Indiana

The parents of Ashley Fallis, the wife of Tom Fallis, who was acquitted of murder charges Thursday in connection with her shooting death, said they are in “complete shock” over the not guilty verdict. “I don’t understand how they [the jury] came to the conclusion that they did,” Ashley’s mother Jenna Fox told “I just can’t believe with all the forensic evidence that they had and all the witnesses who heard what they heard that this jury flippantly came up with what they did.” A Colorado jury found Tom Fallis not guilty of second-degree murder after deliberating for less than four hours. Fallis had been accused of shooting and killing his wife on Jan. 1, 2012, after the couple had hosted a New Year's Eve party with family and friends at their home in Evans, Colorado. Ashley’s parents, who sat down with "20/20" for their first interview since the verdict, believe that justice was not served in the case of her daughter’s death. “Part of what I know to be the truth, which is Tom Fallis murdered her, and he is walking free,” her father Joel Raguindin told “20/20.” “I did not get justice. But that will never ever change what I remember as the truth of what happened that morning.” When Raguindin heard the jury’s verdict in favor of Tom, he said, “I was in shock.” “After all that we have been through over the past four years and this shot at justice, my heart sunk,” he said. “Even as we left that courtroom, it was like a blur.” Ashley's death in 2012 was initially ruled a suicide, but new witness statements surfaced in 2014 and led to a grand jury investigation. Fallis was ultimately indicted for second-degree murder in November 2014. He was brought back to Colorado from Bloomington, Indiana, where he moved with their three children, to face the charges. He is now expected to return to Indiana. During the trial, Ashley's mother testified that she never accepted the ruling that her daughter committed suicide. “She was just vivacious and fun and she was a strong woman. She loved her children,” Jenna Fox told “20/20.” ”People that knew Ashley know that she would never kill herself. And I think that’s important to have ourselves and our family remember.” Tom Fallis told police he was innocent and pleaded not guilty to the charges. At trial, one of the new witness statements was from Nick Glover, who was the Fallises' next door neighbor and was just 15 years old at the time of the shooting. He testified that he heard through an open window Fallis confess to the crime to two people. The two people Fallis was allegedly talking to that night were his parents, Jim and Anna Fallis. But when they took the stand they denied that Tom had confessed to them. His parents said they left the New Year's Eve party earlier that evening but came rushing back after getting a phone call and a text from their son saying, "I need you now.” Anna Fallis testified that she comforted her son Tom, who was distraught, and said he never told her he had shot Ashley. But Fox didn't believe Tom's story, working with Denver TV station KDVR to take a closer look at the case. One of the key witnesses unearthed in the news station's investigation was a neighbor named Chelsea Arrigo. Kathy Glover, Nick Glover’s mother, testified that Arrigo called her the night of the shooting and asked if she had called the police. Kathy said she told Arrigo she had not called the police, and when she asked Arrigo why she should have, Arrigo told her, "Because your neighbor just shot his wife." But when she took the stand, Arrigo testified that she didn't recall saying that to Kathy Glover. Ashley's mother maintained that law enforcement purposefully omitted information in reports on her death in order to protect "one of their own." Evans Police publicly denied any wrongdoing and maintained the case was thoroughly investigated in 2012.

• published: 02 Apr 2016
• views: 59339