Dallas woman described as "puppet master," orchestrating
Jamie Faith and his wife, Jennifer, set out from their Dallas home on an early morning dog walk on Oct. 9, 2020. It would be the last walk Jamie Faith ever took. Moments after they left home, Jamie was shot dead. It was a murder that stunned their friends and neighbors.
"To say it was a shocking murder would be an understatement … Broad daylight, seven shots, one person killed," says Steve Pickett, who covered the case for CBS' KTVT-TV in Dallas-Fort Worth. "We see murders all day. This one looked different."
"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 the duct tape and wrap her wrists," said Christy Jack, a prominent defense attorney "48 Hours" asked to review the case. She told correspondent Peter Van Sant, "As soon as I saw it, I thought, 'That's a hit.'"
But if you think this is a simple murder-for-hire story, you'd be wrong.
GUNNED DOWN WHILE WALKING THE DOG
Melinda Mendoza | Neighbor: I hear the woman screaming for her life, hysterical. It sounded like a movie … so I hurry up and call the police saying, "hurry and come, I think my neighbor just got shot."
It was October 9, 2020, and residents of Oak Cliff were still absorbing the shocking murder of Jamie Faith. Dallas Police detectives began going house to house.
NEWS REPORT: Detectives need any and all information that might be related to the case …
Jamie's own front door security camera captured the haunting photo as he left his house with Jennifer and their dog Maggie. It was taken seconds before Jamie was shot to death.
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Other cameras captured images of the killer's getaway truck leaving the scene.
Peter Van Sant: A black Nissan Titan pickup truck. And it had something unique on its back window. What was that?
Steve Pickett: Police initially told us about the T on the back window. Here in Dallas, if you see a "T" on the back window, it's for … the baseball team, the Texas Rangers.
Steve Pickett noted that the cameras did not pick up the truck's license plate.
Peter Van Sant: And so, the effort begins to find this truck, right?
Steve Pickett: That's right. Absolutely … Who is driving a black Nissan Titan with that "T" emblem on the back window?
For those who knew Jamie Faith, the big question was not only who had committed the murder but why? Jamie, by all accounts, was a fun-loving guy.
Shamona Jackson: Jamie was the sweetest person … And I said, "Somethin's not right …Something wasn't right."
Shamona Jackson and her wife Melisa Gonzales lived next door to Jamie and Jennifer for years but moved when the pandemic hit. They needed more space for their seven adopted children.
Shamona Jackson: The first time I met him … we all introduced ourselves … and they were like, "Do y'all have kids?" And I was like, "Yeah, we have lotta kids." (laughter)
Peter Van Sant: Is it true that the Faith house was a really fun place for your kids to go?
Shamona Jackson: Yes (laughs).
Jennifer Faith instantly bonded with Shamona, Melisa, and their adopted children at least in part, because she was also adopted. The Faiths welcomed them like family, inviting them to swim anytime they liked in Faith's backyard pool.
Melissa Gonzales: Oh, they loved to go swimming there. Sometimes they'd spend the night over … She would just leave us the code and we'd come in through the back gate and swim.
Peter Van Sant: Give me a sense of what — Jennifer Faith was like.
Shamona Jackson: She was actually pretty fun … I've never seen her get mad … She was really fun.
Peter Van Sant: Would you describe them as a loving couple?
Melisa and Shamona: Yes.
On the morning of the murder, a cousin of Melisa's called her with the dreadful news. They rushed to the Faith home. Jamie's lifeless body was still on the street.
Shamona Jackson: Right away, I noticed the gunshot to the head. But he was layin' there, just in the street; no covering, no nothin'.
Melissa Gonzales: It was heartbreaking … 'Cause you hear somebody tell you that someone's passed, but to see him there, lifeless, after we had just seen them and — it was hard to believe.
Two states away in Arizona, Theresa and Ross Jensen, who had known Jamie for years, were floored by the news.
Ross Jensen: And the two of us just stared at each other for a little while like, "What?!?"
Theresa Jensen: In shock.
Theresa Jensen and Jamie Faith hail from the village of Mukwonago, Wisconsin, and were classmates through high school and college. He later introduced Theresa to her husband Ross, a close college friend.
Ross Jensen: Sixteen years later, here we sit.
Theresa Jensen: Jamie literally changed our lives.
Ross Jensen: We never would've met.
Jamie may have been a successful matchmaker, but he insisted that serious relationships were not for him.
Theresa Jensen: He considered himself a confirmed bachelor … for as long as we knew him, he said, "I'm never getting married."
Ross Jensen: "Never getting married."
Theresa Jensen: "Never having kids. I don't want a part of it."
But that changed in 2005.
Theresa Jensen: And then he met Jennifer.
The attraction was instant.
Ross Jensen: In terms of the commitment and the relationship and —
Theresa Jensen: — that was there.
Ross Jensen: — that was there right off the bat. They were two peas in a pod.
And that notion about not wanting children? Jamie bonded with Jennifer's then 8-year-old daughter Amber from her first marriage.
Ross Jensen: I remember thinking to myself, "That's interesting. For a guy that didn't want kids, how he stepped right in there." And he would go to the dance recitals and was super supportive.
The two got married in Las Vegas in 2012 and when Amber turned 18, Jamie legally adopted her. He was working for American Airlines in Arizona and Jennifer worked in health care administration.
Theresa Jensen: I believe all of our friends and mutual friends were very accepting of her."
Jamie, Jennifer, and Amber continued living in Arizona until 2017 when Jamie got a promotion and they moved to Dallas.
Ross Jensen: He seemed very happy. Yep. So did she. They got along great and — I mean, that's all you want for your friends, you know? Be happy.
But the good times ended in gunfire that October morning…it was the day after the couple celebrated the 15th anniversary of their first date. In later news reports, Jennifer said she was having a hard time coping with Jamie's murder:
JENNIFER FAITH [News report, December 2, 2020: I'm not supposed to be widowed at 48, you know?
Jennifer told cops that the shooter was wearing a blue mask, and a blurry image was captured by that security camera near the back of the Faith house. But the best lead was that black Nissan truck with the distinctive white "T" on the back window.
SUPPORT FROM THE COMMUNITY
Jennifer Svetlana: I have three dogs that I walk three, four times a day. … what seemed like was a completely random act, could've been any of us.
Jennifer Svelan and Jenna Wilson live in the same Oak Cliff neighborhood where Jamie Faith was gunned down — a man they could relate to.
Jenna Wilson: I learned he was in IT at a major airline. … My husband is in IT at a major airline. They were walking their dog a few blocks from us. I was just — "Oh my gosh," like, 'cause this could've been us.
Though many neighbors didn't know the Faiths personally, they immediately stepped up to support Jennifer and her daughter, Amber.
Jennifer Svelan: We have a really amazing community in Oak Cliff.
The day after the murder, Jenna reached out to Jennifer Faith and began coordinating a meal train to provide vegan meals, as Jennifer requested.
Peter Van Sant: How many different families were contributing food, would you estimate?
Jenna Wilson: Oh, goodness. Gotta be over 50.
Jennifer Svetlana: Oh, definitely.
As Jennifer Faith appealed to the public for information, money was pouring into a GoFundMe account set up by Jennifer Svetlana.
Jennifer Svelan: It came in fast…. It was shocking to see how much people were contributing.
Peter Van Sant: How much money was raised?
Jennifer Svelan: Over $60,000.
Jennifer Faith held two funerals for Jamie, one in Dallas and one in Phoenix. Each was meticulously planned.
Theresa Jensen: They had all of these displays out … little matchbooks for people to make — cards for people to take … coasters. More than anything I've ever seen at any other funeral.
While she was mourning, Jennifer kept pressing the public for more information about the murder of her husband.
JENNIFER FAITH [news report]: The truck is absolutely critical. Somebody has got to know whose truck this is … It's a black Nissan Titan, extended cab. It had a Texas Rangers sticker in the back window."
As they do with every homicide investigation, detectives looked into Jennifer's background. They asked for her cell phone and found that in April 2020, six months before the October shooting, Jennifer had texted a friend to say she had gotten back in touch with an ex-boyfriend named Darrin.
