True Crime with Kimbyr - Part 2: Loving Husband or Cold-Blooded Killer? The Mysterious Death of Ashley Fallis

Episode Date: September 24, 2025

In Part 2 of True Crime with Kimbyr, Kimbyrleigha continues unraveling the haunting case of Ashley Fallis. As investigators dig deeper, shocking inconsistencies surface and suspicions grow around Ashley’s husband. Did overlooked clues point to something sinister all along? With emotional testimony, hidden secrets, and new revelations, this episode sheds light on the chilling twists that kept the case alive. Join True Crime with Kimbyr as we explore the mounting evidence and the battle between truth and deception in Ashley Fallis’s tragic story. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

He was the only other person in that house at the time aside from their three young children. And he would have had access to the gun. Actually, there were two guns in that home. You might have heard Tom mention this in the interview with the detective. He mentioned that his gun usually wasn't loaded, but he did own one. And he didn't think Ashley kept her gun loaded either, but he wasn't sure. To do their due diligence, the Evans Police Department detective Lisa Duffy interviewed Ashley and Tom's young daughters, Jolie and Madeline, at a kid's place place a child advocacy center shortly after Ashley's death. The goal was to make the children

feel as comfortable as possible while giving law enforcement and professionals the important information they needed for the investigation. Detective Duffy said that the little girls were confused and scared during the interview and they didn't understand why they were being taken away by two strangers. Both of them asked to see their mother, which truly made me very sad. But Detective Duffy explained that she needed to speak with them first. And during this interview, the little five-year-old Jolie mentioned, seeing a pink gun and hearing three gunshots. However, this statement actually conflicted with the physical evidence because Ashley only had one gunshot wound to her head and there were no other bullets found at the scene. The little girl also said that she went up to her parents' room

that night because she hadn't told them good night and she mentioned hearing a bump, smelling something like smoke and seeing her mother's face covered in blood with her father holding her mother. Additionally, she described her mother's eyes as closed, saying it's like she was sleeping or something. I couldn't help but think like, wow, these poor children, I feel so bad that they have to go through all this. Now, in a separate interview, Ashley and Tom's other daughter, the nine-year-old Madeline, told police she heard her mom say, oh my God, when she went to her parents' bedroom, and then she saw blood on the wall and her dad holding her mother. Both girls said they didn't know what happened to their mom, but they did share that their dad, Dad told them it was an accident.

Now, at the end of one of these interviews, Jolie walked out with Detective Duffy and said, I hope I can see my mom today. I really want to see her. And that pulls at my heart. It's so sad. I just can't imagine this sadness when these two little girls are informed that they will never see their mom again. Let me bring you to the crime scene and give you details on that.

When the first responders arrived, their body cam footage actually caught some of the chaos. The home was a two-level home with a problem. primary bedroom up the stairs, and they had three bedrooms and two bathrooms and a three-car garage. It even had an indoor, outdoor fireplace where you could see through to the backyard. In Tom and Ashley's room, they had big wedding pictures just blown up right above their bed, which was in the middle of the room. The bed was still entirely made from earlier that morning, decorative pillows and all. The drapes were closed and the room was tidy, except for a couple pictures and frames that were on the floor. They appeared to have come from a dresser since they

had the little stands on the back that were used to prop them up as opposed to a hook and a nail. A purse sat on the left side of the bed and on that left side is where Ashley's body was found between the bed and the window. And there was also a freestanding jewelry cabinet on that side and a side table. Moving in closer, you can see two distinct bloodstains on the carpeted floor. One is bigger than the other and a bit smeared and the other one is right next to the gun that was still on the floor. Now, of course, it's a bit too intense to show this, but there was a blood spatter pattern on the wall behind where Ashley was found, and it had this distinct shape. It was almost like it cascaded in a curve, first as a stream and then in droplets.

And this was from Ashley's head when the shot occurred. A bullet hole was found to the right of this area, and the bullet had gone through the wall after it hit her and created a hole right through to the outside. The gun had blood on it, and there was also a bit of hair left behind on the carpet right near it. When the medics and the officers arrived, their body cam showed them racing to get to Ashley. Once inside her room, you can see a TV on. I mentioned this because I presume it had audio, which means there could be extra noise, extra voices coming from that room that night, during and even after the shooting. Now, medics are kneeling next to her between the bed and the wall rendering aid. They finally picked her up and carried her out the front door, and there was

still a Christmas wreath hanging from it. At Ashley's funeral five days after her death, Tom delivered a but the unease was only growing. Andrea's husband Derek couldn't shake the feeling that Tom kind of seemed off. Instead of appearing like a grieving husband mourning his wife's death, Tom kind of came across as stressed and not emotional. And when he spoke about Ashley, his words did not carry the love that you would expect from someone who had just lost their partner. Instead, he kind of made some odd comments. He called Ashley demanding and he admitted he didn't always have the patience for her. Now I'm sure that he was under a lot of stress and everyone acts differently dealing with trauma. But I can say, yeah,

that does sound a little bit off, especially kind of insulting her. And Ashley's parents were floored hearing Tom practically degrade their daughter like that at her funeral. It was like a slap in the face. Instead of honoring Ashley's memory, Tom's words only deepen their suspicions that he was the reason this happened. Something about his behavior just didn't sit right. So let's go back to just four days after Ashley was rushed to the hospital and the medical examiner completed the autopsy. And in that report, her death was ruled as self-inflicted. And by March, this case was actually officially closed. Dr. James Wilkerson, the medical examiner who performed Ashley's autopsy, found no traces of marijuana in her system. However, her blood alcohol level was 0.088. And this

was just above the legal driving limit. So she was pretty intoxicated. And there were trace amounts of benzodiazepines in her urine, and this was consistent with her prescribed medication colonsapam, which is used predominantly in epilepsy, panic disorders, and mania. Ashley was taking it to control her mood swings and her bipolar tendencies. But according to Tom, Ashley told him she stopped taking all of her medication cold turkey without any medical supervision because she found out she was pregnant, which seemed to align with what the autopsy findings were, since there was such a low amount in her system. And the other medications weren't found in her system at all, so it looks like she did stop taking them.

However, when the crime scene investigators came, they did find prescription bottles, and they were in her purse and on the nightstand. Dr. Wilkinson also discovered that Ashley's tubal ligation had failed on one side, which now explains why she was still able to conceive, why she would get pregnant, but also why she would probably have a number of miscarriages. And that is very heartbreaking. And she had been pregnant. However, the pregnancy was extremely early. It was barely a week along based on the low levels of the pregnancy hormones in her urine. The reports from Dr. Wilkerson and the crime scene investigators backed the conclusion that Ashley had taken her own life. Tom told investigators that she had expressed thoughts about doing this to herself in the past.

And you mentioned that it actually ran in the family. The two of her close family members had died the same way. her maternal grandmother and uncle on her mother's side. So her mother's mom and her mother's brother. And it was something that he really worried about. Now, these details painted a picture that seemed to satisfy the investigators, but not everyone was convinced that this case was as clear cut as it appeared, especially not Ashley's parents. They were adamant that Tom had killed Ashley, going so far as to call it the blue wall of silence. Now, this was in reference to their belief that the police were protecting Tom because of his job as a corrections officer. That's interesting, right?

Now, this was a pretty bold accusation, but one they stood by, even though the Evans Police Department, which handled the case, and the Weld County Sheriff's Office where Tom worked, were separate entities. Still, Jenna and Joel couldn't help but feel that the investigation wasn't handled objectively and that it was too quickly ruled as not having any foul play involved. Their conviction stemmed for more than just a suspicion. It was rooted in who they knew Ashley was to them. The woman that they knew was full of life. And nothing about her demeanor in the days leading up to her death suggested she wanted to die. Most importantly, Jenna and Joel pointed to Ashley's role as a mother. Ashley's son Blake, we already know, he was living with

hydrosyphilis and he required extra care and attention. Ashley had gone out of her way and done so much to make sure that he was thriving and he had all the care that he needed. So in the days following Ashley's death, Jenna sent several emails to one of the sergeants at Evans Police Department, demanding that they, quote, do their job, end quote. And apparently this wasn't Jenna's first time clashing with law enforcement over a loved one's death. When her brother, Michael Schmitzer, died in a self-inflicted shooting in Park County, Colorado, in 1999. Jenna initially believed that his wife had actually killed him.

That's interesting. So Jenna pushed for a deeper investigation, but eventually she had to accept the fact that her brother had taken his own life. For Jenna, though, this was different. This was her daughter. They were so close. She knew her so well. And the pieces just didn't fit together. And as Jenna watched this case close in just two months, her frustration only grew. But then there was the aftermath for Tom. He struggled to adjust to losing Ashley. So much so, he actually continued to text her cell phone for months. writing messages as though they were still having conversations. And this might sound odd, but it is a known coping mechanism. And in these messages, he expressed how much he missed Ashley, how much him and the kids missed her, how hard life had become without her, and how deeply he loved her.

To help with his grief, Tom also began jotting down notes just days after she died, reflecting on his emotions and the challenges he was facing as a widowed father. He also purchased a cemetery plot right next to hers, so that one day they could be reunited. Additionally, Tom had his wedding band engrave with the words for eternity, a gesture that seemed to mark a commitment to the memory of the relationship that no matter what happened, not even death, could separate them. All of these things seemed very touching. Tom initially even tried to return to his job as a corrections officer, but eventually he decided it was not possible. He said his focus needed to be on raising his three young children

and that it just wasn't right for him in that moment because he wasn't in the emotional state to continue working at that time. In about 18 months after Ashley's death, Tom moved away from Colorado altogether and took the kids to Bloomington, Indiana, where he planned to attend college that he could hopefully increase his earning potential now that he had only one income. And then he could truly give the children what they needed. Meanwhile, Jenna and Joel remained convinced that Tom was responsible for their daughter's death, but they maintained contact with him because they wanted to be with their grandchildren. They wanted a relationship with Ashley's children. Joel explained that their love for the kids outweighed their feelings towards Tom.

And though it was difficult to have the children living in another state, they made it work out because of the love that they had for Ashley and the children that she left behind. Jenna and Joel still felt the investigation into Ashley's death left too many questions unanswered. When they received the official case report, they were frustrated by what they saw as an incomplete account of what happened. Jenna described it as something a high schooler could have written. Fair enough.

Ashley's parents were relentless in their pursuit for justice. They contacted local politicians. They reached out to law enforcement agencies and engaged with the district attorney's office, pressing them to reopen Ashley's case and conduct a more thorough investigation. However, this doesn't usually happen unless new evidence is there to consider. But it didn't sway them. They spoke out with various news outlets, and they highlighted what they believe to be a serious flaw in the handling of this case. In their point of view, the police had rushed to label Ashley's death as self-inflicted

without sufficient evidence to support this conclusion. One of their biggest issues was how Tom was treated that night. They wanted to know why he was never separated from his parents or the children. He was allowed to talk to them and why he wasn't treated like a suspect. But then again, Tom wasn't even able to be by his wife's side in the hospital because he was fully cooperating with the police and providing a statement. But Ashley's parents felt that the fact that Tom's hands weren't preserved for evidence testing was a problem. What if they would have had gunshot residue on them?

Which I totally understand. That's a valid question. And I think most of us as parents, and even just as loved ones, would fight for something we believed in. So I don't blame them at all. I'd probably do the exact same thing until I exhausted every avenue possible. And that's what they were doing. They also weren't happy with the three-hour interrogation by Evans Police Department with Tom. They felt like that was too lenient.

Tom just kept saying, I didn't do this. But they felt like he wasn't being questioned. the way that a real suspect would be in a case like this. But it couldn't help but think. He wasn't a suspect. See, they hadn't even really gotten to investigate in the first few hours. Everything had just started to come together. And the evidence hadn't pointed in that direction.

As far as they were concerned, the medical examiner had made their ruling. Self-inflicted. And without a homicide being ruled on paper, the detective's hands are tied. There's nothing to investigate. So no suspects would even be considered. But Jenna and Joel had a hunch that Tom's dad, Jim, who used to be an athletic director at the University of Northern Colorado, might have used some of his connections to help Tom out. All of this only added fuel to their fire to keep them pushing for the case to get a closer look so that hopefully the truth could be uncovered. They reached out to Fox 31 reporter Justin Joseph, hoping that he might take their concerns seriously because it seemed like no one else was.

And this is when things get even more interesting. When Justin heard Ashley's story, he felt compelled to look into it further. It seemed clear from what he was being told from Ashley's parents that there was enough overlooked in this investigation to warrant a closer look. And he felt that he had a personal responsibility to help Jenna and Joel dig deeper. He said, I had a source with law enforcement who called me and said, something isn't right about this case. So for months, Justin spoke to neighbors of Tom and Ashley, who initially had spoken to the police,

And over the course of a year, Justin worked tirelessly to track down witnesses and interviewed officers. And finally, in April of 2014, Justin thought he stumbled upon some new evidence that could crack this case wide open again. They spoke to Nick Glover. Now, he was a teenager at the time of Ashley's death, and he lived next door to Tom and Ashley on the right. I mentioned his mother, Kathy, earlier. She was the one who said that one of her daughter's friends that lived across the street from Tom and Ashley heard someone scream, get off me, get off me, before hearing a popping sound. Well, Kathy's son Nick was playing video games with a friend of his

when his mom came in with her daughter, his sister, and informed him that something bad happened next door. So they all crawled to a window and they looked outside. And what Nick saw was apparently missing from police reports, but now he was telling the reporter Justin all the details. While looking out his bedroom window in a crouched pose, Nick said he saw Tom walk outside where his parents were standing. and Tom was yelling loudly.

His parents were motioning for him to calm down. Nick claims that he heard Tom say, oh my God, I can't believe I did it, three or four times. When Tom's parents asked what he was saying, Nick claimed he heard Tom respond, I shot her. Well, this wasn't all. Nick said that Evans police officer Michael Yates had indeed taken his statement about hearing Tom

essentially confessing to shooting Ashley, and he watched him write everything down in his notebook during the early morning hours of New Year's Day, January 1st, 2012. Well, that seemed odd since Justin had access to all the case notes and noticed that Officer Yates' report did not include Nick's version of hearing Tom confess. This definitely seemed like a deliberate attempt to cover something up. As Justin continued digging, he spoke to Nick's mom, Kathy, and she told him what I already told you, that she received a call from her daughter's friend, Cheryl, who said she heard Ashley say,

get off me, get off me, but she said something else. She said that Cheryl said, you better call 911 because your neighbor's husband just shot her. But here's the thing. When Justin reviewed the police report, he discovered another discrepancy. Officer Yates had written that Kathy told him Cheryl said Ashley shot herself, not that she had been shot by Tom. So this directly contradicted Kathy's version of what she said. Even more troubling, Justin found that no one had even followed up with Cheryl to verify what she had really heard that night. Justin was disturbed by the inconsistencies between Nick and Kathy's statements and the official report regarding Ashley's death.

So he reached out to the Evans Police Department chief, Rick Brandt, for clarification and to present his findings. Remember I said that unless new evidence is discovered, cases are usually not reopened. Well, in this case, the chief decided there was enough new evidence to warrant a deeper look into the investigation. On April 8th, 2014, Chief Brandt held a press conference announcing the new witness statements and the allegations of misconduct against an Evans police officer, and this was the reason he was going to reopen this case. But because this officer in question was still employed by the department, Chief Brandt revealed that a third-party investigation would

be conducted by the Fort Collins Police Services and the Loveland Police Department. At the time, two years following Ashley's death, Tom Fallis was still living in Blooming, Indiana, and he was attending Indiana University to complete his degree. He received a call from his father. His father said he should contact the Evans Police Department as soon as possible, and Tom wasted no time at all. During a lecture, he stepped out to make that call, and the officer informed him that new evidence had been uncovered in the investigation into his wife's death, leading to reopening her case. When Tom was asked what the new evidence was, the officer declined to provide him many details. Tom was really worried and he later reflected on that moment and he said he knew two things.

One, he needed an excellent attorney and two, that Ashley's parents had finally managed to apply enough pressure to get their way. Following the announcement that the case was going to be reopened, Jenna and Joel went on a press door to discuss everything about Ashley's case. They went on shows like the Kelly file with Megan Kelly. They went on HLN. And during the HLN interview, Tom, was actually referred to as a cop. I've also seen other news videos calling him a former deputy, and that was not his official title at all. He was a corrections officer.

It seemed as though the media felt that labeling him as a police officer would get a lot more attention on their segments and also make for a better story. But it just wasn't true. The panel of experts featured on the HLN show included Jenna and Joel's attorney, who discussed the idea that for a mother to have taken her own life, she must have deeply hated her children, saying that, you know, Ashley wouldn't do this because

she didn't hate her children, but all I could think of is yikes. I mean, that comment just seems really insensitive. And I know that most of us know that self-inflicted death is very complicated. And to make a blanket statement like that, even if she wasn't trying to reply it to Ashley, but maybe to other people who have done this, it seems just flat out wrong. Meanwhile, the reporters focused on a flashlight that they suspected Tom could have used to be Ashley. Now, I didn't mention this when I was showing the crime scene because I wanted to get to this point and explain it, but this flashlight can be seen in the crime scene photos. It's right here on the bedroom floor right next to one of the blood stains on the carpet where Ashley died.

All of the speculation really reminded me of social media today and so many false accusations and assumptions that really have nothing to do with the truth. That flashlight was not part of the crime scene at all. It wasn't Tom's or Ashley's. It was simply left behind by an officer who had responded to the scene and bent down to administer life-saving measures to Ashley. These crime scene photos were clearly taken thereafter when Ashley was no longer present, and this is just one example of people creating their own narratives. Now Ashley's family also organized a protest on May 31st outside the Evans Police Department. They were demanding justice for Ashley. One thing's for sure. They really do know how to get eyes on them and they know how to gain

a lot of attention from the public. During this time, Tom struggles. He was struggling with all of the emotional fallout of being labeled as a murderer, and he was expressing frustration with the media coverage, particularly the fact that these talking heads continue to incorrectly label him as a police officer and others who speculated about what happened that night when they had no knowledge of any of the official details. Now, the reporter, Justin Joseph, who had uncovered this new evidence, he traveled to Indiana in an attempt to speak with Tom. And when he approached him outside of his own home, Tom was very firm with his response. He said, I'm not going to talk to you about this. The investigation was already done. And it was already ruled she took her own life. Now, he used the S word that we can't use here on YouTube, even though it's such an important topic.

But then Tom became outraged when he found out that Jenna and Joel, who I told you, still had access to Ashley and Tom's children, had taken them for a visit. And while they were in their care, Ashley's parents actually took them in for additional forensic interviews without Tom's knowledge, which actually violated a court. order that was in place that strictly prohibited anyone from discussing Ashley's death with the children. The court order was specifically put in place to protect the girls from being exposed to the ongoing trauma that it could cause. When confronted with this violation, Jenna denied discussing the investigation with her grandchildren. But she did acknowledge she took the girls for those forensic interviews in June of 2014. So that was kind of confusing, but she's like, no, no, I didn't violate it because I didn't talk to them about it, but, you know, officers did.

Chris Sarlo Bergman interviewed the girls at the Children's Advocate Center just like last time, and here's the information that was gathered. Jolie, who is now seven years old, said that she recalled hearing her parents yelling during the incident. But it had been two years, and memories don't usually get better over time. Now, things only took a turn for the worst for Tom when a former Weld County Sheriff Deputy, who had responded to Tom's 911 call, told private investigator William Irwin, hired to investigate potential misconduct by officers, that he actually heard Tom say, I can't believe I shot her. I can't believe she's dead. It's very similar to what I think Nick had heard, right?

However, the statement was met with skepticism because it came only after the case had gained a significant amount of media attention. And that is a problem. And it seemed that there was the same issue with the statements from neighbors. It's like once something's in the media and it gets really big questions start to arise and there's more doubt to what people had seen and what people had. had done in moments and they seemed to latch onto these cases and want to be in the media themselves and they might misremember or even make things up to insert themselves into the story. In the deputy's situation, many people questioned why he had waited until the case was featured on TV before coming forward with his information. He worked for the same sheriff's department that Tom did. And because he delayed bringing this information to light, it raised doubts about

his credibility. And then he ended up getting fired because of his dishonest. Honestly. Still, Tom was holding on to some hope when in June of 2014, four months after the investigation into Officer Michael Yates had begun, it was determined that the officer had not violated any policies during his involvement in the case. He was the one that took the witness statements. This outside investigation proved that there had been no wrongdoing and no charges to press and they didn't look into the matter any further. All protocols were followed. Tom's attorneys remained optimistic that the investigation into Ashley's death would soon close once again, since the entire reopening of this case had hinged on Officer Yates'

involvement and Nick's statement. So now that they knew that nothing foul had happened, they should close the case. And when Chief Brand was asked about the situation, he said that Officer Yates denied ever speaking with Nick and that Officer Yates stood by his version of events, that Kathy had told him that Cheryl called to say her neighbor shot herself, not that her husband shot her. But to be fair, Chief Brandt did admit that none of his officers had followed up with Cheryl and she was an important ear witness. This was something he acknowledged as an error. But remember, this was not deemed to be a homicide to begin with. So many times a true investigation is not carried out and therefore witnesses would not have been brought back in at all.

And Chief Brand denied that there had ever been a cover up to protect Tom. However, when asked why the case had been closed and deemed self-inflicted in the first place, the chief admitted to he had no idea because he was not involved in the actual death investigation. He was just the chief of the department. But everything was brought to his attention when he was briefed on it two years later when reporter Justin Joseph began looking into it. Although Tom expected things to cool down, they heated up instead. That's because the district attorney Mike Rourke decided to have a grand jury meet in private to determine whether there was enough evidence to actually prosecute him. In a criminal case, a grand jury's role is to assess whether there's sufficient evidence

to formally charge a suspect with a felony. It's not like a real jury trial where a jury is going to determine guilt or innocence. A grand jury's job is to meet in private. Here are the evidence presented by the prosecution only, just to see if probable cause exists and charges should be filed in the first place. The prosecutor will present evidence. They'll ask witnesses to come forward, but the defense is not present at the stage at all. So it's very one-sided.

But if there is enough evidence, they issue an indictment, which is a formal charge against the suspect, and that means the case will go to trial. Many prosecutors believe that meeting with a grand jury is helpful in bigger cases or trickier cases like Ashley's, where they want a fresh set of eyes looking at everything. Plus, since it's closed, it stops information from getting blown out of proportion in the media, and hopefully it can lead to a chance for the jury not to be swayed or tainted. Now, this way prosecutors can be sure they have a solid case without revealing every single. everything they know too soon. In this case, the grand jury convened on November 12th of 2014. Ashley's mother, Jenna, testified about the mistreatment that she believed existed in Ashley and Tom's marriage, both mentally and physically.

She said she was always scared that Tom would hurt Ashley. And she also mentioned she felt Ashley only needed mood stabilizers because of Tom. It's a pretty bold statement. District Attorney Rourke presented all the evidence, showing both homicide and self-inflicted theories, but told the jury not to indict Tom unless they were certain that he could be responsible. And clearly they were, because on November 17th of 2014, the grand jury concluded there was probable cause to believe Tom could have killed Ashley in a fit of rage using her 9mm tourist and then staged it to look like she had taken her life. The next day on November 18th,

Tom was arrested in Bloomington, Indiana after returning from the grocery store, and he was charged with second-degree murder and held in the Monroe County Jail in Indiana, awaiting extradition to Colorado. Ashley's stepfather Joel called the arrest and answered prayer, a relief, and a sense of justice. But this is really only the beginning of the story in many ways. Once Tom was extradited, he was placed in Larimer County Jail in Colorado all the while. His biggest concern was actually for his three children, fearing Ashley's parents would raise them and tell them that he killed their mother, no matter what the truth was. It was clear that his mom was not a fan of Tom and probably never was. Tom claimed that Jenna and Joel had already repeatedly told his children that he was responsible

for their mother's death from the very beginning, before he even had a chance to tell his side of the story. Eventually, Tom's mother, Anna, traveled to Indiana and successfully gained custody of the children. Now, this may seem unfair, but he was their legal father for the two that he adopted and the biological father of the youngest Blake, and Ashley's parents were unfortunately caught up in this trial. Initially, Tom's bail was set at $200,000, but it was raised. to half a million by Judge Thomas Corman. And then even though Tom made bond, the judge ordered that he remained in Colorado, stating that he could not return to his home in Indiana while he was awaiting trial. And his attorney, Iris Eaton, a well-known defense attorney from Denver,

took Tom's case and also didn't hold back in court. She argued that it wasn't right for the judge to ban Tom from going back to Indiana to take care of his children. She said it violated his basic rights as a parent. According to Eden, there were other less extreme ways to to ensure that Tom would show up for court, like GPS monitoring or regular check-ins with officials. She also pointed out that Tom had cooperated thoroughly in this entire investigation and that his family had to make significant financial sacrifices to come up with his bail money. But the prosecutor and Theo Carrasco pushed back, saying the defense attorney's argument did not hold up. The prosecutor argued that being a parent isn't just about living under the same roof with your kids.

Tom, she said, still had the right to make decisions about their education. and their medical care, and no one was trying to take that away. But then again, making decisions about a children's health care and education doesn't make you a parent either. So I'm not sure how that's a better argument, but the judge ultimately sided with the prosecution and denied Tom's request to return to his home in Indiana. Things then escalated when Tom appealed his case to the Colorado Supreme Court. And new details about Ashley's death came to light during this hearing. The defense presented two alleged notes that, Ashley had written, which looked like goodbye letters, for lack of a better way to tell you that.

One was typed and one was handwritten. Now, these were letters that Ashley had written to Tom months before she died. Detective Jacqueline Shackley from Fort Collins testified that after analyzing the notes, it was confirmed that they were written by Ashley, but Ashley's mother wasn't convinced. Jenna believed the notes seemed questionable since they hadn't surfaced earlier. She said if I had something like that, I'd hand it over right away. Well, these were personal notes that were shared with Tom. They were important to him, and you only released them because of the situation that he was in. The defense also highlighted Ashley's mental health struggles, saying she was under psychiatric care and prescribed three different medications at the time of her death. Now, I was able to find a

picture of these. I've showed this before, but again, just to remind you, it was Adderall, Sarahquil and colonsapam. Pretty much everyone knows that Adderall is for hyperactivity or having ADD. Sarahquil is usually for bipolar and it seemed to be in this case as well. And the colonsapan is used for anxiety. Tom's attorney also noted that the gun used in the shooting was owned by Ashley. I mean, I don't know if that really holds that much weight, but it was just one of the arguments that she used her own gun. So it leaned towards her doing this to herself. I also think this was. mentioned to establish that she had access to the gun, she knew where it was, and she would know how to use it. They even pointed out that after the Evans Police Department wrapped up their investigation in March of 2013,

Tom returned most of the evidence to the police, including Ashley's gun. And their argument was simple. If Tom was guilty or trying to cover something up, he would have destroyed the evidence instead of giving it all back so that it could be scrutinized and tested. Despite the defense's efforts, the Colorado Supreme Court did not side with Tom. He was going to trial. And to make matters worse, just weeks before his trial was said to begin, Tom's bond agent withdrew. And his attorney said it was nothing to do with Tom. He didn't violate any terms, but without a bond agent, Tom had no choice. He had to go back to jail and wait. Ashley's parents were also going through their own legal situation. They teamed up with Denver law firm, Holland, Holland, Edwards, and Grossman to file a lawsuit against Evans

police chief, Rick Brandt, and four other officers. They accused the department of covering up what could have been a homicide by Ashley's husband, Tom Fallis. The lawsuit claimed that investigators ignored key evidence, changed incriminating statements to make them sound harmless, and skipped basic steps like DNA testing. According to Jenna and Joel, the police went out of their way to make Ashley's death look like she caused it instead of treating it like a potential murder that it might have been. During a pretrial hearing for Tom's case, remember Jedediah pepping the guy told you about from Ashley's past that had a brief affair with her? Well, he testified about the incident where Tom found them together in a parking lot. Jedediah recalled that Ashley told him

Tom had their children in the car at the time, which was a bit worrisome. But he didn't get the sense that Ashley was ever afraid of her husband. In fact, Jedediah said that Ashley stood her ground. She yelled back at Tom during their confrontation, and Ashley had also told Jedediah that if things ever got serious between her and Tom, meaning if they were fighting and things got intense, that it would come down to a gunfight. And she added she wasn't scared of him and she was able to hold her own with her gun. Flora Roth, a neighbor and friend of Ashley, said that Ashley had talked to her about her marital issues, including Tom leaving notes on her car, attempting to track her whereabouts when he thought she was cheating, and even leaving the kids at home so he could do so. Flora said that Ashley also told her that Tom had pushed her around before, but he had never hit her. But she did say she wanted a divorce. Now, Claire Durand, another friend and coworker of Ashley's, remember Tom bringing Ashley's some dinner to work in 2011.

She thought this was a nice gesture, only for Ashley to tell her that it was just Tom checking up on her. That's the way he would control her. I thought that was interesting. However, Claire said she couldn't remember many of the details, and the defense really dug into her lack of specific about Ashley and Tom's relationship. Detective Jacqueline Shackley, who took over the case in 2014, said she didn't find anything in the phone data to suggest that Tom was ever having an affair. And remember that this was why Ashley supposedly reconnected with Jedediah in the first place,

or so she said. This detective also said there was no documented incidents of Tom ever physically causing any harm to Ashley, despite the one friend saying that he had pushed her in the past.