A former Weld County corrections deputy was arrested Tuesday in Monroe County, Ind., in the 2012 shooting death of his wife.
Tom Fallis, 34, had been indicted Monday by a Weld County grand jury on a second-degree murder charge, accused of killing his wife after a fight that began over smoking a cigarette, records show.
Fallis was being held in Indiana on $200,000 bail, court records show.
Ashley Fallis, a respiratory therapist, was 28 years old when she died of a single gunshot wound to the head in the couple’s bedroom Jan. 1, 2012, in Evans.
Police in Evans and the county coroner originally thought she committed suicide.
Fallis now lives in Bloomington, Ind., with the couple’s three children.
The indictment, , alleges that Tom Fallis killed his wife after a New Year’s party attended by family and friends. Ashley Fallis told her husband she was going outside to smoke and he became “irate” because he thought she was going to smoke marijuana.
As guests left, the argument continued in the Fallises’ bedroom, the indictment says. Tom Fallis grabbed a 9mm Taurus handgun and, during a struggle, held the gun to the right side of his wife’s head before pulling the trigger, records say.
“While still in contact with Ashley, he lowered Ashley to the floor, began holding her head and called 911 to report that Ashley shot herself in the head,” the indictment says.
The case and after a , who presented his findings to police in Evans. Family members long alleged that police covered up the death.
The case was reopened after it was alleged that an officer originally assigned to the case . Police in April said the new information “includes alleged eyewitness accounts and other information which requires additional investigation.”
The Fort Collins and Loveland police departments helped in the latest investigation.
A Loveland Police Department investigation , Michael Yates, in August. On Tuesday, however, police in Evans said they have retained a third-party consultant to conduct an internal review of Yates’ actions.
The consultant is a retired 25-year FBI special agent whose findings will be released to the public once an investigation is complete, police say.
