Robert Fratta died by lethal injection in 2023 for the 1994 murder-for-hire of his wife Farah. Both accomplices were also sentenced to death.
HOUSTON — A notorious Houston murder case is back in the news after the death of an accomplice hired by former Missouri City police officer and firefighter Robert “Bob” Fratta.
Joseph Prystash died on death row more than two years after Fratta was executed for killing his wife, Farah, in 1994, TDCJ confirms.
Editor’s note: The above video originally aired in 2023.
Another accomplice and the triggerman, Howard Guidry, remains on death row. His execution date hasn’t been set as the appeal process plays out.
Farah Fratta murder case
Farah Fratta, 34, was shot to death at the couple’s Humble-area home in the middle of a messy divorce and child custody battle.
A neighbor testified that she was nursing her son across the street when she saw Farah pull into the garage and then heard two loud pops. She called 911.
911 Caller: “There’s a car that just pulled up, the suspect is behind the tree. He can’t see me, I have my lights off, but there’s a car that just pulled up …”
That car, with getaway driver Prystash at the wheel, picked up the suspect hiding behind the tree and sped away.
Farah was rushed to Memorial Hermann Hospital by Life Flight where she died of two gunshot wounds to the head.
Robert Fratta thought he got away with murder since he had a strong alibi. He was at church with their three children, ages 7, 6 and 4.
KHOU 11 cameras were rolling when a cocky Robert Fratta swaggered and smiled before his interrogation.
“He’s just happy-go-lucky, he’s cheesing to the camera,” Harris County Sheriff’s Office Detective Larry Davis said. “He gave all indications that he was going to get away with this murder.”
Teenage hitman paid $1,000
Fratta’s story quickly unraveled with the arrest of Guidry, then 18, for an unrelated bank robbery and investigators found the gun used to kill Farah.
Investigators learned that Guidry had been hired by Prystash, one of Fratta’s workout buddies, to kill Farah. Prystash gave the teen $1,000, dropped him off at the victim’s home, and then picked him up after the shooting.
It took jurors only about an hour to convict the ex-cop at his 1996 trial.
Fratta’s first conviction was overturned when a court ruled that statements by Prystash and Guidry were inadmissible. He was convicted again during a 2009 retrial.
Both accomplices got the death penalty.
“It’s very rare for an accomplice in a solicitation of a capital murder case to be sentenced to death,” KHOU 11 legal expert Carmen Roe said in 2023. “The ’90s was a completely different time. At that time, Harris County was executing more inmates than any state across the country, except for perhaps two.”
While the Fratta case was unusual, Roe also noted that it was also incredibly heinous.
“I think a lot of people in the community think the death penalty was warranted, not just for Robert Fratta, but also his accomplices,” Roe said.
When Fratta received a lethal injection in 2023, Farah’s family members were in the execution chamber to witness it.