Suspicion in Silver City

In the middle of New Mexico, hours from Santa Fe, sits an old mining town called Silver City—a place where sixth-generation ranchers coexist with artists and newcomers. It was inside a small house in this quirky town that Cassie Farrington, a 23-year-old nurse and mother of two, was found face down in her bathtub, still in her nursing scrubs, beaten from head to toe. The water was still running. A broken towel rack lay on the floor. Her glasses were nearby. And for a very long time, no one was arrested for her murder.

The investigation seemed to stall almost immediately. Cassie’s landlord, a nursing professor named Charnelle Lee, had discovered the body after water began seeping under the bathroom door. Charnelle’s husband Billy Lee, also a nurse, had been helping Cassie land a plum job in the emergency room. Hours after the body was found, Billy ripped out the carpet in Cassie’s bedroom. Then he quit his job and left for Alaska. Investigators focused on him, but his alibi—working on a cabin roof with a friend—was later confirmed as solid. Meanwhile, Cassie’s live-in boyfriend David Barry had a verified alibi too: he was at work.