CrabbyCancer69

This story has been all over my town since Saturday morning...it's so tragic.

Man charged in death of FW mom, son

05:41 PM CST on Tuesday, February 22, 2005


By JEFF MOSIER / The Dallas Morning News





Stephen Barbee Police recovered the bodies of a pregnant Fort Worth woman and her 7-year-old son Tuesday, just hours after a man was arrested in Tyler and booked on a capital murder charge.

Stephen Dale Barbee, 37, of Fort Worth was booked into the Smith County Jail at 1:15 a.m. in connection with the deaths of Lisa Underwood, 34, and her son, Jayden. Bond was set at $2 million. He was then transported back to Fort Worth and arraigned at noon.

Fort Worth police said Barbee has been charged with one count of capital murder with multiple victims.

Police spokesman Lt. Gene Jones said both bodies were found in a makeshift grave in a wooded area in rural Denton County near Northlake, about 25 miles north of Fort Worth. A medical examiner was summoned to the scene as detectives raced to complete their investigation before foul weather forecast for later in the day.

Jones said the bodies had not been positively identified but that the ages were "consistent" with those of Underwood and her son. Jones said Barbee led police to the site, after providing a confession to investigators.

"We know that Mr. Barbee and Miss Underwood were at one time romantically involved," Jones said. "I can't tell you what their most current relationship status was."

An arrest warrant affidavit made public Tuesday afternoon said that the Fort Worth police investigation found that Barbee was the father of Underwood's unborn child. The affidavit said that Barbee told police after his arrest in Tyler that he had argued with Lisa Underwood because he would not leave his wife. During the argument, Barbee said that Underwood kicked him in the leg. He then punched her in the face several times, causing her nose to bleed. At that point, Barbee held Underwood on the floor and suffocated her. During the fight, Jayden entered the living room screaming, and Barbee told police that he also suffocated the child. He put the bodies in the back of the SUV, drove to Denton County and dug a shallow grave.

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The search warrant affidavit said that Fort Worth detectives first interviewed Barbee on Saturday evening. Barbee told police he was at his business partner's residence when the Underwoods disappeared.

Early Saturday morning, a Denton County Sheriff's deputy stopped what he believed to be a suspicious man wearing a black long-sleeve shirt and a pair of jeans covered in gray mud. The man, who was Barbee, gave the deputy a false name and date of birth. As Deputy David Brawner approached the man at Interstate 35W and Vintage Drive, the man ran into a wooded area. Deputy Brawner searched but could not find the man.

During Fort Worth police officers’ interview with Barbee Saturday night, they asked him what he had been wearing the night before, and Barbee showed them muddy jeans and a dark shirt. The jeans were in a trashcan, and Barbee said he had thrown them away because they had a hole in the knee.

Barbee's business partner, Ron Dodd, told police that he was with Barbee during the early morning hours on Saturday. Barbee requested a ride to an elementary school on Old Denton Road. Dodd let Barbee out of the car, and later Barbee called him to come pick him up. Barbee told Dodd that he had visited a female friend he had gotten pregnant and told Dodd, "I just can't do it." Dodd assumed that meant he was going to break up with the woman.


Courtesy
Lisa Underwood and her son, Jayden Later, Barbee asked Dodd to take him back to the same location and dropped him off. Barbee called later and asked for him to bring him gasoline near FM 407 east of Justin. When Dodd arrived, Barbee was standing near a blue SUV, and when Dodd handed Barbee the gas can, Dodd told police he saw the bodies of a woman and boy in the back. Dodd said he became shaken and left the scene. A short time later he received another call from Barbee saying that his truck had broken down and he needed a ride.

When Dodd arrived, Barbee was being questioned by the Denton County deputy. Dodd drove away and later was called again by Barbee to be picked up. The affidavit said that's when Barbee told his business partner he had killed the woman and her child and dumped them on FM 407 at the point he had run out of gas.

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 had 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 a bagel shop she owned. 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.

Jayden Underwood was a first-grader at North Riverside Elementary School in the Keller school district.

"This is a sensless tragedy," said Keller school district spokesman Jason Meyer. "Jayden Underwood was a well-loved student, and he and his mother were part of the North Riverside family."

Lisa Underwood served on the school's Campus Education Improvement Committee.

The school district has had counselors on the campus and will keep them there through the week to help children deal with Jayden's death.

"We have TAKS testing going on this week so we are trying to provide as normal an atmosphere as possible but it's difficult," Mr. Meyer said.

Underwood and her son were reported missing on Saturday after they failed to appear at a baby shower at Underwood's bagel shop in Fort Worth. A pool of blood was found in her home, but there was no sign of forced entry, police said.

Underwood's sport utility vehicle was discovered abandoned in a creek bed in Denton on Monday.

Early Tuesday morning, acting on a tip, police searched a house in the 4100 block of Walnut Creek Court at The Hills at Fossil Creek subdivision in North Fort Worth. Investigators removed some material and confirmed they found what they had been looking for, but they would not be more specific.

No one was at home during the search.

Underwood was seven months pregnant. The disappearance of Jayden and his mother triggered an Amber Alert.

Well wishes and several notes piled up at the bagel shop, which she co-owned 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."

sick little jag

this is so sad. when i first heard about this story and how they had found blood in her home and a sign of struggle...you just had to know that they were probably dead. and it's so sad to be thinking that way, but things like this are happening so much more prominently lately...you can't help but be cynical.

In Fair Verona

It's been all over my town too. I live less than an hour away from FW. It's very sad, especially how the friend of the son misses him and how she was seven months pregnant.

No1important

Man is it just me or as there been more than the normal tragic sad stories latly. It makes me wonder what the hell is wrong with humanity.

CrabbyCancer69

where do you live? I live right outside of FW too

I know there's stories like this all the time, but it hit close to home and the place where they found her car is right near where I work....blah.

mh67511

I don't want to sound callous or anything, I just don't know why all these tragic stories are making national news lately. I'm not saying what happened isn't terrible, but people die every day in cities all over this country...I just don't see why it makes the top story on national news stations as it doesn't really effect most of the nation.

Terrible what happened though.

CrabbyCancer69

maybe it doesn't affect you personally, but it affects somebody, somewhere. That in and of itself makes it important.

mh67511

Didn't say it wasn't important. I just don't think it's national news. The reason I said this was because I was surprised to see it featured as the top story on a cable news channel.