Bodies of mother, son found in Justin (BREAKING TX)

Star-Telegram ^ | Feb. 22, 2005 | By Deanna Boyd and Melody McDonald

[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

[Dubya]

I sure hope and I pray that nothing bad happens to you and/or your baby.
I pray that God will surround you and your baby with a band of angels to protect both of you.
Dub

[Dubya]

The father of the 7 year old boy lives in MO and has been told about his son's death. The guy who killed them is the father of the unborn child as best as I can tell.

[MKM1960]

It is political correctness run amuck. Up is down, ect ad nauseum. Rather than celebrate the differences that make men and women unique and attractive to one another, they must never be talked about. I wonder how many women would have swallowed feminism so wholeheartedly if they would have seen it's outcome. I know I wouldn't have.

[exnavychick]

Evil is right. But I think it's just another manifestation of "feel good" philosphy. No one has to feel the consequences for bad choices anymore, or at least not for long. If they do, they can always blame someone else for it.

It's also leading to this kind of craziness where people think it's better to kill someone who is inconvient to them rather than accept responsibility for the outcome of their choices.

It's sad that this woman and her little ones paid the price for all of this...I will be praying for them all.

[exnavychick]

Thank you for your prayer...that's very kind of you!

God bless!

[Dubya]

I think some info had to be withheld until next of kin could be notified. I am not sure.

[yellowdoghunter]

Thank you. I agree with everything you said.

[cyborg]

I agree with you. I'm very annoyed and upset about how many men take advantage of that difference, and society in general uses it as a double standard but that's just how it is :(

[Hattie]

Does anyone know why.......

Scuttlebut here in TX. This guy is the father of the baby she was pg with; not the father of the 7yrold. Okay so far? This guy just married another gal in December. He says he went to her house and they got into a fight; Lisa wanted him to divorce this gal; not sure if she had been aware he married until recently. Anyway he said she kicked him, he smacked her, boy came in room screaming so he smothered him.

There is a lot more. This is a Greta. His partner at work is a piece of work too.

[SuzyQue]

I don't think there was any way for us to see the unintended consequences. You are correct, we got part of feminism right, but we got big parts very wrong.

[GeronL]

I live right between Dallas and Arlington

[Howlin]

Larry Summers

On Nightline last night, I found myself in the unusual position of agreeing with Alan Derschowitz; he was defending Summers against this HORRIBLE black woman, president of Bennett College in Greensboro, NC, and I'm like, Go, Alan!

Forget about social security; "feminism" IS the third rail.

[daybreakcoming]

***You know what I wonder? I wonder how it is that people like you feel free to pass judgment on these poor people.***

As I said on an earlier thread, these "judges" obviously have personal issues of their own and come out of the woodwork at any mention of a tragedy like this to pronounce the victims guilty. I guess the guy who murdered them felt they were guilty too.

[Howlin]

They seem to be drawn to these threads like a magnet, don't they?

[Ready4Freddy]

FOX reports I watched last night said that the police were looking at the fathers of the children of the single mother.

He wasn't her husband to my knowledge. The facts aren't in yet

[writmeister]

Under Texas penal law, an unborn child is considered a person.

This case is capital murder because it is the murder of more than one individual (Lisa, Jayden, and the unborn baby)in the same criminal transaction.

[writmeister]

There is no requirement of premeditation. Capital murder requires an intentional killing. Intentional is different from premeditation because it does not require any prior planning. A defendant could develop the intent to kill just moments before the actual killing.

[AaronInCarolina]

Yes I agree it was avoidable. Okay, ladies. Here's how to avoid it:

Never trust a man.
Never go outside.
If you go outside, never speak to a man.
Never assume you have the same sexual freedom that men have.
Never .... on and on

Aaron, all murders can be avoided. But there is definitely a problem in this country with men killing wives, girlfriends, pregnant and not pregnant. I assume you are a guy...what's the real reason?

I refuse to place any blame on this woman or her children. I think it is sad that people are sitting out there right now thinking more about how she caused this by becoming intimate with someone. The killer is to blame. No one else.

I sense a lot of sarcasm in this post. I also sense that you wish to start a battle of the sexes war. I will not participate in that.

Nobody here is blaming the mother for this murder. There is only one perpetrator in this crime, and yes it was a man. Nobody is defending this man, nor should they. I hold this man completely responsible for the murder of these two. He will probably die for his crime, as well he should. But do you know what? The price he will pay for his crime will, unfortunately, not deter another piece of scum in the future from doing the same to another mother/child. And don't think for a moment that those jerks aren't out there. But mothers/children do not have to fall prey to them. That is why we question her decisions. Not to denigrate her, nor satisfy some sick urge to besmirch a dead mother. No, we can't at this point in time save this mother, but maybe we can make a mother in the future think twice about the person she brings into the life of her child. The fact that Jayden had never met this man suggests a lack of proper vetting of his character. Maybe we can help prevent such events in the future.

By the way, since you asked... yes, I am a man. But it really doesn't matter to me if the parent was a man or woman. I would respond exactly the same if the genders had been reversed. You seem to want to make a big deal of men being critical of this mother's decisions. I assure you, I would be just as concerned about the decision making if the parent had been a man murdered by a woman. Parents (of either gender) need to know that they have no higher responsibilty in this life greater than providing for the security and safety of their children. This child relied upon a parent to make decisions that kept him out of harms way. In this case, the parent was a woman. It could easily have happened with genders reverse. Please don't turn this into male bashing, or suggest that I am female bashing. I am not bashing anyone, I am trying to raise the awareness that parents of either gender must make the security of their children their utmost responsibility.

[marajade]

So deport pointed out earlier to me in this thread. Thanks.

[daybreakcoming]

That is about the silliest attempt at being high-handed that I've seen on here in a while. Bottom line, do you believe women deserve what they get? Never mind - you answered already.