The Fausett Home turned crime scene in Provo, Utah. Police have charged Melissa Johnson-Fausett, wife of Corry Fausett, with murdering her husband on Jan. 6, 2024 (YouTube screengrab/KSTU).
A woman in Utah is charged with murdering her husband after she allegedly told police that a blood-spattered gun found her in purse after his death was from a recent trip she took to shoot rabbits at close range in the desert.
In a statement on Facebook released Saturday, the Provo Police Department said it would not disclose any further details about the probe into the alleged murder of resident Corry Fausett on Saturday, Jan. 6 by his wife, Melissa Johnson-Fausett.
Police responded to the couple’s Utah home around 7:42 p.m. that evening and found Fausett dead in a hallway of the residence. Johnson-Fausett was booked shortly after. A request from Law&Crime for her arrest records was not immediately returned on Monday.
The scene at the shooting left detectives with several questions about what really happened inside the home.
Johnson-Fausett allegedly told police she shot her husband in self-defense when he began attacking her and beating her around her head and neck, Salt Lake City Fox affiliate KSTU reported. She said she was in her bedroom when the attack began, so she used a nearby gun to shoot him. According to her, he didn’t go down right away and started to leave the bedroom, all the while threatening to kill her.
As this quickly unfolded, Johnson-Fausett told police she left the room at the same time and started shooting at her husband again, fearful that he was going to get ahead of her and find another firearm in the house.
Fausett was shot four times including once on his side, twice on the left side of his face and once in the back of his head. The face shots reportedly left burn marks indicating they were done at a close range, police said. Further, one of the shots might have been fired when he was already on the ground, Provo police said, according to KSTU. Detectives said they were led to this conclusion after finding damage from a bullet to the floor beneath Fausett’s body.
There was “no evidence” he had tried to move again to threaten his wife once he hit the floor, police said.
An evaluation of Johnson-Fausett by medical examiners also found no injury to her head or neck as she initially claimed.
Once officers had a search warrant, they reportedly they found a gun stowed away in Johnson-Fausett’s purse. It was apparently covered in blood spatter. When police asked her about it, she allegedly told them it was blood from rabbits she had shot at close range recently during a trip to the desert.
A test of the blood determined it was human blood.
Johnson-Fausett is charged with first-degree murder. It is unclear whether she has retained an attorney.
Help is available to victims of domestic violence through the National Domestic Violence Hotline. It can be reached at 1-800-799-7233, by texting START to 88788 or visiting the hotline’s website.
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