John Jefferson
Background: Investigators search the home of Jessica Barnes on Sept. 12, 2024 (WYFF/YouTube). Insets, clockwise from top left: Brandon Barnes, Victoria Tippett, Kendall Mims (Anderson County Sheriff’s Office), Jessica Barnes (Town of Pendleton Police Department).
Police in South Carolina say a woman’s husband murdered her in their home — and that two housemates helped him hide her body.
Jessica Barnes, 20, was reported missing by her mother on Sept. 10, a statement from the Pendleton Police Department said on Wednesday. She told police that her daughter hadn’t been seen since Aug. 1, local CBS affiliate WSPA.
State law enforcement was called in to help with the investigation, which ultimately led to the discovery of human remains in Twin Lakes, around 5 miles away from Pendleton.
Those remains were confirmed through dental records to be those of Jessica Barnes on Tuesday.
By Wednesday, Barnes’ husband, Brandon Barnes, and two roommates, Kendall Mims and Victoria Tippett, were arrested and charged with Jessica Barnes’ murder.
According to an arrest affidavit, Brandon Barnes killed Jessica Barnes on Aug. 2 by “using his arms to strangle her to death.”
“The defendant did admit to the murder after being advised of Miranda,” the affidavit said.
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Tippett is accused of witnessing the murder and helping Brandon Barnes get rid of his wife’s body. According to a probable cause affidavit, Tippett failed to tell law enforcement about the murder, and she “did admit to disposing of the victim’s body to obstruct justice of murder by defendant Brandon Barnes.”
“The defendant did admit to law enforcement to the incident after being advised of Miranda,” the affidavit adds.
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Mims “did render assistance” to Brandon Barns “to avoid the consequences of his crime,” the affidavit said, by helping Brandon Barns dispose of Jessica Barnes’ body. She, too, admitted this to investigators, according to the affidavit. A separate affidavit says that in addition to helping Brandon Barnes get rid of Jessica Barnes’ body, Mims “did have multiple opportunities to report the murder to law enforcement and did fail to do so.”
Brandon Barnes is charged with murder, while Tippett and Mims are charged with being an accessory after the fact, obstruction of justice, and neglecting to report a crime.
They were scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday.
Pendleton is located in the western part of South Carolina, around 130 miles northwest of Columbia.
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