LINCOLN COUNTY, Mo. – FOX 2 was the only news station in court Friday where a former police captain was accused of stalking a fellow officer. How it all ties back to a decade, an old murder case, and a woman named Pam Hupp.
No one is more interested in this case than Russ Faria. He watched as former Lincoln County Captain Mike Merkel walked into a preliminary hearing over charges he stalked a fellow officer.
“Little bit surreal – kind of a good feeling to be sitting in the audience,” Faria said.
Faria had been wrongfully imprisoned for more than three years for the murder of his wife Betsy in 2011. Hupp is now charged with Betsy’s murder, but while Faria was in jail, Merkel was one of the officers who supported Hupp’s changing stories to keep Faria imprisoned.
Following Faria’s acquittal, a new sheriff put Chief Deputy Randy Lambert in charge of investigating what happened. Lambert testified in court on Friday that after Merkel refused to cooperate, he received mysterious text messages such as:
- “We’ve followed you for four weeks and will continue to follow you”
- “Make better decisions”
- “Here’s a couple pics for starters” – followed by pictures of Lambert dining and drinking at a Wentzville restaurant.
It was also revealed in court on Friday that surveillance video allegedly showed Merkel taking the pictures that led to the stalking charge while Lambert was with his child.
“This was juvenile, sophomoric, stupid, and it was criminal, but I guess a dog doesn’t change his spots,” said Joel Schwartz, Faria’s attorney.
Schwartz’s strong reaction because of his years of fighting to clear Faria – and an unforgettable moment during the second trial when Schwartz showed Merkel crime scene photos Merkel claimed did not exist.
“The things that Mike Merkel did in the course of this investigation were patently on its face unethical and criminal,” he said.
Merkel’s attorney questioned whether the messages were truly threatening and argued that they did not come from Merkel.
He claimed Merkel sent information to his brother Kevin, who was a DEA agent at the time, and that his brother then allegedly sent texts from a DEA phone using a special app to conceal his identity.
The judge determined that there is enough evidence to proceed to trial.