Dateline: Mystery At Heath Bar Farm - 5 harrowing details about Dar Foley's murder, explored

The Darlene "Dar" Foley murder case featured on Dateline is one of the most complex true-crime cases that gained notable attention on the internet. The episode titled "Mystery at Heath Bar Farm" follows the shocking death of Dar Foley, a teacher from Union City, Michigan.

This goes back to 2009 when Dar Foley's husband, Tom Foley, took his son and his friend to buy birthday party supplies and then attended the celebration nearby. While everyone showed up at the party, Dar Foley was missing.

She was supposed to pick up the other two children on her way, and Tom Foley even made calls to check if she did. Despite being worried about his wife's whereabouts, Tom Foley didn't call home.

Later, when he arrived at his house, he discovered the worst had happened. Dar Foley was found dead in the shower, and several items from the house were missing. The man immediately called 911 and informed about the murder of his wife.

As the investigation began, the case got complicated and led to the conviction of Tom Foley. So did he kill his wife? Continue reading to get your answer.

Five startling details about the Dar Foley murder case featured on Dateline

Dar Foley was shot dead (Image Source: NBC)

As previously mentioned, Dar Foley was brutally shot dead at her house in 2009, and her murder remains a tragic story. Here are five details that you might find starling:

1) Tom Foley was convicted of the murder and then fully acquitted

Just a month after Dar Foley's murder, her husband, Tom Foley, was arrested and sentenced to life in prison. What's startling about his arrest is that there was no direct proof but circumstantial evidence that pointed at Foley being the killer.

The shotgun used to eliminate Dar Foley was never found, but his son who was just 10 claimed hearing a noise that day. Not only this but Prosecutor Terri Norris also claimed marital issues were the reason that led Tom to kill his wife.

Investigators discovered a bag in Foley's basement that contained three unused shotgun shells and even had his fingerprints. The prosecutor believed it was Tom Foley's first time killing someone, as he made an error by leaving the plastic bag in the basement.

As shown in the Dateline episode, Foley's life sentence was overturned in 2011 and Tom Foley was declared innocent. Since his release, Tom Foley has stood by the claim of being innocent and also contributed to a book, The Ultimate Sacrifice to seek justice.

2) Dar Foley's family accused Tom Foley of killing his wife

Dar Foley's case remains unsolved (Image Source: NBC)

While Tom Foley was proven innocent of his wife's murder, Dar Foley's family didn't believe his claims. When asked about their thoughts on Tom Foley's book, Dar's family stated:

"Tom's only effort has been to push the authorities to find his wife's killer. The authorities that he is reportedly pushing are the same authorities that are confident he is guilty of murder."

The comment continues:

"Now 8 years later with no real attempts to search for his wife's killer, he arrogantly writes a book exploiting her death."

Dar Foley's family believes Foley is exploiting his deceased wife's death through his book, instead of making a real effort to find the true murderer.

3) A credit card fraud allegedly linked to Dar Foley's murder

Tom Foley said his house was robbed (Image Source: NBC)

Per Tom Foley, the investigators didn't pay attention to credit card fraud on the day of Dar's murder. He claimed that his house was robbed and credit card information was also taken. Almost two weeks after Foley was arrested for the crime, someone attempted to use the stolen credit card information, and the transaction was traced to Kalamazoo.

However, the authorities never pursued this lead. If true, it suggests that a third party was involved in killing Dar Foley, but her husband was always the prime suspect.

4) The key witness showed up after Tom Foley's conviction

Tom Foley cries during his interview (Image Source: NBC)

As seen in the Dateline episode, Tom Foley didn't give up on proving his innocence, a key witness claimed to have spotted a white car at the time of the murder. The vehicle didn't belong to Tom Foley and neither was driven by him.

This testimony contradicted the prosecution’s case and played a big role in Tom Foley's acquittal in 2011 as the man was able to prove there was weak evidence against him.

5) The police allegedly refused to reinvestigate Dar Foley's murder

Tom Foley with his family (Image Source: NBC)

Foley has mentioned a strong will to find out who killed his wife, especially for their son Heath who deserves to know the truth. However, the police didn't reopen the case, possibly believing that Tom Foley was the culprit.

He claimed: