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. “

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A haunting image from Google Street View appears to show a man in a garden before he was decapitated and dismembered.

Officials found the decapitated body in the backyard of a Washington, DC home.

Washington, DC police believe the decapitated body found in the backyard was that of a handyman who was called home to workPhoto credit: Google Maps
The Google Street View photo was reportedly taken in July and shows the victim just months before he was killedPhoto credit: Google Maps
Dogs led investigators to knife evidence they believe may have been involved in the crime under the porch of a nearby homePhoto credit: fox 5

The victim was a handyman who was called to work indoors and his body is said to have been lying there for three months.

The Google Street View photo was reportedly taken in July and shows the worker just months before he was killed.

According to charges for Lavaughn Barnes, 32, dogs led investigators to knife evidence they believe involved in the crime under the porch of a nearby home.

The documents of the suspect arrested last week in connection with the discovered body learned that it is Abdulio Arias-Lopez.

Barnes lived in the house where Arias-Lopez worked, WRAL reported.

He lived in the basement, his sister and her daughter lived upstairs.

Barnes’ sister, when asked by authorities, identified the man in the Google Street View image as a handyman she’s known for five years.

She told them she last hired him in November, but as far as she knew, he never showed up for the job and stopped responding to their messages, according to WRAL.

When asked what happened when the handyman came to the house, Barnes admitted to killing Arias-Lopez in anger while he was working on the house in November.

Barnes recalled showing him paint because he wanted to paint the kitchen, according to ABC7.

As Arias-Lopez dumped the paint and walked away, Barnes tasered Arias-Lopez in the back.

The worker then asked Barnes why he was doing it, documents say.

Barnes replied that he was not in his right mind and began kicking and punching Arias-Lopez.

Before Barnes took his body to the basement, Barnes stabbed Arias-Lopez twice.

Barnes then went to an ACE hardware store to buy an ax to dismember Arias-Lopez’s body, court documents show.

Barnes was charged with second-degree armed murder.

Why Barnes was allegedly furious with the handyman remained unclear.

He told police he “passed out” when it happened.

Barnes said he panicked and recalled wondering, “What the hell did I just do?”

His sister told police he was “mentally challenged”.

He confessed to cutting off Arias-Lopez’s arms and then his head and tossing the body parts and his ID in the trash that garbage trucks took away, WRAL reported.

Barnes’ next court date is next month and he remains behind bars until then.

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