Prominent Atlanta attorney Gary Farris was like Santa Claus to his family, always ready to help a relative in need.
But when Farris disappeared and was then found dead, some of his closest family members suddenly found themselves under surveillance by authorities trying to solve the cold-blooded crime, a new report says Dateline Airing Friday, January 17th at 9:00 p.m NBC.
“After “Gary 'Big Daddy' Farris mysteriously disappears, his family discovers his remains on their sprawling 10-acre estate,” a The synopsis for the episode titled “A Little Patch of Perfect” reads: “An investigation reveals a family deeply divided by jealousy and greed. But did any of them kill Big Daddy?”
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Who was Gary Farris?
Farris, a successful attorney from the Atlanta area, seemed like the ideal family man, always jumping in to help.
“If someone needed a loan, or more like a gift, Gary was there with a credit card swipe,” Dateline correspondent Keith Morrison says in a voiceover preview of the episode. “Now that family Santa Claus was just gone.”
What happened to Gary Farris?
At the age of 58, Farris was killed. His remains were discovered in 2018 at the family estate in Alpharetta, Georgia.
The focus of the investigation soon turned to those who knew him best – and there appeared to be a central problem at play.
“In some form, Gary had close relationships or disagreements with all of the family members when it came to money,” Ashley Pope, who was working as a sheriff’s detective at the time, told Dateline.
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A complex crime thriller
Morrison described the difficult work investigators did to figure out who wanted to kill Farris, comparing the case to a crime novel.
“It’s almost like an Agatha Christie story,” Morrison said in the episode preview. “You have a limited space and all these people are fighting among themselves and the man who controls the money is suddenly dead.”
The story also made Morrison think of a certain mystery film.
“This story reminded me of the movie Knives Out,” he said NBC Insider the twisted family history.
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The case culminated in what Morrison described NBC Insider as “one of the most bizarre courtroom scenes of all time.”
While covering the mystery, Morrison spoke with the victim's sons, Chris and Scott Farris, as well as Farris' brother, John Farris, and his sister, Sherry Farris, in the two-hour episode.
To find out who is ultimately linked to the murder – and all the dark secrets that will be uncovered – watch the video Dateline Friday at 9/8 p.m NBC or stream the episode on Peacock as soon as it becomes available the next day.
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