A COLORADO MOM OF THREE SHOT IN HER BEDROOM - WAS IT MURDER OR SUICIDE?

"48 HOURS: DEATH AFTER MIDNIGHT" INVESTIGATES

SATURDAY, APRIL 11, 2015

Ashley Fallis was a married mother of three who was found with a single gunshot wound to her head in the bedroom of the Colorado home she shared with her husband, Tom Fallis. She later died at a local hospital. What is unknown is how she was shot. Was it suicide, as her husband maintains, or was it murder, as Ashley's parents insist?

Local police investigated, and four days after Ashley Fallis died, the coroner ruled it a suicide. 48 HOURS and Erin Moriarty initiated its own investigation using high-tech forensic animation that may explain what happened, which is featured in "Death After Midnight" to be broadcast Saturday, April 11 (10:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

"He shot her, I know he shot her," Jenna Fox, Ashley's mother tells 48 HOURS.

"I did not shoot my wife," Tom Fallis said during a police interview to be broadcast on 48 HOURS.

Is what happened to Ashley Fallis consistent with suicide? "Could be," says forensic animator Scott Roder, who was hired by 48 HOURS to depict what occurred in the Fallis bedroom. "But somebody else could've also pulled that trigger and it could be a murder."

Ashley Fallis died following a New Year's Eve party at the home in Evans, Colo., an hour north of Denver, which she shared with her husband and three children. The party started out fine, but after alcohol flowed, Tom, who worked for the sheriff's office, erupted in anger, say Ashley's parents. "He got out of control," says Joel Raguindin, Ashley's adoptive father.

As they had in the past when Tom Fallis got nasty, Ashley's parents left the Fallis home.

"We were the last ones to see Tom Fallis in a fit of rage," Raguindin says. "A fit of rage. Our daughter giving us hugs and goodbye kisses, and her standing on the front porch waving goodbye, and that's the last we saw of our daughter."

What happened next is uncertain. Tom Fallis told police that he had gone into the closet in the couple's bedroom when he heard a gun cock. He said he looked to Ashley and asked what she was doing. Before he could get the sentence out, the gun fired. He dialed 911.

Tom Fallis maintains his wife killed herself with a gun she kept hidden beneath the mattress.

Police interviewed Fallis about the night. They also noticed scratches on his chest and he grew increasingly agitated during the interview. However, the Weld County Coroner ruled Ashley's manner of death as suicide within days, and the Evans Police Department soon closed its investigation.

Ashley Fallis' parents were convinced their son-in-law killed their daughter. The case remained closed, however, until Justin Joseph, a reporter at KDVR-TV, got a call from a source in law enforcement suggesting something wasn't right with the Fallis case.

What Joseph's own investigation into the case turned up would change everything. The case was reopened, and Tom Fallis was charged with murder. He is now awaiting trial.

But would it result in the answers Ashley Fallis' parents long sought?

Tom Fallis' attorney maintains Ashley Fallis chose to take her own life and that Ashley's parents have waged a "relentless public relations campaign" to accuse Tom of murder.

"I desire the truth, and from the get-go we have known the truth," says Raguindin.

48 HOURS: "Death After Midnight" is produced by Lindsey Gutterman, Lauren Clark, Alec Sirken, Chuck Stevenson, Chris Ritzen and Doug Longhini. Peter Schweitzer is the senior producer. Susan Zirinsky is the senior executive producer.

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