An 11-year-old witness factors a finger at her father’s suspected killer: Her sister’s forbidden boyfriend

Sierra Friar, 18 years outdated on the time of her unique interview with “48 Hours,” talks concerning the morning of Oct. 2, 2017, when her father, Aaron, and 15-year-old sister, Ellie, vanished.

Sierra Friar wakes as much as yelling

11-year-old Sierra Friar wakes as much as her father Aaron Friar yelling and the sound of glass breaking round 5:30 a.m. Terrified, she stayed in her room till she felt secure sufficient to come back out. 

Household gone; blood in every single place

Round 6:15 a.m., when the home is quiet, Sierra exits her room to search out her father and her older sister Ellie have disappeared. She sees the lounge partitions lined in blood and shattered glass from an overhead mild fixture on the ground. She then requires assist.

Sierra is delivered to her mom Maggie Friar’s residence a few blocks away. 

A mom’s frantic 911 name

Maggie Friar calls 911 at 6:42 a.m. “Something happened and nobody can find my ex-husband or my oldest daughter … there’s blood everywhere.”

The search is on for Aaron and Ellie Friar

At 6:43 a.m., Medford, Oregon, cops are dispatched to Aaron Friar’s residence for a welfare verify and a lacking individuals case is asserted. 

A path of blood to nowhere

Officer Logan Boyd approaches Aaron Friar’s residence and sees a visual blood path from the entrance door to a again gate that results in an alley. The blood path continues for just a few ft then disappears. There are contemporary tire tracks close to the place the blood path ended.

Aaron Friar’s automobile is then reported lacking, too. 

A serious loss of life investigation begins

Primarily based on the totality of the scene and suspicious circumstances regarding the lacking individuals, a MADIU — Main Assault and Loss of life Investigation Unit —callout is initiated.

All-hands-on-deck

At 7:40 a.m., a request goes out to all Medford Police detectives to answer the Friar residence. 

Sierra Friar ideas off investigators

Round 9 a.m., Det. Shannon Reynolds interviews Sierra who says she was hiding in her bed room however then appeared by means of her window and noticed Ellie’s boyfriend Gavin MacFarlane exterior the home. She mentions MacFarlane isn’t allowed on the home and that Aaron Friar had forbidden Ellie from seeing Gavin after studying he was 19 years outdated.

A break within the case

That is the break the police have been on the lookout for. Detectives start monitoring MacFarlane’s cellphone.

Aaron Friar’s bloody automobile is situated

At 9:52 a.m., Aaron Friar’s lacking car is discovered about 5 miles east of his residence.  

Officers discover dried blood on the rear bumper and discover extra blood soaked into the carpet of the trunk. 

Ellie Friar discovered alive, however not alone

At 10:48 a.m. — 4 hours after police are dispatched to the crime scene on the Friar home — Ellie  is discovered unhurt strolling alongside a busy road just some miles from her dad’s residence.

Ellie is with two males: her 19-year-old boyfriend Gavin MacFarlane and his pal, 22-year-old Russell Jones.   

Three detainees  

At 10:51 a.m. the three are separated, handcuffed, and brought into custody for questioning.     

Russell Jones reveals the place Aaron Friar is

Lead detective Invoice Ford decides to interview Jones earlier than MacFarlane, as Ford had had a earlier encounter with Jones and is aware of “he’s a talker.”

Ford decides to attempt what he calls “smokin’ and jokin.’” He takes Russell exterior for a cigarette break.

Simply barely over an hour after being detained, Jones tells Ford that he can take him to the placement the place Aaron Friar’s stays have been dumped    

Aaron Friar’s physique discovered

At 12:50 p.m., at Jones’s course, Aaron Friar’s stays are discovered wrapped in a inexperienced tarp and Tinkerbell fleece blanket off of a distant freeway simply 20 miles north of Friar’s residence. With that discovery, the case formally went from a lacking particular person to a murder investigation    

Homicide weapon discovered

At 12:50 p.m., the homicide weapon – a baseball bat – is discovered lodged in a close-by tree about 8 ft off the bottom. Aaron Friar’s explanation for loss of life would later be decided to be from blunt power trauma to the pinnacle. 

Three suspects, three tales

Realizing that Aaron Friar was murdered, the police zero in on their three suspects. Complicating issues, all three begin pointing a finger at one another.

Jones informed investigators that MacFarlane killed Aaron Friar in self-defense.

Ellie mentioned that she believed that Jones was her father’s killer.

MacFarlane mentioned Ellie was the one who needed Aaron Friar lifeless. 

Three suspects, three pleas  

In October 2018, Gavin MacFarlane pleads responsible to homicide and homicide conspiracy costs. He was sentenced to 25 years to life. 

In January 2019, Ellie pleaded responsible to an grownup cost of conspiring to homicide her father, Aaron. She was later sentenced to 25 years. 

In August 2021, Russell Jones entered a no-contest plea to conspiracy to commit homicide. He was sentenced to fifteen years.