and counter. A carpet swatch found by police appeared to have been positioned to protect a rug in Hupp's home from Gumpenberger's blood. Police investigators were skeptical that Gumpenberger would have been capable of carrying out the acts Hupp said he had given his mental and physical disabilities. Guilty plea On August 23, 2016, Hupp was arrested and charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action. Upon being arrested, she asked to visit a bathroom, where she used a ballpoint pen to stab her neck and wrists in an apparent suicide attempt; St. Charles County assistant prosecutor Phil Groenweghe described the act as "consciousness of guilt". Bail for Hupp was set at $2,000,000 (). On December 16, a grand jury indicted Hupp on the charges. She appeared in court on January 31, 2017, pleading not guilty. In March 2017, prosecutors stated that they would seek the death penalty due to the apparently arbitrary choice of Gumpenberger as the victim. In May 2018, 11th Circuit Court judge Jon Cunningham ruled that prosecutors could not present evidence relating to the death of Hupp's mother; the following month, Cunningham ruled that prosecutors could present evidence relating to the killing of Betsy Faria. In August 2018, Hupp's trial date was set for June 2019. Instead of contesting the charges at trial, Hupp entered an Alford plea, waiving her right to a jury trial. As a condition of her plea agreement, Hupp did not face the death penalty. She was sentenced to life without parole in August 2019. In a phone call to her then-husband, Hupp claimed that she had pleaded guilty so her family would not have to "witness an ugly trial". Hupp is serving her sentence at the Chillicothe Correctional Center. In October 2019, Gumpenberger's mother Margaret Burch filed a lawsuit for wrongful death, fraud, and misrepresentation against the incarcerated Hupp. In July 2020, Burch was awarded a judgment of $3,000,000 (). Burch's attorney, Gary Burger, subsequently filed to garnish Hupp's prison trust account, into which her $1,200 COVID-19 CARES Act relief stimulus was paid. As of February 2022, the family had not received "any significant money" from Hupp. In June 2022, Burger's firm received an initial payment of $783 garnished from money Hupp had earned working as a tutor in the Chillicothe Correctional Center. In September 2020, Hupp's husband Mark filed for divorce, describing their marriage as "irretrievably broken"; by March 2022,