ST. CHARLES, Mo. (AP) – A suburban St. Louis woman accused of killing a man to shift attention away from herself in another killing has pleaded not guilty.
Pamela Hupp of O’Fallon, Missouri, entered the plea Monday. She’s charged with first-degree murder in the August death of 33-year-old Louis Gumpenberger. Trial is set for October. Prosecutors say Hupp took Gumpenberger to her home and fatally shot him. She’s accused of planting evidence to make it appear Gumpenberger was trying to kidnap her and recover $150,000 in insurance money she received after her friend, Betsy Faria, was killed in 2011.
Russell Faria was convicted of killing his wife but later acquitted in a retrial.
He and his lawyers claim Hupp is a suspect in Betsy Faria’s death, citing the insurance money as a motive. Hupp hasn’t been charged in that crime.