Post Mortem | The Farris Wheel

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Welcome back to Postmortem.

I'm your host, Anne-Marie Green, and today I'm joined by 48 Hours correspondent Peter Van Sant to discuss the murder of Gary Ferris, whose remains were found in a burn pile on his Georgia farm in 2018.

Now, his wife Melody was charged and then convicted of his murder, but she says the real killer is actually their son, Scott.

Scott Ferris denies all of this.

We are going to talk about all the details.

In this case, Peter's exclusive interview with Melody right after she learns her fate, that she's sentenced to life behind bars.

Peter, I want to thank you for joining us.

Hi, Anne-Marie.

It's great to be here again.

And they called this the Ferris wheel, so hop on and enjoy the ride, folks.

Yeah, exactly.

And a reminder: if you haven't taken the ride yet, meaning if you haven't actually listened to this episode yet, you can find the full hour in your podcast feed right above this one.

So go listen to this case and then come on back so we can discuss.

All right, Peter.

So we are going to talk about your exclusive interview with Melody Ferris, which is absolutely remarkable.

And it's funny because I was watching.

I didn't actually clue in that she was wearing orange until later on, which gives you a little indication is that, you know, things did not go her way.

But before we even get into that, I want to talk about Scott because you also had an interview with Scott Ferris.

His job was to run the day-to-day operations on the farm.

He lived there.

Police zero in on Melody, though, but I'm really curious because she points the finger at her own son.

Was he ever a suspect in this case?

Scott was questioned.

He was never charged with any crime whatsoever.

And during the course of the trial, defense attorneys, there was all this innuendo out there and they're questioning that he must have had something to do with his father's murder.

But in fact,

On July 3rd, 2018, the day that authorities believe Gary Ferris was murdered, Scott's cell phone and Scott were far away from the family farm.

He didn't return until about 11.30 that night, so he simply wasn't there.

Sitting across from him, though, you know, people like you and me who've interviewed so many people,

we have a belief that we have a sense that we can judge a person's veracity, their honesty.

He looked me right in the eye.

He has told a consistent story throughout.

People who are lying oftentimes will tell different versions of what what happened because they can't quite keep their story straight.

Not with Scott.

I challenged him with lots of tough questions, and he took them on with great spirit, answered everything.

There was nothing that was off limits with Scott, which was fantastic.

The defense tried to raise suspicions that he was involved in all of this.

We didn't get into this a lot in the hour, but it is interesting.

Scott Ferris lived in an apartment at the very top of the barn, and his mother complained that investigators didn't do a good job of searching that barn.

Well, it turns out that some.38 caliber ammunition was found in the barn.

And remember, Gary Ferris's bullet that was found on his rib cage was a.38 caliber.

And yet in the barn, there was no firearm that could shoot a.38 caliber bullet.

So in Melody's mind, well, clearly her son must have used a gun, disposed of that weapon.

But it turns out that Scott Ferris had a buddy who did have a gun, fired a.38, that get together and do some target practice, and that the bullets, the ammunition they found inside that barn was explained to the satisfaction of investigators.

On top of everything else, in the end, the.38 caliber bullets found in the barn was actually a different type of.38 caliber slug than what was found in Gary Ferris's body.

All right.

So there you go.

So the other thing that you did, Peter, and I'm really curious about what this was like, is that you actually went to the exact locations.

And sometimes that really makes a difference in terms of your reporting to see the distance from one place to the next, this hill, this

farm.

How did like going to these locations inform your reporting?

One of the big issues in this case, which for me is still unresolved, is how does a 120-pound Melody Ferris manage to get, if she murdered her husband,

a 300-pound body into that burn pile?

And one of the things that investigators looked at, there were two farm vehicles that they had.

One was called an RTV, a rough terrain vehicle.

And what investigators were wondering, and by the way, Melody knew how to use both of these

vehicles.

So they were wondering, did she take the RTV and drag him out to the pile?

So they went and checked the RTV

and there was

there was no DNA at all of Gary Ferris on there.

There was a single drop of blood.

It turned out to be Melody's blood on the shifter.

But as somebody that, you know, we have a place out in the country and when you're out there, I mean, every time I go out there, I cut myself on something.

So they just didn't think that was significant.

The other vehicle was a tractor with a small shovel in the front, but large enough to carry a human being.

And investigators checked it out to see if there was any DNA inside that shovel that matched Gary Ferris.

And they found nothing there.

So there was just no evidence at all that a body had been dragged from the house up to the burn pile, had been dragged anywhere.

And there were no tire marks that went directly from the house to the burn pile.

So to this day, it's like a space alien came down and somehow scooped up his body and put him in that pile.

And for me and for 48 hours producers who were there at the trial, it just eats away at us.

How did she get that body in that burn pile?

It's a wee bit of a distance, too.

It's not like a short distance.

But you spoke to Scott, which I can only imagine he's racking his brain trying to come up with a theory.

This was not included in the hour.

And so I want to play some of the sound of what Scott said to you, how what he believes happened.

Let's play the unaired clip.

Several months after my father was murdered, we had one of our horses get into the pond.

This is wintertime, cold water.

He couldn't get out.

So I rushed home and my buddy came and helped me.

I went to go look for a toe strap that my dad and I used the weekend prior to his murder.

Big yellow nylon.

toe strap we use it to drag logs and and boulders and stuff around with the RTV.

I couldn't find that toe strap anywhere.

I searched the entire property.

It's missing.

Gone.

That right there is when I knew what she used to get him to the burn pile.

She used that to drag him there.

The strap that Scott is talking about is a strong nylon strap.

You can hook it on the back of an RTV.

There's usually an eyelet there.

They'll use it oftentimes if they're out deer hunting, let's say, and they want to bring a carcass back or if they're hauling

waste materials from the farm, if they're pruning trees or whatever, and they'll take things to the burn pile.

That strap may be missing, and it's one of many unanswered questions in the course of this case, but it doesn't count as evidence.

And this is important.

No remnants of that strap

was ever found on that burn pile.

Nevertheless, police do arrest Melody.

They arrest her in 2019.

They charge melody ferris with the murder of her husband gary but then the case drags out it's five years before they actually go to trial the da said you know this had partially to do with covid um and we know peter that covet it really did sort of delay a lot of cases your team however was in the courtroom i just want to get a sense of what it was like when arguments were heard from the defense from the prosecution did people in the courtroom get a sense of where this case might be going?

It's interesting because I was getting briefings from producers who were at the trial, and they felt as though it was going Melody's way in that this unanswered question of how she could have gotten the body

from the house to the burn pile was huge.

Right.

So during the defense close, there was a moment of real drama because the big question, how could she have possibly gotten that 300-pound body to the burn pile?

And the attorney brings in these large sacks of rock salt, one bag at a time, dumps it in front of the jury, and then keeps talking.

Then the next one, boom,

eventually getting up to around that 300 pound mark to try to demonstrate whether a person would be able, especially someone

of that weight, 120 pounds, would be able to move that weight.

But I believe that strategically, this is where the defense attorney made an enormous mistake.

What he should have had done then is say, here's someone from my office.

Here's Carol.

She's 120 pounds.

Carol, I'd like you to try to move this.

Instead, he pulled the tarp.

And this is a courtroom.

It's a flat floor.

It's lacquered.

And he pulled it.

It was a dramatic stunt that backfired.

There was also this issue of there was just a couple spots of blood inside the house.

Prosecutors seized on that and said, well, that's where he must have been shot.

And the blood started in the kitchen, went down some steps into this lower area where that was his bedroom.

And there was a door out there that led outside.

According to the defense, why wouldn't there have been a bunch more blood there and some blood spatter if he had been shot?

And also, and this was confirmed by the Ferris daughter, Amanda.

Just a few days prior to his disappearance, her father had been bitten by Melody's dog on the ankle in the kitchen and he had bled.

And so when our people heard this stuff, for them there was reasonable doubt out there.

But what became the biggest piece of evidence for the jurors was when one of these electronics cell phone experts testified that Gary Ferris's cell phone shows that the day after they believe he had been placed in that burn pile, his phone moved from the house to the burn pile pile and back to the house.

And at that time, there was only one person that was on the property who could have done that.

And that person was Melody.

And for jurors, that was the single most important piece of information for them that said, well, no one was at the farm at that time except Melody.

Huh.

Yes, I thought that was a curious bit of evidence as well.

And I was frankly surprised that they could track the phone over that short of a distance.

Yep.

And also that expert analyzed the phone relationship between Melody and her lover, Rusty Barton.

They'd had a relationship for several years, and they tended to always speak at a certain time in the evening.

But on July 3rd, these phone calls went on through the night.

There were several of them.

And the last call was made around 2.30 in the morning, which was highly unusual.

And it suggested to people, well, what were they talking about?

What had just occurred that might demand a phone call like this?

And the speculation is a murder.

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Welcome back.

The trial against Melody Ferris almost ended in a hung jury.

After three days of deliberations, the jury sent out a note to the judge saying that they were deadlocked.

But the judge asked them to go back, give it another try.

And then in a few hours, they actually did come back with their verdict.

Melody Ferris was found guilty on all five counts against her, including malice murder, felony murder.

and making false statements.

You were at the sentencing hearing where for the very first time she spoke publicly.

And of all things to say, when you're facing life behind bars, she points the finger at her own son.

And there's sort of a rant from her about how Scott is actually the culprit.

How did they react in the courtroom to that?

Well, this was high drama.

I've been to so many sentencing hearings, and none of us knew this was coming.

Melody

comes alive.

She'd been silent throughout this entire trial, unemotional,

stoic, not reacting to some of the things that are being said.

And all of a sudden,

it was like Mount St.

Helens, you know, that lava dome had built up and built up.

And now this was her moment, and it exploded, it erupted.

And she dramatically accuses her own son.

of being the killer.

And the judge, you could tell, was stunned.

Everyone was stunned in that room.

And looking over at them, they were physically reacting.

You know, when you say something so stunning to someone, it's so hurtful, there's a shudder that people will do.

And they were all looking at each other and they were having that shudder reaction.

And it was so powerful.

And then to have

the mother that brought you into this world and raised you and say, not only that, but I can't wait until you are in handcuffs, being led away to prison to spend the rest of your life

behind bars.

It was absolutely breathtaking.

So then, was this coming as a complete surprise to Scott, or did he know that his mother had been suggesting that maybe he was the culprit?

You know, when a defense team builds a lot of their case on she couldn't have done it, she physically couldn't have moved that body, they had to suggest a potential other suspect.

And when they cross-examined Scott, they really went after him.

You are physically able.

You are the only one on that farm that could move that body.

You had issues with your father or financial issues.

You had told people that one day this farm would be yours.

They suggested all these things that he had a motive

to kill.

So you knew it was out there in the ether.

But it wasn't until this moment that you knew for sure that his mom thought the wrong person has been convicted of this crime.

The real killer is just sitting right behind me, off to the side.

And that killer is my own son.

Trevor Burrus, Jr.: So, you know, Peter, it's one thing to hear that suggestion from your mother's defense attorneys, right?

You know, at least on some level, that they're doing a job and it's to create doubt.

But it's another thing to hear it from your own mother, who is not only saying that you did this horrible thing, but is, you know, sort of preemptively celebrating the day that you will get what's coming to you.

I don't know if Scott was even kind of ready to talk about like that emotional stuff.

But when you said that and talked to him, did he talk about that hurt, that betrayal?

This is his mom.

Absolutely.

It was profound for him.

And for him, it was also just one more betrayal because he claims that Melody's story about Scott's relationship with his father is is a lie, according to Scott.

He got along with his dad.

They loved each other very much.

He worked hard at that farm, that his father had not talked to him about cutting off his funds and things, that she had made up a relationship that simply didn't exist.

And for Scott then to hear all of this was just another turn of the knife that was already

in his back.

And

it was a tragedy.

It was was this ferris wheel uh

taking one last evil turn isn't that the truth okay

so let us talk about your exclusive interview with melody maybe this has happened before you've been doing this for a long time i don't recall ever watching when

an accused who is then convicted walks right out of the courtroom and sits down in front of 48 hours cameras.

How did that come about?

Tell me more about this interview.

Well, this has happened once before in all my years at 48 Hours.

And through our producers that worked this, they had made contact with defense attorneys, had a good relationship with him and proposed this interview.

And Melody agreed to it.

It did occur so quickly that

After the drama in the courtroom, I dashed to the back.

We had set up a room there at the courthouse to do this interview.

And I'm sitting in a chair looking down at my notes, getting ready for Melody to come in.

I look up and she's already in the chair, sitting there staring at me with that face that I had seen on TV screens.

And she was raring to go.

And I told her, I just listened to one of the most dramatic sentencing hearings of my career.

Tell this audience what you want them to know.

And it all came out.

The flood of this came out in which she now claimed that her dead mother

had told her, we both know that Scott did this.

I know that Scott did this, but I want you to protect my grandson.

This is what Melody claimed.

And

that Melody had agreed to do that.

Melody didn't take the stand and tell this story.

When I asked her that, it was the classic, oh, my attorneys didn't want me to.

My attorneys didn't want me to.

Keep in mind, as Melody is making all of these claims, this case had been exhaustively investigated and police have told us that for them

all of the evidence led to one person and that person was melody yeah but we sat down and had a really spirited interview to say the least where i pressed her on on her accusations and uh it was fascinating did she say anything that surprised you

her uh

Bringing in her mother, who is dead and cannot speak for herself, that was a big surprise, saying that she had made this promise, but now she had to speak up.

The thing

I spent a lot of time challenging her just about how does a mother go after her own son?

Yeah.

When what's the evidence that he did this beyond the fact that she's created this narrative?

But she's really stuck with it.

She doubled down on that.

Scott is the killer.

She said over and over again.

It's not me.

I'll have a new day in court.

I will be, we will one day be able to prove that Scott did this.

I don't know how that's going to happen, but she claims this case is not over, and she looks forward to the day that her own son is in chains being led away.

Wow.

And then you have the whole family.

You talked about the Ferris wheel, the tumultuousness of their family dynamic.

And so now you have their father is dead, their mother is behind bars.

Just how are they getting along now?

Well,

Scott says that things with Amanda have not healed as yet.

That division still remains.

Amanda testified that she believes in her mother.

The other three children are just certain.

They say Melody Ferris was a contentious person, had anger issues, was betraying their father, humiliated their father by bringing her lover to

one of the daughter's wedding receptions, dancing with him, partying with him, holding him.

The family has blown apart.

And, you know, as I said, when I went out to this bucolic farm, about 10 acres, this beautiful pond, old barn, a mansion that's there.

And to have all this hatred, animosity, and ultimately death and the burning of a corpse on that property is just mind-boggling to me.

If I can just mention one other thing, too, that's always baffled me.

The weekend in which he died,

the grandkids were visiting the farm.

Who plans a murder when their grandchildren are there?

Whether that family will ever come back together, all of them, I don't know.

It's such a shame, but it's a fascinating story, and it's heartbreaking to see the devastation that's left behind with this family.

Peter, thank you very much.

Thanks, Anne-Marie.

And if you like this series post-mortem, please rate and review 48 Hours on Apple Podcasts and follow 48 Hours wherever you get your podcast.

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