Latest from the Dallas Morning News Online:
Police find remains linked to missing boy, mom
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02:37 PM CST on Tuesday, February 22, 2005 [/size]
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By JEFF MOSIER / The Dallas Morning News [/size]
Stephen Barbee
Police are working to recover 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.
"We know that Mr. Barbee and Miss Underwood were at one time romantically involved," said Fort Worth police spokesman Lt. Gene Jones. "I can't tell you what their most current relationship status was."
Jones said earlier Tuesday that both bodies were found, but later said there was evidence of only one body in the wooded area in rural Denton County near Northlake, about 25 miles north of Fort Worth. Investigators were searching the area about 10 miles from where Underwood's car was found Monday, and Jones said police believe the other body is nearby.
A medical examiner was summoned to the scene as detectives raced to complete their investigation before foul weather forecast for later in the day.
A search 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.
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 Stephen 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.
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.
Lisa Underwood and her son, Jayden
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.