Friday, November 15, 2019

Autopsy: She didn't kill him- she just stashed his body in the freezer for a year

An autopsy conducted today on Paul Barton, whose corpse was found in a freezer in his home at 2602 S. Vermont Avenue, Joplin, showed no signs of foul play, according to a Joplin Police Department news release.

Barton's wife, Barbara J. Watters, 67, faces a felony charge of bandonment of a corpse and is being held in the Joplin City Jail on a $100,000 cash-only bond

The Joplin Police Department, with the help of the U. S. Marshals Service, arrested Watters Thursday at 814 S. Jackson Avenue.








Barton's body had reportedly been dead for nearly a year. Joplin Police found the body while executing a search warrant at the home after receiving a tip that a body was being kept there.

The investigation is ongoing, according to the JPD news release.

(Note: The post has been edited to reflect that Watters is being held in the Joplin City Jail.)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

So was she keeping the death secret to continue receiving his social security check?

Anonymous said...

i think that's the consensus. "no it was cus she was afraid of the government!" and she was, according to neighbors' statements, apparently she believed the CIA was out to harvest his organs? but also probably because she was defrauding them by continuing to get his ssi... damn freak.

Anonymous said...

someone gave the cops a tip that the body was there - so this person knew the whole time and was cool with it, too?