DC man tells police he decapitated handyman, left stays in yard – KIRO 7 Information Seattle

WASHINGTON — A 32-year-old man in Washington, DC told police he beheaded a handyman and cut off his arms before dumping some of his remains in the backyard of his apartment building, authorities said.

According to court documents filed Thursday, police said Lavaughn Barnes confessed to putting the victim’s head, arms and personal documents in a garbage bag, the Washington Post reported. According to the newspaper, prosecutors said the bag was picked up by city cleaners and taken to a landfill.

On February 3, Metropolitan Police Department officers discovered the remaining human remains in the yard behind a semi-detached house in the Brookland neighborhood of the city’s northeast. According to the Post, Barnes lived in the basement.

According to police, Barnes was arrested Wednesday in connection with the death of Abdulio Arias-Lopez, whose remains were found in the bag and in the yard, WJLA-TV reported. According to the television station, he was charged with second-degree murder.

According to court documents, Arias-Lopez showed Barnes paint he intended to use in the duplex’s kitchen. As Arias-Lopez walked away, Barnes reportedly followed him and pointed a stun gun to his back, WJLA reported.

Documents show Barnes confessed to stabbing Arias-Lopez twice before taking his body to the basement, according to the TV network. Barnes then allegedly said he went to a hardware store to buy an ax, which he used to chop up the handyman.

Police said the coroner had not determined a cause of death, but there was evidence the victim had stab wounds and was shot, the Post reported. Police said the remains found were skeletons and “mummified,” according to the newspaper.

Forest experts estimated that Arias-Lopez’s remains had been at the residence since November.

Police say the remains were found after Barnes’ sister told him on February 3 to clear the bamboo overgrowth in the garden, the Post reported. According to court documents, Barnes told his sister he found human remains and they both called police, the newspaper reported.

Police conducted a search of the property and continued their investigation, but Barnes reportedly called authorities on Wednesday and confessed to the killing, WRC-TV reported.

Officers using cadaver dogs found evidence of blood in the basement where Barnes lived, as well as on the back door of the basement and the back porch of the semi-detached house, the Post reported.

Police said they also found a machete, a large fixed-blade knife, four jackknives, brass knuckles, a stun gun, a drain cover, kitchen knives and cleaning supplies.

At a hearing in DC Superior Court Thursday, Barnes’ attorney Anthony Matthews argued police had “no probable cause” to charge his client, the Post reported. He also questioned the credibility of his statements to investigators, calling them “suspicious at best.”

But Judge Renee Raymond ordered Barnes detained pending a March 29 hearing.

“It seems incredibly random,” Raymond said. “The deceased happened to be there. The additional step of decapitating the deceased and removing his limbs—for no reason that Mr. Barnes himself can identify—makes it clear that there is no condition, or combination of conditions, that can reasonably ensure the safety of the community. “