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
I understand that some people may have taken it that way but it was not intended that way.
I can't imagine that choking someone would be an accident. Somewhere between the punch to the nose and his hands around her neck, he made a decision. Killing her son would have been a deliberate action, too.
The wording of the Texas law may make the third murder charge a slam dunk.
His behavior afterwards shows a consciousness of guilt, too.
Time for this guy to call Geragos. =:-0
Pinz
Learn what? That abortion is a better option because that way they won't become a bigger threat to a new wife?
Now that is twisted.
We're talking possible motive here...
You can't charge anyone with murder unless its premediated.
Oh, I see.
Beats me... maybe I'm wrong?
http://www.visionsforlife.net/Law%20of%20parties.htm
Intended? Premeditated?
???
Eh eh eh,
There ya go with that 'but' again.
I take back what I said about you meaning well ;) One thing I have learned in approaching geezerhood is that God knocks you back a few notches on whatever you pontificate about. He always sends it back to bite you on the butt later.
So darlin', be REAL careful about every choice you make from now on, for what you have given this woman, you will get back in kind.
Man charged with capital murder
Tue, Feb. 22, 2005
Man charged with capital murder
ANGELA K. BROWN
Associated Press
NORTHLAKE, Texas - A man charged with killing his pregnant ex-girlfriend and her 7-year-old son admitted to arguing with her over leaving his wife, suffocating her, then the boy when he interrupted the attack, according to documents released Tuesday.
Police said Stephen Dale Barbee was charged with capital murder earlier Tuesday after confessing to the slayings of bagel shop owner Lisa Underwood and her son, Jayden. Barbee, 37, was the father of the unborn daughter, according to the arrest warrant affidavit.
Underwood, 34, and her son were reported missing after she did not show up at her baby shower Saturday, prompting a national Amber Alert. A pool of blood was found in her home, but there was no sign of forced entry, police said.
Fort Worth Lt. Gene Jones said Investigators found two bodies in rural Denton County on Tuesday, hours after Barbee was arrested in Tyler, about 120 miles from Fort Worth.
Barbee told investigators Underwood kicked him in the leg and that he punched her in the face several times, causing her nose to bleed, according to the affidavit. He held her on the floor and suffocated her.
When Jayden came in to the living room screaming, Barbee told police he suffocated him. He put the bodies in the back of the SUV and drove to Denton County and dug a shallow grave.
Barbee's business partner, Ron Dodd, told police that he was with Barbee during the early morning hours on Saturday and became shaken after seeing the bodies in the back of the SUV.
The affidavit also revealed that a Denton County deputy briefly had Barbee in custody early Saturday when he stopped what he believed to be a suspicious man wearing a black long sleeve shirt and a pair of jeans covered in gray mud. He gave a false name and date of birth before running into a wooded area. Deputy David Brawner searched but could not find Barbee.
Jones said two bodies were found Tuesday that were consistent with the ages of Underwood and Jayden. He said they hadn't been identified positively after the bodies were found in the wooded area in rural Denton County near Northlake, about 25 miles north of Fort Worth.
Investigators were searching the area about 10 miles from where Underwood's car was found Monday. He said Tuesday that Barbee led them to the site.
Barbee was arrested early Tuesday in Tyler, where authorities said he had been working clearing trees, and turned over to Fort Worth police.
Underwood, 34, was seven months pregnant.
Debbie Lindley, one of Underwood's neighbors whose 7-year-old son grew up with Jayden and played with him regularly, said Barbee and Underwood split in the fall because Barbee had another girlfriend, but she didn't know of any violent incidents between the couple.
Lindley said Underwood met Barbee about two years ago at the bagel shop. She said Jayden had never met Barbee; the boy always stayed at the Lindleys' house when they went on dates.
Underwood was a devoted single mother who worked Monday through Saturday at the bagel shop and spent the rest of her time with her son, who recently started playing soccer and being involved with Cub Scouts, Lindley said.
Lindley said she's had a difficult time explaining things to her son, Nicholas.
"He saw the news last night and said he missed Jayden and said maybe they had gone camping, and that maybe crooks had taken their camping gear and that's why nobody could find them," Lindley said.
Well wishes and several notes piled up at the bagel shop where Underwood is a co-owner with Holly Pils, who said she last spoke with Underwood on Friday night.
A large brown teddy bear was placed on a table by a window. One of the notes said, "God bless Lisa and her two little angels."
© 2005 AP Wire and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.dfw.com
I am a 32 year old woman. And I have learned to make better decisions in my life and I hope others do too as well.
I have done nothing to this woman. I made an observation. I pray that God guides me in all decisions I make.
What you've said is about as controversial as stating that if you run a red light, you stand a better chance at getting in an accident than if you wait for it to turn green.
Or-- "lie down with dogs, you might get fleas"...
You never once said that the mother DESERVED it.
I'm also a mother, and I find it extremely upsetting when I see (in "real" life) women I know make careless choices that negatively impact their children. Repeatedly. Murderers/ evil monsters/ bad guys will always be there-- I'm not out to help them, because I don't think when you're in a place where it's OKAY to kill anyone that you are capable of being saved. I'm just hoping the innocent women in this world will start making wiser choices and reduce their chances for an encounter with those people.
But when people can't recognize the truth in the rational statements you've made and simply react emotively, I don't have much hope for getting through.
Thank you.
I agree completely. Thanks for the insight.
Your welcome.
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