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Daniel Barrett, 40, of Plymouth (Luzerne County), beat and stabbed his wife, Mary Barrett, to death with a fire poker in January 2021, on suspicions she had been cheating on him, WNEP reported at the time.
After Barrett confessed to the crime on Jan. 11, 2021, officers executing a warrant at the home found his wife's body in the basement "clearly deceased" and covered with a sheet.
The couple had an argument over his accusations of her infidelity at their home in the 100 block of Gaylord Avenue in Plymouth the previous weekend, CitizensVoice reports.
Daniel punched Mary and pushed her to the ground near the fireplace after she "admitted to spending time with someone else," as stated in court documents obtained by WNEP. The next thing Barrett remembers is standing over his wife’s body with fireplace tongs, the outlet said.
During the argument, Daniel he stabbed Mary first with a knife and then with the fire poker in her lower back, news reports say.
He then went and washed his face, but heard his wife moaning, so he dragged her to the basement only returning to later cover her with a sheet, the outlets report Barrett told police.
When friends began reaching out to check on Mary, Daniel communicated with them through his wife’s Facebook account as if she was still alive, according to a release by the Pennsylvania AG's office.
Mary Barrett had a 14-year-old child with Robert Atkinson, Fox 56 WOLF says.
The day after the stabbing Daniel Barrett called Robert Atkinson and told him that he’d killed her, according to the criminal complaint obtained by The Citizens’ Voice.
When police went to the home to investigate, they found a trail of blood to the basement, where Mary's body was found — stabbed with a hole in her skull, and a fireplace poker was laying alongside of her body, the outlet reported citing police.
Investigators found “no evidence of an affair,” and this was all jealousy, Deputy Attorney General Angela Sprerrazza said reports The Citizens Voice.
The couple had been married for five years and Mary was a retired member of the US Air Force in 2014 and was working as a secretary for Plymouth Borough prior to her death, the outlet reports.
Luzerne County President Judge Michael T. Vough accepted Barretts plea of guilty on Monday, Feb. 7, according to a report by The Citizens’ Voice.
Barrett faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole, according to the outlet.
Click here to read more from The Citizens' Voice.
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