It was a nightmare that lasted over a decade. Imagine losing your mother to a brutal murder, only to watch your stepfather get hauled off in handcuffs for the crime. Then, imagine finding out years later that the police and a "family friend" had basically led you down a path of total deception.
That is the reality for Leah and Mariah Day, the daughters of Betsy Faria.
For a long time, the public narrative was pretty harsh toward them. People saw two daughters who stood by the prosecution as Russ Faria was wrongfully convicted of their mother’s 2011 murder. But the Betsy Faria daughters apology in 2021 changed that. It wasn't just a simple "sorry." It was a public acknowledgment of a family torn apart by the calculated lies of Pam Hupp and a legal system that refused to look at anyone else.
Why the Apology Took a Decade
Honestly, you've got to look at the pressure these girls were under. At the time of the murder, Mariah was only 17 and Leah was 21. Their mother was dying of terminal breast cancer before she was stabbed 55 times. In the middle of that grief, the people they were supposed to trust—the police and prosecutors—were telling them Russ did it.
They didn't just wake up one day and decide to hate Russ. They were fed a specific story.
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- The Insurance Policy: Pam Hupp had convinced Betsy to switch her $150,000 life insurance policy to her just days before the murder.
- The Manipulation: Hupp told the daughters and the police that Russ was abusive.
- The "Evidence": Prosecutors like Leah Askey (now Leah Chaney) pushed a narrative of Russ as a volatile husband, despite his solid alibi.
By the time Russ was exonerated in 2015, the damage was deep. The daughters had even sued Pam Hupp for that insurance money and lost in court because Hupp was a master manipulator on the stand. It took years for the full weight of Pam Hupp's evil to come to light—specifically after she murdered Louis Gumpenberger in 2016 to try and frame Russ again.
What Leah and Mariah Actually Said
In July 2021, after Pam Hupp was finally, officially charged with Betsy’s murder, the sisters sat down for an emotional interview with FOX 2’s Chris Hayes. This was the moment the world heard the Betsy Faria daughters apology directly.
"If there’s something I could say to Russ, it would be... from the bottom of my heart, I am so sorry for all the things you went through," Leah said during the interview. She was visibly shaken. Mariah echoed the sentiment, explaining how the investigation basically "broke our family apart."
They admitted they lost both parents that night—their mother to a killer and their stepfather to a corrupt investigation.
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It's easy to judge from the couch while watching The Thing About Pam on NBC. But these women were victims too. They were children losing a mother and being manipulated by a serial killer. They weren't "in on it." They were pawns.
The Strained Relationship with Russ Faria
So, are they all eating Thanksgiving dinner together now? Not exactly.
Despite the apology, the relationship remains complicated. Russ Faria has been through hell. He spent over three years in prison for a crime he didn't commit. He watched his stepdaughters testify against him. While he has expressed that he doesn't hold a grudge against them personally—blaming the police and Pam Hupp for "brainwashing" them—the bridge isn't fully rebuilt.
The lingering issues:
- The Civil Suit: The daughters' attempt to get the insurance money from Hupp was a long, painful legal battle that they eventually lost in 2017.
- The Trauma: You can't just "reset" ten years of thinking someone killed your mom.
- New Lives: Russ has since remarried. He's moved on with a woman who was also a potential target of Pam Hupp.
The apology was a massive step for public healing, but private reconciliation is a much slower burn.
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What Most People Get Wrong
People think the daughters were greedy or spiteful. That’s just not the case.
If you look at the court records, they were desperately trying to find a way to honor what they thought were their mother's final wishes. They believed Pam Hupp's lie that the money was meant for them. When Hupp kept the cash, they realized they'd been played.
The Betsy Faria daughters apology matters because it marks the definitive end of Pam Hupp's power over that family. By apologizing to Russ, they signaled that they no longer believed the lies that had sustained Hupp's narrative for a decade.
The Actionable Takeaway: Lessons in Deception
If there is anything to learn from the Faria tragedy, it's about the danger of "tunnel vision" in the justice system. The Lincoln County authorities decided Russ was the guy and used his own family to help prove it.
- Trust but verify: Even when authorities give you a "fact," look at the source.
- Grief is a tool: Manipulators like Pam Hupp use emotional vulnerability to isolate people from their support systems.
- Forgiveness is for the survivor: Whether or not Russ and the girls become close again, the apology was necessary for Leah and Mariah to move forward with their own families.
Today, Leah and Mariah are focused on their own children and keeping Betsy’s memory alive. They want people to remember Betsy for her life, not just the way she died. The apology wasn't just for Russ; it was a way to reclaim their own truth from a story that had been stolen from them.
To truly understand the depth of this case, you should look into the specific details of the 2015 retrial where the defense was finally allowed to point the finger at Pam Hupp. It's the turning point that eventually led to the daughters seeing the light.