The murder of Faye Caliman

The woman whose husband filmed her murder

For this week’s second case, we stay within the green pastures of the UK and travel to Nottingham – a leafy city located in England’s Midlands often associated with its legend of Robin Hood. 

Thirty-year-old Faye Caliman is as the Middle English origins of her name describes her:  A fairy like creature, bubbly, lively, full of life and mirth.  She has another nickname too – ‘Firecracker’.  Faye is a spirited young woman in every sense of the word, a loyal friend, a devoted daughter, and mother.  Friends describe Faye as a beautiful soul, lovely on the inside and out, always quick to compliment her friends. Funny, witty and with a lot going for her. 

Background

Faye Caliman lived a seemingly ordinary life that any 30-year-old mother might find herself living in Bestwood Village – a peaceful village in Nottinghamshire.  On the outside, things seemed pretty normal.  But Faye was harbouring a secret. She had been suffering abuse at the hands of her husband for years now. In March 2018, Faye had done something incredible – she’d finally gathered up the courage to leave her abusive husband, Marian Caliman. 

The Relationship

Faye being many things was also an extremely hard worker, she was a young mum by age 23 and worked hard to be able to support her two daughters. 

In 2013, Faye had met and fallen for a Romanian builder living in the UK, Marian Caliman.  Friends say they could see how besotted she was with Marian.  Faye had met Marian on a night out and he had acted like a true gentleman around her, even walking her home.  She already had two young daughters from a previous relationship and was keen to build a family unit again, she was seeking a loving union and wanted to settle down. 

Although there were some communication issues as English wasn’t Marian’s first language, the couple initially got on well.  Faye was keen that her friends approve of him, but he was, on the face of it, not very sociable and quiet around them.  Faye fell pregnant in 2014 with a little girl and they married the following year in 2015.  Faye made a beautiful bride with a vintage style ‘up do’ and a tailored lace dress.  She finally felt like her life was coming together.  Fairy Faye was able to live her fairy tale dream. 

By all accounts, Marian was a bit of a charmer and Stella Williams (Faye’s mother) describes how he would ingratiate his way into her life:  When Stella and Marian first met, he presented flowers and chocolates to her, offering to do DIY jobs around Stella’s house.  Although Stella was initially concerned about Faye’s relationship with Marian thinking he might take advantage of her, she quickly found herself warming to Marian and his seemingly polite ways. 

But privately, Marian was far from the polite and charming man he carefully presented to the rest of the world.  Faye Caliman was facing a constant stream of abuse, and although she really wanted to make her relationship work, Marian’s controlling and violent ways were more than difficult to bear; there was a daily, steady escalation of abusive behaviour. Friends had noticed bruises on Faye’s body as far back as shortly after their wedding in 2015.  Truthfully things had been up and down in the relationship almost from the beginning.  Faye’s close circle became aware of his controlling behaviour, telling her she couldn’t smoke her cigarettes.  On a night out with a friend, he’d even spat in Faye’s face.  Faye would often try to make less of these incidents, putting up a front. 

By Christmas Eve 2016, Marian’s abuse had reached a boiling point: He grabbed Faye by the hair and threw her down the stairs.  Apart from the terror Faye must have felt at this attack, Christmas was a very special time for her and her family and he had completely ruined this for her.  Things were going from bad to worse in the Caliman household.  Faye had grown withdrawn and was not engaging in her treasured friendships, she would avoid her once precious nights out with her close friends.  She’d lost weight and became very stressed as she was paying all the household bills even though Marian was working. 

In April 2017, there was an escalation in publicly noticeable injuries.  Faye was covered in bruises and had a black eye and black strangulation marks around her neck.  But she was keen to try to not make a big deal of it and kept what was happening from her mum. 

Faye leaves Marian

In March 2018, Faye could bear it no longer and she knew that for the sake of her daughters, she needed to leave this abusive household.  Faye’s spark was quick to reignite once she left the vice like grip of Marian’s world.  She was quick to turn her life around and was earning more money at her new job – which meant more independence.  She was reconnecting and building relationships with her friends and family.  She was for the first time in a long time, herself again and happy.

Of course, for the narcissistic, manipulative, and abusive Marian this was fuel to the flame.  He couldn’t bear seeing Faye moving on with her life without him and even more so, flourishing.  He would make Faye’s life difficult in any which way he could – bombarding her with abusive messages. 

Faye’s relationship with Stella

Stella describes her relationship with her daughter as extremely close.  They were to all intents and purposes joint at the hip and almost came as a package.  They were like best friends, sisters almost.  Sadly though, she missed something crucial that was going on in her daughter’s life – the extent of the shocking abuse that her daughter was suffering.  Although Faye had turned up with bruises, she would say that she’d injured herself at home. Stella had grown to love Marian as a son and completely welcomed him into the family.  In 2018, Stella had been planning a 50^th party celebration for her upcoming birthday and the entire family would be travelling to Fuerteventura (part of Spain’s Canary Islands) that spring to celebrate.  Stella had convinced herself that perhaps Faye and Marian could work on their differences and even reconcile on this trip as he was still invited.  She’d encouraged her daughter to try and remain friends with Marian, still falling under the charm he exuded.    

The Night of the Murder

The night of Saturday 28^th April 2018 was meant to be an easy, relaxing one for Faye.  She had planned a movie night at Stella’s house and was arranging childcare responsibilities with Marian.  At 6.30pm Marian messaged Faye refusing to take care of their two-year-old daughter that night and the following day.  Faye had spoken to her mum Stella who had offered to look after her grandchild the following day.  In the face of Marian’s manipulation and trying to make Faye’s life difficult, she’d handled it well – stood her ground and even managed to make alternative arrangements for childcare with the help and support of her family.  Marian was so enraged by Faye’s exchange with him that he drove to her house. 

What came next is the stuff of nightmares.  Marian proceeded to take a kitchen knife and stab Faye 12 times.  Faye cowered on the sofa, terrified and begging for her life.  But Marian didn’t care, not only did he attack her, but he also filmed the entire horrific murder as well.  At 10.40pm, Marian rang emergency services and simply said ‘I have killed her’ with not a note of remorse.  When the ambulance crew arrived, they were met with a shocking scene and despite their best attempts to save her life, Faye was declared dead at 11.30pm.  She had died from a fatal stab wound to the heart. 

At this juncture, you’d have thought that Marian would have at least had the heart to do the right thing.  But in Marian Caliman’s world, this did not exist.  He made a run for it and at a railway bridge of a nearby town at 11.20pm, made a call to a friend to say that ‘I’ve done a stupid thing.  I have stabbed her.’ Next, he said, ‘I am going to kill myself.  I have already called the police.’ He placed a further call to his friend to say that he was going to hang himself from the bridge.  Of course, he had no real plans to kill himself, and had made no efforts to do so – this was just another manipulative tactic of his.  The police apprehended Marian shortly afterwards and arrested him. 

While all of this was going on, Stella was none the wiser.  She had been watching TV anticipating the movie night to be starting soon.  At midnight, two policemen arrived on her doorstep.  She could not compute the words that came out of their mouths.  Still in her pajamas, Stella offered to head to the hospital or the house to go and be with Faye.  She did not understand that her beloved daughter could be dead.  Finally, the police suggested she sit down, as they explained what had happened.  They had to tell Stella three times that her daughter was gone.  Stella received two text messages from Marian that night.  One saying, ‘Take care of the girls.’  And another saying ‘Sorry’.  The next day her friends learnt the unbelievable news and on Monday, 30^th April Stella would have to identify her daughter’s body at the mortuary. 

The Court Case

In September 2018, Marian Caliman made a ‘not guilty’ plea via video link to the courtroom, he had been laughing with a prison guard prior to this and had not realised he was live.  Friends describe that he was completely smug and had no cares that he would now be dragging everyone through a difficult trial despite his guilt.  

Marian claimed that ‘he hadn’t been in control of his actions’.  The prosecution put up a strong argument and countered that there was no possibility of this.  Given that Marian had filmed the entire attack on his mobile phone, it clearly showed his evil intent.  During the proceedings, the footage that Marian had filmed was shown to the court.  Stella says that she knew she had to watch the video but says that seeing her daughter like that, as she had never seen her before, so terrified and begging for her life, was crippling.  She saw exactly where Marian positioned the knife. Even more sickeningly, Marian had left their two-year-old daughter alone with her mother as he fled and shockingly it is believed that the little girl witnessed some of the attack. 

Finally, at a case management hearing at Nottingham Crown Court, Marian entered a plea of ‘guilty’.  He never showed any remorse, issued an apology, nor made eye contact with any of Faye’s loved ones.  He was given a life sentence, and he will have to serve 19 years before any chance of parole. 

The Aftermath

Friends and family still choke up talking about their beautiful Faye.  It’s difficult to process that she isn’t coming back.  Faye was a happy-go-lucky individual and friends say they will never find another friend like her, to them she is the best person they ever met.  They had so many plans for the future with Faye, all those dreams now shattered. 

Stella explains that she lives over the wall from a churchyard where Faye is now buried and she spends much time with her there, bringing flowers to her grave.  She describes this as having her ‘fairy at the bottom of the garden’. 

Faye’s two eldest daughters now live with their father and her youngest daughter with Stella. 

Case Analysis

Sadly, we see a classic case of domestic abuse with Faye’s story.  All the telltale signs are there; escalating and controlling behaviour, isolation, manipulation, a narcissistic and abusive man, Faye constantly being reeled back in with Marian’s words, charming his way into people’s lives.  She desperately wanted to make her marriage work.  She covered up for him -making excuses for his behaviour, despite the severe abuse she was enduring.  No doubt she suffered such shame for what she was going through and hoped against hope that he might change one day. 

As we often see in these cases, leaving an abusive partner becomes the last straw for them and they commit the ultimate and final act of control:  murdering their spouse. 

Filming the attack on his phone, Marian takes this to a new level of intimidation, control, and power – determined to show Faye that he is the one with power in this relationship, not her.  But filming this shows a desperately cruel and sadistic act against a loving, caring and beautiful human being who meant so much to so many people.

Today we hold space for Faye in our thoughts together with all the victims in this story – her family and friends, her daughters. 

Sources:

My lover, My Killer

Daily Mail

BBC

The Mirror

Image Credit: Daily Mail