMA admits this happened but doesn’t say if the bureaucrat responsible has been fired,” the House Oversight Committee wrote on X. “Democrats relentlessly defend the rules that insulate unelected bureaucrats from accountability and make it nearly impossible to fire bad employees. This is why we need President Trump’s reforms to make bureaucrats accountable.”
Donald Trump Jr., the president-elect’s son, also blasted the agency.
“This is outrageous even for the democrats in charge and should be criminal,” Trump Jr wrote on X. “These people should be ousted from FEMA, Government and society! A full investigation is in order!”
Fox News’ Madison Scarpino contributed to this report
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Southeast
Democratic Rep. Jared Moskowitz says police informed him of possible murder plot against him
Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., said in a statement that the Margate Police Department informed him about a possible plot to kill him.
The congressman, who won re-election this week, said authorities informed him of the news a day ahead of the election.
“The day before the election, I was notified by the Margate Police Department, located in my Congressional District, about a potential plot on my life. The individual in question was arrested not far from my home; he is a former felon who was in possession of a rifle, a suppressor, and body armor,” Moskowitz said in the statement.
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“Found with him was a manifesto that, among other things, included antisemitic rhetoric and only my name on the ‘target’ list. There are many other details that I will not disclose as I do not want to interfere with an ongoing investigation,” the lawmaker noted.
“This is outrageous,” Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., tweeted in response to Moskowitz’s statement about the potential plot. “Nobody should hurt Jared!”
Fox News Digital reached out to the Margate Police Department regarding the potential murder plot against Moskowitz, and Maj. Alain Banatte provided a press release that discusses the arrest of 41-year-old John Lapinski.
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“On November 2, 2024, the Margate Police Department conducted an investigation that resulted in the arrest of John Lapinski, DOB 07/23/83, a resident of Margate, for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and other firearms related charges,” the release noted.
“During the investigation, our detectives located several firearms and evidence that indicated he may have been planning some type of criminal act,” the press release continued. “The Margate Police Department contacted the Broward Sheriff’s Office (BSO), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to assist with the investigation.
“Since this investigation is still active and ongoing the Margate Police Department will not be providing further comment. The ATF is currently the lead agency for this investigation,” the press release concluded.
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Moskowitz congratulated Susie Wiles in response to the news that President-elect Donald Trump had picked her as his chief of staff.
“Congrats to @susie57!” he tweeted. “I worked with Susie in the DeSantis Administration. She is brilliant, tough, strategic. She will serve the country well.”
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