A Massachusetts detective allegedly murdered his wife and then staged it to look like a suicide. His motive was to be with his lover and still keep his pension, according to prosecutors.
Brian Fanion, 55, was a detective for the Westfield Police Department when his wife, Amy Fanion, 51, was shot dead with his service weapon on May 18, 2018 when he was home for his lunch break, the Hampden District Attorney said.
First responders from the City of Westfield on the day advised Massachusetts State Police detectives assigned to the Hampden District Attorney’s Office  that there was a reported suicide at the home of Amy and Brian Fanion, 9 North Road in Westfield.
Brian Fanion told first responders that while home on his lunch break, his wife used his service weapon to inflict a fatal wound upon herself
Amy’s death was initially investigated as a self-inflicted gunshot wound, but forensic experts realized that the trajectory of the bullet made a suicide “impossible,” Assistant District Attorney Mary Sandstrom told Hampden Superior Court on Thursday, MassLive reports.
Ultimately, Brian Fanion indicted on November 6,  with first-degree murder in connection with the death of his wife Amy J. Fanion.
The investigation uncovered that Fanion was having an affair and feared losing half his pension if he divorced his wife, the prosecutor said, as Fanion was arraigned on murder charges on Thursday.

Amy Fanion’s death was initially investigated as a self-inflicted gunshot wound, but forensic experts realized that the trajectory of the bullet made a suicide “impossible”. Her husband Brian is now on trial for her murder

“There was only one way to enjoy his retirement and his new love affair … that was to kill his wife,” Sandstrom told Judge Frank E. Flannery.
Sandstrom said Fanion began an affair with another woman two months before his wife’s death, the court was told, with Google searches on his computer including the impact of divorce on one’s pension.
“Mere hours before her murder he was looking for apartments,” Sandstrom said.
Defense attorney Jeffrey Brown had denied the former cop was having an affair, and insisted his wife had well-documented struggles with depression.
“They’re not interested in the truth here,” Brown told the hearing.
He also insisted that Fanion was supported by his two children and his late wife’s family, according to the report.
“Not a one of them thinks that Brian Fanion has it in him to kill his wife,” Brown said.
Fanion, who since retired from the force, was charged with first-degree murder on Wednesday. He was arraigned Thursday morning in Hampden Superior Court where he was held without the right to bail.
His next scheduled court date is on January 9, 2020.