A husband shot his wife and mother-of-two 13 times in the face while her
sons were in the next room because she 'wouldn't let me sleep',
according to police. Dorian Barker, 31, was arrested on Monday night in
Indianapolis for allegedly killing wife Penny Jones-Barker, 28, after
cops were called to a domestic disturbance at around 10.15pm.
Police said that when they arrived they found Barker
standing on his front step, and when they asked him if everything was OK
he responded 'yes', before adding: 'No, I just killed my wife.'
According to court documents seen by the Indianapolis Star, as Barker
was led to a police car he told police: 'She's been trying to kill me
all day. She wouldn't let me sleep.'
At the station, while being read his Miranda rights, Barker is reported
to have interrupted the officer by reaching across the table and
crumpling the paper he was reading from into a ball.
Inside the home officers said they found Jones, who had only been
married to Barker since July, laying on the sofa with gunshot wounds to
the face.
A Smith and Wesson .40 caliber pistol was found on the floor nearby,
while 13 shell casing were recovered by crime lab technicians.
Jones's sons, aged 5 and 11, were asleep in an adjoining room at the
time of the killing and are now in the custody of child protective
services.
The murder was apparently witnessed by Jones's sister, who was sitting
and smoking on the sofa with her when Barker came into the room. The
sister said that Jones told Barker to put the gun away, and that he was
scaring her, but he refused to do so.
Instead, the sister says, Barker walked around to the front of the sofa
before unloading the weapon's entire magazine into her head.
The sister said she ran into a back bedroom before deciding to escape,
then went back into the living room. There, she picked up the weapon and
intended to take it, but thought better of it and dropped it before
leaving the house.
Barker has been arrested twice before on domestic violence charges
during previous relationships, but both times the charges were
dismissed.
In 2007 he was charged with strangulation, battery and domestic battery,
while in 2012 he was again charged with strangulation, intimidation,
two counts of battery and two counts of domestic battery.
He is now being held in custody accused of murder.
According to the Indy Star, Jones drove buses and worked as a home health aide with the elderly in order to support her family.
Facebook posts in the days before she was killed show her at the mall meeting Santa with her son and a young nephew.
On December 13, just a day before she died, she posted an image of a
Christmas tree in the family living room, saying: 'Christmas at the
Barker's. Now who's going to help me wrap all these gifts?'
Devnee Kendrick, who identified herself as Jones's sister online, wrote:
'Oh Penny I can't stop crying sister, oh my God sister my heart aches
for you.
'I just want my sister back. I have never felt anything like this. I just can't stomach this s***. I'm so sick Penny, I'm sick.
