Massachusetts detective searched “gunshot residue testing” on-line 11 days earlier than his spouse is shot useless

When Massachusetts State Police detectives responded to a reported suicide in Westfield, Massachusetts, on Might 8, 2018, they discovered Amy Fanion useless on her eating room flooring with a gunshot wound to her head. Her husband, Brian Fanion, a Westfield Police detective, had referred to as 911, reporting that Amy Fanion had shot herself.

On the scene, detectives made a number of discoveries that raised questions. The gun used within the capturing was Brian Fanion’s service weapon. And there was a scarcity of gunshot residue on Amy’s head, which was uncommon in a self-inflicted gunshot wound. What had occurred in that eating room that morning? “48 Hours” contributor Nikki Battiste takes a take a look at the proof in “The Detective’s Spouse,” an all-new “48 Hours” airing Saturday, Might 4 at 10/9c on CBS and streaming on Paramount +.

Detective Brendan O’Toole took Brian Fanion to the State Police barracks in Russell, Massachusetts, to get his assertion of the occasions surrounding his spouse’s sudden loss of life. On the finish of the interview,  O’Toole requested Fanion to show over his telephone for knowledge extraction. Fanion complied however gave a caveat.

“I turned off the recorder and that is when Brian instructed me … ‘you are going to see some issues on there and it isn’t what it seems to be,'” O’Toole instructed “48 Hours.”

Investigators would uncover hundreds of deleted textual content messages between Brian Fanion and a girl named Corrine Knowles, often known as Cori. Brian Fanion had instructed O’Toole he and Knowles had been simply pals, however the textual content messages conveyed that the connection had turn into one thing extra.

On Might 17, three days after Amy Fanion’s wake, O’Toole and Detective Mike Blanchette confronted Brian Fanion about his relationship with Knowles in addition to the dearth of gunshot residue discovered on Amy Fanion’s wound.

“I imply, there is not any doubt she was shot … however the query is, from what distance,” O’Toole requested Fanion.

Inside per week, investigators seized all of Fanion’s electronics, together with his workplace laptop and laptop computer on the Westfield Police Division. When Detective Tom Forest from the Cyber Crime Unit examined the pc’s arduous drive, it revealed peculiar net searches and on-line exercise he thought of notable to the investigation. The web exercise started about three months earlier than Amy Fanion’s loss of life, across the time Brian Fanion and Knowles’ friendship turned flirtatious.

 “… it is solely when this affair begins up … that every one of those incriminating searches begin to seem,” Hampden County Assistant District Legal professional Mary Sandstrom instructed “48 Hours.”

The primary of those inquiries was associated to frequent family poisons. On the morning of Feb. 12, Brian Fanion searched “family poisons,” “harmful sources of radiation,” “worst sources of radiation” and “frequent prescription overdoses.” He additionally visited net pages titled, “9 Stunning Sources of Radiation in Your House;” “Carbon Monoxide: The Invisible Killer;” “Widespread and harmful poisons;” “16 Widespread Family Objects That Might Kill You;” “What Over-the-Counter Medicines Can You Overdose From?;” “Which Drug Causes the Most Deaths Every Yr?” and, lastly, “Prescription Medication Linked to Most Deadly Overdoses.”

At trial, Brian Fanion’s protection legal professional Jeffrey Brown argued that the Fanions had been making ready to have a younger niece stick with them and that a few of the web sites had been associated to potential hazards their 200-year-old home would possibly pose.

At first of March 2018, Fanion repeatedly Googled his potential lover, Cori Knowles. On April 2, as issues heated up between Fanion and Knowles, he started questioning the nuances of affairs, looking “can you might have an affair with out intercourse.”

Two weeks later, on April 17, Fanion started researching divorce legal guidelines in Massachusetts. A number of net pages he visited had been associated to pension rights after divorce. Fanion was planning for his upcoming retirement, and in response to Knowles in an interview with police, he feared shedding a part of his pension if he had been to divorce his spouse. The next day, Brian Fanion’s inquiries into infidelity resumed, visiting net pages titled “My good affair – how I am getting away with it” and “Emotional Infidelity: Worse Than A Sexual Affair?”

Eleven days earlier than Amy Fanion died, on April 27, Brian Fanion searched “gsr testing” on his work laptop. That morning between 9:22 and 9:38 a.m., Brian Fanion visited 5 net pages associated to gunshot residue. Amongst these net pages had been “Gunshot Residue Assortment: The Selections that Make or Break a Case” and a information report on YouTube referred to as “What gunshot residue exams inform us.” Sandstrom instructed “48 Hours” this had nothing to do with Brian Fanion’s work on the Westfield Police Division.

“He wasn’t assigned to any energetic investigations in April and Might of 2018 … that may necessitate trying up gunshot residue,” Sandstrom instructed “48 Hours.” “No person within the Westfield Police Division does gunshot residue testing.”

On Might 7, 2018, the day earlier than Amy Fanion was shot useless, Fanion repeatedly searched take away frequent contacts from his telephone. At his trial, Fanion’s protection argued that he was within the strategy of getting a brand new telephone and needed to know erase knowledge from his present one. Sandstrom prosecuted the case.

“Now, the defendant means that he did these searches as a result of he is within the strategy of getting a brand new telephone proper earlier than his spouse’s demise,” Sandstrom instructed the jury. “However he is not seeking to delete all knowledge off of his telephone … he is looking delete the ceaselessly contacted record as a result of he does not need proof of his relationship with Corrine being found by the state police.”

Fanion’s trial for the homicide of Amy Fanion started on Feb. 23, 2023. Sandstrom’s first witness was Amy Fanion’s sister, Anna Hansen. Hansen testified that after Amy’s loss of life, Brian Fanion confided that he was involved about some searches he had made.

“I requested him what that search was, and he stated make a homicide appear to be a suicide,” Hansen stated on the witness stand. Underneath cross examination by the protection, Detective Tom Forest testified that he by no means discovered any searches associated to these phrases.

On the morning of Might 8, 2018, whereas Brian Fanion was nonetheless at work, he searched “massachusetts health worker workplaces” and visited a web site that listed the items throughout the Massachusetts State Police forensics part.

In her closing arguments, Sandstrom acknowledged that that morning, Brian Fanion was making ready for his spouse’s homicide. “He is trying up and researching the items that may seem … after he is dedicated this homicide. … the proof on this case proves past an affordable doubt that the defendant knew he was going to homicide Amy Fanion when he left the Westfield Police Division at 11:47 a.m. on Might eighth.”

Brian Fanion’s protection argued that Amy Fanion had anger points and suffered from extreme anxiousness. After Amy’s loss of life, many members of her household signed a letter in help of Brian, stating that they had been sure Amy had taken her personal life. A number of members of Amy Fanion’s household took the stand, and though they had been referred to as as witnesses for the prosecution, their testimonies supported Brian Fanion’s protection.

After a month-long trial, the jury discovered Brian Fanion responsible of the first-degree homicide of Amy Fanion. He was sentenced to life in jail. His conviction is below attraction.