You're Gonna Hang Me

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And if it's not, it's still not worth it. Yet, start in alfanta.com. She said, Gary is in the barn pile. I didn't know she said he is in the barn pile.

He's in the barn pile. When Melody Ferris' lover, Rusty Barton said those five words to detectives,

he blew the investigation wide open.

Rusty claimed Melody told him that key phrase "The night her husband Gary Ferris was killed." Here's Detective Daniel Hayes. Rusty claimed that his response to her was, "Don't tell me nothing else."

Now Rusty eventually recants this story, correct? It does, but he waits almost a year to do it. He does? Back on July 24, 2018, Rusty had agreed to secretly record his calls with Melody. But detectives discovered Rusty shared that secret with Melody,

tipping her off. They had continued seeing each other for almost a year after Gary was murdered,

and Rusty was with her when she turned herself in.

When we arrested her, she was actually up in Tennessee spending time with him. When you Rusty was still with her and spending time with her, so we went back up to interview him and asked when he told us he was, "Oh, by the way, I was wrong. She told me this in person. A few days passed that.

I was wrong." After her arrest, Rusty took back his dramatic story. He now told investigators that Melody said those words after Gary's murder investigation had started. But during that year, they had talked many times together.

Every day, two people who were in love with each other and planning a life. "Yes, they were planning a life together." ♪♪

“Could Melody have influenced Rusty to change his tune?”

Whatever the case, detective Hayes was sure. Melody was Gary's killer. She was all a person ahead of motive. A motive was a big part of this case. According to detective Hayes, Melody stood to inherit millions,

but aside from family accusations and Rusty's original story, what evidence made detective so sure. And just how did a petite woman like Melody moved Gary Ferris's 300-pound body from their home to the burn pile, some 50 yards away.

I'm Peter Vansant. From 48 hours, this is blood is thicker, the Ferris wheel. Episode 5, you're gonna hang me. ♪♪ Peter, I want to show you some evidence.

All right? Let's go take a look. Where are we? What is this lot back here? Uh, this is part of the Sheriff's Office evidence unit. This is our outside impact lot where we store, you know, large pieces of equipment or vehicles.

Back in 2024, detective Daniel Hayes walked me out to the Cherokee County impound lot where they keep seized property held as evidence for investigations. Right over here, Peter, this is what we're looking at. These two vehicles. Hayes led me toward a small orange tractor

and a red two-seat RTV, rough terrain vehicle. Their two vehicles used on the Ferris family farm. These are the two vehicles that four years people have wondered what was one of these used to move Gary Ferris's body to that burn pile.

“That's correct. And what did you learn when your forensic people took a look at these two vehicles?”

When they took a look at them, they found evidence of blood on both of them. He pointed to where they found the speck of blood they tested. Investigators got a match. It was Gary Ferris's blood. So what does that suggest to you? It tells me that Gary was bleeding and his honor around the tractor.

Then we checked out the RTV. And where was the blood found on this view? On the RTV we found blood in several spots. There was blood found on the shifter, evidence of blood on the tailgate in the back. Now that's intriguing. Blood in two different places was this Gary's blood.

Detective Hayes said they never tested the blood on the tailgate.

He explained that even the sheriff's office has a tight budget. And those tests and the products needed to do them can be expensive.

“But was there any evidence that Melody used the RTV to move Gary's body?”

This family has utilized both of those machines to move dead horses. Pull stumps out of the ground. So anyone who's been on the property that saw new the capabilities of these machines. And she could handle both of these. She knew how to use the machinery both of these machines. She could, and she not only did other family members tell us that she has driven and operated both.

She admitted that she drives RTV all the time when Gary's not there and has operated the tractor.

Detective Hayes had a theory that Melody somehow used the tractor and the RTV to lift and move Gary's 300 pound body. How about this RTV? Is this something that would be used to drag a body? Could be. This RTV has a dump bed on the back of it, a bed that you can put things in to all them. It's capable, you know, has very heavy duty front bumper. It's got a rear bumper that you could attach a strap to a tow strap or something.

Now, from what I understand, there is no evidence of tire marks that go from the house to the burn palace. That's correct. That's correct. And no evidence of like something being dragged.

“That's correct across the dirt. So this still remains a mystery, doesn't it?”

It does, but it was days before we got there. So there's plenty of time to rate cover up what area that evidence that could have been there. Hayes also told me other suspicious evidence his team had uncovered, including inside the master bedroom closet. I actually personally located two pairs of shoes. One pair of shoes were interesting because you could see on the bottom where someone had stepped in blood in them. They were smaller size, appeared to be women's shoes.

Detective Hayes concluded they were melody shoes. Hayes then turned his attention to the second suspicious pair.

So I had gloves on. I picked up another pair of shoes. I said, man, these are cold feeling compared to the other ones. And it turns out they were wet, they were freshly laundered. Hayes saw them on a rack and assumed they were left there to dry. It suggests to me that those pair shoes likely had some blood on them or some other evidence. Someone wanted to get off of there.

It could also indicate they got dirty working on the farm. There was one more thing as Detective Hayes looked through the closet. He checked the dirty clothes hamper and pulled out a small shirt he assumed was melodies.

“There appears to be dark blood stains on this shirt and what I believe to be a black almost silly looking stain on it.”

Testing revealed that the blood found on the shirt and shoes was in fact melodies, not her husbands. Detective Hayes later said that he thought the blood could have been from when melody smashed a plate in an argument with Gary or from when she was working on the farm. He wasn't sure. What Detective did know was where everyone in the family was when they believed Gary was murdered and who melody called that night. Clean up is for sure in all of the night.

One of the sheriff's department analysts was able to use the Pharisees' phone records to reconstruct the last moments of Gary's life. And when his body could have been moved to that burn pile. In the time frame the phone moves from the area to the burn pile. [music] The legendary check-out of Shopify is just the shop of your website.

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The Cherokee County Sheriff's Office had been collecting and reviewing phone data for weeks. We had physical phones for Melody Ferris, Gary Ferris, Scott Ferris, Rusty Barton. That's Lindsey Harris, an intelligence analyst with the Sheriff's Office. She took a look through the vast trove of Ferris family texts, calls, emails and searches. She even got the data from Melody's burner phone.

Every device is a little different.

But when you do extract the data, you get a good bit of information. A lot of the contents, a lot of app data, photos, videos, conversations. Harris looked for patterns and if those patterns changed. I'll look at patterns of location.

“Are you in the right place that's normal in your life?”

Are you calling normal people? Are you calling during normal times the day? Are you moving at different times the day that you normally wouldn't? For instance, Harris discovered how Melody's text revealed her changing moods

during the day's leading to Gary's murder.

She's upset about a beach condo that was purchased. And she's very vocal in her messages about that. Chris had asked Gary to help pay for a beach vacation. Melody texted both of her daughters about it on July 2nd, 2018. She says I got Gary's phone.

This shows us she has the ability to physically look at his phone and read messages and find out information.

“And she's not happy about it. She says she's beyond furious.”

And she talks here with Amanda about how Scott left this morning and eight. And he's gone to play golf again and help me God. She's upset about Scott's whereabouts and his activities. And again, it's all about he refuses to help. This is my last straw.

I'm taking measures into my own hands. Harris then analyzed the data from July 3rd. The last day Gary was seen alive. Two of the grandkids had asked Melody if they could spend the night with her. Melody says how about the following night?

And, you know, in totality, she's at home and she stays at home.

“No-world plans on the night of the third.”

And, based upon statements made, she's always willing to have her grandkids of her.

They're in town. There was definitely odd that she did not want the kids over that day. There was also data supporting Chris's story of visiting Gary at the farm with his daughter. He was the last person to speak with Gary on the phone. Oh, this call is a minute and 43 seconds in duration at 351 is the last time anyone spoke to Gary on the phone. And then Gary attempts to call Chris back at 353.

And that is the last proof of life on Gary's device. Phone records then indicate that at 5.16 pm Melody texted Amanda to let her know that Chris and his daughter had left. Investigators believed Melody was now alone on the property with Gary. And immediately at 5.17, Melody begins talking to Rusty on that burner phone, which is not odd in their relationship. They have a lot of phone contact.

But then we get into a little bit of a break of communication on both phones for a period of time. There is nothing for nearly four hours from 5.36 pm to 9.26 pm. Location data showed that Melody's phone stayed at the main house. No outgoing calls or text were sent at that time to anyone. As for Gary's whereabouts?

Gary did have a Android phone, a Google device, and he did have location services turned on. So this is a very precision location of the hand-set itself. It helped us create a timeline for Gary's proof of life. A couple of hours after Melody's phone went silent, data showed Gary's phone leaving the farm at around 8.30. His device moved to the location and appears to be a restaurant.

Harris pointed to a map displaying Gary's movements. So this is leaving the area of that strip mall restaurant and headed back into the area of the home. According to his phone, Gary arrived back home at 9.34 pm. Melody is also an area of the home. Once Gary made it back, Melody didn't contact anyone for about an hour.

It's my belief that the homicide took place between 9.34 pm on July 3 and 2am on July 4th. There's a little more than an hour between the time Gary arrived home, and when Melody called her son Scott to tell him that the horses somehow got out. The call was Scott at 10.52. This, to me, is a Melody asking Scott's whereabouts in order to know when someone else arrived at the farm.

At that moment, Scott was on his way home from the lake.

It does not appear the phone is answered.

“Scott's phone location at this time 11.30 does cover the area of the house.”

And then Melody calls Scott back at 11.34. So between 5.6 pm on July 3rd to 11.30 pm, Gary and Melody are the only two at the farm. With the exception of the time, Gary's device travels to the area of the restaurant. Late that night, Melody was back on the phone with Rusty.

Records show there were three separate calls. Lindsay discovered something fascinating. So from January 2018 to July 5th 2018, Melody and Rusty made contact 3,478 times on the phone.

Only one of these 3,478 ever took place after midnight and that was on July 4th 2018.

This is the call between Rusty and Melody around 2.30 in the morning on July 4th. That same one Rusty told police about in the days after the killing. But theory could be they're discussing. They're coming up with a plan. He's helping her through it.

“Could he be telling her how to maneuver farm equipment?”

Could he be giving her advice? Could he be helping her through it? Mentally, we don't know. Meanwhile, the data showed that Gary's phone was still inside the main house until the next morning. The phone does begin to move.

The records investigators collected had Scott calling Melody at 6.12 that morning. Telling her that he was going to come to the main house to grab the debit card. By 6.21 AM, Scott was using the Wells Fargo ATM to take cash out to go golfing. Lindsay Harris said that Gary's phone data showed the device moved after Scott had left the property. Melody was now alone.

Detective's believe she is the only person who could have been carrying Gary's cell phone.

“The device moves from the area of the home to an area of the burn pile.”

But then, more than an hour later, the phone moved again away from the burn pile. By 9.05 AM, Gary's phone is in the area of the home. Harris' explanation for that? Someone must be moving it. I'm Anna Garcia, host of True Prom News the podcast.

Every week, we bring you in-depth coverage on cases making headlines as well as those that go under the radar. Tune in for murders that defy explanation, mystery, seeking exploration and shocking secrets that will leave you breathless. Each week, we honor the victims by going beyond the salacious in our search for justice.

Crime never stops, and neither do we.

Listen to True Crime News available now on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. Let's take a moment and add this all up. Outside the main house, there was blood evidence tying Melody and Gary to the tractor in the RTV. Balls to ring the theory that Melody used those vehicles to move her husband's body. And there was the cell phone data, including how Gary's phone moved the morning of July 4th.

When Melody was the only other person home. Earlier that morning, and the night before, Melody had also made several calls to her lover Rusty. She also called her son Scott after a long period where her phone was completely inactive. Nearly 12 months later, on June 18th, 2019, Melody Ferris was arrested. She was charged with murder with malice, felony murder, aggravated assault, concealing a death, and making false statements.

I didn't do this. I would promise you, oh my life, I didn't do it. After Melody's arrest, Rusty recanted his damning burn pile story. That reversal could have helped Melody. This is a pre-paid call from an innate at the correctional facility. But she still wasn't happy.

You are? No. Well, you know, back a long time ago, I said, stop talking. Right. I haven't done anything.

I know that, Norman. It's somehow the other.

I have not said anything other than, but one time, and I had retracted that.

“And they failed to tell that retracted, I haven't said anything else.”

Because there was nothing else to say that wasn't even that decision. Melody seemingly knew how damning Rusty's original statement could be. You heard her warning. Your single-handedly going to hang me. She asked for reassurance that he wasn't going to switch sides again.

I'm making sure that you understand it.

I didn't think that there's nothing.

You didn't do anything wrong. I haven't done anything wrong. But there's nothing wrong with us talking. I understand that. After a little more than five minutes,

the two lovers now separated by jailhouse bars and did their call. The years-long romance between Rusty and Melody combined with her failed marriage with Gary,

morphed into what detective Hayes considered her likely motive.

“Killing was the only way that Melody could profit.”

Through the investigation we determined that she was the beneficiary of everything. Through marriage, she's entitled to everything. As long as if Gary's dead and she's alive, it's all hers. Hayes also thinks that breaking point for Melody may have been all that money that Gary was giving the kids. We talked about it during a ride along.

She was angry at all the children except for Amanda because they were taking money from Gary, which was her money. And she knew that her bank account was diminishing away because of them. She knew once Gary was gone, the money stopped coming in. Is there any evidence detective that Gary had said to her something like, "We're done. I'm going to end this marriage once and for all."

There were some text messages between them where he had addressed her spending and told her he was taking action to make it stop. But you believe that Gary had made a decision in this marriage that he was going to cut his wife off from his funds completely isolated. So she would not have access. I do believe that he had already taken action to cut her off.

And so in her mind then she's thinking to herself, "I'm not going to have access to this money. And I have to kill him so that I can maintain it. I can take over these funds." Gary was what was standing in her way between her and the money and her and her life in Rusty. Murder would have left Melody with the best of both worlds.

“And do you believe that she and Rusty were planning on getting married perhaps?”

Absolutely. When we spoke with Rusty and he let us have his phone and we found where he was searching wedding bands recently. Now Melody told us, "No, we were going to get married, but do you think she's telling the truth?" No, I don't think she's telling the truth. I don't think she's telling the truth. I don't think she's telling the truth. The entire time. Even if Melody and Rusty were planning to take the inheritance and start a new life, the data showed Rusty was not on the ground with Melody. The day Gary was murdered.

His location data proved he was in Tennessee. Melody pleaded not guilty. She now had to decide if she wanted to testify in her own defense and watch as her family secrets were shared with the world. The most heart-wrenching gut-wrenching thing I had ever set for my entire life. From 40-hours, this is Bloodest Thicker, the Ferris Wheel produced by Sony Music Entertainment. I'm your host, Peter Vansat.

Judy Tygard is the Executive Producer of 48 Hours. Original reporting by 48 Hours Producers Betsy Schuler, Ryan Smith, and Hannah Verre. Jamie Benson is the Senior Producer for CBS News Podcast, and Mara Waltz is the Senior Story Editor. Recording assistance from Alan Pang and Alana Myers.

Bloodest Thicker was written and produced by Alex Schumann.

“Stephanie Sorano is our editor. Our Executive Producer is Shera Morris.”

Our Associate Producer is Zoe Culkin. Theme and original music composed by Hans Dale Shee.

Sedrick Wilson is our sound designer and mix the episodes.

We also use music from Epidemic Sounds.

Fendell Fulton is our fact-checker.

“Our production manager is Tamika Balance Colassini.”

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