Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Pastry chef-mom-veteran bludgeoned to death, killer 'EXCITED!'

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Pastry chef-mom-veteran bludgeoned to death, killer 'EXCITED!' · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

0:06
Speaker 1: How does a beautiful and brilliant young mom end up bludgeoned, dead,
0:15
Speaker 1: dragged in the basement for her final hours, languishing there
0:20
Speaker 1: for days on and before anybody figures out mommy's missing.
0:25
Speaker 1: Mommy's not just missing, mommy is dead. I wish you
0:36
Speaker 1: could see this woman. She's just beautiful, so full of life.
0:42
Speaker 1: Why did this woman end up dead? Bludgeoned, dying in
0:48
Speaker 1: the basement, left there for days on end. Take a
0:51
Speaker 1: listen to this. If you listen to Mary Susan Barrett's friends,
0:54
Speaker 1: they'll tell you about a woman who can turn her
0:56
Speaker 1: hand at almost anything. Barrett born in Liville, Kentucky, but
1:01
Speaker 1: raised in Indiana. Barrett has an associate degree in pastry
1:04
Speaker 1: chef and a master's degree in business administration. She's also
1:09
Speaker 1: a mom. Barrett rounds out her resume with service in
1:12
Speaker 1: the US Air Force, including three tours of duty in
1:15
Speaker 1: a Rock and Afghanistan. According to her Facebook profile, Mary
1:19
Speaker 1: Mary's Daniel Barrett in May the couple buzz and historical
1:23
Speaker 1: colonial home, which Mary Barrett has been restoring during the
1:26
Speaker 1: COVID crisis. Outside the home, Barrett works as a secretary
1:31
Speaker 1: for her hometown community Plymouth Borough. Wow, that's a lot
1:34
Speaker 1: to take in. You're hearing from our friends at crime
1:36
Speaker 1: online dot com. Let me understand this. A pastry chef,
1:40
Speaker 1: an MBA, a veteran like on HGTV, she restores homes,
1:49
Speaker 1: works as a secretary for the community, and top it
1:53
Speaker 1: all off, she's a mom. It almost sounds too good
1:58
Speaker 1: to be true. ME an all star panel to break
2:02
Speaker 1: it down and put it back together again. First of all.
2:04
Speaker 1: Bob Kalinowski, reporter with the Citizen's Voice in wilkes Berry,
2:09
Speaker 1: Luzerne County. There in Pennsylvania, and you can find him
2:13
Speaker 1: at Bob Underscore Cow or Twitter at cv Bob Cow.
2:19
Speaker 1: Also with me, the Chief of Family Violence Unit, Cameron
2:22
Speaker 1: County District Attorney's Office in Texas. Jason Compo joining us.
2:28
Speaker 1: Doctor Tim Gallagher, the medical examiner for the entire state
2:33
Speaker 1: of Florida. You can find him at pathcaremed dot com.
2:37
Speaker 1: Karen Smith, forensic expert, Lecturer, University Florida and host Of've
2:41
Speaker 1: Shattered Souls podcast. Doctor W. Joffe ellis licensed psychologist, mental
2:47
Speaker 1: health counselor at Junct Professor Columbia and author of Rational
2:52
Speaker 1: Emotive Behavior Therapy Now and in second edition special guests
2:57
Speaker 1: Joining me Angela Sparaz, a lead prosecutor, the chief of
3:02
Speaker 1: the Major Crimes Division there in Lazerne County. You know,
3:06
Speaker 1: this case is almost too much to take in. Have
3:09
Speaker 1: you ever wonder to you, Angela, who it's actually working
3:13
Speaker 1: this case? And understand there are going to be questions
3:15
Speaker 1: I put to Angela that she may not be able
3:18
Speaker 1: to answer to preserve the integrity of this ongoing investigation. Angela,
3:24
Speaker 1: do you ever wonder when you're looking at your caselow,
3:27
Speaker 1: because I sure did, Why is it so often it's
3:31
Speaker 1: the great people they get murdered and violence befalls in Absolutely,
3:38
Speaker 1: this is one of, as you said, many cases when
3:41
Speaker 1: we look at domestic violence cases, it really highlights to
3:44
Speaker 1: us the vulnerability that everyday citizens have. You know, you
3:48
Speaker 1: talk about people who deal drugs and we all kind
3:50
Speaker 1: of think there's an inherent danger there. But Mary Barrett
3:53
Speaker 1: was in her home, she was with someone that she trusted,
3:56
Speaker 1: and it definitely shakes a prosecutor to say, there's things
4:00
Speaker 1: that you can't give anyone a list, don't go here,
4:03
Speaker 1: don't go there. She was living her life in her home.
4:06
Speaker 1: You know, did Jason Compo, Chief of the Family Violence
4:09
Speaker 1: Unit joining us out of Texas. You actually present at
4:14
Speaker 1: the Crimes Against Women's conference. You know, I'm just looking
4:18
Speaker 1: at this woman's let me just say her resume. Pastry
4:21
Speaker 1: chef an MBA, a veteran, a war veteran. Did you
4:26
Speaker 1: see how many tours of duty this woman did? She
4:29
Speaker 1: went to Afghanistan? He wrought three tours for Pete's sake.
4:35
Speaker 1: She's restoring a historic colonial home. Like on you ever
4:39
Speaker 1: seen HGTV. That thing is always running in my mom's room.
4:43
Speaker 1: They're always restoring something, and she's a mom for Pete's sake?
4:49
Speaker 1: Why is it? Have you noticed all these wonderful women
4:55
Speaker 1: have violence befall them? Why is always the good people?
5:00
Speaker 1: Absolutely correct? Unfortunately, violence can strike anybody at any place.
5:05
Speaker 1: We've learned in many of the cases that I've worked,
5:08
Speaker 1: it's been teachers and just everyday citizens and sometimes professionals.
5:14
Speaker 1: They don't want to talk about what's happening or what's
5:17
Speaker 1: going on behind closed doors, maybe to keep it hidden
5:21
Speaker 1: a little bit more than the people that we see
5:25
Speaker 1: on our regular day to day cases. Yeah, that's really interesting,
5:28
Speaker 1: And Bob Kalanowski, I'll be with you in just one second.
5:31
Speaker 1: But this is quite a phenomena because straight to you,
5:34
Speaker 1: doctor Debbie Joffe ellis joining me Edguhn Professor Columbia. I
5:38
Speaker 1: spoke with a mom many times about the murder off
5:43
Speaker 1: her little boy, Chucky Mark, and she has said that
5:47
Speaker 1: people actually act like she's a bad mom, that somehow
5:52
Speaker 1: there's a stigma attached to murder victims and murder victims families.
5:57
Speaker 1: And you know what, I think it's true. Well, it
6:00
Speaker 1: can't be true, and it's a great pity. It's really
6:02
Speaker 1: distorted thinking because the fact of the matter is, when
6:06
Speaker 1: there are such a pulling crimes, it's got everything to
6:09
Speaker 1: do with the dysfunctionality or psychopathy of the perpetrator and
6:14
Speaker 1: much less to do with the victim. Guys, we are
6:16
Speaker 1: talking about a gorgeous young mom and she's like I
6:21
Speaker 1: guess Mary Poppins and somebody at HGTV and Martha Stewart
6:30
Speaker 1: all rolled in together to make this sparkling personality her
6:36
Speaker 1: life cut short. You just heard from our friends at
6:39
Speaker 1: crime online dot com. Nowison to this, A neighbor who
6:42
Speaker 1: is not comfortable speaking with Newswatch sixteen on camera tells
6:45
Speaker 1: us that Mary had a background in the military, and
6:48
Speaker 1: kept to a certain schedule. Every morning when he would
6:51
Speaker 1: walk to get his coffee, he'd pass by this window
6:53
Speaker 1: and see her drawing back the curtains to expose the
6:56
Speaker 1: stained glass into the home. He thought something was wrong
6:59
Speaker 1: when that didn't happen, And over the weekend, Core Paper
7:01
Speaker 1: says she was also as a fourteen year old child
7:05
Speaker 1: from a previous marriage. So how does this awesome mom
7:09
Speaker 1: end up dead in the basement? Big question. You were
7:13
Speaker 1: just hearing our friend Chelsea shrub at WNEP, ABC sixteen,
7:17
Speaker 1: and we're learning more and more and more and what
7:20
Speaker 1: you just heard, and let me go to special Guests
7:23
Speaker 1: joining us Angela sparraza lead prosecutor in Lazorne County. That's
7:27
Speaker 1: what is called routine evidence, and it's anything but routine.
7:33
Speaker 1: What it really is is evidence of someone's habits. And
7:40
Speaker 1: you will find very often people do not deviate from habits.
7:46
Speaker 1: For instance, this guy, the neighbor, says something was wrong
7:51
Speaker 1: because she has these beautiful stained glass windows and every
7:56
Speaker 1: morning she would open them up to let the light
7:58
Speaker 1: come in through the stained glass windows. And when this
8:00
Speaker 1: guy walks by with his dog, he says, wow, that's weird.
8:04
Speaker 1: She don't only has her curtains open by this time.
8:06
Speaker 1: It's like clot work, and you can actually introduce that
8:11
Speaker 1: at trial. For instance, here's an example. Remember in the J.
8:15
Speaker 1: Simpson double murder case, neighbors heard, as they said, as
8:20
Speaker 1: they said, a plaintive, well, a plaintive howl from the
8:28
Speaker 1: dog at a certain time, and they had never heard
8:31
Speaker 1: that from the dog. I think the dog's name was Akita.
8:33
Speaker 1: I can't believe I remember that, and that prosecutors believe
8:38
Speaker 1: started a timeline of a double murder. Now, a lot
8:43
Speaker 1: of people don't think you can set a clot by
8:45
Speaker 1: a dog howling or windows being opened at a certain
8:50
Speaker 1: time every morning. But you know what, Angela, you can
8:53
Speaker 1: absolutely and we look to, like you said, neighbors, people
8:57
Speaker 1: that interact with people on a regular basis some times,
9:00
Speaker 1: you know, as a prosecutor, we're going back and recreating
9:03
Speaker 1: habits and finding those habits and then looking to see
9:06
Speaker 1: where they fall off or where they deviate. And we
9:09
Speaker 1: rely on the people that are in someone's everyday life
9:12
Speaker 1: to help us create those habits. Climb stories with Nancy Grace. Guys,
9:25
Speaker 1: we are talking about the death, brutal bludgeoning death, and
9:30
Speaker 1: I believe stabbing as well of a gorgeous young mom.
9:34
Speaker 1: You know, when I had the twins and they were
9:35
Speaker 1: a little bitty babies, I thought, they need me so much,
9:39
Speaker 1: They're so defenseless. Then they got to be toddlers and
9:42
Speaker 1: I was forever making sure they didn't hurt themselves or
9:46
Speaker 1: fall down the stairs or get kidnapped at a park.
9:50
Speaker 1: Then they got to school, which is a whole another
9:54
Speaker 1: mindfield for them to walk through. I felt like, Wow,
9:57
Speaker 1: they need me so much. I've got to be there
9:59
Speaker 1: for them. Now. They just turned thirteen, and let me
10:03
Speaker 1: tell you, I feel like they need parents now more
10:06
Speaker 1: than ever. Is there ever really a time in your
10:10
Speaker 1: child's life that they don't need you, even after they
10:14
Speaker 1: grow up? Just thinking about this fourteen year old child
10:20
Speaker 1: left behind when Mary Susan Barrett is bludgeoned dead. And
10:26
Speaker 1: I'm also curious how you have a fourteen year old
10:30
Speaker 1: daughter and the daughter doesn't notice Mommy's not there. I mean,
10:35
Speaker 1: when I wait the children up in the morning, that's
10:37
Speaker 1: the first thing they see is mommy. Then I start blaring,
10:40
Speaker 1: oh what a beautiful morning on Alexa, and that pretty
10:43
Speaker 1: much wakes up the old one with Gordon McRae from Oklahoma.
10:48
Speaker 1: They'll probably be hearing that in their heads from years
10:51
Speaker 1: to come. But how does this woman just drop off
10:56
Speaker 1: the map for days on end with me? What an
11:00
Speaker 1: all star panel door Debbie Joffe, Elis, Karen Smith, doctor
11:04
Speaker 1: Tim Gallagher, Jason Compo, Bob Kalanowski. But to you, Angela Sparazo,
11:10
Speaker 1: Chief and the Major Crime's Division in Luzerne County, where's
11:14
Speaker 1: the daughter? Where's the fourteen year old girl? When mommy's
11:18
Speaker 1: bleeding out in the basement. When we talk about before
11:20
Speaker 1: we talked about routines, we in our investigation find out
11:24
Speaker 1: that a text message is sent to the daughter's father
11:27
Speaker 1: saying that there's issues with the dog. He's sick, and
11:30
Speaker 1: that changes the drop off date. Okay, wait, wait, wait,
11:34
Speaker 1: I'm learning about a whole knee wrinkle in this investigation.
11:38
Speaker 1: So there's the daughter is from a previous relationship and
11:42
Speaker 1: the first thing we all know is to rule out
11:48
Speaker 1: the man in your life. So is that a previous
11:50
Speaker 1: husband or boyfriend? Angela, that's a previous husband and that
11:54
Speaker 1: is the father of her daughter. Hold on to you,
11:57
Speaker 1: Jason Compo, Chief of the Family Violence Unit, Cameron only
12:00
Speaker 1: DA's office in Texas. When I start analyzing a case,
12:06
Speaker 1: I'm always accused of being a man hater. That's not true.
12:11
Speaker 1: I love my husband very much and have a wonderful son.
12:14
Speaker 1: I don't hate them. I love them. But it's just
12:16
Speaker 1: pure statistics. You have to look at the men in
12:20
Speaker 1: a woman's life first. Why is that? That's absolutely correct?
12:25
Speaker 1: The people who are closest to the victim are generally
12:28
Speaker 1: the ones who are the most They have the most
12:33
Speaker 1: time to be with the victim or to keep the
12:35
Speaker 1: victim away from other people, and they're the ones who
12:38
Speaker 1: can cover up the tracks when they go missing, so
12:40
Speaker 1: they're always the prime candidate in the beginning of the investigation.
12:44
Speaker 1: To doctor Tim Gallagher, the medical examiner for the entire
12:48
Speaker 1: state of Florida. You can find him at pathcaremed dot com.
12:52
Speaker 1: Doctor Gallagher, I don't know if you've ever been asked this,
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Speaker 1: but about how many autopsies have you performed in your career? Well?
12:59
Speaker 1: I don't keep count of them exactly, but it's probably
13:01
Speaker 1: in the neighborhood of five thousand or maybe six thousand,
13:06
Speaker 1: somewhere in that rain. I know what you mean when
13:08
Speaker 1: people ask me how many cases have you handled? I
13:11
Speaker 1: have to go back and figure out. Well, the grand
13:12
Speaker 1: jury in Fulton County, inner City Atlanta and died about
13:15
Speaker 1: one hundred and fifty cases a week, divided by say
13:18
Speaker 1: ten courts, each prosecutor running a courtroom. We get their
13:21
Speaker 1: share by the next week, in the next week than
13:25
Speaker 1: the next week. I mean, that's a lot of cases
13:28
Speaker 1: a month times twelve times ten years. That's thousands and
13:33
Speaker 1: thousands of cases you had to resolve one way or
13:35
Speaker 1: the other. It's hard to but five thousand cases, Okay, anecdotally,
13:41
Speaker 1: doctor Gallagher. Don't get all bobbed down. How you haven't
13:45
Speaker 1: kept a record and you don't really know. Do you
13:48
Speaker 1: see more dead women or more dead men? Well, it
13:53
Speaker 1: depends on the situation, but generally in my practice is
13:59
Speaker 1: more dead men because they're violent. Sorry, man, I had
14:03
Speaker 1: to put it out there like that, but it's true. Statistically, Well,
14:07
Speaker 1: they also take a lot of a lot more risk
14:09
Speaker 1: taking behaviors, higher risk taking behaviors, and that includes chemicals
14:13
Speaker 1: and drugs and things like that, you know, so driving fast, etc. That.
14:18
Speaker 1: So it's a very big dent in their population. Pulling
14:21
Speaker 1: the triggers on guns, stabbing each other, getting into fights
14:24
Speaker 1: and hitting each other with blunt objects. Yeah, you can
14:28
Speaker 1: include that too, Gallagher. This is not about meeting down
14:32
Speaker 1: Park Avenue in Manhattan. This is about violent crime. Yeah.
14:36
Speaker 1: They do take a lot of risk taking behaviors and
14:38
Speaker 1: they do violently. On risk taking, they kill each other. Well,
14:44
Speaker 1: there's a risk of being caught and then you go
14:45
Speaker 1: to jail for a long time. We know that you're
14:49
Speaker 1: gonna go down with a ship, aren't you. Okay? You
14:51
Speaker 1: know what? I respect that to you. Karen Smith for expert.
14:55
Speaker 1: Can we just put it out there there may be
14:58
Speaker 1: more men that actually are ending up on the autopsy
15:04
Speaker 1: table because of violence. But when you look at statistics,
15:10
Speaker 1: I remember a stunning statistic that the number one cause
15:13
Speaker 1: of death and like pregnant women, I couldn't believe it
15:15
Speaker 1: until I found out its New England Journal Medicine is homicide.
15:19
Speaker 1: I couldn't believe that when that statistic came out. It's true.
15:22
Speaker 1: I believe it. I do. I've been there, I've seen it,
15:26
Speaker 1: and you know, when you have statistics like that, I
15:30
Speaker 1: think once you have somebody down at the medical Examiner's office,
15:33
Speaker 1: it's a matter of looking at you know, what was
15:36
Speaker 1: the cause and manner of death? Between each person. You know,
15:38
Speaker 1: there may be an overdose versus a gunshot. And it
15:42
Speaker 1: does seem it did in my career, seem like a
15:44
Speaker 1: lot of the more heavy violence, the gunshots especially were
15:48
Speaker 1: men where women. There was lunforced trauma, there were stabbing,
15:53
Speaker 1: there was strangulation especially, That's my experience. You know, I'm
15:56
Speaker 1: thinking about this woman and I've gotten totally down the
16:00
Speaker 1: arden path on this. You know who went off out
16:02
Speaker 1: in the weeds. Oh it was me. Let me circle
16:05
Speaker 1: back to Angela Sparazzo, lead prosecutor. A text sent coincidentally
16:12
Speaker 1: that weekend when there's supposed to be a trade off
16:15
Speaker 1: of the fourteen year old teen girl. Yes, that text
16:18
Speaker 1: was sent to her ex husband. So whoever killed Mary
16:23
Speaker 1: Barrett knew, or I would argue, knew that the daughter
16:29
Speaker 1: was going to be gone for a period of days.
16:31
Speaker 1: Is that true? Yes, and knew those routines we had
16:33
Speaker 1: talked about before, those routines that prosecutors look for. This
16:37
Speaker 1: is a person that absolutely knew Mary Barrett's routines, anew
16:39
Speaker 1: her routines and think about it, knew how to access
16:46
Speaker 1: her phone. I would argue and send a fake text message,
16:54
Speaker 1: you know, to Bob Kalanowski, reporter with a Citizens Voice
16:57
Speaker 1: in Wilkes Barry Dan in Pennsylvania. Where was the daughter
17:05
Speaker 1: As far as geographically when the mom was murdered, the
17:10
Speaker 1: daughter was in I believe in a town about twenty
17:15
Speaker 1: twenty five minutes away, at her at her father's house,
17:18
Speaker 1: So it's about twenty twenty five minutes away. And were
17:21
Speaker 1: rural area then where Mary lives, So between the daughter
17:25
Speaker 1: and the bio dad and they would be able to
17:28
Speaker 1: eliby each other, you would think as police try to
17:34
Speaker 1: figure out what happened to Mary Barrett, at first nobody
17:38
Speaker 1: even realizes she's gone. This text message seemingly explaining her
17:45
Speaker 1: absence to Angela Sparaza, lead prosecutor there in Lauzerne County
17:49
Speaker 1: District Attorney's office. Did the daughter not talk to mom
17:52
Speaker 1: every day or when she went to go visit bio dad.
17:55
Speaker 1: She didn't talk to mom. When we talk about when
17:59
Speaker 1: the crime occurred to when it's found out, it's a
18:01
Speaker 1: period of time where she was with dad, and this
18:04
Speaker 1: text message seemed to explain that they were dealing with
18:07
Speaker 1: a sick dog, So it didn't seem out of the
18:10
Speaker 1: ordinary that she didn't have contact on that day. Oh,
18:13
Speaker 1: what was supposed to be wrong with the dog? May
18:15
Speaker 1: I ask? Just old? It would preclude the daughter from
18:18
Speaker 1: coming home. Just that the dog was old and they
18:20
Speaker 1: thought he might pass away and they didn't want the
18:23
Speaker 1: daughter to be there for that. And again this message
18:26
Speaker 1: came from Mary Barrett's phone, So I think it could
18:29
Speaker 1: be argued that the daughter thought she did have contact
18:31
Speaker 1: with mom. Climb stories with Nancy Grace. Guys, how does
18:47
Speaker 1: a gorgeous young mom, a pastry chef with an NBA
18:52
Speaker 1: who did three tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan
18:56
Speaker 1: end up dead, bleeding out in the basement. As cops
19:00
Speaker 1: start looking for answer, they get a bomb. Shall take
19:05
Speaker 1: a listen to our friend, Chelsea Strubb wnp ABC sixteen.
19:09
Speaker 1: A bouquet of red roses have been placed outside this
19:12
Speaker 1: home on Gaylord Avenue in Plymouth. The roses are for
19:16
Speaker 1: Mary Barrett, the woman police found dead inside the home
19:19
Speaker 1: on Monday night after her husband, forty year old Daniel Barrett,
19:23
Speaker 1: went to police and confessed that he killed his wife.
19:26
Speaker 1: On Saturday went to police and confessed that he killed
19:30
Speaker 1: his wife straight out to investigative reporter of Bob Kalanowski
19:34
Speaker 1: with a citizen's voice in Wilkes, Barry, Bob Kalanowski, that's
19:38
Speaker 1: something you don't normally see for so much of waltz
19:43
Speaker 1: into the police station and announced they killed their wife.
19:48
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, every veteran detective I've talked to you said,
19:51
Speaker 1: that's very extremely rareant and it doesn't happen. And obviously
19:55
Speaker 1: he was in a huge surprise to the Plymouth Borough
19:58
Speaker 1: police station where the man just walks in and so
20:02
Speaker 1: he killed his wife. She's dead in the basement at home.
20:05
Speaker 1: You know, I've heard reports Bob Kalanowski that he was
20:08
Speaker 1: actually excited when he told his story. Almost gleeful. Is
20:14
Speaker 1: that true. That's the words used in the affidavit. And
20:17
Speaker 1: I don't know the context of that, but it's it
20:21
Speaker 1: seemed like excited, nervous, a little bit of a little
20:26
Speaker 1: bit of both. I think to your daughter, Debbie Juffy
20:29
Speaker 1: Ellis psychologist and professor Columbia, I know you just heard
20:34
Speaker 1: Bob Kalanowski with a citizen's voice, And what's Barry, What
20:38
Speaker 1: could explain an almost giddy demeanor when the dad, the
20:44
Speaker 1: husband comes in and says, yes, she's dead and I
20:47
Speaker 1: did it him? Well, if we rule being under the
20:51
Speaker 1: influence of anything out of the question. It could be
20:56
Speaker 1: a kind of dissociation from reality, from the severity of
21:02
Speaker 1: what he had done or what had just happened. Some
21:07
Speaker 1: people might hypothesize. I don't necessarily agree that there could
21:11
Speaker 1: be remorse. I'm not sure about that. Maybe he thought
21:15
Speaker 1: handing himself in might have less detrimental outcome than hiding,
21:21
Speaker 1: being chased, etc. So he chose the path of fewer
21:25
Speaker 1: complications for him. It's hard to know, but there's some
21:30
Speaker 1: possibilities to Karen Smith, forensic expert, lecturer or University of Florida, Karen,
21:36
Speaker 1: I don't recall ever seeing a definite giddy when they confessed. Now,
21:44
Speaker 1: giddy is a that's a really strong word. I have
21:47
Speaker 1: been them eventually remorseful. I have been them very quiet,
21:55
Speaker 1: very sullen. They know what's coming, and most of the time,
22:01
Speaker 1: at least the ones that I've seen, they threatened to
22:04
Speaker 1: commit suicide and never carried through with it because they're cowards.
22:08
Speaker 1: But that's been my experiences that they're not giddy, they're
22:12
Speaker 1: sullen and they know what's coming to him. I wonder
22:15
Speaker 1: if it was because he was proud that he murdered her,
22:20
Speaker 1: that he took the place of the judge, the jury,
22:24
Speaker 1: and the executioner somehow, that she deserved it. Take a
22:29
Speaker 1: listen to Chelsea's shoved at any PABC sixteen. Barrett told
22:33
Speaker 1: police in Plymouth that it all started with an argument
22:35
Speaker 1: where Barrett accused his wife of cheating on him after
22:39
Speaker 1: she admitted to spending time with another man. Barrett said
22:42
Speaker 1: he punched her and knocked her to the ground near
22:44
Speaker 1: the fireplace in the home. Then, Barrett told police he
22:47
Speaker 1: blacked out. When he came to, he was holding fireplace
22:50
Speaker 1: tongs over his head and was beating her with them.
22:54
Speaker 1: Barrett said he continued to beat her with those tongs
22:57
Speaker 1: and a fire poker before getting a knife and stab
23:00
Speaker 1: her in the back. Then he dragged her body into
23:02
Speaker 1: the basement, blacked out, Wow, that was convenient that he
23:09
Speaker 1: remembers accusing her of cheating, punching her in the face.
23:14
Speaker 1: Then he blacks out and wakes up with a weapon
23:18
Speaker 1: raised over his head. But after he comes to, he
23:22
Speaker 1: continues beating her until she's dead, is dragging her down
23:28
Speaker 1: to the basement to die or post a mortem. Blacked
23:33
Speaker 1: out at the moment of truth, Bob Kalanowski reporter with
23:37
Speaker 1: Citizens Voice Walkes Barry. Is that correct? Does he conveniently
23:43
Speaker 1: black out at the moment of the killing and then
23:47
Speaker 1: come to Oh, that's what he told the investigators, that
23:49
Speaker 1: he blacked out, And I don't know if that's he's
23:51
Speaker 1: already started trying to make his defense for trial, including
23:55
Speaker 1: using the alleged cheating excuse as well. I don't know
23:58
Speaker 1: if he immediately started planning his defense at trial. But
24:01
Speaker 1: that's what he said, blacked out, but then he confesses
24:03
Speaker 1: to continuing the assault afterwards to finish the job allegedly. Yeah,
24:07
Speaker 1: the blackout defense is not going to really work if
24:10
Speaker 1: once you come to, you continue the murder. I got
24:14
Speaker 1: a question about the timing to Bob Kalanowski's Citizen's Voice.
24:19
Speaker 1: When was it. Do we know or think we know
24:23
Speaker 1: when the fake text was sent to the daughter as
24:27
Speaker 1: it relates to the murder, So it looks like the
24:31
Speaker 1: fake the prime I believe happened on a Friday, and
24:35
Speaker 1: the fake text happened on a Saturday morning, or the
24:39
Speaker 1: fake text happen on a Saturday morning and then he
24:44
Speaker 1: confessed on a Monday, according to the police. Okay, according
24:48
Speaker 1: to police Angelo Sparrazza, lead prosecutor. The murder happens on Friday,
24:53
Speaker 1: the text is on Saturday, and the confession is later,
24:57
Speaker 1: possibly on Monday. Do I have that timing correct? We're
25:00
Speaker 1: one day off, guys. It's Saturday that the crime happens,
25:03
Speaker 1: it's Sunday morning that the text happens, and that it's
25:07
Speaker 1: Monday around five o'clock that he comes to the police station.
25:10
Speaker 1: Either way to Jason Campo joining us from Cameron County, Texas.
25:15
Speaker 1: Either way, the States can have a field day with
25:18
Speaker 1: that because either he said the text before the murder,
25:22
Speaker 1: which means he was planning it and there's all your
25:27
Speaker 1: mentrea mal intent, or he commits the murder then he
25:34
Speaker 1: does the text to cover his tracks, indicating he knew
25:39
Speaker 1: what he did was wrong, which destroys an insanity defense
25:44
Speaker 1: the l McNaughton rule. Did you know right for wrong
25:46
Speaker 1: at the time of the incident? Agree or disagree? Jason Campo,
25:50
Speaker 1: That's absolutely correct. He definitely, in my opinion, knew right
25:54
Speaker 1: from wrong. He was covering his tracks with the text message,
25:57
Speaker 1: and I believe that when he confessed to the police,
26:00
Speaker 1: he knew that he was out of options and he
26:02
Speaker 1: wasn't going to be able to manipulate this situation anymore.
26:05
Speaker 1: And so what he would do is go turn himself
26:08
Speaker 1: in manipulate to the police the confession so that he
26:11
Speaker 1: can make sure that he can say, oh, well, she
26:14
Speaker 1: was cheating on me. That's what the argument was about,
26:16
Speaker 1: because that's what these types of defendants do. They try
26:19
Speaker 1: to manipulate the entire situation from beginning to end. You know,
26:22
Speaker 1: speaking of the allegic confession to Angela Sparaza, lead prosecutor
26:28
Speaker 1: or there in Lazerne County, I'm curious about his demeanor.
26:33
Speaker 1: Back to the giddy aspect according to the police, which
26:39
Speaker 1: a juri is going to see this in affidavit form,
26:41
Speaker 1: And what's the place an officer takes a stand. Was
26:45
Speaker 1: he crime? Did he exhibit remorse? There were no reports,
26:49
Speaker 1: nor do we have any reports from police that this
26:51
Speaker 1: isn't a man who comes in crying, begging for help
26:54
Speaker 1: or calling for aid. He comes in and reports what
26:57
Speaker 1: he did. At no point is he in sollible or
27:00
Speaker 1: is he crying? You won't see that in any affidavit
27:03
Speaker 1: or police report. Was there ever a nine on one
27:05
Speaker 1: call or any attempt to help her? We talked about
27:09
Speaker 1: him being the one in control for two days, he
27:11
Speaker 1: decided what would happen. And there's no nine one one
27:13
Speaker 1: call from Daniel Barrett, just the neighbor going behind saying
27:17
Speaker 1: that the curtains were closed. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace
27:34
Speaker 1: Mary Susan Barrett is dead, leaving behind a fourteen year
27:38
Speaker 1: old girl without a mommy, just as she faces some
27:41
Speaker 1: of the rockiest roads she will have in her life,
27:45
Speaker 1: going through peaberty in high school and start forging a
27:50
Speaker 1: life without her mother. Take a listen to this. The
27:54
Speaker 1: criminal complaint goes on saying heard noises coming from Mary
27:58
Speaker 1: after washing his face, so he allegedly dragged her to
28:02
Speaker 1: the basement where she later died. My neighborhood, it's a
28:04
Speaker 1: nice neighborhood. We never have any problems here. According to
28:07
Speaker 1: court documents, Daniel Barrett had researched attorneys and ways to
28:11
Speaker 1: commit suicide prior to making contact with police. I'm just
28:15
Speaker 1: very shocked by the whole thing. Researched attorneys and had
28:19
Speaker 1: to commit suicide, but didn't do it before calling police,
28:23
Speaker 1: you know, Karen Smith, forensic expert, host of Shattered Souls podcasts.
28:27
Speaker 1: That's just what you said earlier. They threatened suicide but
28:30
Speaker 1: instead end up killing their wife. That's right exactly, because
28:33
Speaker 1: they're coward. They don't have the mental capacity to do
28:38
Speaker 1: it themselves, so they turned themselves into the police and
28:41
Speaker 1: then fabricate the story of Oi blacked out. I don't
28:44
Speaker 1: buy it. I didn't buy it when I was on
28:46
Speaker 1: the street. I don't buy it now. He's a coward.
28:49
Speaker 1: That's the end of the file. You know, you were
28:51
Speaker 1: just hearing our friends at Fox fifty six, Jack Rhinhart.
28:55
Speaker 1: But there's another there's another wrinkle to this story, as
28:59
Speaker 1: far as it fits goes. Did you hear this, doctor
29:03
Speaker 1: Debbie Joffe ellis that he says he confronted her about
29:07
Speaker 1: cheating and that she admitted she spent time with another man.
29:14
Speaker 1: I wonder if he has now decided he's going to
29:17
Speaker 1: try to argue heat of passion to reduce this down
29:22
Speaker 1: to a manslaughter if he's doing research. I wonder if
29:25
Speaker 1: he researched that too, that he found out his wife
29:27
Speaker 1: was cheating. I don't know if that's true or not,
29:30
Speaker 1: then in his anger killed her to lesson intent. Get it, Yeah,
29:36
Speaker 1: I get it. Though it sounds like a thing that
29:40
Speaker 1: he could contemplate saying, I mean, it seems to me
29:43
Speaker 1: that at the core of his action certainly was rage
29:47
Speaker 1: and whether there's a difference between right and wrong and
29:50
Speaker 1: legal and illegal. Whilst he probably knew what he did
29:54
Speaker 1: was a crime that could get him imprisoned, he possibly
29:58
Speaker 1: thought that he was that's defied, coming from this dysfunctional
30:03
Speaker 1: state of rage, that she did what a woman shouldn't
30:07
Speaker 1: do and betrayed him. And on one level, he probably thought,
30:12
Speaker 1: in his idea of what a man should do, that
30:15
Speaker 1: you did the right thing to this evil, cheating woman,
30:19
Speaker 1: you know the way you said that. I could see
30:21
Speaker 1: his mind working that way. Of course, this state is
30:25
Speaker 1: never required to prove the motive, but as a priactical matter,
30:29
Speaker 1: the jury wants to hear the motive so the crime
30:33
Speaker 1: makes sense to them, although no murder ever makes sense.
30:36
Speaker 1: But take a listen to Nicole Rodgers w b r
30:39
Speaker 1: E eyewitness News like no way, like not Mary. And
30:43
Speaker 1: it's crazy because I was just thinking about her over
30:45
Speaker 1: the weekend, Like I send her a Christmas card this year. Right,
30:48
Speaker 1: Jim Byers was a friend of Mary's. He put flowers
30:51
Speaker 1: on her doorstep, remembering their fond memories is very sweet.
30:55
Speaker 1: The way that she would talk and just very caring
30:57
Speaker 1: and like she would like checking out. Like I said
30:59
Speaker 1: with my on pass, she would check in on me,
31:01
Speaker 1: see I was doing, to ask if you wanted to
31:03
Speaker 1: go off for coffee or something like that. So she
31:05
Speaker 1: was always looking to make people smile. Police say Daniel
31:09
Speaker 1: went to the Plymouth Borough Police Department and told them
31:11
Speaker 1: he killed his wife. The criminal report says he was
31:14
Speaker 1: quote emotional and excited end quote. Just before eight Monday night,
31:20
Speaker 1: officers executed a search warrant and found Mary at the
31:23
Speaker 1: end of a bloody trail. The autopsy performed today determined
31:27
Speaker 1: Mary's cause of death to be from blunt force trauma
31:30
Speaker 1: and the manner of death was homicide. Is this a
31:33
Speaker 1: trump up allegation that she cheated? Is he hoping that
31:37
Speaker 1: will lessen the offantas he hoping one jarr might agree
31:40
Speaker 1: she deserved to be murdered. Take a listen to our
31:43
Speaker 1: seven our friends at Fox fifty six. According to the
31:47
Speaker 1: police criminal complaint, Daniel Barrett appeared emotional when he walked
31:51
Speaker 1: into police headquarters, Barrett allegedly admitting he accused his wife
31:55
Speaker 1: of cheating on him. Police say Barrett claimed his wife
31:59
Speaker 1: then said she time with another man. That's when investigators
32:02
Speaker 1: say he told them he punched her in the face,
32:05
Speaker 1: knocking her down near a fireplace. Court papers say he
32:08
Speaker 1: then told police he repeatedly beat her with fire tongues
32:12
Speaker 1: and a fire poker before eventually stabbing her multiple times
32:16
Speaker 1: with a knife. I don't think she's a type of
32:17
Speaker 1: person that was going out and approaching men, you know,
32:21
Speaker 1: behind her husband's back. You know, this just strikes me
32:25
Speaker 1: as so wrong to Angelo's bizarre. A lead prosecutor there
32:31
Speaker 1: in Lazerne County that this woman in death, this mother
32:38
Speaker 1: is really being tried as to whether or not she
32:42
Speaker 1: had an affair. So what I mean, I'm not the
32:45
Speaker 1: church Lady's none of my business. That is a moral
32:50
Speaker 1: is she? Why is it that so many people are focused, well,
32:53
Speaker 1: did she have an affair? Doesn't matter. You've done a
32:56
Speaker 1: great job of outlining what an amazing woman Mary was,
32:59
Speaker 1: and her family even mentioned to us that Mary was
33:03
Speaker 1: even as far as to be an organ donor. She
33:05
Speaker 1: was worried about how she can give back to the
33:07
Speaker 1: world even when she wasn't here. So the fact that
33:11
Speaker 1: mister Barrett comes in with this very general allegation that
33:15
Speaker 1: the information is a man, that's the information he gives.
33:19
Speaker 1: That sounds pretty vague to me. I don't know that
33:21
Speaker 1: it's even true. I think that's a big question on
33:23
Speaker 1: everyone's mind. But it's interesting how she's going to get
33:26
Speaker 1: tried reputation wise as to whether she had an affair
33:30
Speaker 1: when the issue is him killing her. So let's make
33:33
Speaker 1: that the issue to doctor Tim Gallagher, the medical examiner
33:37
Speaker 1: for the entire state of Florida. You can find it
33:39
Speaker 1: at pathcaremad dot com. Let's talk about the mode of murder.
33:44
Speaker 1: I hear stabbing, I hear beating with a fire poker,
33:47
Speaker 1: I hear beating with a fire tongue, punching, dragging. How
33:54
Speaker 1: do you make sense of the succession of the murder
34:00
Speaker 1: when you do this autopsy? Well, typically, you know, we
34:03
Speaker 1: find that if a person is killed by a stranger
34:07
Speaker 1: or somebody unfamiliar to them, there's usually one mode of assault.
34:12
Speaker 1: It's usually a stabbing only, or it's usually a shooting only.
34:16
Speaker 1: You know, to have a stabbing and bludgeoning and different
34:20
Speaker 1: modes of attack is quite unusual, and in my experience,
34:25
Speaker 1: it often leads to the person of those two people
34:29
Speaker 1: being very familiar with each other, and the person who
34:32
Speaker 1: is doing the assaulting is using objects that are convenient
34:36
Speaker 1: to him that just happen to be nearby. How do
34:38
Speaker 1: you figure out or can you the succession? Was she
34:43
Speaker 1: punched first? Was she then stabbed with a knife? Then
34:47
Speaker 1: the poker? Then the tongs? Oh? Can you tell that?
34:51
Speaker 1: And can you fit the object be at poker or
34:54
Speaker 1: tongs or fist or knife? Can you match it back
34:58
Speaker 1: to the wounds on the body? And how? Oh? Absolutely
35:02
Speaker 1: if the person, if the person who is being attacked
35:05
Speaker 1: is alive and they are saying punched, then underneath that
35:09
Speaker 1: injury there would be heavy bleeding because the heart is
35:12
Speaker 1: still pumping and it's pumping blood into that area. We
35:16
Speaker 1: could also look at the wound and match it up
35:19
Speaker 1: to knuckles or fingers, you know that would have been
35:24
Speaker 1: used in the assault. The same with the other objects.
35:27
Speaker 1: For instance, a fire poker would definitely leave an impression,
35:31
Speaker 1: a very unique impression on the body. And if it
35:35
Speaker 1: is used in the attack and there is bleeding and
35:38
Speaker 1: hemorrhage underneath that wound, then we could assume that the
35:42
Speaker 1: person was alive or they had a heartbeat when that
35:46
Speaker 1: wound occurred if there is no bleeding under it, if
35:49
Speaker 1: it's just a stab wound with no bleeding around it,
35:52
Speaker 1: there is no heartbeat present in the victim, and that
35:57
Speaker 1: would indicate to us that the person was already deceased.
36:01
Speaker 1: This is a post mortem type wound, and there was
36:06
Speaker 1: no heartbeat used to pump blood into the injured area,
36:10
Speaker 1: So it's very easy to determine what type of weapon
36:15
Speaker 1: was used and if the person was alive or deceased
36:18
Speaker 1: when they were which leads me to another point. To
36:21
Speaker 1: Angelo sparraza lead prosecutor or there in Lazerne County, I'm
36:24
Speaker 1: wondering did he leave her to die in the basement,
36:28
Speaker 1: just leaving her down there over a period of time,
36:30
Speaker 1: or did she die right there near the fireplace? Based
36:34
Speaker 1: on what Gallagher or doctor Tim Gallagher has just said,
36:38
Speaker 1: her heart would not have been pumping blood, so there
36:41
Speaker 1: may not have been an extensive blood trail from the
36:44
Speaker 1: fireplace to the basement if her heart was no longer beating.
36:48
Speaker 1: And I think it's going to matter at trial whether
36:50
Speaker 1: he left her down there to die over a period
36:52
Speaker 1: of days. And I also think it's going to matter
36:54
Speaker 1: at trial that she didn't have an affair, and he's
36:57
Speaker 1: cooked this whole thing up in order to get something.
37:00
Speaker 1: What I can tell you is her injuries were extensive,
37:04
Speaker 1: and at no point did he offer her aid in
37:07
Speaker 1: that period of time. From and again, this is his narrative,
37:11
Speaker 1: his narrative that there was a man, his narrative of
37:13
Speaker 1: how everything went down. But even in his own narrative,
37:17
Speaker 1: he never talks about rendering her aid in any way,
37:20
Speaker 1: even if it would have been futile to Jason Compo,
37:23
Speaker 1: chief of the Family Violence Unit, joining us out of
37:26
Speaker 1: Cameron County, Texas way in, I definitely believe that the
37:32
Speaker 1: heat of passion defense won't be applicable here because you
37:34
Speaker 1: can see that he's trying to cover up his steps afterwards.
37:38
Speaker 1: That's not usually the behavior of somebody who has heat
37:41
Speaker 1: of passion. They usually either called nine to one one.
37:44
Speaker 1: He went upstairs and washed his face and then heard
37:47
Speaker 1: noises and then dragged her down to the basement. That
37:49
Speaker 1: starts from the very beginning that he's trying to cover
37:51
Speaker 1: it up. Not only has Mommy been murdered, now, mind's
37:55
Speaker 1: being dragged as a mud. I've an alleged affair. Karen Smith,
37:59
Speaker 1: You know, well, this never happens with man. When I
38:02
Speaker 1: said male homicide victim, you don't hear this. And it's
38:05
Speaker 1: a woman. Oh, you know, it's her fault. She's a
38:11
Speaker 1: sex mania. She needed to die. You know, I see
38:14
Speaker 1: it so many times. It's very disheartening, it really is,
38:18
Speaker 1: and it's true. And you know what, Nancy, I'm so
38:21
Speaker 1: tired of hearing it. I'm so sick of hearing these
38:23
Speaker 1: stories about, oh, she was having an affair, she had
38:26
Speaker 1: a boyfriend on the side. You know what, it doesn't matter.
38:31
Speaker 1: She did not deserve this. Nobody deserved this. And frankly,
38:37
Speaker 1: I'm really glad to hear from the prosecutor in this
38:39
Speaker 1: case because I cannot wait until that judication is finished
38:43
Speaker 1: and he's put away from that. So speaking off to
38:46
Speaker 1: Bob Kalanowski reporter, citizen's voice, and well it's Barry Bob.
38:49
Speaker 1: What's next? Well, Nancy, first of all, I do want
38:52
Speaker 1: to say one thing about the affair issue. And I
38:55
Speaker 1: made a bunch of phone calls the last couple of
38:56
Speaker 1: days because I wanted to put my credibility on line
39:00
Speaker 1: and I asked a lot of people to know her
39:02
Speaker 1: intimately and know this case intimately, and people that worked
39:05
Speaker 1: with her in the community and all the community things
39:07
Speaker 1: she did, and all the organizations she was with about
39:09
Speaker 1: a possible affair, and everyone has told me there's that's
39:12
Speaker 1: not her and there's no evidence of an affair. Bob.
39:15
Speaker 1: I just if I could reach through this camera and
39:18
Speaker 1: hug you and kiss you right now, I would, because
39:21
Speaker 1: I just hey, isn't enough. The woman is dead and
39:24
Speaker 1: her daughter's gonna live a life without her mother. Do
39:28
Speaker 1: we have to have her dract through the mud too? Well?
39:32
Speaker 1: I appreciate that, but I think she deserved that I got.
39:35
Speaker 1: When you do do crime stories, you often get and
39:38
Speaker 1: as a prosecutor, Angel probably would agree, you really only
39:41
Speaker 1: a lot of times get to meet these and know
39:43
Speaker 1: these victims only after after the crime happens to them
39:46
Speaker 1: and after they die. So I mean I got to
39:48
Speaker 1: know Mary Barrett only after she died, and I'm glad
39:51
Speaker 1: I did, and I think it was it was just
39:53
Speaker 1: a she deserved to, you know, get her name cleared
39:56
Speaker 1: if her name needed to be cleared, and I put
39:57
Speaker 1: my you know, I did some research to the best
40:00
Speaker 1: I could. I am so grateful that you you told
40:04
Speaker 1: me that, Um, what is this thing going to trial? Bob?
40:08
Speaker 1: What do we know. I think Angela knows best, but
40:11
Speaker 1: he recently had his preliminary hearing just on Friday, and
40:15
Speaker 1: in the preliminary hearing here in Pennsylvania, it's basically the
40:18
Speaker 1: local court step, the local magistrate step, and he actually
40:21
Speaker 1: waved the hearing. So I don't know if he did
40:24
Speaker 1: it on you know, on purpose to save the family
40:26
Speaker 1: any grief. But I know some of the prosecutors and
40:29
Speaker 1: police were thankful that they did not have to go
40:31
Speaker 1: through a preliminary trial before against the county court level.
40:35
Speaker 1: So now it's now it has moved to the county
40:37
Speaker 1: court level, and Angela and her team of prosecutors, you know,
40:40
Speaker 1: we're going to prepare the case to see if it
40:42
Speaker 1: does go to trial. So, Bob Klenowski, do you guys
40:45
Speaker 1: have the death penalty in Pennsylvania. We we do have
40:48
Speaker 1: the death penalty in Pennsylvania. There's a moratorium, but there's
40:52
Speaker 1: a moratorium. Yes, Governor Wolf has a moratorium on it.
40:55
Speaker 1: So basically, you can kill as many people as you
40:57
Speaker 1: want to. Prosecutors could still pursue it, but it won't
41:00
Speaker 1: be carried out at least as now. And I don't
41:03
Speaker 1: know that this district attorney and Angela's team would obviously
41:06
Speaker 1: have to file motions to see if they were going
41:08
Speaker 1: to do that. Yep, I'm intentionally not going to ask
41:11
Speaker 1: her because I know she won't comment. We wait as
41:14
Speaker 1: justice unfalls and prayers to this girl, this teen girl
41:19
Speaker 1: facing life without mommy. Nancy Grace Club Stories, signing off
41:23
Speaker 1: Goodbye friend,