The wife of a Dallas man who was gunned down while walking his dog last fall has been hit with federal charges after investigators discovered she was “entangled” with the alleged killer and trying to hide evidence, authorities say. Jennifer Lyne Faith, 48, faces one count of destruction of an object with the intent to obstruct a federal investigation, the Department of Justice said in a Thursday press release. Faith, who could face up to 20 years behind bars if convicted, was arrested on Wednesday. In a complaint unsealed Thursday, federal prosecutors detailed a shocking twist in the investigation into American Airlines executive James Faith Jr.’s murder: His wife was allegedly having what she herself described as a “full-blown emotional affair” with the accused killer.

“Sometimes things just aren’t what they seem. Special Agents and Detectives knew Mrs. Faith was hiding something and were able to expose her darkest secrets. She was indeed entangled with the man we believe to have murdered her husband,” ATF Special Agent in Charge of the Dallas Field Division Jeffrey C. Boshek II said. U.S. Attorney Prerak Shah said Faith was “communicating with the alleged killer, actively urging him to destroy evidence and attempting to delete incriminating communications from her phone” even as she appeared distraught in media interviews about the Oct. 9, 2020, killing. Federal agents learned Faith was “intimately involved” with her husband’s alleged killer, Darrin Ruben Lopez, after his arrest in January, when investigators were able to review messages on his phone. “Ms. Faith used her cell phone to update Mr. Lopez on her efforts to collect on Mr. Faith’s life insurance policy and to coach Mr. Lopez on how to respond to potential police questioning,” the DOJ said. She also allegedly sent Lopez instructions as the investigation progressed on how to evade getting caught. “So I woke up in a little bit of a panic… something is eating away at me telling me you need to take the sticker out of the back window of the truck,” she was quoted telling him on Dec. 3 about a decal on his truck. Lopez, who reportedly dated Faith in high school and college, allegedly drove from Tennessee and waited outside the Faiths’ Dallas home before shooting James Faith Jr. seven times and fleeing.