The parents of a woman who authorities say , at their Evans home in 2012 has filed for custody of the couple’s three children, court records show.
Thomas Fallis, 34, was indicted Monday by a Weld County grand jury on a second-degree murder charge and arrested the next day in Blooomington, Ind. where he lives with his children. Fallis is being held without bond on an extradition hold in an Indiana jail.
Fallis is accused of killing his wife after a fight that began over smoking a cigarette, records show. He is awaiting extradition to Colorado and appeared in court Thursday.
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.
The custody papers were filed in Weld County court on Tuesday. The proceedings have moved to Indiana where Ashley Fallis’ parents and Thomas Fallis’ are both seeking custody of the children.
“My clients, Ashley’s parents, are very happy that there is now a prosecution for murder pending against Tom Fallis,” attorney Dan Recht told The Denver Post on Thursday. “It has been a series of nightmares for them over the last three years.
Recht says Ashley Fallis’ parents “desperately want to prevent the (alleged) murderer of their daughter from raising their grandchildren.”
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 was reopened in April at the request of Ashley Fallis’ family and after a year-long investigation by Fox31 reporter Justin Joseph, 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 possibly tampered with evidence. The officer was later cleared though police now say they are conducting a third-party investigation to review the matter.
Jesse Paul: 303-954-1733, jpaul@denverpost.com or twitter.com/JesseAPaul
