TROY, Mo. (AP) 鈥� A former Missouri deputy who investigated a murder case that became the subject of an is now accused of harassing and stalking a detective who was investigating him for potential misconduct.
Mike Merkel, 42, was charged Tuesday and accused of photographing and sending threatening messages to the detective, the reported.
Merkel was among the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office detectives who initially interviewed Pamela Hupp after Hupp's friend, Elizabeth 鈥淏etsy鈥� Faria was stabbed to death in 2011. The investigation resulted in a 2013 murder conviction for Faria's husband, Russell Faria. He was later acquitted and 鈥� a move that resulted in scrutiny of the initial investigation.
The case drew national attention and was the subject of 鈥淭he Thing About Pam," which ran on NBC earlier this year.
Court records show that in addition to Merkel, his wife Becky and his brother Kevin Merkel 鈥� a Drug Enforcement Administration agent 鈥� also were charged with first-degree harassment and second-degree stalking of a law enforcement officer. It was not immediately clear whether they have attorneys who could comment.
Russell Faria served more than three years behind bars before being acquitted at his second trial in 2015.
Scrutiny of the botched case intensified in 2016 when Hupp fatally shot Louis Gumpenberger, 33, in her O鈥橣allon, Missouri, home. Hupp claimed Gumpenberger had tried to kidnap her at knifepoint, but her story quickly unraveled. She was
Wood, who was elected in 2018, charged Hupp in June 2021 with first-degree murder in Betsy Faria鈥檚 death. At the same time, Wood announced misconduct probes into the original investigations of the Faria case.
Prosecutors allege that Mike and Becky Merkel followed and photographed the Lincoln County detective leading the new investigation while he was at dinner March 14 at a Texas Roadhouse in Wentzville, Missouri. That night, the detective allegedly received texts and photos of himself at the restaurant from a masked number.
鈥淚 have video of you drinking and getting into your county car,鈥� one read. 鈥淲e are watching you closely. You should stop throwing stones at glass houses or yours will come down first and fast.鈥�
Troy police said surveillance footage showed Mike and Becky Merkel taking photographs of the detective鈥檚 vehicle the night of the threats. Warrants revealed the texts were sent using a number-masking app from a phone issued by the DEA to Kevin Merkel, according to court documents.
鈥淲e take this seriously because I鈥檓 not going to tolerate people blackmailing my investigator,鈥� Wood told the Post-Dispatch. He said his office found no evidence that the detective had any impairment when driving his department vehicle the night of the threats.
The Associated Press
