Man Beat Wife With Fireplace Poker for Cheating & Left Her to Die: Police

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A Pennsylvania man has been charged with criminal homicide after he confessed to beating his wife to death with a fireplace poker following an argument about infidelity, authorities said. Daniel Barrett, 40, turned himself in to the Plymouth Township police station on Monday, January 11, and told officers he killed his wife, U.S. Air Force veteran Mary Barrett, two days earlier.

WNEP reported the incident occurred after Barrett accused his wife of cheating on him during an argument, he told investigators, and his wife admitted that she had been “spending time” with someone else. He said he then punched her, knocking her down. The outlet reported that when officers went to Barrett’s home, they found a trail of blood down to the basement where Mary Barrett’s body was found.

Barrett is being held at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility without bail on a charge of criminal homicide. His preliminary hearing has been set for January 20, the Citizens’ Voice reported.


Barrett Told Officers He Blacked Out as He Beat His Wife With a Fireplace Poker & Stabbed Her

Barrett went to the police station at around 5 p.m. on Monday and court documents stated that he appeared “emotional and excited” as he confessed to the crime, according to Fox56. Police went to the couple’s home on the 100 block of Gaylord Avenue, where they found Mary Barrett “lying on the ground covered in blood with a hole in her skull,” the outlet described, citing court documents.

Barrett told police officers that he couldn’t remember much of the incident because he blacked out. He said he was suddenly holding fireplace tongs and beating his wife with them. He said after beating her, he grabbed a knife and stabbed her in the back, WNEP reported.

Authorities reported that Barrett confessed that he was splashing water on his face when he heard his wife making noises, Fox56 wrote. He told investigators that he dragged her down to the basement where he left her. According to the outlet, he only returned the following day to cover her body with a sheet.


Mary Barrett Was a Mother & U.S. Air Force Veteran Who Served 3 Tours of Duty

Local outlet Citizens’ Voice reported that Daniel and Mary Barrett married in May 2015. Mary Susan Barrett was also a mother and had a 14-year-old daughter from a previous relationship, Fox56 reported. Mary Barrett served in the U.S. Air Force for around 20 years, serving three tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan before retiring in 2014, the Citizens’ Voice wrote.

When she retired from the Air Force, she moved to Plymouth and began working for the Plymouth Borough as a secretary. One of her neighbors remembered her as a proud veteran of the military, a loving and dedicated mother and a friendly neighbor, according to the local outlet.

A neighbor spoke to WNEP and said every morning he would see Mary Barrett pulling back her curtains in front of a stained glass window at the Barrett residence. He told the outlet that when he didn’t see her doing that on the weekend, he worried something was wrong.

The Veterans of Foreign Wars, Post 1425, in Plymouth, where Mary Barrett served as the senior vice president, wrote on Facebook, “She was a true patriot that served her country in the U.S. Air Force. There was nothing Mary wouldn’t do for her friends and family and nothing she couldn’t achieve with her can do and positive attitude. She will be sorely missed but NEVER forgotten. Rest easy Mary until we meet again.”

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