“Losing Faith”: Dateline Reports on Jamie Faith Homicide May 30 2025

This Friday, May 30, 2025, Dateline NBC airs a two-hour special titled “Losing Faith” at 9:00 PM ET/8:00 PM CT. Hosted by correspondent Josh Mankiewicz, the episode unpacks the cold and calculated murder of Jamie Faith, a well-regarded American Airlines executive from Dallas, Texas. Shot multiple times during a morning walk with his wife Jennifer and their dog Maggie in October 2020, Jamie’s death initially appeared to be a senseless act of violence. As detectives pulled apart the threads, they unearthed a plot rooted in manipulation, deceit, and obsession.

The broadcast includes interviews with detectives Chris Walton and Eric Barnes, federal prosecutor Rick Calvert, and close friends and neighbors of the Faith family. Their insights help viewers grasp how a seemingly perfect marriage unraveled into a deadly deception. “Losing Faith” reveals how far one woman was willing to go to remove her husband—and how she ensnared her former high school boyfriend in the process.

A Morning Walk Turned Fatal

On the morning of October 9, 2020, Jamie and Jennifer Faith left their home in Oak Cliff for their routine dog walk. Within moments, a masked gunman ambushed the couple, shooting Jamie seven times—three to the head, three to the chest, and one to the groin. Jennifer told police she was then restrained with duct tape and robbed, a detail that would later raise suspicions.

Security footage from the couple’s front door captured their final moments together, while nearby surveillance cameras recorded the suspect fleeing in a black Nissan Titan with a distinctive white “T” decal on the rear window. The violent nature of the attack immediately led law enforcement to consider the possibility of a targeted killing.

Friends and neighbors rallied around Jennifer and her daughter, raising over $60,000 through a GoFundMe campaign and organizing daily meal deliveries. To the community, Jennifer was a grieving widow. Behind the scenes, however, investigators began unearthing inconsistencies in her story and alarming digital evidence.

A Disturbing Digital Trail

Detectives soon discovered that Jennifer had reconnected with a former high school boyfriend, Darrin Lopez, in early 2020. Lopez, a former Special Forces soldier who had suffered a traumatic brain injury in Iraq, was living in rural Tennessee. Over the course of several months, Jennifer and Lopez exchanged more than 116,000 text messages and emails, often 500 times a day. Their correspondence was laced with declarations of love, plans for the future, and claims that Jamie was physically and sexually abusing Jennifer.

Investigators later learned that the abuse claims were fabrications. Jennifer had created fake email accounts impersonating both her husband and a friend named “Rob” to send threatening and abusive messages to Lopez. The emails were designed to enrage Lopez and manipulate him into believing that murdering Jamie was the only way to protect Jennifer.

GPS data and surveillance footage eventually tracked Lopez’s route from Tennessee to Dallas on the day of the murder. He staged outside the Faiths’ home for hours before carrying out the killing, then drove over 600 miles back home. Ballistics matched a gun found in Lopez’s home to the murder weapon, and Jamie’s blood was discovered on it. Authorities also found a mask matching the one worn by the gunman and Jennifer’s credit cards in Lopez’s possession.

The Investigation Turns Toward Jennifer Faith

Though Lopez was arrested in January 2021 and charged with murder, investigators continued digging into Jennifer’s role. Their suspicions were confirmed when they found texts where Jennifer advised Lopez to remove the identifying “T” sticker from his truck window. She also sent him money, paid for flights, and gave him access to her credit cards—funds partially drawn from the community’s GoFundMe donations.

Jennifer initially faced obstruction of justice charges. In the course of their deeper investigation, authorities uncovered emails where Jennifer, posing as her husband, made grotesque threats to Lopez. These emails included stock photos falsely presented as evidence of Jamie’s abuse. It became clear that Jennifer had orchestrated the entire murder scheme, manipulating Lopez into committing the crime under the belief that he was saving her from harm.

In September 2021, Jennifer was indicted on federal charges of murder for hire. Facing overwhelming evidence, she agreed to a plea deal that spared her the death penalty. On February 7, 2022, she admitted in court that she had fabricated the abuse allegations and masterminded the killing of her husband.

Legal Outcomes and Sentencing

Jennifer Faith was sentenced to life in federal prison without the possibility of parole. The judge mandated that she acknowledge Jamie had never abused her and that all the photos and claims were lies. GoFundMe refunded the donations made by supporters, many of whom felt betrayed by the woman they had comforted in the wake of her husband’s death.

Darrin Lopez maintained his not guilty plea and went to trial in July 2023. He testified that he believed Jennifer’s claims and thought he was protecting her. Despite his defense pointing to his brain injury and manipulation by Jennifer, the jury found him guilty of murder. He was sentenced to 62 years in prison.

In court, Lopez expressed remorse, stating he was devastated upon learning he had killed an innocent man. Despite his conviction, he is appealing the decision.

Remembering Jamie Faith

Jamie Faith’s friends and family remember him as warm, generous, and kind-hearted. He was a devoted father figure to his stepdaughter Amber, whom he adopted after marrying Jennifer. Neighbors described him as someone who went out of his way to help others and made children feel welcome in his home.

Amber has since left Texas and lives out of the public eye with the family’s dog, Maggie. Jamie’s loved ones continue to mourn his loss and express disbelief that someone he trusted most orchestrated his death.

Dateline’s “Losing Faith” highlights the immense toll this murder took on a community, and how a carefully constructed lie turned deadly. The episode offers not only a chilling true crime story but also a poignant reflection on the consequences of deceit and the ripple effects of one woman’s destructive choices.