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
DOES ANYONE KNOW WHY BARBEE MURDERED LISA AND HER SON..... ANY WORD YET.... I READ THAT HE CONFESSED TO THE MURDERS...
An 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.
They were arguing about their relationship... she kicked him, he punched her. The fight escalated, he smothered her. Her son walked in on them, so he smothered him too.
What is it with all these pregnant ladies getting murdered? I think I'd better buy a gun, after all!
I'm not worried about my husband, JFT, but there seem to be plenty of whackos out there that wouldn't blink an eye at my belly before they killed me and my baby...it might even be their motivation. *shudder*
amen... and i don't have ice in my veins... i knew you would be accused of being insensitive... but no matter, i agree with you... while i feel awful for the mother, i am devastated for her son and daughter... did you see the picture of her beautiful boy? i am surrounded by women who make bad choices for themselves and for the their children as i am a volunteer at a Crisis Pregnancy Center... it's too bad we aren't allowed to point out their mistakes without offending others... for some reason, people want to see it as our saying the mother deserved it or something... which i know is not what you are saying... and neither am i...
a woman in our small town was killed by her husband the day after Christmas... he was a disgusting brute, yet after being separated for six months, she just had to give him one more chance... now their three children have no father and no mother...
That seems so very obvious. But tell it like it is and you get treated like Larry Summers.
Who is Larry Summers?
i agree... i think all the negative posts you are receiving are some of the most incredibly disgusting i've ever read... people aren't even responding to what you are actually saying...
Honey, put down the crack pipe and step away from the machine, or the bunny with the pancake on its head gets it!
Balderdash! Did you think if you put enough big words in it us little dumb females would get bored and not read the whole thing? And then maybe we wouldn't see the holes you could drive a Humvee thru in your statement.
Oh, sorry, can't stay and discuss this with you, my lord and Master is home and I must get his slippers on him, the paper in his hands, and dinner on the table! Er...wait, is it the slippers in his hands and dinner on him? I'm just such a girl I can't keep all this straight!!!
Just curious, do you fit the victim's profile? Has the father of your children left you? Do you sleep with married men and expect they will leave their wives and family if you become pregnant? If so you probably should buy a gun and be ready to defend yourself in case the next sperm-donor refuses to support you.
I have friends that live on 407 further west than where the grave was found. I cannot express the overwhelming RAGE I feel toward him at this moment. My own daughter is 31 and my grandson is almost nine. They are safe. That SOB has forfeited his right to exist on this earth. He is most unworthy of being buried in Texas Soil.
Great, I'm also busy and work a lot. Good to see you have harmony in your home. It's a relief knowing I'm not expected to assist de-programming people.
Honestly, it was just a bit of a facetious remark, gallows humor, if you will. If it offended you, I apologize, that wasn't my intent. I just have seen so many stories lately about pregnant women being killed that it just freaks me out.
And for the record, I don't resemble this particular woman -poor soul :(. Married mom of four (almost five) and no inclinations to take up with other women's husbands, thanks.
"Just curious, do you fit the victim's profile? Has the father of your children left you? Do you sleep with married men and expect they will leave their wives and family if you become pregnant? If so you probably should buy a gun and be ready to defend yourself in case the next sperm-donor refuses to support you."
Just curious, did Laci Peterson or Lori Hacking fit the profile?
http://www.catholicexchange.com/vm/index.asp?art_id=26732
...According to the (Washington) Post's year-long investigation, at least 1,367 pregnant women and new mothers — not including women from 13 states that do not record such figures — have been murdered since 1990. A Maryland study highlighted by the Post declared, "A pregnant or recently pregnant woman is more likely to be a victim of homicide than to die of any other cause."
(snip)
She is one old looking 34. This story is odd, there is no man in the picture. Whose baby was that?
Thanks...those things came to mind immediately, but my brain is so Swiss-cheesed these days I didn't think to google and post that stuff myself. I remember hearing those stats, too. It's enough to make someone as hormonally unbalanced as me even more paranoid. Hence my remarks about buying a gun.
Lawyers, the courts and government agencies have been increasingly active and effective in assessing child support payments and penalties. In many cases money goes to the state while in all cases money goes to the lawyers. There's little financial incentive to favor the fathers so the law and the process favors the mothers -for the children's benefit of course < /sarcasm >.
It's gotten to the point where some women are now poaching other womens' husbands for income, ostensibly for their own children, -actual or potential.
In obtaining resources to support children it's no suprise that when mixed with marxist political and cultural values the results are conflict, murder, killing and suicide. It's absolutely disgusting to see women and men putting marxist political beliefs before the welfare of people, families and children. It is evil.
Her sons father lives in Missouri......don't know if they were married or not
The murdering POS killed his own baby
Seems he owned a company (landscape) with his ex wife. He just recently got married again.
Of course. And, you're right (and correct too!)
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