Stuti Gokhale
American Airlines technology director Jamie Faith was mercilessly shot to death outside his home in Oak Cliff, Dallas County, in October 2020. His wife, Jennifer, was the unfortunate witness to his murder, and the entire community came forward to support her in such a testing time. The gruesome details of the case have been elaborately documented in CBS’ ’48 Hours: The Plot to Kill Jamie Faith,’ NBC’s ‘Dateline: Losing Faith,’ as well as ABC’s ’20/20: Happy Never After.’ However, what ultimately shocked everyone the most was Jennifer’s intricate involvement in the incident.
Who is Jennifer Faith?
Jennifer Lynne Faith met Wisconsin native Jamie Faith on a blind date in Phoenix in October 2005. She was previously divorced twice and has a daughter named Amber from one of her marriages. Jennifer and Jamie instantly hit it off due to their common interests and tied the knot in 2012 in Las Vegas. He also shared a wonderful equation with Amber and legally adopted her when she turned 18. Then, in 2017, the family relocated from Tucson, Arizona, to Oak Cliff in Dallas County, Texas, when Jamie got a promotion following the merger of US Airways and American Airlines. He proudly served as the airline’s IT director.
Jennifer holds a master’s degree in speech pathology and had been working as a Regional Director of an inpatient rehab hospital since 2012 when everything turned upside down. Everyone close to this couple considered them nearly perfect as they were always very warm and friendly. Moreover, Jennifer, too, felt that everyone wanted the relationship she had with her husband. On October 8, 2020, they celebrated their 15th anniversary of togetherness.
But alas. things took an unexpected turn on the morning of October 9, 2020, when Jamie was shot seven times by a masked attacker not a minute after he and Jennifer had left home for their morning walk alongside their dog. The unknown attacker then proceeded to tie her hands with duct tape and tried snatching her jewelry. Yet, following a brief struggle, he escaped in a black Nissan pickup truck carefully parked nearby. While Jennifer sustained minimal injuries, Jamie, unfortunately, passed immediately. Following the tragic incident, Oak Cliff inhabitants came forward to help Jennifer and Amber and even raised over $60,000 via a GoFundMe account for their financial needs.
Later, Jennifer appeared in a TV interview with a local news channel, where she implored the residents to help find leads for her husband’s killer. While everyone sympathized with her, the police luckily found their first evidence when a neighbor shared a photo they took of the assailant’s truck. Another neighbor provided surveillance footage from their home that had captured the sound of the incident. As per this footage, the black Nissan Titan truck had a “T” decal on the back window of the driver’s side.
Soon, authorities found surprising information on Jennifer’s phone that changed the course of the entire investigation. Numerous calls and texts were discovered between her and Darrin Lopez, indicating an extramarital relationship since around March 2020. He is an army veteran who suffered a traumatic brain injury while serving in Iraq which led to him developing a disability. A resident of Cumberland Furnace, Tennessee, Darrin had previously dated Jennifer in high school and college. About seven months before Jamie’s death, these former lovers had reconnected online, only to give way to an emotional love affair.
The police thus conducted aerial surveillance of Darrin’s comfortable residence, just to find the truck matching the one on surveillance. He was arrested on January 11, 2021, and the alleged murder weapon, the mask that Jennifer had described the killer to be wearing, and two credit cards in her name were retrieved from his home. As the investigation proceeded, it came to light she had provoked him to murder her husband by sending him several emails feining abuse, posing as Jamie and an ex-colleague.
In these messages, Jennifer claimed that Jamie was sexually and physically abusing her, and she attached stock or old images of her from a car crash to substantiate her claims. As per officials, Darrin was obviously enraged and he hence allegedly relented to his lover’s request to save her by killing him. He and Jennifer continued talking intimately in the 12 days following the murder, during which she coaxed him to remove the sticker off his truck when police identified it. In addition, the couple began creating synced alibis while also planning a life together.
Not just that, Jennifer took $58,000 out of the GoFundMe page created for her in a mere 2 months and gifted Darrin many expensive items like a TV and airplane tickets, apart from her two credit cards. Moreover, she sought around $629,000 in death benefits from Jamie’s employer through an insurance claim for future usage. Even after Darrin was arrested, Jennifer continued speaking with him through a third person in the same prison.
“I am with him, will always be with him regardless of whatever has happened. I’ve needed to be cautious because every communication is being monitored…Please tell him ASAP I will always be his,” read one of Jennifer’s texts for Darian. In the end, on February 24, 2021, she was arrested on the charge of obstruction to justice. Then, after Darrin reportedly confessed in custody that she had manipulated him into brutally killing Jamie, an additional charge of using interstate commerce in the commission of murder-for-hire was listed against her in September 2021.
Jennifer Faith is Behind Bars Today
On February 7, 2022, Jennifer Faith pleaded guilty to the murder-for-hire charge against her in exchange for the death penalty to be taken off the table. As per this deal, the prosecutors subsequently dropped the obstruction of justice charge too, and on June 21, 2022, she sentenced to life in prison. Therefore, today, at the age of 51, Jennifer is currently incarcerated at the low security Federal Correctional Institution in Aliceville, Alabama.
Read More: Where is Darrin Lopez Now?
