'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Dar Foley was a Union City School teacher when she was found murdered in the shower of her two-story brick home on Girard Road in early February 2009. Foley's husband Tom was the first to discover the crime scene. The victim's naked body was found with a bullet wound to the head in the first-floor shower of the house.
Tom Foley, her husband at the time, claimed that he was attending a birthday party near the family's farm in Coldwater, Michigan, with his 10-year-old son Heath and one of Heath's friends. He mentioned that he only found the crime scene after returning home.
Tom was later found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in prison that same year. However, after a re-trial in 2011, he was acquitted of the charges and released.
An upcoming episode of Oxygen's Dateline: Secrets Uncovered, titled Mystery at Heath Bar Farm, is scheduled to revisit Dar Foley's case this Tuesday, April 25.
The synopsis for the episode states:
"A popular teacher is savagely murdered in her home; there is an arrest, a trial, and a conviction, but when a bombshell comes in after the verdict, the convicted murderer is given a chance at freedom."
Mystery at Heath Bar Farm will air on the channel at 8:00 pm ET.
Dar Foley was shot at point-blank range with a shotgun
As per the accounts of Dar Forley's husband, Tom, on February 7, 2009, he drove their 10-year-old son Heath and their son's friend to a birthday party close to their Coldwater, Michigan farm. 41-year-old Dar was expected to arrive at the party later. When she failed to show up, Tom claimed he went home and found her naked body in a first-floor shower, where she was fatally shot in the head.
According to Tom, he and his wife brought Heath to a basketball game in Marshall, Michigan, earlier that day, and then they went shopping in Battle Creek before heading back home. Before they headed to the birthday celebration, Heath was playing with his friend and dropped a window frame while moving to the family's barn.
Tom claimed that he cleaned the glass before leaving sometime before 4 pm and left for the party with the boys where he waited for Dar's arrival, but she never showed up. He then called 911 after making the harrowing discovery back at home. Once authorities arrived at the crime scene, the husband told them that he turned off the shower, but the shower area was dry when investigators arrived.
Reports state that some portions of the house had been seemingly ransacked and multiple items, including credit cards and a video game, among other things, were missing. Strangely, expensive electronic items remained untouched. Moreover, a window on the back door was broken and the missing credit cards were later found at a gas station.
Dar Foley's husband Tom was initially found guilty of murder but was later acquitted and released from prison
Dar Foley's brother claimed that a few months prior to the incident, a shotgun was stolen from his house, but he never filed a report believing that a friend or family member had borrowed it. Further, during a search, authorities found a plastic bag consisting of three shotgun shells in Tom's basement. Tests revealed that his right index fingerprint was found on the outside of the bag.
A forensic analyst was able to identify a small stain of the victim's blood found on her husband's shirt that was allegedly not from blood spatter, but from contact with blood. Dar was reportedly shot at close range, as per The Cinemaholic. The analyst, however, failed to notice gunpowder, blood spatter, or any other physical evidence on the accused's clothing.
The investigation further revealed that Dar Foley's husband, Tom, was having an affair with someone from the same school where she had taught for 19 years and that their marriage had taken a rocky turn. Investigators working the case believed that Tom murdered Dar before taking the boys to the party, and then ransacked the home in an attempt to stage the scene after returning, before calling the cops.
About a month later, on March 6, Tom was arrested and charged with murder and illegal use of a weapon - although the murder weapon in question, a shotgun, was never found. He stood trial in November where it was argued that Dar Foley was killed as a result of the couple's failed marriage. Officials alleged a financial motive, given the husband was to receive $280,000 in life insurance after her death.
Tom Foley was convicted of both charges and sentenced to life in prison, but a re-trial and crucial witness testimony ended with a jury acquitting him of the charges in July 2011. He was released from prison thereafter and Dar’s murder case currently remains unsolved.
Dateline: Secrets Uncovered will further delve into Dar Foley's shooting death this Tuesday.
