On an early morning dog walk, October 9, 2020, Jamie Faith and his wife Jennifer left their Dallas home. It would be the last walk Jamie Faith ever took. Moments after they stepped outside, Jamie was shot dead. This murder completely shocked their friends and neighbors. It was not a typical crime scene, according to reports. To put it simply, this murder was unlike anything I have ever heard of before.
Journalist Steve Pickett, who covered the case, noted that "Broad daylight, seven shots, one person killed," is not a normal event. Defense attorney Christy Jack, who reviewed the case, pointed out the disturbing details: "Three times to the head, three times to the chest and once to the groin. And then [someone] turns to the wife, takes the time to pull out duct tape and wrap her wrists." Jack felt it looked like a professional hit right away. Neighbors heard Jennifer screaming, saying it sounded like something from a movie. Police began going house to house, searching for answers. Jamie’s own security camera captured a haunting photo of him, Jennifer, and their dog Maggie leaving the house seconds before he was killed. It sent chills down my spine seeing that picture.
The main clue police had was a black Nissan Titan pickup truck. It had a white "T" on its back window, which for Dallas residents, often means the Texas Rangers baseball team. This specific detail would become very important later on. For those who knew Jamie Faith, the big questions were not just who did it, but why? Jamie was known as a fun-loving guy. His neighbors described him as the "sweetest person." They were confused why something so awful would happen to him.
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Shamona Jackson and her wife Melisa Gonzales lived next door to Jamie and Jennifer for years. They moved when the pandemic hit, but they had always been close. Jennifer had quickly bonded with Shamona, Melisa, and their adopted children. She herself was adopted. The Faiths welcomed them, letting them use their backyard pool whenever they liked. Jennifer was described as "pretty fun" and someone her friends had "never seen her get mad." She seemed like a happy, easygoing person. This made Jamie’s murder even more unbelievable to them.
The day after the murder, Jennifer reached out to a neighbor to organize a meal train. She specifically asked for vegan meals. A GoFundMe account was also set up by a neighbor, and money started pouring in to help Jennifer and her daughter Amber. Jennifer held two funerals for Jamie, one in Dallas and one in Phoenix. Both were planned with extreme detail. She kept pressing the public for information about her husband's murder. She would often talk about the black Nissan Titan and the Texas Rangers sticker. She pleaded with people to help find the truck. She was putting on a very convincing show.
However, as with every murder investigation, detectives started looking into Jennifer’s background. They asked for her cell phone. What they found would change everything. In April 2020, six months before the murder, Jennifer had texted a friend saying she had reconnected with an ex-boyfriend named Darrin. His name was Darrin Lopez. He would become a key figure in this twisted story.
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Darrin Lopez and Jennifer had dated in high school. They reconnected in early 2020. Lopez had his own family and was a Special Forces Army veteran. He had earned a Purple Heart and suffered a brain injury from a roadside bomb in Iraq. That attack killed 19 soldiers in his unit. He was living in an isolated part of Tennessee, raising his daughters. Authorities learned Lopez owned a 20-acre property there. And he owned a Nissan Titan, the exact make and model of the gunman's getaway truck. Texas authorities reached out to law enforcement in Tennessee.
Police did not arrest Lopez right away. They kept investigating, digging into his phone records. What they found was a huge amount of communication between Jennifer Faith and Darrin Lopez. Sometimes they were texting and calling more than 500 times a day. It was almost constant. But on the afternoon of October 8, the day before Jamie was killed, Darrin and Jennifer stopped talking for about 28 hours. That same day, Lopez told his daughters he was going on a "hunting trip" for a few days. Debit card records showed he filled up his gas tank near his home. He set his GPS for the Faith's house. He then began the 10-hour drive to Dallas.
He was unknowingly giving law enforcement a clear path of evidence. Security video showed him at a convenience store in Arkansas wearing a blue mask, the same color Jennifer told police the killer wore. GPS data showed he arrived at the Faith home at 2:19 AM on the day of the murder. Another security camera captured grainy images of him near the vacant house next door. Investigators wondered about his level of patience, sitting there for five hours waiting for the murder to happen. At 7:30 AM, when the Faiths came out to walk their dog, Lopez ambushed them. He killed Jamie, then drove 650 miles back home to Tennessee. The police needed to figure out why he did it. Was it for love or was someone else telling him what to do?
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In January 2021, three months after Jamie Faith’s murder, Dallas detectives found thousands of texts. They showed Jennifer and Darrin Lopez had a deep connection that bordered on obsession, even though they had not seen each other for decades. The texts were not the only evidence against Lopez. Cell phone data put him near the crime scene. GPS coordinates showed his exact route. An arrest was made. Police pulled Lopez over in Dickson, Tennessee. He seemed nervous but quiet. Inside his car, agents found a face mask, the same color Jennifer said the gunman wore. At his house, authorities found a .45 caliber handgun. Ballistics tests matched the gun to shell casings at the murder scene. Even more damning were traces of Jamie's blood found on the gun. One detective thought it might have been a "memento" of what he was willing to do for her.
Lopez pleaded not guilty to both gun and murder charges. He was sent to a Dallas County jail. Police became more suspicious of Jennifer. Was she involved or just covering for Lopez? On the day Lopez was arrested, detectives brought Jennifer in for more questioning. They made sure she did not know Lopez had been arrested. She denied having a sexual relationship with Darrin Lopez but admitted they communicated every day. The sheer number of messages was shocking: 116,000 texts in six months. How did they even have time to sleep or eat? It was constant.
After Lopez texted Jennifer that he had deleted texts, she responded with a "Big smile over here at that." Lopez's phone contained a lot of intimate texts and love messages. Darrin wrote: "I love you with all of my heart." Jennifer replied: "Sleep my angel. Holding you tight." Investigators also found that Jennifer woke up panicked that the "T" was still on Lopez's truck. She texted him to take the sticker out of the back window. This looked very much like a conspiracy. It seemed they were working together to cover their tracks. Jennifer also tried to collect Jamie's $629,000 life insurance policy. When it was delayed, she boldly contacted the police to ask why she had not been cleared as a suspect. This woman had a lot of nerve.
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After Jamie died, Jennifer began showering Lopez with cash and gifts. He was in financial trouble. She even used some of the money from the GoFundMe account set up to help her deal with Jamie's loss. Records show she sent Lopez cash through Venmo, bought airplane tickets for him and his daughters, and let him use her credit cards. She emailed him saying "PLEASE don't hesitate to use them for whatever you need." She noted her AMEX had no limit and her Visa had a $35,000 limit, and she paid them off every month. Authorities saw this as paying for murder. Jennifer kept doing anything to keep Lopez on her side, even after he was arrested. She sent him messages through a third party, telling him she would always love him and be there for him.
Jennifer Faith was arrested on February 24, 2021, charged with obstruction of justice. This charge meant she was tampering with or destroying evidence. Jamie's friend Ross Jensen was not happy with this charge. He expected more. But authorities wanted her in custody to stop her from destroying more evidence. And they were right to do so. In Jennifer's house, they found computers with many emails. These emails took the investigation in a whole new direction. The emails were very clear and said that Jamie was physically and sexually abusing Jennifer. The emails were sent to Darrin Lopez. They showed a connection between the two men in Jennifer's life.
It looked like Jamie Faith was sending messages to Darrin, saying he was going to harm and sexually abuse his wife. He supposedly wanted Darrin to see it. He even wrote: "I am finally going to get what I want from her this weekend." As investigators looked closer, they found some emails came from a second email address, in the name of one of Jennifer's male friends. This friend's emails backed up the abuse claims. Some even had photos. Messages from the friend asked Lopez for help getting Jennifer away from Jamie. A retired Texas Ranger, Jim Holland, said the emails clearly made Lopez fear for Jennifer's safety. Lopez wrote to the friend’s account: "I know I won't feel better about her situation until she is … away from him, or she lets me put a bullet in Jamie's head. I keep offering and she keeps telling me no, LOL." Holland believes the gunshot to the groin suggests the emails had their intended effect on Darrin Lopez.
Prosecutors looked at the emails and all the evidence against Jennifer. This included her payments and gifts to Lopez. In September 2021, seven months after her obstruction charge, Jennifer was charged again. This time, it was murder-for-hire, with the possibility of the death penalty. Prosecutors revealed the horrible emails sent to Darrin Lopez. Then came the shocking secret: Jennifer wrote all of those horrible emails to Darrin Lopez. She was the "puppet master." Darrin Lopez was her puppet. It is mind-boggling how someone could create fake people and emails to manipulate someone like that. It is something I have not seen in a very long time.
The big question was why? What made Jennifer want Jamie dead? She seemed to have everything: a loving husband and daughter, financial security, and a happy home. One expert thought it was simply greed. She wanted more. Jamie's life insurance and 401k totaled over $1 million. She wanted that money. She also had a history of portraying herself as a victim to draw men in. She spun an ugly story about being abused by her first husband, though there was no evidence of this. She found in Darrin Lopez a man capable of carrying out the mission she desired.
Jennifer Faith decided to accept a plea agreement. She would cooperate with authorities. On February 7, 2022, she pleaded guilty to using interstate commerce in the commission of murder-for-hire. Prosecutors agreed to take the death penalty off the table and recommend a life sentence. Holland believed her plea was typical Jennifer: she was incapable of facing the death penalty because she was incapable of killing herself. He also noted that she had to admit her husband never abused her physically or sexually. She used the GoFundMe account to pay Darrin Lopez. Court records show she did not pay for Jamie's funeral expenses, still owing $6,500. She even asked for $200,000 from Jamie's estate for her prison commissary account. This whole case is a tragedy driven by greed and manipulation. She robbed her community, and her daughter lost a father. It was a very selfish act on many levels.
Jamie's parents and sister did not attend the hearing. His family home was sold. Amber moved out of Texas with their dog Maggie. After Jennifer’s plea deal, Lopez also agreed to answer questions. He admitted killing Jamie. He told investigators he reconnected with Jennifer because he was in a "very dark place." He never intended to reunite romantically or break up her family. Lopez's attorney has publicly stated Jennifer took advantage of him, given his brain injury from the Army. Jamie's friends feel Jennifer is more responsible for his death than Darrin, because she used him. Those who loved Jamie still struggle with his death. He was a kind, easygoing guy who cared about people, no matter their background. He was a great dad to his kids, and that meant a lot. In July 2022, Jennifer Faith was sentenced to life in prison for orchestrating Jamie’s murder. This story is just another reminder that sometimes, truth is stranger and much more horrifying than fiction.