Detective’s affair exposed during wife’s murder investigation

This story originally aired on May 4, 2024.

It was 1 p.m. on May 8, 2018, when Massachusetts State Police detectives arrived at a farmhouse in Westfield. 51-year-old Amy Fanion lay dead in the dining room from a single gunshot wound to the head.

Amy Fanion’s husband, Brian Fanion, a detective in the Westfield Police Department, had called 911 minutes earlier, reporting that his wife had shot herself.

Det. Mike McNally: Amy was essentially … in a pile of blood that was beginning to congeal under her left side.

The dining room, rearranged to accommodate medical personnel, was in disarray as detectives worked to identify clues of what may have happened.

Det. Mike McNally: There was a … blood spatter around that window frame from that dining room into the breezeway. … There was a pair of glasses that looked like it had some kind of red-brown spatter on it.

And then there was the bullet.

Det. Mike Blanchette: The actual projectile … was in that front … enclosed porch area. … The spent shell casing was still in the dining room.

Det. Mike McNally: We could see the direction that it traveled, through Amy’s head … that round impacted that dresser, came to a rest right around there in the breezeway.

Det. Brendan O’Toole: Brian was sitting in a chair with his back to the wall and … he’s with the chief of police from the Westfield police department, who’s talking with him. … Everyone was in a state of shock.

Everyone, including Amy Fanion’s brother, Eric Hansen, who told detectives that he had just finished playing disc golf behind the house when he heard Brian Fanion’s cry for help.

And that’s when he walked into the house, saw Amy Fanion on the floor, a gun next to her, and Brian Fanion holding Amy’s hand.

Det. Mike Blanchette: So he picked up the gun himself and moved it, uh, out of Brian’s reach.

Nikki Battiste:  — because he was worried about Brian’s state of mind having just lost his wife.

Det. Mike Blanchette: Yes.

Nikki Battiste: What kind of gun was used?

Det. Brendan O’Toole: A Smith & Wesson, uh, M&P 45. … Brian Fanion’s duty weapon.

Nikki Battiste: That give you any pause that it was Brian Fanion’s weapon?

Det. Brendan O’Toole: Yes. It gave me pause … at this point I know that I’m going to really do a detailed investigation.

THE INVESTIGATION BEGINS

To avoid conflict of interest, O’Toole said he decided…