Cherokee County

Wife of prominent attorney found guilty of killing husband, burning his body

CHEROKEE COUNTY, Ga. — The wife of a prominent Atlanta attorney accused of killing her husband and burning his body has been found guilty on all counts.

A jury convicted Melody Farris in the 2018 death of her husband in Cherokee County.

Last week, defense attorneys claimed that there was not enough evidence in this case to convict Melody Farris, but the jury felt otherwise.

In 2018, the body of Gary Farris was found in a wooded area behind a house on Purcell Lane.

After months of testing, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation determined Farris was killed by a gunshot.

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Melody Farris, 59, of Alpharetta, was arrested in Tulahoma, Tennessee in June, and was charged with murder with malice, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and concealing the death of another.

Detectives said they believed Melody Farris shot and killed her husband inside their home and then tried to dispose of his body and evidence by burning it on their property.

“The body was severely burned, and when someone burns a body, it’s going to remove evidence that might have been in the body, and so it does pose challenges, and there are other evidence that needs to be collected,” said Cherokee County Sheriff’s Capt. Jay Baker. “I will say that a .38-caliber bullet was removed from the remains, that’s one of the ways we knew he had been shot.”

Melody Farris will be sentenced in December.


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