TROY – The Lincoln County prosecuting attorney dropped criminal harassment charges last week against the wife of a former deputy accused of committing perjury that led to a wrongful murder conviction.

Rebecca “Becky” Merkel had been charged with harassment and stalking of a law enforcement officer in connection with a criminal investigation into the prosecution of Russ Faria.

Faria had been found guilty of the 2011 murder of his wife, Betsy, and served three years in prison for the crime until his acquittal in a 2015 retrial.

During that retrial, Faria’s defense attorney, Joel Schwartz, produced dozens of photographs Merkel’s husband, Mike, previously testified “didn’t show anything.”

The photos, coupled with other evidence that wasn’t allowed in the first trial, led to Faria’s acquittal.

Following Mike Wood’s election as Lincoln County prosecutor, he reopened the murder case and has since charged Pam Hupp with the crime. Hupp is currently in prison in Chillicothe on a life sentence for the murder of Louis Gumpenberger. She confessed to killing Gumpenberger in an effort to shift attention to Faria for the murder of his wife.

In addition to reopening the murder investigation, Wood also launched a probe into the conviction of Russ Faria, citing concerns of criminal misconduct.

Randy Lambert, who was then the chief deputy for the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department, coordinated the investigation and allegedly, became the target of harassment.

According to court records and testimony, Mike Merkel sent Lambert a message stating “I have video of you drinking and getting into your county car. We are watching you closely. You should stop throwing stones at glass houses or yours will come down first and fast.”

Accompanying the text, which was sent using an anonymous cell phone account, were photos of Lambert’s patrol car and him at a Wentzville restaurant drinking a beer.

Wood said testimony and video evidence indicates Rebecca Merkel took photographs while Mike’s brother, Kevin, sent the texts through a phone he obtained through his job at the Drug Enforcement Agency. However, Wood added he didn’t think he could prove beyond a reasonable doubt Rebecca took the specific photos sent to Lambert.

While harassment and stalking charges were filed against all three, they were dropped against Kevin in March and Rebecca last week.

Mike Merkel meanwhile still faces both charges along with two Class A felonies of perjury to obtain a murder conviction based on allegations he lied about evidence in both of Russ Faria’s trials.

“Based on further investigation by law enforcement agencies and prosecutors, we believe that Mike Merkel was the driving force behind the efforts to harass and intimidate Chief Deputy Lambert,” Wood said. “So we’ve invested our prosecutorial resources in pursuing that case, along with the two Class A felony perjury counts we’ve added on.”

Wood also indicated Kevin Merkel has agreed to testify on behalf of the state.

Mike Merkel’s case has been transferred on a change of venue to Franklin County and is scheduled for a September 2027 jury trial.

Hupp meanwhile is scheduled to stand trial in August 2026 in St. Charles County on first-degree murder charges.