Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Husband Strangled His Wife, Then Hid Her Body with Roommates' Help: Cops

Episode Date: October 3, 2024

Jessica Barnes, 20, was last seen at her home in Pendleton, South Carolina on August 1. Barnes wasn't reported missing by her mother until September 10. Police searched for Barnes and found her remains near a lake. Now Barnes' husband, Brandon Barnes is accused of murdering her. Her two roommates, Kendall Mims and Victoria Tippett, are charged in connection to the crime. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy goes over what we know about the case in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Get 50% off of confidential background reports at https://www.truthfinder.com/lccrimefix and access information about almost anyone!Host:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5Guest: Jenn Wood https://x.com/IndyJenn_CRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Daniel CamachoGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. What can I say? Jessica was full of life. She believed in Jesus and God, and she loved God with all of her heart. And now she's with Jesus. The search for a 20-year-old woman missing from her South Carolina home since August, and sadly with her remains being found. Now Jessica Barnes' husband is accused of murdering her and their roommates also face charges. A reporter covering the case on the ground is here with the very latest.

Welcome to Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy. Jessica Barnes' family is in mourning. The 20-year-old was missing and her mother had hoped that she would be found alive. Barnes had been missing since August 1st, but it wasn't until September 10th that her mother reported her missing. Barnes lived in Pendleton, South Carolina with her husband, Brandon Barnes, and two female roommates. Pendleton is south of Clemson. Police said Jessica was last seen at her home by her husband, Brandon, and those two roommates on August 1st. And Jessica's mom has said she didn't report her missing until October 10th because she didn't know she was missing. It apparently wasn't unusual that they wouldn't have contact for a time. And Jen Wood from Fitz News is going to be here soon to give us more information about that and why that was.

But when Jessica's mom didn't hear from her on her birthday, she became concerned. You might be wondering, why didn't Jessica's husband or roommates report her missing? Jessica's husband told Blunt Force Media in an interview that he thought she left and would come back. It almost sounded like he was suggesting she might have harmed herself. The site quoted Brandon as saying, I would tell her how much I love her and wish I never went to work every day and ignored her. I ignored her voice, told her she was fine

when I knew she wasn't. I was young and stupid. I was always focused on getting more money and more work. The site said, Brandon added, we never felt like we had hope in life. Always felt down, depressed, miserable, alone, seeking for help, hiding from help, never accepting it when it came. Childhood trauma, being abused as a kid, blaming people for things we regret or done. Blunt Force Media also posted a letter that Brandon Barnes said Jessica wrote to him on July 4th that he said he found in a Bible. The letter said, We have been through so much in the first year of our life together,

and I am so grateful that I met you. I love you so much, baby. Thank you for sticking by my side and letting me in. It's hard to love me, but we had a son and got married. Best choice I ever made, by the way. We even went through a stillbirth and came out the other side stronger and more motivated, knowing we can stick together through anything. God put you in my life for a reason and I will never let you go.

I plan on writing these letters, 10 of them, for the first 10 years of our beautiful life together. I could never picture starting a life with anyone else. You are my rock and I love you so much. I am so blessed to be your wife. A year ago today, I asked you to be mine and I am so happy you love me through all of my imperfections and flaws. You call me beautiful when you know I feel low and hold me tight in my sleep.

You are the best thing that ever happened to me and I won't let you slip away. Later in the letter, it says that Brandon was supposed to read it in 10 years on his 31st birthday. Now police say Brandon Barnes has confessed to murdering Jessica. The police chief said they found Jessica's remains at the Twin Lakes recreational area. Pendleton officers and agents from SLED, as well as assistance from the Clemson University Police Department and Pickens County Sheriff's Office, were able to locate a potential site in the Twin Lakes area of Pickens County along Lake Hartwell. During this search, remains were found and later identified as human. SLED

agents were able to collect forensic samples and the SLED laboratory continues to process these samples at this time. The Pickens County Coroner was called to assist and provide recovery, assistance, and autopsy services in conjunction with the Anderson County Coroner's Office. Also, a forensic anthropologist from Clemson University helped identify the remains as human. On October 1st, Pendleton officers and the Pickiggins County corner were notified by a forensic odontologist that the remains were identified as Jessica Barnes. A forensic odontologist is someone that studies bones, specifically teeth, jaw structure, things like that. An affidavit says defendant Brandon Richard Barnes did with malice aforethought cause the death of victim Jessica Barnes by using his arms to strangle her to death. The defendant admits to the murder after being advised of Miranda.

One of the roommates, Victoria Tippett, is charged as an accessory after the fact. An affidavit says Tippett obstructed justice in that she did fail to report the murder of victim Jessica Barnes to law enforcement. The defendant did admit to disposing of the victim's body to obstruct justice of murder by defendant Barnes. And finally, Kendall Mims faces a charge of accessory after the fact to murder. She is accused of helping to move Barnes's body and not telling law enforcement about the murder despite having opportunities to do so. The murder of Jessica Barnes is tragic. Someone she loved and trusted is accused of taking her life. And cases like hers show you how important it is to stay safe and to check out the people in your life. Truthfinder.com is a site that can help you with that. I use Truthfinder all of the time for work and in my personal life. It will show you things like criminal and traffic records,

past addresses, and phone numbers. I searched for Brandon Barnes in Pendleton, South Carolina, and I found him. It shows that he has a careless driving citation out of Florida in 2018, but the murder charge isn't showing up yet. It was just filed. It's brand new. What's also great about Truthfinder, it will show you the addresses of sex offenders who live near you. So if you'd like to use Truthfinder to check out people that you meet, I have a great deal. You can get 50% off of confidential background reports. Just log on to truthfinder.com slash LC crime fix and start accessing information about almost anyone. What can I say? Jessica was full of life. She believed in Jesus and God, and she loved God with all of her heart. And now she's with Jesus, and we're all sad, but we know that she's better over there than here. She's not with her abuse anymore,

and she's in heaven with Jesus. And I thank God and everybody who helped her find it. And I want to thank everybody who prays for us and for the family and for the siblings. And we're going to continue to, I'm going to continue to be a voice for Jessica and to spread like awareness for her and for the horrible thing that happened to her. Jen Wood is a researcher at Fitz News, and she's been covering this case from the beginning. Jen, first of all, take me inside the courtroom yesterday.

What was it like when these three people appeared in court? You know, it was really, it was sad. They're so young. They didn't show a lot of emotion. And, you know, it was just, it was really interesting seeing the three of them, you know, brought in just to to find out if they were going to get bond. I mean, we had a good clue that Brandon Barnes wouldn't be getting bond just based on the charge. But the other two, Victoria Tippett and Kendall Mims, we weren't we weren't entirely certain if they would be given a bond. They didn't show any emotion, though. It was it was interesting.

It's kind of stunning to me that these two young women and we just we don't know what happened other than the police are saying in the affidavit that Brandon Barnes, after he was read his rights, confessed to strangling Jessica with his arms. I mean, it sounds horrific. Strangling is a horrific, any way to die is horrific, but this is just awful. And then, you know, the young women are accused of covering this up sort of and helping him dispose of her body. I just can't even imagine them doing this and why they would do this. So you're talking to me about them showing no emotion. Do we know anything about the relationship between Mims and Tibbetts and Barnes? I mean, were they closer to him or what do we know about that? You know, the three of them were all living together and it's, it's a dynamic that I've never, I've never heard of before. Um, but Kendall Mims and Brandon had a,

um, infant daughter together. And according to her mother, the daughter, you know, the daughter, Jessica primarily took care of the daughter when she was alive, even though she was married to Brandon. It's a very bizarre dynamic, but they were all living together in this little pool house. And sounds like they were all dating Brandon. It's very bizarre. But Jessica's mom said that he was very controlling of Jessica. He would cut off her contact from her family. Her sisters weren't able to get a hold of her. And I spoke to Brandon's ex-girlfriend who has two children with him.

And they split up after he assaulted her in Maine and she got a restraining order. And he said, she told me that he had done the same thing to her, like cut off her communication with family, moved her to another state, just very controlling behavior. Yeah, it's very concerning. And from what I read, she said that he was abusive. So it's very, whatever was going on in that house is very concerning to say the least. You know, it's concerning to me as well that she disappears on August 1st, August 2nd, from what the police say. She's not reported till September 10th. Mom says, look, I wouldn't be in touch with her sometimes. And it sounds like part of the reason is because she was cut off from from family. So mom reports are missing. A massive search is launched. And now we have this really horribly sad outcome that they said that Jessica was murdered.

So talk to me about what it was like down there in South Carolina to be involved in this case, because, you know, sitting from where I am watching it, people were really concerned and they were they were hoping she would be found alive. And there was really it was getting a lot of attention down there. Yeah. So, I mean, her mother said that, you know, she it wouldn't be uncommon for her to not hear from Jessica for some time. But the end of August was her birthday, and she would typically hear from her on her birthday, and she didn't. And that's when she started really getting concerned. And by September 10th, she decided to report her as missing. She said she had received texts from Jessica's phone, but didn't feel like they were actually Jessica texting. And when they started searching for her, the stories that Barnes and Kendall and Victoria

were giving police were varied. They would tell police one thing, they would tell the neighbor, you know, I think they told police that Jessica would occasionally leave and she was probably in Michigan with family. and they told the neighbor that she had gone to Romania to stay with her father, but she didn't have a valid passport. So it's just very I mean, the stories weren't adding up, which was adding to adding to the concern in the community. They talked about the the police did, the police chief at the press conference, that they found remains of Jessica's in this Twin Lakes recreational area in Pickens County. Do you know anything about this area? And I'm kind of gathering potentially

that they were led to this area, maybe based on cell phone records? I don't know. Maybe they got a tip. What are you hearing? So I'm hearing that GPS data is what led them to that specific area. I'm not entirely sure if it was from phones or another device, but that's, I believe, how they located that specific area. It is up there, there are a lot of lakes. And I think there are a lot of areas where, you know, kids go to hang out. And this was one of them, very remote. And I think when they did the search on September 20th, they searched the pool house where they were living in on Kendall's grandfather's property and that spot. And I think that's when they found the remains, but they had to do a forensic identification.

So they found the remains you think on September 20th. So it had taken, it took some time for them to do that, go through that process. Wow. It did. How, How very sad. So, you know, Brandon Barnes is not getting out of jail anytime soon. The police say he confessed to this crime. The other two are not getting out either. Right now, it doesn't appear. So is there any indication that either one of them are cooperating at this point, the two young women? From what I was told, it does not appear that they are cooperating right now. Whether or not that changes once they have representation, I'm not sure. But for a very long time, we're going along with Brandon's stories. What a terribly sad story. And I think our hearts all go out to Jessica's family, a sad case, and we will certainly keep an eye on it as it moves forward. Jen Wood of Fitz News, thank you so much. Thank you for having me. And that's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Ann Jeanette Levy. Thanks so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time.