A A Washington DC man confessed to police that he beheaded and dismembered a handyman before leaving the remains in his backyard, authorities said.
Lavaughn Barnes, 32, told police that after killing his victim, identified as Abdulio Arias-Lopez, he put the handyman’s head, arms and documents in a garbage bag, according to a report referring to court documents filed Thursday.
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That bag was later taken to a landfill by city sanitation officials, prosecutors said.
Metropolitan Police Department officers discovered the victim’s other remains on February 3 in the yard behind a duplex in Brookland where Barnes lived in the basement.
The 32-year-old was taken into custody Wednesday in connection with the death of Arias-Lopez, who reportedly showed color to Barnes before he was killed. Arias-Lopez had planned to paint the kitchen, but as he walked away, Barnes allegedly shot him with a stun gun, stabbed him twice and then dismembered him with an axe.
An official cause of death could not be determined, and Arias-Lopez’s remains were found to be skeletal and “mummified,” according to the report.
The report noted that investigators and experts suspect the remains may have been at the Brookland residence since November.
The remains in the yard were discovered when Barnes’ sister told him to clean bamboo in the yard, according to court documents. The remains were discovered in the process, and Barnes and his sister called the police, according to the documents.
A search warrant was carried out and Barnes later called and confessed to the gruesome murder, the report said. Cadaver dogs discovered traces of blood around the duplex, and various weapons were found, police said.
Barnes is charged with second-degree murder.
His attorney, Anthony Matthews, said at a DC Superior Court hearing Thursday that authorities had “no probable cause” to charge Barnes and that statements his client had given police were “suspicious at best.”
“This seems incredibly arbitrary,” said Judge Renee Raymond.
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“The deceased just happened to be there. The added step of decapitating the deceased and removing his limbs — for no reason that Mr. Barnes himself can point to — screams that there is no condition, or combination of conditions, that will adequately ensure the safety of the community.”
Barnes was jailed pending a March 29 hearing, according to the report.
