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
You're being too logical.
I went to high school at Marcus so I used to run around 407 all the time. Back then most of the land was wooded or part of someone's ranch, now it doesn't look much different than Lewisville except it's newer. I haven't been able to watch the news this evening because it is too personal. I hope they're able to recover them all to give her family and friends the chance to say goodbye and begin healing these deep, rending wounds. My heart is broken for all those who loved Lisa, Jayden and Baby.
Dat be the Irving/Grand Prarie area.I'm in far NE Dallas county. Just 3 miles from Rockwall county.
Haven't a clue.
While it is getting difficult to be a Christian, It's also more desirabel than the alternative.
Scott Peterson!
Barbee had 2 businesses, one a tree removing service and one a concrete coring company, called Cowboy Coring. My husband, who is retired, used to work for a mechanical contractor and they used Cowboy Coring as a subcontractor. He said the moto that they had on their trucks and caps and whatnot was "Your Hole Is Our Goal". I accused him of lying and did a google search. He wasn't lying.
Barbee has said that Underwood was blackmailing him for money, that she would tell his wife if he didn't pony up some cash.
I believe I was replying to Justa's post which was attempting to create the divide. And of course there are those here who are suggesting she got what she deserved due to her poor choices. If we all were paid in murder for our poor choices in life.......... Go back and read, comprehend.
I do agree with this statement in your post *Unfortunately, we can't stop the murderers before they commit their act, but we can try to make people more aware of the dangers they may expose themselves to.*
- start a new vanity thread on that subject, what don't U?
Yes, and the best way not to fall prey to them is 1) to stay away from them and 2) don't adopt a defenseless, rabbit mentality.
This woman was killed fighting with a scumbag because he wouldn't leave his wife for her. She held a viper to her chest and he bit her.
Scott Peterson!
So I guess Scott Peterson's murdering of his wife and baby means that more married men kill their spouses and children then unmarried men based on one high profile case?
You really got me there on that one...
Are you saying that married men are more apt to kill their spouses and children then boyfriends are apt to kill their girlfriends and children? I don't believe you want to make that statement do you?
If you bothered to read my post you would have understood that I said I bet statistics would bear my contention out.
Truthluva wasn't attempting to start a gender war discussion. That got started a LONG time ago.
How do you know that Barbee didn't commit to marry Underwood? Did you ever even consider that possibility? Now I'm sure you will say we can only go on what we have heard. That makes it all so convenient to espouse some the the BS I've seen on this thread.
I didn't see any sarcasm in the post. It was an honest evaluation on the only way to assure, 100%, that a woman could avoid being murdered by a man. All this crap about she should have kept her legs shut, she made bad decisions, she this, she that. SHE's dead and HE killed her and HIS baby. This is not nearly so complicated as the pscho babble that's being spewed.
They had a relationship that created new life. Someone (him or her) didn't want it to go any further. He moved on. She expected support. He didn't like the way it might turn out. She kicked him. He murdered her, her son and their unborn child. Well, at least he won't have pay that da## child support, but his new wife knows. Hmmm was it worth it. Never mind...let's talk about HER bad decisions. yada yada
HE made the bad decision when he murdered her. Why isn't it his mistake for having unprotected sex with a woman he wasn't married to? Or, is that okay for guys, but the ladies are supposed to know better?
No one on this forum has any idea what their relationship was like when they were together. No one. You are making assumptions that because the boy is SAID to have never meet the man that the relationship wasn't good at that time. That's an assumption...just like many of the other posts on this thread. Some posters have to find some lofty "reason" that something went bad.
I think I know what Hannity was talking about now.
No, I'm not saying that married men are more apt to kill thier wives, I'm just saying that if the disposition to kill is there than it don't matter what the marital status of the killer is.
Didn't I say this in my original post?
"What does this mean?"
It means we shouldn't assume she slept around and trusted her daughter with strangers..
Well hey, stranger! How're ya doin'?
What did Hannity say?
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