Workplace Romance
Jonathan Amerault was a 26-year-old biomedical manufacturing engineer who lived in Keene, New Hampshire. He graduated from Rochester Institute of Technology in 2018 and purchased his own home in 2019.
Also in 2019, Amerault landed a job at a prominent medical supply company named Teleflex Medical OEM, located in the adjacent town of Jeffrey. Soon, he developed a romantic relationship with one of his co-workers, Britany Barron. Little could he have imagined that this romance would result in tragedy...
Missing Man
On Monday September 21, 2020, Jonathan didn't show up at work. Later that night, his mother reported him missing to the police. Not having heard from him for three days, she asked in a Facebook post whether anyone knew where he was. All she knew was that he had been planning on going hiking over the weekend.
Shortly after, she updated the post, claiming that he had been spotted hiking on Saturday, but that his hiking gear was at his home. "So it looks like he came home and went missing in southern New Hampshire", she wrote. Where had he gone?
First Lead
The same afternoon he was reported missing, the police went to Jonathan's home but found no trace of him or his car, a gray Subaru Impreza. However, only a few hours later, the detectives landed on their first clue.
After contacting Jonathan's boss at Teleflex, Sgt. Stephen Sloper learned that he was not the only one who had skipped work on Monday. Apparently, another employee named Britany Barron had also missed work without notice.
He Had A Hunch
Later that day, the police went to Britany's house, where she lived with his boyfriend, Armando Barron. Neither Britany nor Armando were home, but they spoke to Armando's mother, who lived in an adjacent house.
Armando's mother told the police that her son and her daughter-in-law had gone hiking while she babysat their 9-year-old daughter, but they still hadn't come back. Sgt. Sloper had a hunch that they had something to do with Jonathan's disappearance, but that was yet to be proven...
Suspect On The Loose
On Monday night, the police returned to the Barrons' home and found Armando parking his Jeep, which belonged to his mother's partner. Britany, however, wasn't with him.
When interrogated by the police, Jonathan claimed that he hadn't seen his girlfriend since the day before and that she had gone hiking with some friends to a nearby town called Temple. He seemed deeply disheartened, but was he faking it? Did he really ignore his girlfriend's whereabouts?
A New Life
Utterly determined to track down Britany's whereabouts, Sgt. Sloper interviewed one of her friends, who showed him some of the last text messages she had sent her. Apparently, Britany had told her she was thinking of moving to New Mexico to start a new life.
"The text messages also indicated that Britany told Jonathan that she could not speak with him any longer and that she was taking some space from Armando Barron. Britany would not tell her friend where she was", Sloper said. Sloper, however, felt skeptical and didn't really buy the story...
Location Tracking
The following day, on Tuesday, September 22, the detectives received information regarding the location of Britany's and Jonathan's cell phones. Jonathan's started out near his home in Keene on Saturday morning but was spotted somewhere near Jaffrey that night. The phone's last ping was on Tuesday, 2:52 AM.
As regards Britany, her phone started out near Temple mountain on Saturday night, but it then moved into Jaffrey area nearly an hour before Jonathan's phone did. However, while both of their phones moved in tandem on Saturday night, Jonathan's stopped communicating with the tower by Sunday morning. But why?
Suspect Found
On Sunday around 7.30 AM, Britany's phone was located near Errol. It then moved to Dixville on Monday morning, and once again back to Errol around noon. These clues would eventually help the police track down the site of the crime.
However, curiously enough, Britany was found by chance by a group of conservation officers at an illegal campsite in the woods near Errol. She was just outside her tent, holding a gun in a pouch near her waist. Near the tent was some sort of giant lump covered by a large tarp. What was she hiding?
Hands Up
Britany was commanded to pack her belongings since she was trespassing private property. It wasn't long before one of the officers noticed there was some sort of object wrapped in a second, smaller tarp. "The object appeared to be in the shape of a body", Sloper pointed out.
The officers also spotted a stream of blood trickling down from beneath the tarp, so they handcuffed the young woman and sent her to the police for interrogation. Moments later, the conservation officers drove Sloper and his team to the campsite. You won't believe what they found!
Damning Evidence
Upon arriving at the scene, the detectives found Jonathan's Subaru hidden beneath the large brown tarp. Even though the vehicle was empty, there was a camping chair covered by bloodstains on the backseat.
Shortly after, a state trooper showed up to determine the condition of the object wrapped beneath the other tarp by the brook, which they believed to be a corpse. The expert confirmed it was a body and that its head had been decapitated with a saw. Immediately, an arrest warrant against Britany was issued.
The Spark That Lit The Bonfire
Instants later, police investigators interrogated Britany, who claimed she was innocent and blamed it on his boyfriend, Armando. According to her statement, it all began when her boyfriend searched her phone and found out she had been having an affair with his co-worker, Jonathan.
Possessed by rage, Armando punched Britany in the face, pointed her with a gun, and choked her until she fell unconscious. During the interview, the detectives noticed that her eyes were bruised and that she had marks on her neck, thus consistent with her confession. But then what?
The Torture Begins
According to Britany, on Saturday night, Armando used her phone to message Jonathan and lure him into Annette Wayside Park, inviting him to spend the weekend camping together. The moment Jonathan arrived, Armando "violently assaulted" him and placed a gun in Britany's hand, commanding her to shoot him.
"But Britany Barron would not place her finger on the trigger", Sloper stated. Immediately after, Armando dragged Jonathan to his car and ordered Britany to slice his wrists with a razor blade. This time, Britany followed his orders. The torture, however, had barely begun...
Shot To Death
After slitting his wrists, Armando forced Jonathan into his car and shot him three times, two to his head and one to the chest. Then, as if nothing had happened, he ordered Britany to head back to their house to pack their stuff to go camping.
As the warrant stated, "After Britany packed, Armando ordered Britany to drive Jonathan’s Subaru with Jonathan’s body towards Errol, to an area near where they had camped numerous times, while he followed behind in his Jeep". What was Armando planning on doing with Jonathan's corpse?
Victim Decapitated
Once they arrived at Errol, Armando bought two tarps in a store together with some lighter fluid, a cleanser, and a shovel. Then, they drove straight into the woods in search of a site to bury the body.
According to Britany, Armando ordered her to chop off his lover's head so that he wouldn't be identified through dental records. Fearing being shocked again, she submissively agreed and cut off Joathan's head with a saw they had just found at the campsite.
Suppressing The Evidence
As Britany finished her gruesome business, Armando dug a small grave to bury Jonathan's head. He hoped that if Jonathan's head was buried, then the police wouldn't be able to identify his body in case it was ever found.
Then, on Monday the next day, Armando drove to Keene just to send a few text messages from Jonathan's phone in order for his friends and family to believe he was alive. However, it was only a matter of time before his plan started backfiring.
Making Up A Lie
As Armando drove back to the campsite, he received a phone call from his mother telling him that the police had shown up looking for Britany in relation to Jonathan's missing person report.
Worried they would track her down, he commanded Britany to send some texts to her friends saying that she was planing on leaving to New Mexico to clear her head. He also smashed Jonathan's phone against a rock and scattered the pieces out the window. What happened next?
Parting Ways
As Armando drove her girlfriend back to the campsite, he told her it would be better for him to go back home and stay away from the crime scene. He also suggested she dispose Jonathan's body somewhere along the road, as far away from the campsite as possible.
Armando dropped Britany off at the campsite and left her with Jonathan's car as well as a small 9 mm pistol, the exact same one she had inside the pouch around her waist when the recreation officers found her. But what happened once she was caught?
No Way Out
After her initial interrogation, Britany was faced with some pretty incriminating evidence: not only did they find Jonathan's car and his dead corpse under the tarps, but they also landed on his bloodstained clothes and the saw with which he had been decapitated.
Finding no way out, Britany decided to collaborate with the police. Not only did she confess to the crimes, but she also pointed out the exact place where her boyfriend had made her scatter the pieces of Jonathan's cell phone. Now, it was time to catch Armando...
Tracking Down The Killer
On Tuesday night, the police phoned Armando, asking if he could go to the police station to discuss his girlfriend's disappearance. However, he suddenly grew defensive, claiming that he was on his way to go camping with his 9-year-old daughter.
He finally agreed to go to the police station, but he claimed it would take him at least a couple of hours. Unsurprisingly, he never showed up. Later that day, the Jeep he had driven that weekend was found in a parking lot near Jaffrey, its seat marked with bloodstains. Where could he be?
Finally Caught
Soon, the police found out that another vehicle, a Toyota Tundra that belonged to Armando's mother's boyfriend, had also gone missing. On Tuesday afternoon, Armando was finally found driving his in-law's car, carrying a shovel and a few bags of soil and concrete in the backseat.
Armando was immediately put under arrest for assaulting his wife and sent to the police barracks for interrogation. When taken into custody, he was wearing clean clothes but still had specks of dried blood on his arms and legs. Where is he now?
Justice Was Made
Even though he initially pleaded not guilty, Armando was finally charged with murder for killing Jonathan while at the same time engaging in kidnapping. As to Britany, she was charged with three counts of falsification of physical evidence.
On September 2020, a defense lawyer argued that Britany had acted out of fear of her boyfriend. "Armando beat her severely and threatened her", attorney R. Guerriero said during the hearing.