After 4 Years, Former Deputy Accused Of Murdering Wife Heads To Trial
GREELEY, Colo. (CBS4) - Opening statements get underway Wednesday in the case of a former Weld County sheriff's deputy accused of murdering his wife.
Tom Fallis is accused of killing his wife Ashley on New Year's Day in 2012. His attorneys appealed the condition of Tom Fallis' bond, which was one of the reasons it took a long time to bring the case to trial.
It's been more than four years after 28-year-old Ashley Fallis died in Evans, and her family is relieved her alleged killer's case is finally going to trial.
"We know in our hearts that my sister was killed by Tom Fallis," her brother said.
When Ashley Fallis died of a gunshot wound to her head, her husband told police the young mother of three killed herself.
"I just ran over to her and I just grabbed her head, and I called 911 and I told them our address and I told them that my wife shot herself," Tom Fallis told investigators in an interrogation room.
Ashley's family insists Tom Fallis had a temper and believes he pulled the trigger.
"He shot her, I know he shot her," Jenna Fox, Ashley's mother said on the CBS program "48 Hours."
"I did not shoot my wife," Tom Fallis told investigators.
At the time, Tom Fallis was a Weld County sheriff's deputy. Evans police ruled the case a suicide, but Ashley's family pushed to have it reopened.
"I've always believed that at one time the truth would come forth and that time is now," Ashley's father Joel Raguindin said.
After nearly two years, and a second independent investigation, a grand jury indicted Tom Fallis. He pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder, and ever since has been out on a $500,000 awaiting trial.
