Was an Oregon 15-year-old the mastermind behind her father’s homicide?

The quiet metropolis of Medford, Oregon was shaken by Maggie Friar’s determined 911 name within the early morning hours of Oct. 2, 2017.

MAGGIE FRIAR to 911: I do not know the place my ex-husband or my oldest daughter is.

911 OPERATOR: I perceive that.

MAGGIE FRIAR to 911: One thing occurred on the home. One thing occurred over there.

Maggie Friar’s ex-husband, Aaron Friar, and their 15-year-old daughter Ellen, nicknamed Ellie, had been lacking.

MAGGIE FRIAR (to 911): My concern is for the each of them. We do not know the place they’re … 

Maggie Friar: You’ll be able to solely think about … all of the issues that had been working round in my thoughts. I did not know who was lifeless, and who was alive.

When Medford Police Officer Logan Boyd arrived at Aaron Friar‘s home, he discovered a grotesque scene: blood spattered partitions, shattered glass, and a path of blood — to nowhere.

OFFICER BOYD (bodycam/exterior by the entrance door): It begins from there, kinda goes all the best way out within the grime.

DETECTIVE: Goes out in direction of the carport.

OFFICER BOYD: Yeah.

DETECTIVE: That is not good.

This led investigators to note what additionally was lacking: Aaron Friar’s automobile — seen on a neighbor’s safety digicam leaving the Friar house round 5:30 that morning.

Officer Logan Boyd: We’re form of coping with what I’d describe as like a two-headed monster.

A FATHER AND DAUGHTER DISAPPEAR

An all-hands-on-deck name went out to each Medford Police detective, together with to Det. Invoice Ford.

Det. Invoice Ford: We did not know at that exact time whether or not this was a lacking particular person case or a kidnapping. … We simply did not know.

Det. Shannon Reynolds, Ford’s colleague and spouse of 20 years, had a special take.

Det. Shannon Reynolds: In my thoughts, I robotically assumed that the 15-year-old daughter was the sufferer … of a … murder.

Natalie Morales: So, a case like this — the place did this one kind of slot in?

Det. Shannon Reynolds: In all probability one of the vital fascinating, heinous crimes I’ve seen in my profession.

Investigators hoped Ellie’s youthful sister, 11-year-old Sierra, may make clear the unknown. Reynolds, who makes a speciality of crimes towards kids, was tasked with interviewing her.

Det. Shannon Reynolds: Sierra wasn’t like outright crying, however you may inform, she was anxious.

Natalie Morales: Who was she anxious about?

Det. Shannon Reynolds: Her dad and Ellie.

Sierra Friar: I strive to not actually take into consideration that point lots, however …

Sierra, 18 years previous on the time of this unique interview, nonetheless finds it troublesome to talk about the day her father and sister vanished.

Sierra Friar: I used to be, you realize, only a youngster and, um — I am sorry. (cries)

The second of three women, Sierra says she cherished being within the center.

Sierra Friar: I get to be an older sister and a youthful sister, so I get like the most effective of each worlds. … I just like the connection and the bonds that we’ve got.

Sierra says her older sister Ellie cherished music and will play many devices — a talent Ellie appeared to have picked up from their father.

Sierra Friar: One time, he tried to show me find out how to play the drums, however I wasn’t excellent at it, so. (smiles)

In 2016, Sierra’s mother and father, Maggie and Aaron Friar, ended their marriage. Sierra says the divorce took a toll on her and her sisters.

Sierra Friar: It affected us lots. It was truly not a really nice expertise for everybody concerned.

Sierra says that when her mother and father separated, her dad moved into that small two-bedroom home. Maggie and Aaron Friar shared custody, and the ladies would stick with their dad each different weekend. In September 2017, Sierra determined to stay together with her dad full-time.

Sierra Friar: I wanna be round him and fill my life with him.

Then, round 5:30 a.m. on Oct. 2, 2017, the Friar household was perpetually damaged. Sierra was asleep within the bed room she shared together with her youthful sister.

Sierra Friar: I awoke and it was simply pitch black. … I keep in mind waking up …  to — like a dinging noise over and over and over … then I heard … glass shatter. … And I heard the battle that occurred.

The sound was coming from the lounge.

Natalie Morales: So then what does she hear? As a result of she actually is kind of an earwitness to all that occurred.

Det. Shannon Reynolds: Sure. Sure. … She heard her dad yell the f-word. … She heard dragging. She heard issues being moved.

Sierra Friar: After that, it was fully silent.

Natalie Morales: Did she have any thought what was occurring on the time?

Det. Shannon Reynolds: No. … She was frightened sufficient to remain in her room till … she felt prefer it was OK to return out.

When Sierra lastly did come out, she discovered that horrific scene.

Natalie Morales: Needed to be so scary, although.

Det. Shannon Reynolds: So scary.

Sierra instructed Reynolds that earlier than leaving her room, she had seen one thing out of her bed room window.

Shannon Reynolds: She … may see individuals strolling forwards and backwards.

Sierra noticed two younger males exterior of her dad’s home — one was an individual Sierra did not know. The second was somebody Sierra instantly acknowledged. It was Gavin MacFarlane.

Sierra Friar: He was Ellen’s boyfriend on the time. … This was her massive love. … In response to her, he was an ideal man. However in accordance with my mother and father, he was not an ideal man.

Det. Shannon Reynolds: Sierra insinuated this was a little bit little bit of a forbidden love. Dad had forbade … Ellie from seeing Gavin.

This was the break investigators had been hoping for.

Det. Invoice Ford: As soon as we’ve got a reputation: Gavin MacFarlane. Now we acquired an image. … Now we all know who we’re searching for.

The seek for Aaron and Ellie Friar — and now Gavin MacFarlane — was on.

Det. Invoice Ford: We most likely had … 70, 75 individuals out on the streets of Medford.

Ellie and Aaron Friar’s telephones had been present in the home. Investigators now started monitoring MacFarlane’s cellphone.

Det. Invoice Ford: We began getting cellphone tower hits up within the East Medford space. 

Patrol officers instantly headed in that path.

Det. Invoice Ford: A patrol sergeant locates the automobile. … That was big.

Because the officers approached Aaron Friar’s automobile, they realized that one thing wasn’t proper.

Det. Invoice Ford: We may see … there was blood on the surface of the bumper that had been dripping down … When this trunk is opened up … there’s massive quantities of blood. I imply it’s soaked into the carpet.

However no Aaron Friar — and no Ellie. However the automobile was nonetheless heat, so the police knew they had been shut.

Det. Invoice Ford: We had tons of individuals up there driving round, searching for them.

After which, simply an hour later, investigators could not imagine who they discovered subsequent.

THE SEARCH FOR AARON FRIAR

Then simply 4 hours after that 911 name reporting her lacking, Medford Police discovered Ellie Friar. She was alive, seemingly unhurt, and had been strolling down a busy road with Gavin MacFarlane.

Det. Invoice Ford: They’re strolling down the sidewalk.

Natalie Morales: In plain sight.

Det. Invoice Ford: Plain sight. … So, now we all know Ellie is secure.

Which made two issues clear: Aaron Friar was the sufferer, and, based mostly on all that blood in his automobile and on the home, time was shortly working out to seek out him.

Det. Invoice Ford: We had Aaron … on the market, both significantly injured or deceased.

Strolling together with MacFarlane and Ellie, was somebody investigators hadn’t been searching for.

OFFICER (bodycam): Do you will have ID together with your title on there?

RUSSELL JONES: Uh, no. I do not — I infrequently carry my ID round.

OFFICER: OK.

He turned out to be Russell Jones, a pal of  MacFarlane’s.

RUSSELL JONES (bodycam/in police automobile): I will not make it arduous on you.

OFFICER: (laughs) Alright.

Jones had apparently made an impression on Sierra, says Reynolds. He matched the outline of that second younger man she noticed at her father’s home that morning.

Natalie Morales: So, she acquired a extremely good —

Det. Shannon Reynolds: Sure.

Natalie Morales: — have a look at this particular person.

Det. Shannon Reynolds: Sure.

Investigators now had a witness putting MacFarlane and Jones on the crime scene. Ford says he wasn’t positive what to make of Ellie being discovered with them.

Det. Invoice Ford: That does not imply that Ellie is concerned in one thing.

However Ford says that she, MacFarlane, or Jones may maintain the important thing to discovering Aaron Friar.

Det. Invoice Ford: Ellie, Gavin, and Russell are separated, detained, and transported to the Medford Police Division for questioning.

Det. Stephanie Jackson was tasked with getting Ellie Friar’s account of the earlier 24 hours.

DET. STEPHANIE JACKSON (interrogation): So what have you ever been as much as as we speak?

ELLIE FRIAR:  I have never been house and now I am actually involved about what’s been occurring.

DET. STEPHANIE JACKSON: Mm-hmm. The place had been you?

ELLIE FRIAR: Out.

Ellie was saying every thing had appeared regular when she left her father’s home for a protracted stroll.

DET. STEPHANIE JACKSON (interrogation): And also you had been strolling down the road, it appears like as we speak?

ELLIE FRIAR: Mm-hmm.

DET. STEPHANIE JACKSON: Who had been you with?

ELLIE FRIAR: I used to be with my buddies.

In response to Ellie, she had run into these “buddies”— MacFarlane and Jones—solely by probability not lengthy earlier than being noticed by police.

DET. STEPHANIE JACKSON (interrogation): And so all people’s actually involved … as a result of we truly do not know the place your dad is correct now.

ELLIE FRIAR: That is actually … disturbing to listen to. … Perhaps he was searching for me.

DET. STEPHANIE JACKSON: We’re very anxious about your dad.

ELLIE FRIAR: So am I.

Ellie was saying she had no thought the place her father was or what occurred on the home.

DET. STEPHANIE JACKSON (interrogation): So the place did all of the blood come from in your own home?

ELLIE FRIAR: I do not know.

Round that point, Ford was making ready to interrogate the opposite two detainees. Strategically, he determined to let Gavin wait in a holding cell and commenced interviewing Russell.

Det. Invoice Ford: He is a talker … very, very talkative. … so I form of knew … he would … have a tough time preserving his mouth shut.

DET. BILL FORD (interrogation):  Spin round within the chair there and face me, so I can discuss to ya.

RUSSELL JONES: Yeah, I’ve nothing to cover …

Jones was prepared to speak. However he wished one thing first: a cigarette.

RUSSELL JONES (interrogation): I discuss higher when I’ve a cigarette.

Ford took him exterior.

Det. Invoice Ford: Simply form of smokin’ and jokin‘ is what we name it.

The digicam did not document audio, however Ford says Jones started telling him that he and MacFarlane had gone over to the Friar home early that morning.

Det. Invoice Ford: He instructed us that he was attempting to assist get Ellie out of a nasty state of affairs.

That “unhealthy state of affairs,” in accordance with Jones, was Aaron Friar.

Det. Invoice Ford: And the very first thing that he tells us is, “he isn’t a very good particular person.”

Natalie Morales: Aaron Friar isn’t a very good particular person?

Det. Invoice Ford: Appropriate.

He did not elaborate additional about Aaron Friar, however Jones was claiming he and MacFarlane had been solely there to secretly transfer Ellie out.

Det. Invoice Ford: So, the following factor I inform him is “look, Russell, we acquired detectives on the market proper now pulling video from each home, the alleys … So if this ain’t the reality … you should be truthful with me proper now.” And he seems to be me sq. within the eyes and he says, “Nicely, 95% of it is the reality and … 5% of it’s a lie.” So, I am considering robotically, what is the lie right here?

Ford determined it was time for a brand new tactic and tried interesting to Jones’s conscience.

Det. Invoice Ford: I have a look at him and I am like, “You recognize, Russell, I do not desire a youngster to seek out Aaron … on the market someplace, come throughout one thing like that.” … I stated, “Can you are taking us to Aaron?” … he did not beat a watch. He is identical to, “Yeah, I will take you to him.”

The veteran detective wasted no time.

Det. Invoice Ford (to Morales): We load Russell up. He is truly sitting within the seat that you simply’re sitting in now.

Det. Invoice Ford: We acquired him handcuffed in entrance. … he is principally telling us, OK, flip proper, flip left.

They had been ascending a rural mountain move 20 miles exterior city.

Det. Invoice Ford: After which impulsively Russell says “Cease.” … “Cease proper right here.”

THREE SUSPECTS, THREE DIFFERENT STORIES  

DET. FORD (bodycam on the website the place Aaron Friar’s physique was discovered): The place did you cease your automobile and again up?

RUSSELL JONES: Uh — In all probability proper the place that rock is.

DET. FORD: Proper right here on this inexperienced tarp?

Natalie Morales (on the website the place Aaron Friar’s physique was discovered): Do you see the physique straight away?

Det. Invoice Ford: You can see the tarp; you could not see any portion of the physique.

Detectives descended the wooded ravine and pulled again that tarp revealing that, simply six hours after that 911 name, they’d discovered Aaron Friar.

Det. Ford: It was … apparent that he was deceased.

Natalie Morales: If you discovered your husband was lifeless, what did you suppose?

Maggie Friar: Uh … I used to be fully shocked; I did not know what to suppose.

Maggie Friar says the police hadn’t but instructed her Ellie was of their custody being questioned — and even that she had been discovered.

Maggie Friar: I used to be very anxious in regards to the destiny of my daughter. … I had no thought if my daughter was even alive, too.

Maggie Friar then confronted the unimaginable job of sharing the information of Aaron’s demise with their two youthful daughters. The truth was virtually an excessive amount of for then-11-year-old Sierra.           

Sierra Friar: I simply actually did not wanna imagine it for a extremely very long time.

Whereas investigators started processing the scene, Ford drove Russell Jones again to police headquarters. He says Jones was claiming that every one he had performed was assist eliminate Aaron Friar’s stays.

Det. Invoice Ford: He is like … I am not gonna be a witness towards Gavin.

Russell was saying Gavin MacFarlane was Aaron Friar’s killer, however that MacFarlane had been provoked.

Det. Invoice Ford: His story was … that Aaron had a rifle and was pointing it at Gavin.

Natalie Morales: So making it look like a self-defense … due to — he had a gun pointed at him.

Det. Invoice Ford: Precisely.

Again on the station, Ford returned Jones to the interrogation room, whereas detectives gathered for a briefing.

That is when Russell started taunting them by way of the digicam.

RUSSELL JONES (alone in interrogation room): you are listening in on my conversations, aren’t you?

RUSSELL JONES (alone in interrogation room): I can nonetheless twist your little thoughts. Do not piss me off.

Natalie Morales: This, I think about, acquired all people to cease what they had been doing and collect across the monitor —

Invoice Ford: Yeah.

Natalie Morales: — and watch this.

Det. Invoice Ford: Yeah. That is what you do. 

RUSSELL JONES (alone in interrogation room): So we will play it the straightforward method or the arduous method.

Det. Invoice Ford: He would go into these rants and … making calls for and stuff.

RUSSELL JONES (alone in interrogation room): Gavin and Ellie are to be launched to me.

And Jones was claiming he nonetheless hadn’t been completely truthful.

RUSSELL JONES  (alone in interrogation room): And Mr. Ford, you need the entire story? ‘Trigger I did miss a number of elements.

For her half, Ellie was now saying Jones was the one accountable.

ELLIE FRIAR (interrogation): I imagine that Russell’s the one which killed my father.

With the conflicting claims, Ford determined it was lastly time to interview MacFarlane.

GAVIN MACFARLANE (interrogation): I do know I am in deep trouble, aren’t I?

DET. BILL FORD: Nicely, we have to work out what occurred.

MacFarlane began by saying how unstable Aaron Friar may very well be.  

GAVIN MACFARLANE (interrogation): He is threatened my life … He is like, no, steer clear of my daughter. … I am gonna kill you.

One month earlier, MacFarlane had referred to as the police claiming Aaron Friar had proven up at his home, banging on his door, threatening to kill him.

GAVIN MACFARLANE (interrogation): I do not know what precipitated him to not like me anymore.

Detectives found not less than one cause: MacFarlane’s age. He was 19 years previous, courting 15-year-old Ellie. And making issues worse, MacFarlane was now claiming Ellie was going to have his child.

DETECTIVE: She instructed you she was pregnant?

GAVIN MACFARLANE (interrogation): I’ve recognized for about two weeks now.

Whereas MacFarlane was admitting to having a sexual relationship with a minor — itself against the law — he was accusing Aaron Friar of being the one who had been abusive to Ellie.

GAVIN MACFARLANE (interrogation): The anger had simply been increase ‘explanation for the issues that Ellie had been telling me.

DET. BILL FORD: Mm-hmm.

GAVIN MACFARLANE: I used to be simply attempting to guard Ellie.

DET. BILL FORD: OK.

GAVIN MACFARLANE: And my doable youngster.

MacFarlane was claiming he and Jones had gone to the home that morning, however not like what Jones stated — that Aaron Friar had not confronted him with a gun. As an alternative, MacFarlane was saying Aaron Friar had been in the lounge asleep on the sofa and that MacFarlane had crept in armed with a baseball bat. Then, MacFarlane made a startling admission.

GAVIN MACFARLANE (interrogation):  I simply acted on intuition.

DET. BILL FORD: OK. Inform us what occurred.

GAVIN MACFARLANE: I simply swung the bat downwards. It was darkish, I could not see.

DET. BILL FORD: What number of occasions do you suppose you hit him?

GAVIN MACFARLANE: Like 5 – 6 possibly.

DET. BILL FORD: 5 or 6 occasions?

GAVIN MACFARLANE: Yeah.

The bodily proof would again up MacFarlane’s story. Aaron Friar had died from blunt drive trauma to his head, and a bloodied baseball bat was recovered from a tree department above the place his stays had been discovered.

Testing would verify the blood was Aaron Friar’s.

Det. Invoice Ford: And he demonstrated for us within the interview room. … how arduous he swung it down on … Aaron’s head.

GAVIN MACFARLANE (demonstrating throughout interrogation): I went over the shoulder the primary time. After which I began going up above my head.

Det. Invoice Ford: I imply, there have been 5 distinct blows to his head.

Explaining that dinging sound Sierra had heard.

Det. Invoice Ford:  It fractured his cranium. Caved his cranium into his mind.

GAVIN MACFARLANE (interrogation):  I am — I am actually sorry. (crying)

And investigators quickly discovered proof that Aaron’s homicide had been meticulously plotted for weeks. They found notes — some in Russell’s handwriting — at Gavin’s home.

Det. Invoice Ford: We discovered … a number of homicide plans. … And so they truly had plan A, plan B, there have been a number of plans. And I believe finally, they provide you with the bat.

Natalie Morales: And based mostly on what you may see from the planning … who’s the mastermind of all of this?

Det. Invoice Ford: Ellie, imagine it or not.

Ford says he believes it was Ellie who wished Aaron Friar murdered, pointing to messages Ford says she despatched to MacFarlane. In a single she says, “We’d like to verify he is lifeless by the point we depart his home.” And in one other, she requested “You wish to kill him now dont you”… after which “…You’ll be able to kill him in lower than a min, proper?”

Det. Invoice Ford: She’s pushing all of it. … She needs to be with Gavin. … She needs to be out from beneath the authority of her father.

GAVIN MACFARLANE (interrogation): Ellie wished me to kill him, however I did not wish to.

Ford says Ellie may need made up these abuse allegations probably as a strategy to encourage MacFarlane to kill her father.

Det. Invoice Ford: She may be very manipulative.

Det. Invoice Ford: For me watching that complete interview … she lied and lied and lied.

DET. STEPHANIE JACKSON (interrogation): Are you Ellie?

ELLIE FRIAR: No.

DET. STEPHANIE JACKSON: How previous are you?

ELLIE FRIAR: 18.

DET. STEPHANIE JACKSON: How did Gavin get in the home this morning?

ELLIE FRIAR: He wasn’t in the home.

After a number of hours, Ellie did ultimately admit a few of her function — even saying that she had handed MacFarlane the homicide weapon.

DET. STEPHANIE JACKSON (interrogation): And what do you say to Gavin?

ELLIE FRIAR: I stated, “I am prepared if you end up.”

STEPHANIE JACKSON: OK. What did you imply by that?

ELLIE FRIAR: “If you do that, we’re in it collectively.”

STEPHANIE JACKSON: What did you imply while you stated, “while you do that?”

ELLIE FRIAR: Kill my dad.

With proof all of them conspired to kill Aaron Friar, Gavin MacFarlane, Russell Jones, and Ellie Friar had been charged along with his homicide.

Aliza Kaplan|Ellie Friar’s protection legal professional: From the day after she was arrested … there was this narrative and her facet was by no means instructed

Till now.

Aliza Kaplan: The story that the state has … why is it the appropriate one?

ELLIE FRIAR’S DEFENSE

Maggie Friar: My daughter left to go keep at my ex-husband’s home for the weekend, and by no means got here house.

Natalie Morales: I think about that second haunts you continue to.

Maggie Friar (emotional): In fact, it does. My youngster by no means got here house.

After hours of fear, Maggie Friar was lastly instructed her 15-year-old daughter, Ellie, had been situated.

Maggie Friar: I acquired a cellphone name from a police officer … that they’d discovered her.

However fear morphed into anger, when she was then instructed Ellie had been arrested for her father’s homicide.

Maggie Friar: And I stated, “So you have had my daughter in your custody, and also you’re interrogating her? And also you by no means as soon as referred to as me to let me know so I can possibly get her some illustration?”

Aliza Kaplan ultimately turned one in all Ellie’s attorneys. She says the narrative about Ellie Friar has been flawed from the very starting.

Aliza Kaplan: On this case … she was made out to be the — the … mastermind or one thing, you realize? … She deliberate all of this, when she was 15 years previous, and so they had been 19 and 22.

Natalie Morales: She was the manipulator.

Aliza Kaplan: She was the manipulator, proper? And that this was all due to her relationship with an older man.

However Kaplan says this crime truly occurred due to the alleged abuse Ellie suffered by the hands of her father, Aaron Friar.

Aliza Kaplan: She was sexually abused, emotionally abused, and bodily abused.

Abuse that Ellie described in her police interrogation.

ELLIE FRIAR (interrogation): He was a very good father, however he began getting abusive about three years in the past.

Aliza Kaplan: I picked out a bunch of issues, however …

Studying from the case file, Kaplan recounted a number of allegations of molestation and abuse. Warning: the next could also be disturbing.

Aliza Kaplan (studying): Her father would seize at her breasts. … He instructed her to offer in to him.

ELLIE FRIAR: He tried to take my garments off. And I slapped him away. (crying)

Aliza Kaplan (studying): He would masturbate on prime of her when he thought she was sleeping.

ELLIE FRIAR: I felt so soiled. … And so ashamed of myself.

Aliza Kaplan: He pushed her down stairs. Known as her whore, fool, silly, slut shamed her.

ELLIE FRIAR: And he would pin me up towards the wall and he would name me these names.

Aliza Kaplan: After which, when he would get drunk, it might all worsen.

In response to the police report, three of Ellie’s buddies instructed investigators that … “Ellie stated her dad abuses her” …  Ellie shared “that her dad was tough on her and emotionally and bodily abused her” … and Ellie stated “her dad mentally and verbally abused her.” However Ellie admits she by no means instructed her buddies in regards to the sexual molestation, and neither Ellie nor her buddies instructed the police about any form of abuse earlier than her father’s homicide.

Natalie Morales: And so far as allegations of abuse … was there … any proof in any respect that your detectives may discover to again up what Ellen Friar was saying occurred to her?

Det. Invoice Ford: No, there was none.

Ford says with Aaron’s demise, the opportunity of proving abuse might have died with him.

Det. Invoice Ford: We won’t go to Aaron and ask “Aaron, had been you abusing your daughter?” … We might by no means know the reality. If she instructed her mother, did she inform her mother forward of time?

DET. STEPHANIE JACKSON (interrogation): Have you considered having a dialog together with your mother about that?

ELLIE FRIAR: No. I am horrified to even discuss it. …

DET. STEPHANIE JACKSON: Who have you ever talked to about your dad masturbating?

ELLIE FRIAR: I instructed Gavin about it, however that is it.

Ellie instructed Det. Jackson that the primary time she had instructed Gavin was two days earlier than he bludgeoned her father to demise. 

DET. STEPHANIE JACKSON (interrogation): I do know that is arduous to speak about. I do know.

ELLIE FRIAR: (crying) Why me? Why did he do it to me? I do not — I don’t know what he is performed to my sisters. (crying)

Aliza Kaplan: I see … a youngster who … would do something to outlive and to guard her sisters.

Det. Shannon Reynolds says 11-year-old Sierra was requested if there have been any issues at house.

Det. Shannon Reynolds: She truly solely had good issues to say about her father.

When Reynolds interviewed the youngest Friar daughter, she recalled the final dialog she had with Ellie minutes after their father’s homicide.

Det. Shannon Reynolds: She had stated that Ellie had woken her up … [Ellie] stated she was leaving, and that she was leaving as a result of mother and pop had been abusive.

Earlier than Reynolds may say something, the 8-year-old gave her opinion on the matter.

Det. Shannon Reynolds: And she or he instructed me, “My mother and pop weren’t abusive.”

Each of Ellie’s sisters instructed Reynolds that what Ellie had referred to as “abuse” was truly their mother and father disciplining her for sneaking round with Gavin.

Det. Shannon Reynolds: As a result of they took her electronics away and so they yelled at her.

Natalie Morales: What do you say to that?

Aliza Kaplan: Yeah … Nicely, they had been youthful … proper? … That is truly quite common in households the place there’s abuse. That there is one youngster who takes on the vast majority of it … and … wish to shield the others within the household.

Natalie Morales: You recognize, you, you described her as this protecting older sister, however but … she left them there on the home. How is that defending them?

Aliza Kaplan: Yeah. … And I believe, you realize, these are issues that Ellen will stay with … for the remainder of her life. … And she or he clearly understands how a lot injury she has precipitated her sister. 

Ford says that with no proof to again up Ellie’s abuse claims, he stays suspicious that she might have made all of it as much as manipulate MacFarlane. And it seems, Ellie was by no means pregnant.

Det. Invoice Ford: I believe you bought to take a look at it two methods: possibly she thought she was pregnant or possibly she’s utilizing that to affect Gavin to kill her dad.

Ellie’s authorized crew says Ellie did suppose she was pregnant, which is why she purchased a being pregnant take a look at at a retailer hours after her father’s homicide.

Investigators say it is clear Ellie has a problem with the reality.

Det. Shannon Reynolds: She lied throughout that interview for no cause.

Kaplan says a lot has been made from the numerous lies Ellie instructed throughout her police interrogation.

Aliza Kaplan: As a guardian, we — everyone knows that our children typically try this.

However Kaplan says the actual focus needs to be on the hours, and hours, and hours Ellie spent in that interview room.

ELLIE FRIAR (interrogation): I’ve a proper to stay silent.

Aliza Kaplan: She requested to not discuss. She stated, “I wanna stay silent,” proper? … She was there for 10 hours — straight.

DET. STEPHANIE JACKSON: However together with your wishing to stay silent, it is actually troublesome to kinda unravel all of that. 

ELLIE FRIAR: Then let’s discuss. 

A minor and not using a guardian or legal professional.

Natalie Morales: Is it regular to maintain a 15-year-old in an interrogation room … for 10 hours like that?

Det. Invoice Ford: Yeah. I imply there isn’t any legislation towards it. So we gave her breaks. … There was occasions the place she laid on the ground and slept.

Kaplan says that though it could have been authorized in Oregon, it wasn’t proper.

Aliza Kaplan: And look, police have their jobs to do. I get it. I simply suppose the foundations are actually totally different when you will have a child. And in that, she seems to be like a child. She’s appearing like a child. She’s in concern like a child could be.

A child who Kaplan says was taken benefit of by somebody she calls one other abuser: 19-year-old Gavin MacFarlane.

Aliza Kaplan: A grown man reaching over to a 15-year-old lady who was so susceptible. … It doesn’t matter what her, textual content messages stated, it doesn’t matter what her involvement was … I do not even perceive how you do not have a look at that as, him being the controller.

Reynolds says she noticed a few of that controlling conduct on show in letters MacFarlane wrote to Ellie after they had been arrested.

Det. Shannon Reynolds: He was, saying that … she wanted to make sure you say that her dad was abusing her. … And he was telling her, “We’ll take this to a jury and we will win the jury over, and the best way to do this is to cry. Be sure you cry.”

WHO WAS THE MASTERMIND?

ELLIE FRIAR (interrogation): I’ve given every thing I can. And when this goes to courtroom, I want to be tried as an grownup. 

However there could be no trial. In January of 2019 — a little bit greater than a 12 months after her father’s demise — Ellie Friar took a plea deal.

Natalie Morales: How did you’re feeling about that call?

Maggie Friar: I did not prefer it, ‘trigger I am fairly positive that she did it ‘trigger she was scared. … I do not suppose she wished to go to courtroom.

Ellie Friar pleaded responsible to an grownup cost of conspiring to homicide her father, Aaron.

ELLIE FRIAR (in courtroom): I’d first wish to say that I am sorry for all of the ache that I’ve precipitated to others by way of this complete ordeal.

The deal was brokered by a special protection legal professional. In response to courtroom paperwork, that legal professional wrote that Ellie Friar’s co-defendants, Gavin McFarlane and Russell Jones, “had been going to be testifying towards” her and say that she “was the mastermind behind all of this; it was her thought from the start.” Ellie’s textual content messages would have been used towards her at trial too.

Aliza Kaplan started engaged on Ellie Friar’s behalf in 2024.

Aliza Kaplan: I run the Prison Justice Reform Clinic. … We’re taking a look at Ellen’s case … largely as a result of we imagine that she has an extreme sentence.

Natalie Morales: And what’s her sentence?

Aliza Kaplan: 25 years.

Gavin MacFarlane and Russell Jones additionally took plea offers, with Gavin MacFarlane pleading responsible to homicide and homicide conspiracy prices. He was sentenced to 25 years to life in jail. Russell Jones entered a no-contest plea to conspiracy to commit homicide. He was sentenced to fifteen years.

Kaplan is preventing to scale back Ellie Friar’s sentence. She says Ellie mustn’t have been sentenced to 10 extra years than Jones for a similar crime.

Aliza Kaplan: She was 15, he was 22 and her sentence is a lot larger than his.

Natalie Morales: The concept Ellen is the grasp manipulator, I imply she’s a 15-year-old. I imply, do not [MacFarlane and Jones] bear extra duty as a result of they’re the adults?

Det. Invoice Ford: Uh, I do not — I would not agree with that. … Ellie is completely simply as accountable as Gavin, besides Gavin was the one which took and held the bat in his palms.

Detective Shannon Reynolds is not as sure as her husband about Ellie’s function.

Det. Shannon Reynolds: I travel … The mastermind of it … I initially thought was Ellie. … Then studying the letters from Gavin that he wrote to Ellie, telling her what she wanted to say … then I began to suppose possibly Gavin was the mastermind of all of this. I travel.

Ford says no matter who crafted the plan, all three are accountable within the eyes of the legislation.

 

Det. Invoice Ford: As a result of with out her, this would not have occurred. With out Gavin, this would not have occurred. I doubt with out Russell, it may have occurred.

Aliza Kaplan: I wanna be very clear, she was concerned. She participated, she was a co-conspirator, little question, proper? She takes full accountability for her function on this crime.

Ellie Friar, now 23, has been serving her sentence in a juvenile detention middle. In December 2026, she can be moved to an grownup jail. She just lately earned two grasp’s levels: one in psychology and one other in justice research.

 

Aliza Kaplan: Which, by the best way, isn’t that simple to do while you’re in jail. … She’s actually unimaginable.

Maggie Friar: I am very happy with her. I’ve all the time been happy with her … after what she went by way of.

Det. Invoice Ford: Aaron’s lifeless. …Who’s gonna converse out for Aaron? 

Sierra Friar will. 

Sierra Friar: My dad was a sort man who cherished me and my sisters and all the time tried to fill my life with pleasure. … He was an ideal father to me. … He goes with me wherever I’m going.

 Sierra has joined the Nationwide Guard — one thing she says her father all the time wished for her.

Det. Shannon Reynolds: It is mind-blowing that the little lady I interviewed is now grown up. The truth that she is becoming a member of … the Nationwide Guard lets me know … she did not let this, you realize, derail her life.

A life Sierra has needed to stay with out her father, whose reminiscence has been marred by these abuse allegations. A “48 Hours” producer requested Sierra about them.

Lauren A. White | “48 Hours”: Ellie claims that your father abused her. What do you must say to that?

Sierra Friar: Uh, I do not wanna discuss that simply ‘trigger I’ve my very own emotions about it.

Sierra is simply as guarded in the case of her ideas about her sister, Ellie, although the 2 have maintained a relationship over time.

Sierra Friar: It’s totally arduous to clarify as a result of lots of people would not perceive. … I’ve acquired my very own emotions about her.

However Sierra’s emotions about her father are very clear.

Sierra Friar: I like him and I am so sorry for every thing that occurred. (crying) … I’ve religion and I’ve hope that someday, that we’ll meet once more. (voice cracks, nods)

Ellie Friar can be eligible for parole in 2032. She can be 30 years previous.

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Produced by Richard Fetzer and Lauren A. White. Greg Fisher is the event producer. Megan Kelly Brown is the affiliate producer. Grayce Arlotta-Berner, Diana Modica and Mike Baluzy  are the editors. Peter Schweitzer is the senior producer. Nancy Kramer is the manager story editor. Judy Tygard is the manager producer.