WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:03.839 Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence, and is 2 00:00:03.919 --> 00:00:05.639 not intended for all audiences. 3 00:00:06.320 --> 00:00:15.679 Listener discretion is advice. Gary is in the no, he 4 00:00:15.759 --> 00:00:19.480 is in the And I said, what. 5 00:00:22.920 --> 00:00:24.239 Are you ready for some murder? 6 00:00:25.120 --> 00:00:25.679 Is that a yes? 7 00:00:27.000 --> 00:01:23.640 I can't hear you speak? Up Here we go. On 8 00:01:23.719 --> 00:01:28.280 July fifth, twenty eighteen, in Cherokee County, Georgia, a family 9 00:01:28.319 --> 00:01:32.400 goes looking for their missing dad. The addresses twenty five 10 00:01:32.400 --> 00:01:35.439 to fifty five per cll Lane, a dead end gravel 11 00:01:35.519 --> 00:01:38.920 road off a two lane highway north of Atlanta, but 12 00:01:39.000 --> 00:01:42.439 a long way from the city. The expansive house sits 13 00:01:42.439 --> 00:01:47.000 on ten fenced an acres back from the road, past 14 00:01:47.120 --> 00:01:51.040 pasture and trees, the kind of semi rural property that 15 00:01:51.120 --> 00:01:53.840 could be a small farm, or just a place to 16 00:01:53.879 --> 00:01:57.560 be left alone. Out here, it would be easier to 17 00:01:57.560 --> 00:02:03.439 disappear into your own routine, into something worse. The faire's 18 00:02:03.480 --> 00:02:06.120 property isn't a commercial operation so much as it is 19 00:02:06.159 --> 00:02:10.039 a hobby farm with a pasture, a pond, a barn, apartment, 20 00:02:10.159 --> 00:02:13.759 and a small collection of animals a few horses, a 21 00:02:13.800 --> 00:02:18.680 few little milk goats, and some chickens. Essentially, this is 22 00:02:18.919 --> 00:02:23.159 Melody's dream life. The kind of charmed Southern life she 23 00:02:23.240 --> 00:02:26.919 had always envisioned for herself, the kind they sell in magazines, 24 00:02:27.840 --> 00:02:32.560 lots of kids, animals in an outdoor space. Her husband, 25 00:02:32.599 --> 00:02:36.199 Gary Ferris, is a prominent attorney in the Atlanta area, 26 00:02:36.879 --> 00:02:40.680 a partner level lawyer whose practice and income are centered 27 00:02:40.719 --> 00:02:43.919 in the city, not on the land. By this time, 28 00:02:44.120 --> 00:02:49.000 their children have all married, some divorced, and grandchildren often 29 00:02:49.039 --> 00:02:53.400 come to stay. Known to the grandchildren as Big Daddy. 30 00:02:54.120 --> 00:02:57.000 Fifty eight year old Gary Ferris hasn't answered calls or 31 00:02:57.080 --> 00:03:00.319 texts for at least a day, and no one knows 32 00:03:00.560 --> 00:03:04.360 his whereabouts. His truck is still in the driveway. His 33 00:03:04.439 --> 00:03:08.159 seapap machine, the one who uses religiously every night, is 34 00:03:08.199 --> 00:03:12.360 still inside. His wallet and other personal things are in 35 00:03:12.439 --> 00:03:16.560 the house. Nothing about it, says, I left on my own. 36 00:03:17.719 --> 00:03:21.520 Gary's four children are grown, including his son Scott, But 37 00:03:21.560 --> 00:03:24.840 Scott just happens to live on the property, working as 38 00:03:24.879 --> 00:03:27.960 a farm head. When his mother Melody asks him, have 39 00:03:28.039 --> 00:03:32.599 you seen your daddy? In her southern drawl, the answer 40 00:03:32.680 --> 00:03:38.039 is no. This wasn't entirely unusual. The property is huge, 41 00:03:38.759 --> 00:03:42.680 and Gary tends to mind his own business. Besides, Scott 42 00:03:42.719 --> 00:03:47.120 has mostly been away for the previous few days, but 43 00:03:47.199 --> 00:03:50.039 his son Scott, goes out to the property with Melody 44 00:03:50.080 --> 00:03:54.000 to look for The kids are half playing outside, half looking. 45 00:03:55.120 --> 00:03:59.800 Melody and Scott separate. They check the house, the barn, 46 00:04:00.560 --> 00:04:05.000 the pasture. They call his name. Just as soon as 47 00:04:05.039 --> 00:04:11.159 he releases aloud, Dad, he hears his own name. It's 48 00:04:11.199 --> 00:04:14.199 his mother, urging him to come back and check out 49 00:04:14.240 --> 00:04:17.680 the burn pile. Scott walks to the back of the 50 00:04:17.720 --> 00:04:21.519 property to a spot where his dad sometimes burns trash 51 00:04:21.600 --> 00:04:26.759 and brush. It's obvious Gary has been out here. Scott 52 00:04:26.839 --> 00:04:30.120 sees a large burn pile there and for a few seconds, 53 00:04:30.160 --> 00:04:34.759 the smoke burns his eyes. The burn pile is blackened, 54 00:04:35.199 --> 00:04:39.639 still warm, with chunks of debris fused into the ash. 55 00:04:39.920 --> 00:04:44.920 It's early July in Georgia. The air is thick and damp, 56 00:04:45.720 --> 00:04:49.920 and the heat radiates off the ground. Melody and Scott 57 00:04:49.959 --> 00:04:53.639 both stand at the perimeter of the large pile, and 58 00:04:53.720 --> 00:04:57.160 Melody points out something odd to her son. 59 00:04:57.879 --> 00:05:01.639 Hi, when the goats on there for something? You know, 60 00:05:01.759 --> 00:05:03.720 maybe one died, you know, because we have. 61 00:05:03.720 --> 00:05:05.480 Several of them. I said, you saw a. 62 00:05:05.519 --> 00:05:06.360 Goat on there or something? 63 00:05:06.399 --> 00:05:07.600 Because it was just something. 64 00:05:07.360 --> 00:05:07.920 That just looked. 65 00:05:07.920 --> 00:05:10.319 It was like, wouldn't be ball of just you know 66 00:05:11.240 --> 00:05:13.279 in all I said, you saw a goat on there 67 00:05:13.920 --> 00:05:14.360 or something? 68 00:05:15.199 --> 00:05:17.759 And he went over there. 69 00:05:17.680 --> 00:05:19.439 And looked, and you didn't. 70 00:05:20.360 --> 00:05:23.279 He said, well no, but that didn't mean daddy, you 71 00:05:23.360 --> 00:05:23.839 know it didn't. 72 00:05:24.120 --> 00:05:26.000 Then he really looked. 73 00:05:27.199 --> 00:05:31.639 Scott stepped closer and looked down. At first, it was 74 00:05:31.759 --> 00:05:37.680 just shapes in the ash, charred would metal, bone colored fragments. 75 00:05:38.680 --> 00:05:41.120 Then his brain caught up to what he was seeing. 76 00:05:42.120 --> 00:05:46.079 One of those shapes wasn't just bone colored, it was bone. 77 00:05:47.160 --> 00:05:50.000 He realized he was looking at what appeared to be 78 00:05:51.040 --> 00:05:54.600 a human skull. He backed away and yelled for the 79 00:05:54.639 --> 00:05:58.279 others to get the kids out of there. Whatever this was, 80 00:05:58.600 --> 00:06:03.120 they didn't need to see it. Melody still wondered out 81 00:06:03.160 --> 00:06:05.839 loud if maybe it was an animal, a dead goat 82 00:06:06.040 --> 00:06:09.879 or something, but Scott was sure it was the skull 83 00:06:09.920 --> 00:06:14.519 of a human being. They called nine one one, and 84 00:06:14.600 --> 00:06:15.560 I will say he. 85 00:06:15.480 --> 00:06:18.199 Actually took a stick and picked up he could. 86 00:06:18.000 --> 00:06:19.680 Do over the business. 87 00:06:20.319 --> 00:06:22.720 It was a you know that, you. 88 00:06:22.800 --> 00:06:24.800 Say that thought, you love it. 89 00:06:25.560 --> 00:06:28.000 And as he tell me that that's a goat or 90 00:06:28.040 --> 00:06:32.079 a coat or an aising, I mean, you know, yeah, 91 00:06:33.040 --> 00:06:35.720 he took off an calumn, not only one. 92 00:06:35.800 --> 00:06:40.959 Now the skull Scott uncovered was human, and when he 93 00:06:41.040 --> 00:06:45.319 poked at it, the remains of a face stared up 94 00:06:45.360 --> 00:06:46.800 at him. 95 00:06:46.839 --> 00:06:49.399 This was no goat kind of that one the pace 96 00:06:49.439 --> 00:06:50.560 of emergency. 97 00:06:52.199 --> 00:07:00.759 Here one uh here one fa pap or so boyant uh. 98 00:07:00.959 --> 00:07:05.399 My father has come up missing. And we just searched 99 00:07:05.399 --> 00:07:09.319 the properties a small farm and I just sails something 100 00:07:09.360 --> 00:07:12.680 near a phone that doesn't it was he was burning 101 00:07:12.759 --> 00:07:14.839 brush and I was just stall from the ball that. 102 00:07:17.040 --> 00:07:17.879 It could be him. 103 00:07:17.920 --> 00:07:21.160 I don't know, but if anyone would know whether this 104 00:07:21.360 --> 00:07:25.639 was a human or animal, it would be Scott Ferris. 105 00:07:26.000 --> 00:07:28.759 Now I'm calling you to say that I just I've 106 00:07:28.800 --> 00:07:32.240 we been walking around looking for him, and I went 107 00:07:32.319 --> 00:07:36.399 with the fires still smaller. I max the military. I 108 00:07:36.480 --> 00:07:39.279 was deployed to Iraq as and what burned the body 109 00:07:39.360 --> 00:07:43.040 looked like and this looks like big body. 110 00:07:43.480 --> 00:07:45.800 Okay, said your father? 111 00:07:46.920 --> 00:07:49.000 Yes, said I. 112 00:07:49.079 --> 00:07:51.439 He just n uh me. 113 00:07:53.160 --> 00:07:56.279 Gary wasn't without health problems, even though most would consider 114 00:07:56.319 --> 00:07:59.839 fifty eight to be relatively young. He'd been having what 115 00:08:00.079 --> 00:08:03.920 his wife called spells, but was refusing to follow through 116 00:08:04.000 --> 00:08:05.759 with his doctor visits. 117 00:08:06.160 --> 00:08:10.319 He's had these spells for years, and he talks, he 118 00:08:10.439 --> 00:08:11.639 is a very slurred speech. 119 00:08:12.240 --> 00:08:15.639 His motor coordin issue gets very off these stumbles. 120 00:08:15.720 --> 00:08:17.600 He his dad had Parkinson's, and I. 121 00:08:17.519 --> 00:08:20.519 Had kind of wondered is maybe he had Parkinson's as 122 00:08:20.560 --> 00:08:23.600 they did. I never did personally talk to the cardiologists, 123 00:08:23.600 --> 00:08:28.360 but I did talk to his physicians assistant, and because 124 00:08:28.399 --> 00:08:30.319 Amanda and I went with Amanda to go look at 125 00:08:30.319 --> 00:08:33.960 a wedding venue and so we lived before the actual 126 00:08:34.000 --> 00:08:35.000 cardiologist came in. 127 00:08:35.159 --> 00:08:38.759 But they found that he had a leaking a worry 128 00:08:38.799 --> 00:08:40.200 about and a leaking tra. 129 00:08:40.200 --> 00:08:44.039 Cusband about, and they wanted him to go back to 130 00:08:44.120 --> 00:08:47.440 the cardiologist on Friday. He got out of late Wednesday, 131 00:08:48.159 --> 00:08:50.120 and wanted him to go back to the cardiologist on 132 00:08:50.279 --> 00:08:51.759 Friday to. 133 00:08:51.840 --> 00:08:53.759 Be hooked up to a heart monitor. 134 00:08:56.200 --> 00:08:59.440 Or length for time to see you know, what all 135 00:08:59.600 --> 00:09:00.519 was going on wrong with. 136 00:09:00.440 --> 00:09:03.600 His heart, and he. 137 00:09:03.639 --> 00:09:04.240 Refused to go. 138 00:09:05.799 --> 00:09:09.360 Of course, this beg the question did Scott have a spell, 139 00:09:10.360 --> 00:09:14.799 stumble and fall into the fire pit? According to Melody, 140 00:09:15.000 --> 00:09:19.559 Gary loved burning fires, but she did not and for 141 00:09:19.639 --> 00:09:20.200 good reason. 142 00:09:20.879 --> 00:09:22.120 Well, Tuesday. 143 00:09:23.519 --> 00:09:24.480 He started to be burned. 144 00:09:24.720 --> 00:09:31.639 Late Tuesday started to be burned this week, yes, and gosh, 145 00:09:31.639 --> 00:09:32.799 where all the time about him. 146 00:09:32.919 --> 00:09:37.159 He had set the house on fire two years ago, 147 00:09:37.759 --> 00:09:38.159 the end. 148 00:09:38.039 --> 00:09:40.000 Of the end of the August. 149 00:09:41.000 --> 00:09:44.600 And I got so scared of the fire after that 150 00:09:45.519 --> 00:09:47.080 he had shot it in his office. 151 00:09:48.000 --> 00:09:49.159 We think what he did. 152 00:09:49.120 --> 00:09:51.840 Wasn't get a nice training. May I don't know, you 153 00:09:51.919 --> 00:09:54.559 know that's what started starting nice guy. 154 00:09:54.840 --> 00:09:55.440 We're here. 155 00:09:56.919 --> 00:10:04.240 Ind so much damage and so since then, I think 156 00:10:04.240 --> 00:10:07.840 it's so just scared of fire around here. Just ways 157 00:10:07.919 --> 00:10:10.720 Gary that he is all the time he has the thing. 158 00:10:10.759 --> 00:10:11.679 It was starting fires. 159 00:10:12.480 --> 00:10:14.600 He set one in my other house in the woods 160 00:10:14.799 --> 00:10:15.480 behind my house. 161 00:10:15.519 --> 00:10:16.639 We would do the sub division. 162 00:10:16.639 --> 00:10:18.240 We had called from the neighbor when the morning it 163 00:10:18.279 --> 00:10:19.679 so o'clock in the morning and our. 164 00:10:19.519 --> 00:10:23.080 Department was there. He had started it like the week before, 165 00:10:23.519 --> 00:10:23.840 and it. 166 00:10:23.799 --> 00:10:28.159 Had been smoldered and had gotten out of control. 167 00:10:29.320 --> 00:10:30.840 Sounds like Gary might have been a little bit of 168 00:10:30.919 --> 00:10:36.360 a pyromaniac, not saying he actually was. I mean, that's 169 00:10:36.360 --> 00:10:38.919 a real mental disorder, and it's not the same thing 170 00:10:38.960 --> 00:10:44.360 as being an arsonist. Pyromania is an impulse controlled disorder. 171 00:10:45.320 --> 00:10:48.600 A person feels drawn to setting fires, fascinated by them, 172 00:10:49.120 --> 00:10:53.559 and sometimes even relieved by them, like a coping mechanism. 173 00:10:54.360 --> 00:10:58.480 A vice the way some people reach for alcohol or cigarettes. 174 00:10:59.519 --> 00:11:05.360 It's man and honestly, Gary had reasons to need advice. 175 00:11:06.440 --> 00:11:08.919 It was a high powered attorney with health issues and 176 00:11:09.000 --> 00:11:12.519 a big family. You didn't get out much, wasn't a 177 00:11:12.639 --> 00:11:16.720 partier and mostly kept to himself. His family described him 178 00:11:16.759 --> 00:11:20.919 as a social introvert, and he didn't really drink so 179 00:11:21.720 --> 00:11:28.759 pyromaniac maybe, or maybe Melody's fire incidents were just isolated moments, 180 00:11:29.080 --> 00:11:34.399 nothing more either way. His real daily habit wasn't liquor. 181 00:11:34.480 --> 00:11:39.360 It was a twelve pack of mountain dew. Yeah, twelve. 182 00:11:40.440 --> 00:11:44.000 He drank twelve mountain dews daily. That's got to be 183 00:11:44.080 --> 00:11:45.240 worse than alcohol. 184 00:11:44.919 --> 00:11:48.080 Right, So he you know, and. 185 00:11:49.840 --> 00:11:52.559 Maybe six months or so since your mind it before. 186 00:11:53.759 --> 00:11:55.200 The spurn ball here, Yeah. 187 00:11:57.000 --> 00:11:59.440 Means it has been saying it had. 188 00:12:00.080 --> 00:12:01.759 We had pulled up when we did the fire put 189 00:12:01.840 --> 00:12:05.639 down here, We had an excavator here, and then he 190 00:12:05.759 --> 00:12:08.159 pulled up the minch tree stops and that kind of 191 00:12:08.200 --> 00:12:10.320 stuff and put on the burn pile. 192 00:12:10.399 --> 00:12:11.519 So I had a lot of fixing and. 193 00:12:11.559 --> 00:12:15.919 Stuff on him, and he said something not long ago. 194 00:12:15.840 --> 00:12:17.639 But burns, please do not burn it. 195 00:12:17.799 --> 00:12:19.720 It's too dry, it's too undius to you know, we 196 00:12:19.799 --> 00:12:20.320 always go in. 197 00:12:20.440 --> 00:12:23.279 These keys don't burn well. 198 00:12:24.600 --> 00:12:25.480 Scott came home. 199 00:12:27.000 --> 00:12:29.120 I don't know what time it was when he got hit. 200 00:12:29.039 --> 00:12:31.519 Because I called him and I I was chasing horses. 201 00:12:33.159 --> 00:12:36.639 Gary had started the burn pile on Tuesday, the evening 202 00:12:36.720 --> 00:12:40.039 of July third. He forgot to close the gate and 203 00:12:40.120 --> 00:12:43.960 the horses got out. Melody remembered chasing the horses and 204 00:12:44.080 --> 00:12:47.360 calling for her son, Scott to help. She was worried 205 00:12:47.360 --> 00:12:50.360 about the fire getting out of control because it was 206 00:12:50.480 --> 00:12:54.080 going to burn for a long time. The next day, 207 00:12:54.200 --> 00:12:56.320 she says, Scott came up to the house for a 208 00:12:56.399 --> 00:12:59.000 credit card and remarked that the fire was still going. 209 00:13:00.080 --> 00:13:03.039 Right before Melody left the property, she saw Gary gathering 210 00:13:03.120 --> 00:13:05.759 up even more wood to put on the fire. She 211 00:13:05.879 --> 00:13:08.679 begged him not to make it any bigger, but he 212 00:13:08.759 --> 00:13:12.320 didn't listen. Not only was Melody worried about the fire 213 00:13:12.519 --> 00:13:15.960 and the property, she was also worried about his mental health. 214 00:13:16.960 --> 00:13:20.159 According to her, he had tried to commit suicide twice 215 00:13:20.240 --> 00:13:23.360 before they were married. Keep in mind they had been 216 00:13:23.399 --> 00:13:26.799 married for thirty eight years, but still he had a 217 00:13:26.960 --> 00:13:30.519 family history of all kinds of mental and physical problems. 218 00:13:31.639 --> 00:13:35.000 Melody didn't just say. Gary was struggling. She told investigators 219 00:13:35.039 --> 00:13:39.039 his whole family tree was steeped in mental and physical problems, 220 00:13:39.960 --> 00:13:43.360 his sister with both bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, in and 221 00:13:43.440 --> 00:13:49.440 out of psych hospitals, his mother on antidepressants and antipsychotic meds, 222 00:13:50.320 --> 00:13:53.600 eventually being placed in a memory care facility with what 223 00:13:53.759 --> 00:13:58.639 she calls really bad Alzheimer sir dementia, and his father, 224 00:13:59.120 --> 00:14:03.000 who had mental illnesses of his own, later dying from 225 00:14:03.200 --> 00:14:08.840 Parkinson's disease. Melody claimed Gary would say things like I 226 00:14:08.919 --> 00:14:13.200 think I'm getting like my parents, yet they shrugged as 227 00:14:13.240 --> 00:14:15.519 a couple through the good and bad times. 228 00:14:16.080 --> 00:14:18.360 And then somebody asked me, said, why do you say. 229 00:14:18.399 --> 00:14:24.080 Unless in her mind she wasn't the unhappy wife looking 230 00:14:24.120 --> 00:14:26.840 for a way out. She was the one holding the 231 00:14:26.960 --> 00:14:31.000 line while everything around them got harder to manage. The 232 00:14:31.120 --> 00:14:34.399 more Melody spoke to officers, the more what she had 233 00:14:34.480 --> 00:14:38.039 to say seemed like low key versions of Yellowstone, not 234 00:14:38.200 --> 00:14:41.519 with the shootouts and land wars, but in the way 235 00:14:41.679 --> 00:14:45.320 she painted the whole family as locked in constant drama. 236 00:14:46.480 --> 00:14:51.200 Everything revolved around Big Daddy in the farm, growing kids, 237 00:14:51.519 --> 00:14:56.639 coming and going, relying on handouts from a weary patriarch. 238 00:14:57.840 --> 00:15:01.440 Then there was the constant tug of war between who's helping, 239 00:15:02.200 --> 00:15:06.320 who's taking, and who's just tired of the whole thing. 240 00:15:07.559 --> 00:15:10.840 You might have had some conversations in your family that 241 00:15:11.039 --> 00:15:11.960 sound pretty similar. 242 00:15:12.639 --> 00:15:13.559 I told one of the. 243 00:15:13.559 --> 00:15:14.720 Other debuties that was here. 244 00:15:14.720 --> 00:15:16.720 I said, we've been having trouble with him taking. 245 00:15:16.639 --> 00:15:20.519 Money, read over nine hundred dollars a month. 246 00:15:20.639 --> 00:15:22.120 He's got to check in to him routing them. 247 00:15:23.080 --> 00:15:26.720 And I said, Gary refuses to talk to him, refuses 248 00:15:26.759 --> 00:15:29.879 to I said, he sends emails and text messages and 249 00:15:29.879 --> 00:15:30.759 that's all he does. 250 00:15:32.080 --> 00:15:34.440 She went on to allege that her oldest son, Chris, 251 00:15:34.720 --> 00:15:39.960 was unkind, bordering on abusive to his kids, who often 252 00:15:40.000 --> 00:15:40.759 stayed at the farm. 253 00:15:41.440 --> 00:15:43.879 And I agree, is I'm going to stop you from 254 00:15:43.919 --> 00:15:48.000 taking money in some way, somehow, some mean. 255 00:15:48.440 --> 00:15:49.720 You've got to get help. 256 00:15:50.320 --> 00:15:52.720 You cannot treat them two girls like this, You cannot 257 00:15:52.799 --> 00:15:54.080 treat in the inna. 258 00:15:55.000 --> 00:15:58.639 And you know, I said, I they you know, get help. 259 00:16:00.080 --> 00:16:03.039 Melody talked about all the expensive trips her son planned 260 00:16:03.799 --> 00:16:07.120 a bachelor party in Panama, a trip out west because 261 00:16:07.480 --> 00:16:10.600 friend's dad died, and he had another leisure trip he 262 00:16:10.799 --> 00:16:14.720 was planning before all this happened, but Chris wasn't the 263 00:16:14.919 --> 00:16:19.000 only one taking advantage of Gary. According to Melody, Gary 264 00:16:19.200 --> 00:16:20.159 was just like, you know. 265 00:16:21.159 --> 00:16:23.399 It's not like I can't you know he can say, well, 266 00:16:23.399 --> 00:16:25.559 I can't afford to do and said Gary does not 267 00:16:25.600 --> 00:16:28.120 at the point, I mean this spot that lives witheth, 268 00:16:28.159 --> 00:16:28.519 I larn. 269 00:16:28.639 --> 00:16:31.679 He hasn't marked since he came back from Iraq for 270 00:16:31.720 --> 00:16:32.519 a very short time. 271 00:16:33.519 --> 00:16:36.320 And I can't make it Mark, I can't make it 272 00:16:37.039 --> 00:16:39.919 an Gary in the yearly thirty. 273 00:16:39.799 --> 00:16:42.360 Five Saturday, and as Garry he needs to work. 274 00:16:42.919 --> 00:16:44.960 He said, well you don't work, Gary. 275 00:16:46.039 --> 00:16:48.120 We imagine this place is a whole time job, full 276 00:16:48.159 --> 00:16:48.559 time job. 277 00:16:49.159 --> 00:16:49.679 I mean it is. 278 00:16:50.639 --> 00:16:53.320 You know, it's Scott. I mean adult in Scott is 279 00:16:53.360 --> 00:16:56.279 good hail. But I mean like this last week. 280 00:16:56.519 --> 00:16:59.240 I mean he's played golf three days, He's gone to 281 00:16:59.320 --> 00:17:00.639 the lake stone on the. 282 00:17:00.639 --> 00:17:02.399 He is just like, come home, man. 283 00:17:02.519 --> 00:17:02.799 This is. 284 00:17:04.319 --> 00:17:06.480 So he's just enjoying life. He's enjoying life to. 285 00:17:06.519 --> 00:17:11.039 The bullst Melody gave details of a family under strain, 286 00:17:12.000 --> 00:17:15.039 a big property, lots of animals and not enough help. 287 00:17:16.160 --> 00:17:18.839 But she said she was working son up to sundown 288 00:17:19.160 --> 00:17:22.000 while her son Scott drifted in and out instead of 289 00:17:22.119 --> 00:17:27.440 helping consistently, and Gary's health was getting worse. All of 290 00:17:27.480 --> 00:17:32.200 the grown children were mooching off their generous dad, and 291 00:17:32.319 --> 00:17:34.519 Melody was trying to rein it all in and hold 292 00:17:34.559 --> 00:17:37.640 it all together while Gary was trying to keep the peace. 293 00:17:39.079 --> 00:17:43.240 In a setup like that, it isn't hard to imagine 294 00:17:43.279 --> 00:17:46.559 his heart finally giving out, or him having one of 295 00:17:46.680 --> 00:17:49.880 his spells at the wrong time near an open fire. 296 00:17:51.160 --> 00:17:55.640 And for a little while, that's exactly what this looked like. 297 00:17:56.680 --> 00:18:00.319 A tragic accident on a hobby farm with a burned 298 00:18:00.359 --> 00:18:04.559 body where a husband and father used to be. But 299 00:18:04.720 --> 00:18:07.720 when what's left of Gary was finally boxed up and 300 00:18:07.799 --> 00:18:12.240 sent to the medical examiner, detectives started digging into the 301 00:18:12.319 --> 00:18:17.480 burn itself and the digital trail it left behind. What 302 00:18:17.599 --> 00:18:22.200 they found in the ashes and in the timeline didn't 303 00:18:22.200 --> 00:18:27.960 fit the idea that this was just an accident. Soon 304 00:18:28.480 --> 00:18:32.759 the family would dissolve into bickering and finger pointing and 305 00:18:32.920 --> 00:19:04.119 blaming each other for Big Daddy's death. In Cherokee County, Georgia, 306 00:19:04.240 --> 00:19:07.319 Melody and Gary Ferris have spent the last five years 307 00:19:07.400 --> 00:19:12.720 of their lives on a ten acre hobby farm. Melody's dreamscape. 308 00:19:13.759 --> 00:19:16.839 Gary worked hard as an attorney, and Melody worked on 309 00:19:16.880 --> 00:19:20.440 the farm and managed the family four grown children with 310 00:19:20.599 --> 00:19:23.480 children of their own, including Scott, who lived on the property. 311 00:19:24.480 --> 00:19:27.359 The last time Melody saw her husband was on Tuesday 312 00:19:27.440 --> 00:19:32.720 evening July third, after he'd set a bonfire or burn pile. 313 00:19:33.920 --> 00:19:37.039 Melody said he came upstairs that evening asked if she 314 00:19:37.240 --> 00:19:39.640 was making dinner, and she pointed him to the food 315 00:19:39.680 --> 00:19:42.640 in the fridge. After that, he went back down to 316 00:19:42.680 --> 00:19:45.799 the basement bedroom, where he slept alone with a seapap 317 00:19:46.799 --> 00:19:49.359 on July fourth. Both Melody and Scott said they never 318 00:19:49.440 --> 00:19:54.039 laid eyes on Gary, and Melody told investigators this wasn't unusual. 319 00:19:55.079 --> 00:19:58.440 He kept to himself even on July fourth. It wasn't 320 00:19:58.519 --> 00:20:01.480 until the next morning on fifth, that two of his 321 00:20:01.599 --> 00:20:06.160 grandkids wanted to ride the RTV with Big Daddy, but 322 00:20:06.240 --> 00:20:10.279 couldn't find them. Their daughter Amanda was already there. Their 323 00:20:10.319 --> 00:20:14.599 oldest son, Chris, showed up soon after, and the adults 324 00:20:14.599 --> 00:20:18.400 started searching the house and the property. Scott walked down 325 00:20:18.480 --> 00:20:21.359 to the burn pile, looked into the ashes and saw 326 00:20:21.359 --> 00:20:24.200 a part of Dad's skull, so he called nine one 327 00:20:24.319 --> 00:20:28.920 one while detectives and medical examiners were sifting through the bones, 328 00:20:29.039 --> 00:20:33.799 and the days that followed, detectives continued processing the situation 329 00:20:33.960 --> 00:20:36.319 with the family. This is Chris. 330 00:20:36.960 --> 00:20:39.240 What I want to think is he just had one 331 00:20:39.279 --> 00:20:41.559 of his spells and something happened, had a heart attack 332 00:20:41.599 --> 00:20:42.279 and fell in there. 333 00:20:43.680 --> 00:20:49.440 Just I don't know, man, something seems something seems weird. 334 00:20:49.640 --> 00:20:51.359 Well, I will tell you what we do is we 335 00:20:51.559 --> 00:20:56.000 handle try to handle it as if it's the worst 336 00:20:56.039 --> 00:20:57.440 possible scenario, because. 337 00:20:57.240 --> 00:21:00.519 Obviously, if you approach it like that, then when it 338 00:21:00.640 --> 00:21:02.519 turns out to me that he had a heart attack 339 00:21:02.559 --> 00:21:04.920 in film the fire, you've done everything you could. 340 00:21:05.279 --> 00:21:08.200 Yes, what we do is we investigate something like this. 341 00:21:09.400 --> 00:21:13.400 We followed the evidence, and we gather evidence and we 342 00:21:13.599 --> 00:21:15.200 try to get to. 343 00:21:16.000 --> 00:21:17.960 The evidence is going to lead us to some sort 344 00:21:18.000 --> 00:21:22.160 of complaire in terms of what happened. So you know, 345 00:21:22.279 --> 00:21:25.160 he will go your father's remains will go to an autopsy. 346 00:21:25.839 --> 00:21:28.359 So that is you know, essentially the next step we're 347 00:21:28.440 --> 00:21:33.160 going to you know, be documenting outside the inside of 348 00:21:33.200 --> 00:21:37.200 the house. That's why it's secured because because this is 349 00:21:37.279 --> 00:21:38.880 the house, it's not far from the house. You have 350 00:21:39.039 --> 00:21:41.599 to you know, look at everything and make sure we're 351 00:21:41.640 --> 00:21:43.799 not missing anything, and do a good job of documenting 352 00:21:44.160 --> 00:21:46.839 so that nobody can come and say, you know, if 353 00:21:46.880 --> 00:21:48.599 it does turn out that he did fall in the fire, 354 00:21:48.799 --> 00:21:51.519 nobody can and he just had a heart attack, nobody 355 00:21:51.599 --> 00:21:54.440 can say we didn't do a good job and we 356 00:21:54.599 --> 00:21:56.079 missed the fact. 357 00:21:55.880 --> 00:21:58.160 That someone did something bad to him. I just want 358 00:21:58.200 --> 00:22:01.400 to know what happened to what we're gonna look at. 359 00:22:02.519 --> 00:22:05.240 I hope to God that it's just an accident. 360 00:22:05.559 --> 00:22:08.799 I just I understand, but we'll do everything we can 361 00:22:08.880 --> 00:22:11.119 to get all meats or something, because you know, we 362 00:22:11.240 --> 00:22:12.160 all loved him very. 363 00:22:12.079 --> 00:22:17.839 Much, but someone obviously did not love Gary very much, 364 00:22:18.920 --> 00:22:22.640 because what the autopsy revealed after putting all of Gary's 365 00:22:22.680 --> 00:22:27.079 burned pieces back together was a bullet lodged in his 366 00:22:27.240 --> 00:22:31.759 rib cage. Unless it was suicide. But if that were 367 00:22:31.799 --> 00:22:34.359 the case, then why would you be hearing this story 368 00:22:34.400 --> 00:22:38.759 on Sword and Scale. Once the medical examiner confirmed he'd 369 00:22:38.839 --> 00:22:42.240 been shot, detectives took that news back to the family. 370 00:22:43.200 --> 00:22:46.039 One of the first calls was to their son Chris. 371 00:22:46.480 --> 00:22:50.519 Well, I'm gonna tell you something, and I just want 372 00:22:50.599 --> 00:22:53.240 to make sure you're ready, and then I'm at I 373 00:22:54.400 --> 00:22:55.799 just want you to tell me what to think when 374 00:22:55.799 --> 00:22:59.960 I say it, Okay, okay, the evidence we have obtained 375 00:23:00.039 --> 00:23:01.000 and on the scene. 376 00:23:03.000 --> 00:23:04.880 Suggest to us that your father was shot. 377 00:23:07.519 --> 00:23:07.720 Wow. 378 00:23:09.599 --> 00:23:16.599 Wow, that's a lot oh man for shure, and. 379 00:23:16.599 --> 00:23:18.079 There are some other people that are aware. 380 00:23:19.599 --> 00:23:21.400 I can't believe it, man, I know what I. 381 00:23:23.559 --> 00:23:23.839 Told you. 382 00:23:24.920 --> 00:23:28.640 I suspect you, but I just wanted not to. 383 00:23:28.720 --> 00:23:34.400 Be everything in my soul's. 384 00:23:32.599 --> 00:23:33.319 Not right with it. 385 00:23:36.519 --> 00:23:37.359 That would be accurate. 386 00:23:39.039 --> 00:23:39.480 Whatever. 387 00:23:43.559 --> 00:23:46.839 When the medical examiner opens the bags from the burn pit, 388 00:23:47.599 --> 00:23:51.880 there's no body in the usual sense. Gary has been 389 00:23:51.960 --> 00:23:55.319 reduced to charred pieces of bone and scraps of tissue, 390 00:23:55.640 --> 00:24:01.119 divided into almost fifty bags labeled by quadrant. Gary was 391 00:24:01.559 --> 00:24:05.039 six foot five inches and more than three hundred pounds. 392 00:24:06.039 --> 00:24:10.039 The bones are blackened, brittle, and cracked from heat, with 393 00:24:10.200 --> 00:24:15.039 fragments of pelvis, leg bones, and skull mixed in with 394 00:24:15.119 --> 00:24:19.559 the ash. The soft tissue left is moldy and wet 395 00:24:19.920 --> 00:24:22.799 after sitting in its own liquid collected in the bottom 396 00:24:23.200 --> 00:24:26.440 of the backs. The only way to be sure it's 397 00:24:26.519 --> 00:24:30.319 Gary is by matching the teeth to all his dental records, 398 00:24:31.119 --> 00:24:35.799 and there's no guarantee that this bullet killed him. Investigators 399 00:24:35.880 --> 00:24:39.799 quickly rule out an intruder. There's no broken glass, no 400 00:24:39.960 --> 00:24:43.279 kicked in door, no drawers pulled out or valuables missing. 401 00:24:44.240 --> 00:24:47.279