WESTFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – Months after a Superior Court jury found retired Westfield Police Officer Brian Fanion guilty of murdering his wife, the case will now be featured nationally on television.
This Friday, the case will be featured on an episode of A&E’s Killer Cases at 9:00 p.m. The episode will take a look at the homicide investigation and prosecution of Brian Fanion.
On March 22, 2023, Brian was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, the same day he was found guilty by a Superior Court jury for first-degree murder in the 2018 homicide of his wife, Amy Fanion. The jury in this case returned the verdict just a few hours into the second day of deliberation.
Amy’s death was initially ruled a suicide, by a self-inflicted gunshot wound and Brian’s department-issued handgun was the weapon used. The toxicology report stated that there were no substances found in Amy’s system. Brian was found guilty of killing her during an argument while he was home on a lunch break.
Assistant DA Mary Sandstrom said that Brian did not want to give up half of his pension to his wife. Sandstrom cited internet searches on Brian’s work computer at the Westfield Police Department that included the effects of divorce on a pension.
Investigators also found video internet searches were done for “GSR,” also known as gunshot residue, days and hours before Amy’s death. Sandstrom claims that Brian would not have had to look up those videos at work because he was not assigned to any investigations during that time period relating to gunshot residue.
Other searches on that computer included household poisons and other things that people could easily overdose on, according to Sandstrom.
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