Detective visits gunshot residue testing site days before wife killed

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Sneak peek: The Detective's Wife

When Massachusetts State Police detectives responded to a reported termination successful Westfield, Massachusetts, connected May 8, 2018, they recovered Amy Fanion dormant connected her eating country level with a gunshot coiled to her head. Her husband, Brian Fanion, a Westfield Police detective, had called 911, reporting that Amy Fanion had changeable herself.

At the scene, detectives made respective discoveries that raised questions. The weapon utilized successful the shooting was Brian Fanion's work weapon. And determination was a deficiency of gunshot residue connected Amy's head, which was antithetic successful a self-inflicted gunshot wound. What had happened successful that eating country that morning? "48 Hours" contributor Nikki Battiste takes a look astatine the grounds successful an encore of "The Detective's Wife" airing Saturday, April 19 connected CBS and streaming connected Paramount +.

Detective Brendan O'Toole took Brian Fanion to the State Police barracks successful Russell, Massachusetts, to get his connection of the events surrounding his wife's abrupt death. At the extremity of the interview, O'Toole asked Fanion to crook implicit his telephone for information extraction. Fanion complied but gave a caveat.

"I turned disconnected the recorder and that's erstwhile Brian told maine … 'you're going to spot immoderate things connected determination and it's not what it appears to be,'" O'Toole told "48 Hours."

Investigators would observe thousands of deleted substance messages betwixt Brian Fanion and a pistillate named Corrine Knowles, known arsenic Cori. Brian Fanion had told O'Toole helium and Knowles were conscionable friends, but the substance messages conveyed that the narration had go thing more.

On May 17, 3 days aft Amy Fanion's wake, O'Toole and Detective Mike Blanchette confronted Brian Fanion astir his narration with Knowles arsenic good arsenic the deficiency of gunshot residue recovered connected Amy Fanion's wound.

"I mean, there's nary uncertainty she was changeable … but the question is, from what distance," O'Toole asked Fanion.

Within a week, investigators seized each of Fanion's electronics, including his bureau machine and laptop astatine the Westfield Police Department. When Detective Tom Forest from the Cyber Crime Unit examined the computer's hard drive, it revealed peculiar web searches and online enactment helium considered notable to the investigation. The online enactment began astir 3 months earlier Amy Fanion's death, astir the clip Brian Fanion and Knowles' relationship turned flirtatious.

"… it's lone erstwhile this matter starts up … that each of these incriminating searches commencement to appear," Hampden County Assistant District Attorney Mary Sandstrom told "48 Hours."

The archetypal of these inquiries was related to communal household poisons. On the greeting of Feb. 12, Brian Fanion searched "household poisons," "dangerous sources of radiation," "worst sources of radiation" and "common medicine overdoses." He besides visited web pages titled, "9 Surprising Sources of Radiation successful Your Home;" "Carbon Monoxide: The Invisible Killer;" "Common and unsafe poisons;" "16 Common Household Items That Could Kill You;" "What Over-the-Counter Medications Can You Overdose From?;" "Which Drug Causes the Most Deaths Each Year?" and, finally, "Prescription Drugs Linked to Most Fatal Overdoses."

At trial, Brian Fanion's defence lawyer Jeffrey Brown argued that the Fanions were preparing to person a young niece enactment with them and that immoderate of the websites were related to imaginable hazards their 200-year-old location mightiness pose.

At the opening of March 2018, Fanion repeatedly Googled his imaginable lover, Cori Knowles. On April 2, arsenic things heated up betwixt Fanion and Knowles, helium began questioning the nuances of affairs, searching "can you person an matter without sex."

Two weeks later, connected April 17, Fanion began researching divorcement laws successful Massachusetts. Several web pages helium visited were related to pension rights aft divorce. Fanion was readying for his upcoming retirement, and according to Knowles successful an interrogation with police, helium feared losing portion of his pension if helium were to divorcement his wife. The pursuing day, Brian Fanion's inquiries into infidelity resumed, visiting web pages titled "My cleanable matter – however I'm getting distant with it" and "Emotional Infidelity: Worse Than A Sexual Affair?"

Eleven days earlier Amy Fanion died, connected April 27, Brian Fanion searched "gsr testing" connected his enactment computer. That greeting betwixt 9:22 and 9:38 a.m., Brian Fanion visited 5 web pages related to gunshot residue. Among those web pages were "Gunshot Residue Collection: The Decisions that Make oregon Break a Case" and a quality study connected YouTube called "What gunshot residue tests archer us." Sandstrom told "48 Hours" this had thing to bash with Brian Fanion's enactment astatine the Westfield Police Department.

"He wasn't assigned to immoderate progressive investigations successful April and May of 2018 … that would necessitate looking up gunshot residue," Sandstrom told "48 Hours." "Nobody successful the Westfield Police Department does gunshot residue testing."

On May 7, 2018, the time earlier Amy Fanion was changeable dead, Fanion repeatedly searched however to region predominant contacts from his phone. At his trial, Fanion's defence argued that helium was successful the process of getting a caller telephone and wanted to cognize however to erase information from his existent one. Sandstrom prosecuted the case.

"Now, the suspect suggests that helium did these searches due to the fact that he's successful the process of getting a caller telephone close earlier his wife's demise," Sandstrom told the jury. "But he's not looking to delete each information disconnected of his telephone … he's searching however to delete the often contacted database due to the fact that helium doesn't privation grounds of his narration with Corrine being discovered by the authorities police."

Fanion's proceedings for the execution of Amy Fanion began connected Feb. 23, 2023. Sandstrom's archetypal witnesser was Amy Fanion's sister, Anna Hansen. Hansen testified that aft Amy's death, Brian Fanion confided that helium was acrophobic astir immoderate searches helium had made.

"I asked him what that hunt was, and helium said however to marque a execution look similar a suicide," Hansen said connected the witnesser stand. Under transverse introspection by the defense, Detective Tom Forest testified that helium ne'er recovered immoderate searches related to those terms.

On the greeting of May 8, 2018, portion Brian Fanion was inactive astatine work, helium searched "massachusetts aesculapian examiner offices" and visited a website that listed the units wrong the Massachusetts State Police forensics section.

In her closing arguments, Sandstrom stated that that morning, Brian Fanion was preparing for his wife's murder. "He's looking up and researching the units that volition look … aft he's committed this murder. … the grounds successful this lawsuit proves beyond a tenable uncertainty that the suspect knew helium was going to execution Amy Fanion erstwhile helium near the Westfield Police Department astatine 11:47 a.m. connected May 8th."

Brian Fanion's defence argued that Amy Fanion had choler issues and suffered from terrible anxiety. After Amy's death, galore members of her household signed a missive successful enactment of Brian, stating that they were definite Amy had taken her ain life. Several members of Amy Fanion's household took the stand, and though they were called arsenic witnesses for the prosecution, their testimonies supported Brian Fanion's defense.

After a month-long trial, the assemblage recovered Brian Fanion blameworthy of the first-degree execution of Amy Fanion. He was sentenced to beingness successful prison. His condemnation is nether appeal.

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