WASHINGTON — Note: Details in this story are graphic and may be disturbing to some readers. Discretion is advised.
A decapitated and dismembered body first reported to police in February had likely been in the backyard of a Northeast D.C. home since November, authorities said in charging documents for the man they say admitted to the crime.
Thursday, 32 year-old Lavaughn Barnes made his first court appearance for a murder charge in the death of what police say was likely a handyman who had been doing work at the home.
According to charging documents, Barnes lived in the basement of the home in the 1300 block of Kearny Street Northeast with his sister and her daughter where the body was found. Barnes's sister told investigators her brother is “mentally challenged” and “sometimes slow to respond when questioned.”
Police have yet to confirm the identity of the victim, but in the documents investigators say Barnes's sister told them she had known the handyman for approximately five years through work, and she had hired him to do work at the home periodically. Most recently, she hired him in November, but, to her knowledge, he never showed up and stopped responding to her text messages.
The sister told investigators she told Lavaughn Barnes to clear a portion of the backyard where bamboo had grown up. That's when Lavaughn Barnes claimed he found the human remains and police were called on Feb. 3.
Investigators say the body was located under black, unopened trash bags in the rear of the yard. Judging by the growth of the bamboo around the body, personnel with the Urban Forestry Unit estimated it had been in that location for two to three months, the documents say. Barnes's sister showed investigators text messages with the handyman from Nov. 4 of last year and said that was the last time she had heard from him, documents say.
Police searched for the address of the home on Google and found a man with his back to the camera in Google Street View. According to the charging documents Barnes's sister identified the man in the photo as the missing handyman she had hired. Police believe this is the man Barnes is accused of killing, but have not publicly identified him pending notification of next of kin.
Investigators say the body was in an advanced stage of decomposition, decapitated, and missing its arms. According to charging documents, the body showed signs of "chop" marks and "mechanical cutting."
Police returned the following day and multiple days after that with a search warrant and say they found evidence of blood that had been cleaned up in the basement apartment where Barnes's sister told them he lived, along with a taser, brass knuckles, and knives.
On Feb. 15, police say they received a call that Barnes wanted to "turn himself in" and "talk about what happened," according to charging documents. Investigators met with him and his case worker at a shelter where he was staying after moving out of the house with his sister after the body was discovered.
Police say Barnes confirmed the remains were that of the handyman and admitted to killing him. Police say Barnes told them "it was just anger" and that the victim had done nothing to him.
They say he told them he had become angry at the handyman for unknown reasons while he was working at the home and ordered a stun gun online which arrived the next day. When the handyman returned, Barnes allegedly confessed that he "blacked out" and aimed the stun gun at the victim's head, shocking him and causing him to fall and cut his head.
"Why would you do this to me?" Barnes allegedly told investigators the man asked him while he was on the floor.
Police say Barnes told them he stabbed the man at least twice and dragged his body downstairs. Exactly what caused the man's death is not clear from the documents. But police say Barnes eventually cut off the mans arms, then head and disposed of the body parts and the victim's ID in a trash bag that was later collected by the city trash service.
In court Thursday, Barnes's attorney questioned whether is client's statements could be trusted given his mental state. Police said in court documents at the time of his confession his case worker believed he understood his rights and what he was confessing.
The judge order Barnes held without bail until his next schedule court appearance on March 29.