Late last year, a Texas woman delivered an impassioned plea on the local TV airwaves to find her husband’s killer.
“I just hope that at some point, maybe this person can recognize the gravity of what they’ve done and come feel some sort of guilt, enough to come forward because I’m not supposed to be widowed at 48,” Jennifer Lynne Faith tearfully told WFAA, a local ABC affiliate in Dallas.
On Wednesday, federal prosecutors formally accused her of a “depraved” murder-for-hire plot — a charge that could carry the death penalty. She was previously charged only with evidence destruction, for allegedly telling her boyfriend to destroy evidence that he shot and killed her husband.
The woman now faces accusations that she prodded and manipulated her boyfriend Darrin Ruben Lopez into murdering Jamie Faith. Both of the defendants are now 49, as was the late husband at the time of his death.
Jennifer Lynne Faith allegedly pretended to be her husband Jamie and another person, sending Lopez emails in which she made it seem like her husband was sexually and physically abusing her—but there is no evidence this abuse occurred, authorities said.
“Ms. Faith’s alleged murder-for-hire scheme was depraved and calculated,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Prerak Shah of the Northern District of Texas. “She preyed on her boyfriend’s protective instinct and his pocketbook in order to convince him to execute her husband. Jamie Faith’s brutal murder was a tragedy. His death has been a double blow to his family and friends, who had just begun to absorb the news of his murder when they were confronted with evidence of his wife’s alleged involvement. We are committed to getting justice for Jamie – and to holding both Ms. Faith and Mr. Lopez accountable for their alleged crimes.”
Jennifer Faith is now charged with use of interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire, and obstruction of an official proceeding. According to court documents, she needled Lopez from a fake account in her husband’s name. In an April 10, 2020 message, “Jamie,” told Lopez he got his email from Jennifer Faith’s phone and told him to stop communicating with her. Messages were lurid, with Jennifer-as-Jamie claiming he was going to engage in salacious sexual acts with her.
“Look up any rough gang bang triple penetration with breath control porn and that’s what we’ll be doing to her,” wrote Jennifer Faith, posing as her husband, according to the DOJ. “See if she will tell you. If she doesn’t, I’ll need to start sending details again.”
In another post, Jennifer-as-Jamie allegedly sent Lopez a picture of two men sexually abusing an unknown woman, and other pictures purportedly showing Jennifer Faith’s injuries from assault. In truth, the latter pictures were from injuries she got from a 2012 traffic accident in Arizona, prosecutors said.
“Good stuff,” allegedly wrote Jennifer-as-Jamie on May 9, 2020. “Enjoy knowing you can’t do a fucking thing about it.”
On top of that, Jennifer Faith pretended to be someone else through another email account, claiming to be worried about Jamie abusing Jennifer. In one convoluted exchange, she sent an email from her personal account to this fake account, showing a picture of a burn injury on an arm. She allegedly passed this image to Lopez from the sock-puppet account.
This unnamed person was identified only as Individual A.
“Darrin, I talked to Jenn — he’s burning her, among other things,” said Faith as Individual A. “I convinced her to send me a pic (see below) just in case we need it. She didn’t want me to tell you, so please keep it between us.”
Jennifer Faith deleted the sock-puppet accounts approximately two minutes apart on or around Sept. 3, 2020, prosecutors said. All the while, she allegedly continued her long-distance “emotional affair” with Lopez, even emailing on July 24, 2020 about a rape fantasy.
“I hate the word ‘rape,’ but it’s the only one there is so….In a nutshell, I would LOVE to have you take me by surprise, and regardless of whether I wanted it or not, you take me, even if I fight you or tell you no.”
Other messages were more traditionally tender.
“I love you and miss you so much,” she allegedly texted Lopez on Sept. 20, 2020.
“Ok. Going to sleep. I love you with all of my heart,” he allegedly wrote back. “Melting into your arms.”
“Sleep my Angel,” she allegedly wrote. “Holding you tight.”
Ultimately, Lopez set out from his home in Tennessee in October 2020, making his way down to Dallas, Texas, where he ambushed Jamie Faith as the victim was walking a family dog with Jennifer Faith, authorities say. He fled in his black 2004 Nissan Titan pickup truck, but as previously reported, this allegedly did not last. The murder case against him is pending.
Jennifer Faith portrayed herself as a grieving widow in public, and she reportedly said she did not know who did it.
“Oh my God! If you know what happened I need that for closure,” she told Fox 4 News in an Oct. 21 report. “I need to make some sense out of this.” But all that time, she was allegedly trying to hide evidence.
Lopez allegedly continued to voice love for Jennifer Faith even after his arrest.
“Thank you for sending me messages[.] [H]earing from you gives me strength,” he allegedly wrote in a message passed along to Faith on Feb. 4, 2021. “You will always be cherished. I do know how you feel, together we can get through this I believe in my heart. Please stay strong for US. Your Knight always….. As You Wish.”
Faith’s attorneys of record did not immediately respond to a Law&Crime request for comment.
[Screenshot via WFAA]