48 Hours - Death After Midnight

Episode Date: October 23, 2016

A Colorado mom of three shot dead in her bedroom.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to this podcast ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app today. Even if you love the thrill of true crime stories as much as I do, there are times when you want to mix it up. And that's where Audible comes in, with all the genres you love and new ones to discover. Explore thousands of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals, with more added all the time. thousands of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals, with more added all the time. Listening to Audible can lead to positive change in your mood, your habits,

and even your overall well-being. And you can enjoy Audible anytime, while doing household chores, exercising, commuting, you name it. There's more to imagine when you listen. Sign up for a free 30-day Audible trial and your first audiobook is free. Visit audible.ca. In 2014, Laura Heavlin was in her home in Tennessee when she received a call from California. Her daughter, Erin Corwin, was missing. The young wife of a Marine had moved to the California desert

to a remote base near Joshua Tree National Park. They have to alert the military. And when they do, the NCIS gets involved. From CBS Studios and CBS News, this is 48 Hours NCIS. Listen to 48 Hours NCIS ad-free starting October 29th on Amazon Music. Real people. Real crimes. Real life drama It is incredibly unbelievable to see your kid laying in a bed with a bullet hole through them.

He shot her. I know he shot her. I did not shoot my wife. What was that that made you decide this was a case worth investigating? There was enough there to suggest that there wasn't at least a thorough investigation. And so I thought I owed it to the family to look at that. I received a tip about this last week and have been working on it since. It was brought to my attention by a Fox 31 report. The new investigation that began after our story first. Probably four days after New Year's Eve 2011, a family came to me and said,

someone killed our daughter and got away with it. 2011, New Year's Eve party. We were invited up by Ashley, our daughter, and Tom Fallis is her husband. It's recording! Ashley had a zeal for life. She loved life. She loved her kids more than anything. And Ashley and Tom had danced right prior to midnight. There was alcohol there. There was some drinking going on.

There was a lot of laughter going on. They were having fun. The night started out as a normal night. There was an eruption during part of the party. Tom had been cussing very loudly, so I asked him to stop after a period of time because it was quite loud and there were kids in the house, and he got very, very angry with me. Got out of control.

Got out of control. We were the last ones to see Tom Fallis in a fit of rage. A fit of rage. Our daughter giving us hugs and goodbye kisses and her standing on the front porch waving goodbye. And that's the last we saw our daughter. I heard her gun call and I looked out. I was like, I was like, what are you doing? There was smoke. I just ran over to her and I just grabbed her head. I called 911.

I told them our address and I told them that my wife shot herself. From the very beginning, for whatever reason, Devon's police department ruled Ashley's death as a suicide. They said basically that it had been closed as a suicide within 24 hours and it was never looked at as a homicide. The central question that I had to look into as a reporter was whether or not on January 1st of 2012, whether Ashley Fallis, this mother, shot herself in the head, or whether her husband, who was also a sheriff's corrections officer, shot her and then covered it up. also a sheriff's corrections officer, shot her, and then covered it up. We hired a forensic animator who examined all the evidence at the death scene, and he reached two equally plausible explanations. One murder.

One suicide. That's a difficult case, then, when the evidence could go either way. It's a difficult case. It was different than anything I'd done before. I fielded phone calls in the middle of the night more times than I can count. I mean, I'd never had a case where I did become part of the story. You start on this case, and then all of a sudden, what you uncover changes everything. It did. Did you ever expect what you would uncover

would actually lead to an indictment? No, I did not. I didn't, you know, I never expected there to be a trial. He watched the most dramatic and traumatic thing any human being could ever be forced to watch. Go in the courtroom and you see Tom Fallis at the defense table. Isn't that what you always wanted? Absolutely. I desired to see justice served. I think everyone looks to a trial

to resolve a case, to come to the truth. It doesn't always, does it? It doesn't. I'm Erin Moriarty. Tonight on 48 Hours, death after midnight. As a kid growing up in Chicago, there was one horror movie I was too scared to watch. It was called Candyman. The scary cult classic was set in the Chicago housing project. It was about this supernatural killer who would attack his victims if they said his name five times into a bathroom mirror. Candyman. Candyman?

Now we all know chanting a name won't make a killer magically appear, but did you know that the movie Candyman was partly inspired by an actual murder? I was struck by both how spooky it was, but also how outrageous it was. We're going to talk to the people who were there, and we're also going to uncover the larger story. My architect was shocked when he saw how this was created. Literally shocked. And we'll look at what the story tells us about injustice in America. If you really believed in tough on crime, then you wouldn't

make it easy to crawl into medicine cabinets and kill our women. Listen to Candyman, the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder, early and ad-free on Wondery Plus and the Wondery app. Have you ever wondered who created that bottle of sriracha that's living in your fridge? Or why nearly every house in America has at least one game of Monopoly? Introducing the best idea yet. A brand new podcast from Wondery and T-Boy about the surprising origin stories of the products you're obsessed with. And the bolder risk takakers who brought them to life. Like, did you know that Super Mario,

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You can listen to The Best Idea Yet early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus. It's just the best idea yet. After she died, even the day after she died, in my mind, I couldn't comprehend that I would not speak to her every day. The pain is always there for Jenna Fox and adoptive father Joel Ragunden over the death of their daughter, 28-year-old Ashley Fallis, in the early hours of New Year's Day 2012. How would you describe your daughter? Vivacious, full of life, funny. Ashley, they say, would never leave her three kids, Madeline, Jolie, and Blake, all under 10 years old. It's unimaginable.

She just loved her family, and she loved life, and she would never do anything like this. Jenna and Ashley were extremely close. To be honest, they were like best friends. Ashley married her high school sweetheart soon after graduation and they had two daughters. But that marriage quickly fell apart. And in April 2007, she met Tom Fallis. He seemed responsible and ready for a family.

It seemed like their relationship progressed really quickly. Just months into their relationship, Ashley became pregnant. I think it was a way for them to feel more connected to each other in too short of a period of time. They had a son, Blake. Two weeks after he was born, the couple married. Soon, Tom also adopted the girls after their birth father gave up his parental rights. Ashley's family felt it was all moving too fast. We were not happy about that when we had actually tried to talk Ashley out of it. Ashley and Tom had only known each other a short time, and Jenna and Joel say they began to notice

disturbing aspects of Tom's personality. I didn't like his mentality of being right all the time and fighting all the time and the aggression. Tom and Ashley settled in the small town of Evans, fighting all the time and the aggression. Tom and Ashley settled in the small town of Evans, about an hour north of Denver. Ashley worked as a respiratory therapist, and Tom took a job as a corrections officer with the Weld County Sheriff's Office,

working at the local prison. Joel and I were like, that's the perfect job for someone who has an ego that needs to tell people what to do. I think he was a very insecure person and he wanted total control of her. Do you think you were a threat to Tom? Absolutely. I was the one person that he could not isolate Ashley against. Ashley was caught in the middle, and the pressure on her only increased when Blake, still a toddler,

was diagnosed with a chronic brain condition that required Ashley's constant attention. It all took a stressful toll on Ashley and their marriage. At any time during that, did you feel your daughter was depressed? No, I think she was anxious and she was concerned and she had a lot on her plate and I think overwhelmed. I would say that they were definitely going through some hard times.

The stress was so great that they even considered divorce. But when talking to police after Ashley's death, Tom insisted that things were on the mend as the holidays approached. They were planning to host a New Year's Eve party, and Ashley even thought she had that positive test, it was like, all right, it's like we finally, like, got over everything. She stopped taking anti-anxiety medications out of precaution. And then, on the day of the party, Tom says Ashley began to bleed and believed she had miscarried. So she was kind of down today. But Tom says they forged ahead with the party.

And as the night went on, the friction between Jenna and Tom began to surface. I always knew that Tom hated me. As the party was winding down, Tom flew into a rage when he overheard one of the guests, Jenna's brother, offering Ashley marijuana. I told Ashley, I was like, you don't need to get high. I was like, if whatever happened today with the miscarriage, I was like, it happened. I was like, you know what? F*** your mom. F*** everybody., it happened. I was like, you know what? your mom. everybody.

Let it go. As Jenna and Joel were leaving the party, they saw Tom, still upset, go into the bedroom and slam the door. Ashley followed them outside. It was around 1240 a.m. when they said goodbye. And what was Ashley's demeanor like? Was she upset?

Yeah, she's kind of like, whatever. Like, this is normal. This is Tom. Ashley's autopsy shows that she didn't smoke marijuana that night. But Tom says that after she put the kids to bed, Ashley came into the bedroom defiant. And she's like, f*** you, if I don't get high, I'll get high.

I'm like, do whatever you want to. As Tom tells it, he was in their closet to change clothes when suddenly he heard the sound of a gun being loaded from across the room. She has a 9mm Taurus, and she keeps it under her mattress. She was behind the side of the bed. She was low.

He says it all happened so quickly. He was on his way out of the closet, closing the door and asking Ashley what she was doing when he heard a pop. I heard it and it was just smoke. I just ran over to her and I just grabbed her head. And I was holding her head. And I reached up and I grabbed her phone and I dialed 911. You're staying here. You're not leaving me.

You're not leaving me. That 911 call came into the dispatcher at 12.50 a.m. And I opened her eyes and I started talking to her. I said, hey, I'm right here. You're not leaving. You're not leaving me. It was just 10 minutes after Ashley's family had left. Literally, there was two squad cars coming into the neighborhood. We were between the two when we did a U-turn. It was shocking, and everything was happening so fast.

Jenna and Joel didn't see Ashley again until they got to the hospital. Ashley had severe brain trauma from that gunshot wound to the head. Did you get to say goodbye? Yes, yes. Yeah, I don't know. you get to say goodbye? Yes. Yes. Yeah, I don't know. How do you say goodbye?

I'm just going to ask you point blank. Do you believe your daughter committed suicide? No. Not at all. No. From the minutes we last saw her alive, we've always known that, um, Alice murdered her. Hot shot Australian attorney Nicola Gaba was born into legal royalty.

Her specialty? Representing some of the city's most infamous gangland criminals. However, while Nicola held the underworld's darkest secrets, the most dangerous secret was her own. She's going to all the major groups within Melbourne's underworld, and she's informing on them all. I'm Marsha Clark, host of the new podcast, Informants Lawyer X. In my long career in criminal justice as a prosecutor and defense attorney, I've seen some crazy cases, and this one belongs right at the top of the list. She was addicted to the game she had created. She just didn't know how to stop. Now, through dramatic interviews and access, I'll reveal the truth behind one of the world's

most shocking legal scandals. Listen to Informant's Lawyer X exclusively on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And listen to more Exhibit C true crime shows early and ad-free right now. In the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Peru and New Zealand, lies a tiny volcanic island. It's a little-known British territory called Pitcairn. And it harboured a deep, dark scandal. There wouldn't be a girl on Pitcairn once they reached the age of 10

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that has brought a unique, lonely Pacific island to the brink of extinction. Listen to the Pitcairn Trials exclusively on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Ashley! Ashley! I'm right here, baby! In the early morning hours of New Year's Day 2012, officers from the Evans Police Department responded quickly to the call from the Fallis home. This video was shot by first responders. Evans is a peaceful, low-crime community, says chief rick bram i don't think we've had maybe one or two armed robberies since i've been here in almost eight years

even though tom fallas had called in the shooting as a suicide police brought him in for questioning early that morning while his parents watched the children investigators were suspicious right away she'd have to go like this because Because the neighbors said they heard yelling. Tom was questioned by Detective Rita Wolf. She's telling you to get off of her. I wasn't on her. Why do you think someone said that? They could hear her vividly say, get off of me, get off of me.

I wasn't on her. Somebody's just making that up, Tom? My wife never told me to get off of her. And so when you went upstairs, you wasn't on her. Somebody's just making that up, Tom. My wife never told me to get off of her. And so when you went upstairs, you were arguing with her. That wound on the back of her head isn't where she could do it herself, Tom. It is not. Bulls**t. Bulls**t. Bulls**t. Bulls**t. I didn't shoot my wife. Investigators also searched his body and noticed scratches on his chest. Tom says he scratched himself. Because I just shaved my chest.

I just shaved it because I've never done it before. I'm sitting there going like this with my shirt because it itches, it scratches. Tom gets increasingly agitated as Wolf continues her questioning. You're accusing me of killing my wife. I'm not supposed to get upset. That doesn't make sense. You were upset before this. Yeah, because I've been here the whole time. You are going to blow off the handle is what they're saying. I did not shoot Ashley. I didn't shoot my wife. I didn't shoot the mother of my kids. Police found evidence that raises questions about Tom's version of events. Pictures seem to have been ripped off the wall, indicating a struggle. Divorce papers were found on the dresser. Ashley had bruises on her legs,

and Tom had been angry at the end of the party. And how angry was he at that point? He was very angry. Very angry. I mean, he said, I wish you would all effing die. You were mad at the fact that she was listening to her mom. I've already told you that. After he was questioned that first morning, Tom was released without charges. Were you expecting Tom to be charged?

Yes. Oh, yes. We were shocked. We were shocked that they let him go. Despite their concerns and evidence pointing to possible homicide, the coroner ruled Ashley's death a suicide on January 5th, four days after it happened, and before forensic testing was completed. The case was officially closed two months later. The fact is, if there was evidence to support probable cause finding on Tom, we would have arrested him. Ashley's parents could hardly believe it.

She would never do anything like this. She had a mission for Blake. With Tom free of any charges, he moved with his children to Indiana to attend graduate school. Ashley's parents had lost their daughter, but they didn't want to also lose their grandchildren. So they maintained a relationship with Tom. He's in another state with my grandkids. It's crazy. We continue to do what we need to do because our love for our grandkids is much, much greater and more powerful than the hatred we have for Tom Fallis. But then, two years later...

Tom, Justin Joseph with Fox 31 News. An unexpected twist. A local television news reporter began his own investigation. Fox 31 Denver's Justin Joseph has been digging into this case, discovering new clues. It's not very often that you hear someone confess to murder and get away with it. Watch more of Tom Fallis' interview with police on Facebook at 48 Hours.

How would you describe the last two years? It's definitely a roller coaster. It's hard to grieve. In early 2014, Jenna Fox and Joel Ragundon were still convinced that their son-in-law, Tom Fallis, murdered their daughter, Ashley, after the New Year's party in 2012. Why would he kill her? Out of anger. I think it's a high possibility because of the divorce papers,

because of everything that was going on. But the Evans Police Department did rule Ashley's death a suicide and close the case. And it remained closed until reporter Justin Joseph got a call. I had a source with law enforcement who called me and said, something isn't right about this case. Joseph, who is also a CBS News consultant, spent months investigating and interviewing neighbors who had initially spoken to police. And then in April 2014, he got a major break. Jeremy, as you know, this is a complicated case with many layers. A young next door neighbor, Nick Glover,

told Joseph something about Tom Fallis that was not in the police reports. I saw him walk out, so we all ducked underneath the windowsill, and his parents were standing outside, and he's saying, oh my God, I can't believe I did it, three or four times, and then his parents said, what? What are you saying? And I remember I heard him say, I shot her. Nick said he told that to Evans police officer Michael Yates. And he said, Detective Yates sat right where you're sitting and heard my story and wrote everything down. And then Joseph reported cooperation of Nick's story.

A sheriff's deputy at the scene came forward two years later to tell investigators that he also heard Tom say he shot Ashley. Sources identify Chris Graves as the deputy who allegedly heard Phyllis' confession. Nick's mother, Kathy, also spoke to Joseph, telling him she had gotten a call that night from another neighbor, a teenager named Chelsea Arrigo. She called me and said, tell me you called police. Your neighbor just shot his wife. This came as a shock because in Yates' report, he writes, that Kathy Glover told him that Chelsea said, quote, your neighbor just shot herself, a major discrepancy.

So the Glovers were never presented an opportunity to review their statements. They thought for two years that their statements were correctly recorded and they thought that the Evans Police Department simply declined to prosecute and so they were as shocked as everyone was to learn that the statements were omitted and the statements were changed. I think it's a question of one individual's word against another. To this day, Officer Yates insists that Nick Glover never told him that he actually overheard Tom Fallis saying he shot his wife. That's correct. What about Kathy Glover's claim, who says that she got a call saying, I hope you've called the police. Your neighbor just shot his wife.

Did, in fact, the witness say that to Officer Yates? Not according to Officer Yates. Still, Chief Brant can't explain why his officers failed to do a follow-up interview with Chelsea Arrigo. They knew from the very first night she had heard Ashley yelling, get off me. But Chelsea Arrigo was an ear witness and you didn't go back and interview her. Why not? I can't answer that, but I think that was an error. A serious error, wasn't it? I would agree with that. Ashley's parents believe the omissions are part of a cover up by Evans Police.

Evans Police Department decided to cover up her death as a suicide from the very beginning. Now, the big question is, is why? There's this allegation that there was some kind of cover-up. Okay, if that happens, somebody's going to find it. To my knowledge, none of that happened. Chief Brandt insists there was no cover-up, that his officers just made some mistakes. But he can't really explain why his department concluded so quickly, just days after Ashley's death, that she committed suicide, especially when there was so much circumstantial evidence pointing to foul play. circumstantial evidence pointing to foul play.

The pictures, the divorce papers, numerous witnesses at the party reported that Tom was angry that night. Aren't those inconsistencies very troubling? I'm not informed to that level of detail on cases. I get kind of overviews, briefings, where we're at. So much of the detail that you're talking about now, in hindsight after reviewing it, yes, those draw questions. Chief Brand says his less experienced officers called in the CBI, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, for assistance, and then later closed their own investigation. I mean, that's a really important question. Why would you close the case when you still have lab results pending?

I think that was a mistake. I don't think you do close a case when there's lab results pending. So why was it closed? I can't answer that question. But this is your department. It is my department, but I don't run investigations. In fact, Chief Brand says he didn't know there were questions about the investigation

until Justin Joseph's reports two years later. You know, the first time that I became aware of problems or issues with this case was when Fox 31 called me for an interview. And that's, frankly, the first time I started even reviewing the report in any kind of detail. For over a year, we have been investigating the death of Ashley Fallis. First aired in April is gaining momentum. Independent internal affairs investigation.

Justin Joseph's reporting got the case reopened and reinvestigated by a larger neighboring police department in Fort Collins, all with the full cooperation of Chief Brandt. This new information includes alleged eye and ear witness accounts that we were previously unaware of and are of a serious enough nature to warrant further investigation of this case. I feel like it's a relief. It's been a lot of work, but I'm really relieved by it. I mean, it doesn't bring Ashley back by any sense at all, but I think I just want the truth out there. I wonder if we can talk to you about the death of your wife. What did Tom Fallis think of the developments? Joseph surprised him during a return trip to the area. I'm not talking to you about this. The investigation was already done, and the investigation was already ruled she committed suicide.

Curiously, more than two years after her death, Tom produced for police what he said were suicide notes that Ashley had written. One said, I think the most curious thing about those letters is that when we were told it was a suicide, these letters never appeared. These letters just came recently. If there was an investigation that was going on for me and I had information, I would give it to the police at that point. What I would like to see happen is truth and justice.

I would like to see Tom charged with the murder of my daughter. In November 2014, a grand jury indicted Tom Fallis for the murder of his wife. The next day, he was arrested in Indiana. After three years of freedom, thinking this was all behind him, he suddenly found himself in jail and separated from his children, who were now being cared for by his parents. It was like an unanswered prayer and weight just being lifted off, and to just feel that a sense of justice has taken place. And now, in March 2016, people may make their opening statement. The trial begins.

Tom Fallis is ready to put on a vigorous defense. It was determined to be a suicide in 2012, and it's still a suicide in 2016. Emotional and powerful opening statements from both sides as they tried to rehash what happened. Tom Fallis did not kill his wife with her first words to the jury tom phallus's defense attorney iris ethan came out fighting for her client ashley phallus committed suicide on january On January 1st, 2012, Ashley Fallis was a beautiful woman, but she had a terrible pain inside. She had a documented mental illness, was impulsive and self-destructive,

and shot herself in the instant of her crisis with her own handgun. And surprisingly, the defense used the prosecution's own witnesses to make their case that Ashley, already a volatile personality, was drinking heavily the night of the party. She was intoxicated. She had just suffered a miscarriage. She was a pressure cooker. Ashley's uncle, cross-examined by another

defense attorney, admitted there was a history of suicide in the family. And both your mother and your brother died from self-inflicted gunshot wounds to the head. That's correct. If you'll face me and raise your right hand. However, Ashley's therapist, Dr. Russell Johnson, told the jury that he did not consider her to be a danger to herself. When you met with her in December of 2011, did she seem depressed to you? No, she did not. She seemed suicidal to you? No, she did not.

But when pushed by the defense... But you were prescribing her 50 milligrams. Dr. Johnson acknowledges that he was unaware of all the medications Ashley was taking, including prescriptions she received from other doctors. You didn't actually know how many pills of Seroquel and how many milligrams she was taking in December 2011, do you? No. Ashley had apparently withheld other crucial information from the doctor, including those alleged suicide notes she had written to Tom. And you didn't know that she had written a second suicide note dated July 24, 2011, correct?

I wasn't. She didn't tell you that, did she? No. Would all these things, Dr. Johnson, change your thinking about Ms. Fallis' state of mind? Yes. But when Jenna was questioned by Prosecutor Ben Whitney, she repeated what she and Joel have said all along, that Ashley was fine throughout the party, and that Tom was the one who erupted at the end of the night.

He came up the stairs and went right in front of me and told me he f-----g hated us all and he wished we would all die and went into their bedroom and slammed the door. What was Ashley's demeanor like? She seemed fine. She just seemed frustrated, maybe embarrassed. And there are those key witnesses that Justin Joseph spoke to following Ashley's death. Nick Glover, the next-door neighbor, who said he heard Tom Fallis confess, tells the jury he remembers it all very clearly. When I heard him saying, oh my God, what have I done? Oh my God, what have I done?

And he proceeded to say, I shot my wife. How certain are you or are you not that the voice you're hearing is Tom Fallis' voice that you're seeing standing in that quadrant of your driveway? I'm 100%. I wouldn't forget or not hear something like that and not remember it. But Tom's parents deny that conversation ever happened. Never. And others who were right there with Nick that night say they also didn't hear it. Nick's mother, Kathy Glover, then tells the jury about a 1 a.m. phone call she got from neighbor Chelsea Arrigo. When I answered the phone, she said, please tell me you called the police because your neighbor just shot his wife. But her story is undercut when Chelsea Arrigo herself takes the stand

and says she doesn't even remember the call. All I remember was hearing some arguing, but that's it. Do you recall any particular statements? No. Do you recall telling Kathy Glover in a phone conversation that same early morning, I heard her screaming, get off me, get off me? I do not. She admits that she was intoxicated that night

and fails to corroborate any of the significant statements that investigators say she gave after the shooting. Still, Weld County Sheriff's Deputy Chris Graves also says he overheard Tom confess to killing Ashley. I heard him screaming, I can't believe I shot her and I can't believe she's dead. But his reliability as a witness is also put in doubt when he admits that he didn't notify his superiors until two years after the shooting, after the case was reopened. Do you draft a report about what you've heard? No, ma'am. It was Evan's case. Is that something you feel like you should have done? Absolutely.

The forensic testimony from the night of the shooting is crucial. Tried to reproduce the entry and exit holes. The state's expert, Dan Gillum, who spent 400 hours examining the case, explains to the jury where Ashley's head had to have been when the fatal shot went off. She has to be down in this position, somewhere like this. The rod going through my head has to line up with this rod. But on cross-examination, his conclusion seems to favor not the prosecution's case, but the defense. The most probable result of Ashley Fallis' shot to her head was a result of it being self-inflicted, correct? I believe so.

So, suicide, correct? Yes. To counter this, the prosecution calls a second nationally renowned forensic expert, John Priest, who tells the jury that he concluded the opposite, that Tom had to be near Ashley when she was shot. My ultimate opinion is that at the time the shot was fired, Tom and Ashley Fallis were in contact with each other or near each other. Priest suggests to the jury that the evidence shows

the two of them could have been struggling as the gun went off. We could be struggling over this firearm to where I've got it up against her head, threatening, yelling, whatever. I could have it here. She could be reaching up and grab it at the time of the discharge. Firearm goes off. I can drop the firearm, pull her into my head, turning to create the stain,

and then come back down here onto the floor. So, was it murder? Or did Ashley Fallis take her own life? Faced with conflicting theories, the jury will have to weigh the often contradictory evidence. Prosecutor Anthea Carrasco.

ANTHEA CARRASCO, Has she struggled at points in her past? Sure. Have a lot of people? Absolutely. Does that mean she committed suicide? No. He's in a rage. That's the man that was in that house. That's what's going on in his head. That's what's going on in his heart. And that is the person that was in that bedroom with Ashley Fallis. They have to prove that he had her gun beyond a reasonable doubt, held the gun to her head beyond a reasonable doubt, and pulled the trigger beyond a reasonable doubt. You all must be convinced of that. Tom Fallis' future hangs in the balance.

To see him in the courtroom, I felt like I had, we had a shot of hope that justice would be served. AMY GOODMAN- As key witnesses for the prosecution, Ashley's parents were not allowed to view much of the trial outside of their own testimony. But from what they heard from those inside the courtroom, the case against Tom Fallis might not be the slam dunk they thought it would be. He was losing the love of his life. But Jenna and Joel remained hopeful

as the case went to the jury. However, they soon got a jolt. The jurors were out how long? Three and a half hours. Three and a half hours, and an hour of that was their lunch. Did that seem right, three and a half hours? No. No.

The jury has reached a verdict. Four years after Ashley's death, the judge read the jury's decision. We, the jury, find the defendant, Thomas Fallis, not guilty of murder in the second degree and all lesser included offenses. Tom Fallis was free. Tell me that moment when you heard the verdict. Shock. I was just like, Tom just got away with murder again.

For Ashley's parents, the speed of the verdict made it even worse. They're talking about the life of my daughter and the well-being of my grandchildren. And for them to make that decision that quickly is sickening to me. It really is. It's haunting. It is a lot of information that you could spend three and a half hours not, I don't get it. I really don't get it. Two of the jurors, Dylan Pierce and Devonami Harris, were willing to explain their verdict. I did realize immediately that there are lives at stake here.

Not only Tom's life, but the children as well. If he was guilty, I was looking for that. I looked at him, I studied him, and I just couldn't see it. But I did want to find him guilty if he did it. Why? Because I wanted to be that voice for Ashley if he did it. But jurors say that in the isolation of the courtroom, the case seemed straightforward. that in the isolation of the courtroom,

the case seemed straightforward. They believed Ashley Fallis was in a dire mental state, which led her to take her own life. Was this a case of reasonable doubt for you all? Is this just there wasn't enough evidence to go, or are you absolutely convinced you know what happened? I'm convinced. I think it was a perfect storm just waiting to happen.

Devana believes, though, that the truth of what happened may not have been what either side presented in the courtroom. I think that the argument that they had that night was probably a little bit more intense, but I don't think that he did it. I don't think that he actually pulled the trigger. There was nothing there that said Tom was holding the gun. I just couldn't put it there. And they question how the case even made it to trial. I don't think there was enough evidence to reopen the case. I think the case was reopened just due to pressure from the media.

I feel that's what Jenna Fox and Joel Reganon were out to do. They were out to get justice for Ashley. They needed some media attention to reopen the case. I received a tip about this last week and have been working on it. For me, my job as a reporter were to get as many facts out there and to get

those to the jury. And I certainly have no regrets about the integrity of our reporting. But in the end, the police department and the Weld County Sheriff did not do their jobs the night this happened. The jury didn't have what they needed to be able to decide whether or not Tom Fallis pulled the trigger. And from that standpoint, the jury made the right decision tom phallus declined to speak with 48 hours the verdict changes nothing for ashley's family they still believe ashley would never take her own life and leave her children behind is it at all possible that she just after her husband got so angry with you, she just couldn't handle the stress and she took her life? No way. I don't think so.

Absolutely not. As they wrestled with their frustrations after the verdict. Don't, don't, don't. I know you're pissed, but don't. I'm pissed. Ashley's parents could barely contain their emotions. Especially because of how they believed their daughter was portrayed in court. They made her look bad by calling her a spitfire,

and this jury fell for it. They were up there calling her a spitfire, like it was this bad thing. That's what she used to call me. It's a person who loves life. I think Jenna Fox is angry, understandably. She doesn't have any power in the situation. She keeps looking for this, for a way to take back control of what's happening.

And there's no power. And that sucks. And I'm going to say, I mean, we're not parents in denial. I mean, that's just not the case. Every day, this is the battle. We are having to live with what the jurors came up with. And it is not easy. But we are also, we, me and Jen, are both fighters.

And the truth is the truth. And it always will be in our mind, in our hearts. What lies ahead for their relationship with their three grandchildren, now back in Tom's care, remains unclear. But they are committed to preserving Ashley's memory in the children's minds. Madeline, Jolie, and Blake, I want to talk to you about your mother. She loved you guys wholeheartedly, wholeheartedly. She lived life large. Because she loved life so much, that's why I know that my daughter would never take her own life.

that's why I know that my daughter would never take her own life. The three children remain in Tom Fallis' custody in Indiana. Jenna Fox and Joel Ragunden are fighting in court for visitation rights. Hear more from the jurors on how they came to their decision at 48hours.com.