Kriti Mehrotra
When 51-year-old mother of two Amy Fanion was found dead in the dining room of her farmhouse in Westfield, Massachusetts, on May 8, 2018, it left the entire state shaken to the core. After all, as explored in CBS’ ’48 Hours: The Detective’s Wife,’ she was the wife of Westfield Police Department and social pillar Brian Fanion’s wife of nearly 33 years, as well as the mother of his two children. However, as investigations proceeded, it came to light that she not only died with a single gunshot wound to the head from her husband’s weapon but that he was the one to kill her.
From the Outside, It Looked Like Brian and Amy Fanion Lived a Nearly Idyllic Life
It was back in 1983 when Brian Fanion first came across Amy Hansen while attending Westfield High School, just for them to soon fall head over heels in love in a way no one could have imagined. Yet it was almost stereotypical considering both their social standing – while the former hails from a long line of politicians and policemen, the latter hailed from a big family known to be full of not only pretty but also bright and intelligent individuals. The duo also didn’t mind that while he was 19 at the time, she was 16; they went with their guts and built a solid connection.
Therefore, Brian and Amy tied the knot in 1985, shortly following which they welcomed two children into their lives – Travis Fanion and Victoria “Tori” Fanion. By this point, the former had also decided to follow in his family’s footsteps and was gradually working towards climbing the ladder in the Westfield Police Department. She was a stay-at-home mom, so when the couple were looking to settle down for good as their kids were growing up, they chose to buy a farmhouse – the estate was built in the 1800s but was spacious enough for them all, costing $120,000 in 2000.
In other words, Brian and Amy seemed to have a near-perfect life and family, but the reality was reportedly very different. According to loved ones, the latter had a temper and an impulsivity that mostly only came out on her husband, which is why their relationship had started to deteriorate over the years. Moreover, per Brian’s own accounts, they had been fighting a lot in the months leading up to May 2018 because he was close to retiring, and they both wanted very different things. While he wanted to sell their home and move into a much more stable and flexible place since he wanted to enjoy retirement by traveling as much as he could, she was in love with their home and had no intention of even discussing getting rid of it, despite its high maintenance cost considering its old built.
Brian Fanion Had a Mountain of Evidence Against Him
According to Brian’s own accounts, he returned home on the afternoon of May 8, 2018, as a routine to spend lunch with his wife, only for their argument to continue over time. They had started discussing their plans for the future the night before, and were again stuck on what to do with their home. Dogs were also a cause of concern between them because the former didn’t want to be tied down by one, whereas she always wanted one, especially after their currently aging dog had passed. In the end, as per Brian’s accounts, he went to the washroom to take a breather for a while, only to find his wife with his duty weapon in her hand when he returned. That’s when he said, she pulled the trigger.
Brian alleged he immediately contacted 911, but it was already too late. He relayed this same tale to the investigators too, asserting his wife had died by suicide, yet they looked deeper into the matter anyway, owing to some irregularities they had witnessed. They were uncertain whether it was really a suicide since the shell casings and blood spatter seemed to paint a bit of a different story, following which Brian’s interview didn’t help either. He told an investigator all about their fight before agreeing to hand over his devices for analysis, but once the recorder shut off, he indicated they might find some concerning messages and internet searches there.
Brian asserted they were all innocent, but that didn’t seem to be the case. Amy’s autopsy revealed that she was shot from at least 18 inches away and from a downward angle, which is entirely inconsistent with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Then, it also came to light that Brian had been having an affair with a woman named Cori Knowles. He had met her on a mission trip in Mexico in 2017, following which their friendship turned into much more. The hypothesis thus became that he likely took his wife’s life to start afresh with Cori, as divorce would impact his social standing. As if that’s not enough, the search of his devices also indicated he had looked up poisons and ways to kill people while making it look like suicide. Hence, he was arrested for murder on November 6, 2019.
Brian Fanion Was Convicted and Sentenced to Life in Prison in 2023
It was on February 23, 2023, that Brian’s trial for murder began, with the prosecutors painting the case as a uxoricide – the act of killing one’s wife. They presented all the aforementioned evidence against him before also revealing that there was no gunshot residue on Amy to indicate she pulled the trigger herself. Furthermore, they pointed out that his search history included “common and dangerous poisons,” “which drug causes the most deaths each year?,” sixteen common household items that could kill you,” “carbon monoxide the invisible killer,” “household poisons,” and much more. Even Amy’s sister Anna Hansen testified that Brian had once told her he had searched “how to make a murder look like a suicide?”
As for Brian’s defense, they pointed to his work as a possible reason for his searches, despite him not having any poison-related cases at the time, before also having several people testify to his character. Even one of Amy’s sisters, her mother, and her son testified for him before a cross-examination of his then-affair partner revealed that he had never once spoken to her about leaving, divorcing, or otherwise harming his wife. Nonetheless, following two days of deliberations, the jury ultimately sided with the prosecutors and found Brian guilty of first-degree murder. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole the same day, so today, at the age of 61, he remains incarcerated behind bars. However, because of his previous job as a Detective in Massachusetts, he is serving his time in a Maine Correctional Facility, where he is expected to remain for the rest of his natural life.
Read More: Amy Fanion’s Murder: How Did She Die? Who Killed Her?
