Witness recounts secret affair with Georgia woman accused of killing lawyer husband

CANTON, Ga. (CN) — Secret romantic partners of Melody Farris and her husband Gary Farris, whom she is accused of murdering, took the stand Tuesday to testify about the couple’s troubled relationship.

Prosecutors say finances and extramarital affairs drove tension between 64-year-old Melody Farris and her late husband, a prominent Atlanta-area attorney for the firm Burr and Forman.

On Tuesday state attorneys pointed to Melody Farris’ secret romantic relationships as proof of her dishonesty, distaste for her husband and motive.

Ted Wylie, a 60-year-old man from Alabama, told the jury he dated Melody Farris’ sister for about 20 years, but that he also had a secret romantic relationship with Melody Farris starting around 2008 and spanning nearly four years.

The relationship ended four years before the mysterious death of Gary Farris in July 2018, Wylie said, and he had no information about the brutal murder. “I don’t think anyone actually knew about it ever ’til now,” Wylie said.

Farris initially denied having any extramarital affairs when asked by investigators who later determined that was a lie.

She later was arrested for lying to authorities about ending her relationship with a man named Roy “Rusty” Barton — with whom she was found in Tullahoma, Tennessee, after her husband’s death. Barton is expected to testify later in the week.

Wylie added that Gary Farris might have been suspicious of the relationship, but never knew for sure. Gary Farris filed for divorce in February 2010, but the petition was dismissed that August.

Gary Farris’s assistant at his law firm, Angela Phillips, said this was around the same time the attorney’s wife began disappearing and running up his credit cards. She said that Gary Farris was well aware his wife was having “multiple affairs.”

“She became increasingly more critical of him and he became increasingly exasperated,” Phillips said.

Phillips testified that she and Gary Farris became very close, and had kissed, but that she kept the relationship strictly professional after she later met Melody Farris.

She noted that the couple, who were married for 38 years, lived separately in their home on a 10-acre farm in Alpharetta.

Detectives initially believed Gary Farris could have suffered a medical issue and fallen into the fire, but quickly began investigating the case as a homicide after a bullet was found lodged in one of his ribs. The bullet, a .38 caliber, did not match any weapon found during searches of the property.

However, the couple’s second-oldest child, Scott Farris, possessed the same kind of ammunition and lived in an apartment above their barn. Defense attorneys have pointed to Scott Farris or one of his other three siblings as possible suspects.

Last week, Scott Farris testified against his mother, telling the jury that his mother’s reaction seemed insincere when he reported finding his father’s remains in a burn pile on the property after his father’s disappearance.

“I’ve seen my mother cry,” Scott said. “Hundreds of times throughout my life, and it appeared to me to be fake.”

Through tears, Scott Farris said he loved his father and insisted he had no involvement in his murder.

Christopher Farris, the couple’s oldest son, told the jury that there was no funeral held for his father.

But Melody Farris’s attorney noted that she told family members that Christopher Farris had been stealing money from his father around the time of his murder. A couple of weeks before Gary Farris’ death, he sent his son a text stating, “Your stealing money is out of control.”

Defense Attorney Michael Ray suggested to jurors that too many unanswered questions remain and should prevent them from finding his client guilty of murder. Ray argues no murder weapon was recovered from the property, police don’t know where Gary was shot in the house, or how Farris could have moved her husband, who was 6’3 and over 300 pounds, onto the burn pile.

One of the most jarring pieces of evidence against Farris is a text message she sent to her friend and neighbor, Terry Braswell, saying of Gary Farris, “I hope he dies alone and a gruesome death.”

Melody Farris is charged with malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, concealing the death of another and making a false statement in the death of her husband. The lead prosecutor is Geoffrey Fogus, chief assistant district attorney for Cherokee County. Trial began Oct. 7 and is expected to last at least the rest of this week.

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