MO -Woman arrested after man found deceased in Freezer - Nov 2019

[Jewels53]

Authorities have arrested a woman whose husband’s corpse was found in a freezer in a bedroom inside their southwest Missouri home, where it may have been stored for nearly a year.

Barbara Watters, 67, of Joplin, was arrested Thursday, a day after she was charged with abandonment of a corpse, a felony that is punishable by up to four years in prison.

The grim discovery was made after a witness told police that Paul Barton’s body had been in Watters’ freezer since his death on Dec. 30, 2018, a police officer wrote in the probable cause affidavit.

Watters was arrested without incident at a home in Joplin, with the assistance of the U.S. Marshals Service, The Joplin Globe reported.

"She was standing in the yard there," police Capt. Nick Jimenez said.

Missouri woman charged after husband’s body found in freezer

 

[Jewels53]

The arrest ended a search that began Tuesday when officers found the body of Paul Barton in a freezer in the bedroom of the couple’s home.

Watters is was wanted on a warrant charging her with abandonment of a corpse.

A probable cause affidavit says a witness told police that Barton died in December 2018.

Joplin, Missouri, woman whose husband’s body in freezer arrested

 

[Jewels53]

A Missouri woman whose husband’s body was found in a freezer denied him medical care as he battled terminal illness and blocked police and social workers from entering the home, according to records obtained by The Associated Press.

Barbara Watters, 67, of Joplin, told police her husband, Paul Barton, had Lou Gehrig’s disease, a progressive nervous system disease that also is known as ALS, said police Capt. Nick Jimenez said. She feared a doctor wanted to harvest his brain for research, according to police documents the AP obtained through a records request.

Jimenez said there is no evidence that there was a basis for her concerns, and police wrote in a probable cause affidavit filed in support of an abandonment of a corpse charge that she had unspecified “mental disorders.”

The abandonment charge, which is punishable by up to four years in prison, was filed last week after a witness told police that he had died on Dec. 30, 2018, and that his body had been in her freezer in his wife’s bedroom ever since, the affidavit said. Police, who contacted the witness while investigating an unrelated arson in the neighborhood, say an autopsy found no signs of foul play in his death. Neither the witness nor the witness’ relationship to the couple has been released.

Wife of man found in freezer feared doctors, records say

 

[Jewels53]

Reading further down in the article I believe she abused him. Every time someone of authority came to check she wouldn't let them in or see him.

Such a sad case. I wonder how Mr Barton would have been if he had seen Drs?

moo jmo

 

[meanmaryjean]

Reading further down in the article I believe she abused him. Every time someone of authority came to check she wouldn't let them in or see him.

Such a sad case. I wonder how Mr Barton would have been if he had seen Drs?

moo jmo

Not to be indelicate- but he would probably be dead. ALS is a relentless uniformly fatal condition with no cure, and only symptomatic treatment. Some patients elect being placed on a ventilator- but in my experience most do not. RIP sir- ALS took my son's beloved baseball coach.

 

[madfrank]

Barbara Watters sues to get her husband’s body returned

Joplin, Mo - The woman who kept her husband’s body in a freezer for nearly a year is suing to get her husband’s body back.

Barbara Watters, is suing the Joplin Police Department and the Jasper County coroner. This week, her lawsuit was moved to a federal court by request from the attorney for the police department.

In the lawsuit, she claims the coroner is holding Paul Barton’s body and ignoring her demand letter for him to be released back to her. In the court documents she alleges that the police are still holding personal documents and items that belong to her despite all charges being dropped against her.
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[Marg from Oz]

Well, she seems quite lucid now. Starting court proceedings.

 

[MajorHoople]

The police need to check and see if she has been collection his social security benefits since his death. If so, she could be charged with that.