Dallas Wife Jennifer Faith Pleads Guilty To Murder For Hire Plot That Killed Her Husband
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) — A woman from Oak Cliff admitted to convincing her boyfriend to shoot and kill her husband and has plead guilty to orchestrating the murder.
It was a year ago this month when prosecutors charged Jennifer Lynne Faith with obstruction of justice. Later that year they added a murder-for-hire charge, an offense that carries a potential death sentence.
Faith, 49, plead guilty on February 7, 2022. In return for her plea, prosecutors agreed to drop the obstruction charge and to recommend a sentence of life imprisonment.
"Jennifer Faith's cold-blooded plot to murder her husband was made all the more heinous by the way she behaved after his death. Even as she wept for her late husband on TV, Ms. Faith was corresponding with his murderer, plotting about how to cover up their crime," said U.S. Attorney Chad Meacham.
According to plea papers, Faith admitted that her boyfriend, Darrin Lopez, 49, gunned down her husband, American Airlines technology director Jamie Faith, in Oct. of 2020 in front of his home in Oak Cliff.
Faith admitted she knew Lopez – whom she called her "one and only love" – had suffered a traumatic brain injury while serving in the Army in Iraq, leaving him disabled. Both before and after the murder, she sent Lopez money and gifts, and even gave him two credit cards which she paid off using the proceeds of a "Support Jennifer Faith" GoFundMe fundraiser launched in the wake of her husband's death.
She also admitted that before the murder, she used two phony email accounts to correspond with Lopez, assuming the identities of her own husband and one of her friends in order to falsely convince Lopez that her husband was physically and sexually abusing her. (In plea papers, Faith admitted no such abuse ever occurred.)
Seven months into her relationship with Lopez, Faith left her home with her husband to walk their dog. One minute into their walk, Lopez – who allegedly drove from his home in Tennessee, to the Faiths' home in Dallas, where he laid in wait – allegedly shot Jamie Faith seven times before fleeing in his black pickup.
(Mr. Lopez has been charged by the state with murder and by the feds with a gun crime. He has pleaded not guilty to both charges. Like all defendants, he is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.)
After she learned that law enforcement was aware of distinct markings on the truck, Faith pleaded with the public to help find the vehicle. Soon after her televised plea, Faith texted Lopez telling him to remove a particular sticker -- which he did the following day.
Meanwhile, approximately one month after her husband's death, Faith admitted to initiating some $630,000 in death benefits through her husband's employer.
In January 2021, shortly after she was asked to come in for questioning by investigators, Faith reached out to Lopez to coordinate their cover stories, she admitted in the plea.
"If asked about you, you are an old friend going through a divorce. We talk every night because I am helping/giving support with the girls," she texted. "Just in case they pulled phone records and ask."
"Good idea," Lopez responded. "You are doing good."
ATF agents arrested Lopez on murder charges in Tennessee on Jan. 11, 2021. The firearm used to kill Jamie Faith was recovered inside Lopez's home.
On Feb. 2, 2021, shortly before she was charged, Faith contacted a third party and asked that a message be forwarded to Lopez, who at the time was in custody in Dallas.
"I am with him, will always be with him regardless of whatever has happened. I've needed to be cautious because every communication is being monitored," the message read in part. "Please tell him ASAP I will always be his."
Faith is set to be sentenced on May 26, 2022. Lopez has been charged with murder by the state and by the feds with a gun crime. He has pleaded not guilty to both charges.
