Posted on 02/22/2005 10:09:10 AM PST by Dubya
FORT WORTH -- The bodies of a missing seven-months pregnant woman and her 7-year-old son were found Tuesday morning off Farm Road 407 in Justin, just hours after police arrested a Fort Worth man charged with capital murder in their disappearance.
It was not immediately disclosed how Lisa Underwood, 34, and her son, Jayden, were killed.
Stephen Barbee, 37, who previously had been romatically involved with Underwood, was taken into custody in Tyler and held initially with bail set at $2 million. He was later released to Fort Worth police and transported back to Tarrant County.
Police on Monday found Underwood's Dodge Durango abandoned in a creek bed off Farm Road 2449, just east of Interstate 35W in Denton County, about 10 miles north of where the bodies were found.
Lt. Gene Jones confirmed an arrest had been made in the case but declined to comment further.
Sources said major case detectives traveled to Tyler on Monday night by helicopter after requesting that Tyler police locate Barbee and take him to their headquarters to be interviewed by Fort Worth police.
It was unknown how police knew Barbee was in Tyler.
About the same time that Tyler police were taking Barbee into custody, Fort Worth police raided a residence in the 4100 block of Walnut Creek in north Fort Worth, a home where Barbee lived with a woman named Trish.
A neighbor who did not want to be identified said she was awakened by flashing police lights and noise about 3 a.m. Tuesday. She said officers went to the back of the residence and later came out the front carrying four or five bags of evidence.
The house, she said, had been under police surveillance since Sunday with officers in unmarked police vehicles cruising through the neighborhood.
About 8 p.m. Sunday, she said, officers came to her home asking "when was the last time I saw them and what kind of cars did they drive." She said she told them she last saw Barbee earlier Sunday.
At 11 a.m. Monday, she said, she saw officers rummaging through trash bags that had been set curbside outside the residence.
The discovery comes more than three days after relatives last heard from the 34-year-old mother, seven months pregnant with her second child.
Police issued an Amber Alert for the mother and son Saturday after relatives discovered a pool of blood inside Underwood's north Fort Worth home and noticed her sport utility vehicle missing.
On Monday, the search for the pair shifted to Denton after authorities found Underwood's blue 2002 Dodge Durango abandoned in a creek bed off Farm Road 2449, just east of Interstate 35W.
The search ended about 6:30 p.m. Monday before resuming this morning.
Party planned
Saturday was supposed to be a day of celebration.
Underwood is expecting a little girl, and her friends and family had planned to throw her a baby shower at Boopa's Bagel Deli, which she co-owns with her best friend, Holly Pils.
Marla Hess, who had traveled from Wichita Falls for the shower, looked forward to prying out of Underwood the name she had chosen for her unborn child.
Because "Jayden" is such an unusual name, family and friends assumed that Underwood had also picked an unconventional name for her daughter.
"She had a name that she wasn't going to tell us," Hess said. "We were going to try to make her."
But Underwood never made it to the party.
A farmer discovered the SUV about 8:28 a.m. Monday and called Denton police.
Throughout the day Monday, searchers scoured nearby pastures and wooded areas, some in helicopters, others on horseback and on foot with trained scent dogs.
Kamper said searchers found the keys to Underwood's SUV but declined to comment on whether they found blood in the vehicle or other evidence inside it.
The area where the SUV was found is largely isolated farmland, although signs along Farm Road 2449 point the way to a new housing subdivision just to the north. Monday afternoon, dozens of patrol vehicles, unmarked cars and media trucks lined the rural road.
Meanwhile, about 30 miles away, more police vehicles and yellow crime scene tape encircled the Underwoods' modest red brick home in the 3700 block of Chaddybrook Lane.
Neighbors talked quietly outside their homes as children rode bikes and drew on the sidewalks with colored chalk.
"They are awesome," said neighbor Vicki Wilson. "They are the nicest people anyone would want to meet. They are very, very sweet."
Wilson said Jayden and the other neighborhood children often played soccer together or came to her house to play on the swing set or swim in her pool.
Jayden was "kind of shy, but ... a smart, intelligent, happy little boy," Wilson said.
Jayden was a first-grader at North Riverside Elementary School. Today, extra counselors will be on hand to talk to the students, said Jason Meyer, a spokesman of the Keller school district.
Customers knew 'Boopa'
Outside Boopa's Bagel Deli, well-wishers left messages and trinkets of hope.
A large brown teddy bear, several notes and balloons graced the window.
Scrawled in colored markers were the words "God Bless Lisa and her two little angels." Another one read: "We're praying for you! Lisa, Jayden and Baby Underwood."
A lined piece of notebook paper bore a child's handwriting: "I'm sure she's OK. I miss her as much as you do. I hope you're going to be OK."
It was signed with a heart and a face with a frown.
Pils said Lisa Underwood had named her bagel shop "Boopa" after a nickname that her mother, Sheila, had bestowed upon her grandson.
Jayden expressed pride in having his nickname adorn his mother's business.
"He wanted to be referred to as one of the owners because he said, 'My name is on the building,'" Pils said.
Deli customers knew Jayden and often asked for him by name.
"They would say, 'Is Boopa here today?'" Pils said.
Pils said that Jayden often passed the time helping her and his mother in the shop, in Fossil Creek Plaza at Western Center Boulevard and Beach Street.
"He would sweep better than our employees," she said. "He loved being at the bagel shop, he was just a real special guy. I love being around him. He is a joy, just a complete joy."
Pils said Underwood has worked hard to provide for her son, who is active in Cub Scouts and soccer and can easily beat Pils at chess.
"He was a wonderful child because she was a wonderful mother."
Pils said Underwood has been looking forward to becoming a mother a second time.
"She felt like, 'I have a perfect boy. Now, I want a perfect girl,'" she said.
Staff Writers Kelly Melhart and Alex Branch Contributed to This Report Deanna Boyd, (817) 390-7655 dboyd@star-telegram.com
Thank you for the advice but I think I will continue on....
n arrest warrant affidavit quotes Barbee as saying he was at the Underwood home Friday night and that he and Underwood got into an argument about his refusal to leave his wife.
During the argument, Underwood kicked Barbee and Barbee responded by punching her in the face several times, causing her nose to bleed, according to the affidavit.
Barbee said that as he smothered Underwood with his hands, Jayden entered the living room screaming, the affidavit states.
Barbee then suffocated the boy by placing a hand over his mouth and nose, according to the affidavit.
He said he then loaded the bodies in Underwood's SUV and dumped them in a shallow grave off FM 407, the affidavit states.
" ... this situation was avoidable."
I'm not totally convinced. DV happens between ex boyfriends and ex girlfriends, regardless of pregnancy, every day.
So, it doesn't sound like he planned it. At least if he's telling the truth (and I don't know how much confidence you could put in his veracity). But, someone had to pick him up after he dropped off the bodies since he didn't take her vehicle.
sundero
During the argument, Underwood kicked Barbee and Barbee responded by punching her in the face several times, causing her nose to bleed, according to the affidavit.It goes without saying that he will plead Not Guilty. Anybody wonder what the grounds will be?Barbee said that as he smothered Underwood with his hands, Jayden entered the living room screaming, the affidavit states.
Barbee then suffocated the boy by placing a hand over his mouth and nose, according to the affidavit.
He said he then loaded the bodies in Underwood's SUV and dumped them in a shallow grave off FM 407, the affidavit states.
You are a sad person.
Hit close to home?
I'm saying its too early to say at this point who knew what and when and why.
You can't charge anyone with murder unless its premediated.
Possibility of life in prison rather than death.
I suppose that would explain his story. Or I suppose it could be true. I guess they don't want me for the jury (altho they never pick me anyway!)
sundero
I am not quite sure what that reply is supposed to mean. You are just a sad little person, thats all. I have no stake in this case, but your take on those situations are way out of line.
How many bad life decisions have you made? I made a few, but I am pretty sure none warranted me getting killed over.
Praps you should toddle off to DU to find others just as twisted as yourself.
"But really, my patience for women sacrificing their children for loser men is passed the breaking pointthe breaking point"
"I am saying that her judgement might have contributed to her death, her son, and her unborn baby."
"So the mother played no role in getting hooked up with this loser?"
"Okay, let us not hold this mother accountable. Can we hold the next 10 who do the same thing, ie..get hooked up with a loser and then she and her children end up dead. At what point do we start telling women to pick better men?"
"So her judgement played no role in this whatsoever? Is that what you are saying?"
Here are a few of the places where one might think you were saying the victim was at fault. I don't know what you meant in your heart and I will assume you meant well, but your posts sure give the impression you are pointing fingers at the victim instead of the murder.
Where did I say the woman deserved to die for making bad decisions? I did not say that and you know it. What I said is very reasonable and true.
I pray other women learn from this.
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