Transcript of Episode 358

Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence and is not intended for all audiences. Listener discretion is advised.

And then he gave me the knife, and even then he was concerned about me walking behind him. And I'm like, well, we both got trust issues now, don't we?

There is no honor amongst thieves. Or murderers, really. Sometimes people that listen to this show get things a little confused. They think I— hate this race or this sex or this pansexual binary dogkin or whatever the fuck you want to be, I really couldn't care less. Sure, you're unusual, but I think that's what you're going for. But this show is about murder, not your personal political causes. So if I make fun of some asshole that's pretending to be a victim and is instead a killer, well, too bad. We're gonna keep doing what we do, and if you don't like it, well, you know where the door is. You don't have to announce your exit. It's Monday, September 23rd, 2020. Keene, New Hampshire. That's the day 25-year-old Jonathan Amarault was reported missing. At first, nothing about it seemed urgent. John was a hiker—one of those obsessed types. The mountains of New Hampshire were his second home. Long, grueling day trips sometimes stretching into the night—that was normal for him. He had already conquered 99 of the 100 highest peaks in New England and nearly every 4,000-footer in the region. So, when his mother didn't hear from him over the weekend, she wasn't that alarmed.

Maybe he was just out of service. Maybe he was with friends. He had plenty of them. John had a full life. But then Monday came and John didn't show up to work. That's when the unease set in. Because that just wasn't like him. John was dependable. Focused. At just 25, he was already a biomedical engineer at Teleflex Medical, building devices that helped save lives. He showed up for work, he checked in, and he loved his career. So, his mother made the call. She asked the police to check in on him. But when officers arrived at his quiet Cape-style home, John was gone. And so was his Subaru Impreza, the one with the "Run Happy" bumper sticker. State police looking for a missing 25-year-old man from Keene. Police say that Jonathan Armarault was reported missing after he failed to show up for work in Jaffrey. His family hasn't heard from him since Saturday. He may be driving a gray Subaru Impreza with New Hampshire plates. Anyone with information asked to contact state police. While John's friends rallied on social media to try to find their friend, the police pinged his phone and discovered its last known location was near a hiking trail in Jaffrey, New Hampshire.

A desperate scramble started. Most of John's friends and family were concerned that something had happened to him. Out on the trail. Maybe he was just sitting there with a broken leg, waiting for help. But the police got to work chasing down leads. When they spoke with Teleflex, they learned that not only had John mysteriously been absent from work, but another Teleflex employee, 31-year-old Brittney Barron, had also failed to show up on that same day. On Monday, September 21st, Brittney had called HR,— not to call out sick or a personal day, but to quit. Just like that. After 6 and a half steady years at Teleflex, she walked away without a warning. It didn't make sense. Brittney was a married mother of 3 young girls. Her husband did not work. She was the sole earner for the family, and she loved Teleflex. She too had been moving up in the ranks over the years. Brittney Barron lived in Jeffery, New Hampshire with her husband Armando and their 3 kids. They lived modestly on one side of a duplex house and Armando's parents lived on the other side. When the police arrived at the Barron house, they found Armando's mother, her hands full watching her granddaughters because apparently Brittney and Armando were on a hiking trip.

Brittney's mother-in-law told the police that she hadn't seen Brittney since Saturday when the couple left for the mountains.

I think it was Sunday when she called my cell phone, but unfortunately, you know, I'm so bad with listening to messages that it's full. I don't bother to delete it, believe me, because what's the point, you know, if it gets her in trouble. And then she just She just text me and she says, "Mama, please let the phone ring to get to the voicemail.

I want to leave a voicemail to the girls." Brittney had called and asked her mother-in-law to let the phone go to voicemail so she could leave a special message for her daughters. But her mother-in-law couldn't figure out how to delete her old messages. So she just had to relay what Brittney said.

And then she says, but please tell my girls I love them with all of my heart. And then she mentioned all the names of the girls. And then she said, uh, remember, girls, you're a team. Uh, please pray continuously, pray to Yahuwah. We call God Yahuwah. And then she goes, be good to your grandma, abuelita. That's Spanish, grandma, abuelita. And to your papa. And I'll be— I'll see you guys soon.

I love you, my girls. Her message was less like an update from her mom on a hiking trip and more like a dark goodbye.

She called back on Monday. Yeah, she called back on Monday, but earlier. And then she goes, she talked to them. She talked to all of them. All of them. And then she says that she loved them and she's taking time off. Taking a little time because she wants to heal. She wants to get the marriage, you know, being a better mother.

That's when Brittany's oldest daughter jumped on the phone.

Where are you at, Mom? Then she goes, I am in a safe place.

Though Brittany had told Teleflex she was quitting, she also made sure to text a group chat with close friends and coworkers to let them know what was going on. She told her friends she had left Armando and that she was going home to New Mexico to stay with her family. She said she needed to get herself "right again." When her friends asked about her daughters, she said she didn't want to bring them along on "mommy's mental breakdown." She claimed that Armando was being extremely patient and nice about the whole thing, which is interesting. She confessed she felt like a failure, as a mother. But here's the thing. Armando and Brittany left on Saturday. That same day, people stopped hearing from John. By Monday, Brittany was communicating with people only by phone or text, but Armando had returned home without his wife.

And Brittany was here as well yesterday with Armando? No. No, she wasn't? No, she wasn't.

Okay. Um, and—

When, when did, when Yesterday, when did you first see Armando? Was he here all day yesterday?

Yeah, he got here, uh, Monday night.

Armando's mother didn't find it strange. She thought this whole trip was a spiritual way to bring the couple closer to God. Yeah, that's what she thought.

It's because he told me that he needed— also, he said that he needed some space, some time off, you know. And because we pray and fast, I think that this— I was thinking that this is like a spiritual thing, right? That they want our time to pray and be better, right? Because we believe Jesus is coming soon, right? Okay. And we have been trying our best to be spiritual beings, right?

And was he here in the morning and then left and came back? When? Yesterday? Yesterday?

Or Monday? Monday he sleep here with his bed with the girls and me. I sleep in the feet with the girls.

Something about Armando's mother felt a little off. Maybe it was the language barrier. English wasn't her first language, but it didn't feel like confusion. What mattered was this. Armando came home without his wife. Behind him was a trail of strange phone calls and what sounded like a goodbye message from Brittany to her girls. Then, after grabbing some food and supplies, Armando took off again, saying he too needed space. A little while later, he called his mother. This time, though, he didn't sound like himself.

Then he called me. No, no, no, no, no. And then he says, Mom, Brittany is not with me. And then he said, I left her. I don't know what he says. I left her and I'm just going, I'm just going to be okay. I said, okay. Then I said, what happened? And then he says, it's because she says that she needs time, but she is not with me. And I said, okay. And I said, "How are you doing?" And he was crying. He was crying and he says, "I don't feel good, Mom. I don't know," he says.

In her text chain with her friends, Brittney also mentioned that Teleflex had sent a police officer to her house despite her having called in and quit. They knew her that well and were concerned that her impromptu exit felt wrong. Her friends let her know that John also hadn't shown up to work. And that people were actively searching for him. Brittney never called her friends, she just texted. And her friends thought that the messages didn't sound like her. But was there a connection between Brittney and John beyond the fact that they both worked at Teleflex? It was a massive company. Brittney worked as a machine operator and John was a biomedical engineer. They weren't even in the same divisions. Brittany was 6 years older than John, with a husband and kids. In what world would they be friends? But something was pulling their stories together. Then, on Tuesday morning, just 24 hours after John's mother had reported him missing, New Hampshire Fish and Game found something in the woods of Jaffrey. It was a woman, all alone, Just her and her dog. She'd set up a makeshift camp in a place no one was supposed to be.

She was shaking. Her face was destroyed. Both eyes were black, the bruises flooding down to her puffy cheeks. One eye was completely swollen shut, filled with blood. She couldn't even see out of it. The top of her head was split open, still bleeding, and she was crying as a bloody saw sat a few feet away on the dirt. This was Brittney Barron. A few feet behind her, Fish and Game found John's missing Subaru Impreza. 25-year-old Jonathan Amaral had been reported missing in September of 2020. He was a biomedical engineer who worked at a company called Teleflex in Jaffrey, New Hampshire. Smart, driven, and aspirational, John had climbed the ladder at work, purchased his first home, and was living life to the fullest when he disappeared. But now police had found his coworker, 31-year-old Brittanee Barron, in a desolate area of the New Hampshire wilderness, beaten, to a pulp and camping out with John's car parked behind her. The police brought her into the station. They knew this woman was the key to finding John and time was of the essence. But coaxing things out of a woman who had seemingly been battered and abandoned wouldn't be quite so simple.

How you doing? Okay? You need an ambulance or anything for your— I'm okay. Are you sure? Okay.

Brittney sat with her head down. Beside her was her dog, panting and lying at her feet. The officers offered her medical help, but she refused. She insisted she was fine.

Brittney, what brings you— what brings you up, up here camping? I'm just trying to clear my head. Clean your head? Just clear my head, yeah. Okay. Just—

You have some stuff going on? Yeah, um, I just needed to get away for a while. Okay. So we did.

That's about it. Okay. Do you mind me asking what happened, uh, to your eye and your— I don't want to answer it. Okay, and you don't have to. That's, that's— you did exactly the right thing. If, if I ask you a question that you don't feel comfortable with, then just don't You don't have to talk about it, okay? Um, but I want to make sure that you get whatever help that you, that you need, if you need it, okay? Okay. Um, so you wanted to, to clear your head, and that's why you would, you would come up? And where did you go?

I went to— I don't know what it's called. Uh, by Moosebuck, something like that. Cabins. But you turn off on like a logging road. Okay. It's pretty far out. Okay. I just, I knew no one would really be there, so. Okay. It was kind of a thing.

And when did you come up? Sunday morning. Sunday morning? Um, and who did you come up with?

Her speech was slow and removed. The 31-year-old mother slowly tucked her brown hair behind her ear and closed her eyes. The white of her right eye wasn't even white anymore. It was a deep blood red. It was uncomfortable to look at.

What kinds of things are you going through? I don't want to talk about it. Okay. Um, is everybody with— are your 3 kids okay? Yeah, they're with my mother.

Brittany assured the officer that she was only taking some time alone to clear her head. There was too much going on, but her face told a different story.

Nobody knows where I am. Okay.

Um, well, part of the concern was people want to make sure that you were okay.

Like, they know that I'm safe and okay, but that I'm choosing to not come home for now. Okay. I wanted, like, I just didn't want my girls to see my face like that. Okay. Honestly. So I was like, if I can spend at least a couple weeks trying to get it down, then when I look at them, they're not going to be afraid of me. Sure.

When Fish and Game found Brittney in the woods, they handed her over to New Hampshire deputies, who arrested her for illegal camping. Not so much for the crime, but as a cover. It was the only way to get this beaten, terrified woman somewhere safe to find out what happened and why exactly she had John's car. Now she sat under fluorescent lights, shaking, insisting she'd only gone into the woods so her girls wouldn't have to see her face the way it was.

You said that you had come up here with someone, but you didn't want to get into who that person was. We know that there's a car that's where your, where your camp was. Did you come up with that person that's— that car belongs to?

I don't want to answer. Okay.

Um, well, Brittany, the thing is Obviously you've been injured, you know. We know that the person who owns that car is missing. I know that you think that you might be in trouble, and what I don't know is kind of what the circumstances were that led up to that and why you feel that way. And my guess is that you're your eye, your eyes, um, something happened that led to, to that. And I think that that's important to explain that what happened to you— did John cause those injuries to you? No. No. Did Armando? I don't want to talk about it.

Brittany looked down and whispered. I don't want to talk about it. That's when the cop knew what was happening. He knew he had to get through to this damaged, battered woman to find out the truth about where John was and what exactly happened in those woods.

Well, before, before you leave here today, um, and you're leaving here today regardless of what we talk about, regardless of what you say, you're going to leave today. Okay, regardless of what you say, you have my word. I'm telling you now, you're leaving here as long as I have your word that you'll stay in contact with me if we need to. Okay? Okay. Is that— is that fair? Yeah. Okay. Um, it's kind of a good faith thing. If you— if I can take your word and you can take my word, then do I get to go back home? Yes, as long as we can establish that it's safe. But we need to— we need to make sure that it's safe. But do you understand why I'm kind of in a difficult position right now?

I'm not crying because I'm scared. I'm crying because I get to see my girls. Oh, I get to see my girls. Oh, I get to see them.

That's when Brittney broke. Everything she'd been holding inside slowly started coming out. At the thought that if she told the truth, she'd get to go home and hug her children once again.

All I want is the truth. I don't want any more or any less. I just want— I just want the truth, whatever that may be. And if that means that you were in fear, you were in danger, if it means that you were, you know, in a relationship with, you know, John from work, whatever it may be, whatever the truth is, is all I want. If that's not the truth, that's not what I want, you know. And but I also don't want to be reliant on what other people tell us, you know.

I mean, you're gonna find out that me and John were talking to each other. We only talked for like a week, and he was really serious.

What do you mean by he was really serious?

Just He really liked me a lot. Okay. And I didn't realize that he liked me a lot like that. We worked together for a long time, but I didn't talk to him because I was attracted to him.

John liked Brittany. He had made it known. And though she felt the same way, she avoided him. After all, she was a married woman who had been with her husband since she was 18. She grew up in faith. Adultery was out of the question, no matter what problems were brewing inside her marriage. Supposedly, that is.

And then, like, beginning of the month, I made up a stupid nickname for him at work and I felt really bad. I called him Abercrombie because he looked like a model. Okay. He's really handsome, like really, really handsome. Sorry, that's not so bad. Okay. And, uh, he found out about the nickname because somebody called him that, and they were like, isn't that your last name? It's because I called him Armani at first, and then I said, he's way too young, he's an Abercrombie model. And we laughed and it stuck, but he didn't know because I was not gonna tell him that I thought that.

Is this normal behavior for women in the workplace? I wonder how many times former coworkers referred to me as Adonis back in the day. Makes you think. The Abercrombie nickname Brittany made up for John spread throughout the office, as things do. And eventually it got back to him. At first, he thought people were making fun of him, Brittany explained. Because as a kid, John was often made fun of for his outfits. You see, he was colorblind. So he didn't really match very well. So when Brittany found out about all of this, she felt bad and decided to talk to John. Big mistake.

I always felt bad. I told my friend to just tell him the truth, like just tell him that it was because he's really hot. I mean, I don't want to be a jerk, you know, to make him think that people were saying mean things about him. Right. So she told him, but I never really I apologize. Beginning of the month, I messaged him on Facebook and I apologized for the nickname.

That first Facebook message opened everything. John had always had a crush on Brittany. And now she responded. By early September, they were talking. Online and then at work. They took breaks together. But this mutual attraction and communication had only been going on for About 2 weeks.

So let's just—

we were just talking anyways, you know what I mean? Like, we weren't dating because we couldn't. But he really liked me. I really liked him.

What did he say to you?

What do you mean?

Like, what do you— how do you know that he really liked you?

He wanted me to go with him. Like, be with him. Like, leave your—

leave your husband and be with him?

Yeah, um, like basically my husband admitted to me like last year that he cheated on me like our whole marriage.

Since coming to New Hampshire? Like, no, like the whole time. Like, so back in—

yeah, like a year in, he messed with somebody else. And then I knew that he was like hitting on my— like he would hit on my friends and stuff, but like I didn't know that he was like having sex with other women. And then he told me about like 2 other times. And so we weren't like—

When, when was the— when was the— you said a year into your marriage. When was the most recent since you've moved here?

When I was pregnant with my last baby. Okay, sorry to hear that. Me too. So John knew that?

You told him? Yeah, he was kind of your Somebody that you trusted, that you could confide in? He became me in a really short time.

Like, again, I, I hadn't really spoken to him until this month. Yeah, I didn't say a word to him. I avoided him at all costs. I acted really weird. He used to laugh at me because I acted really weird.

I just avoided him. You were just initially physically attracted to him, and then once you got to know him over the last couple of weeks—

wow, you're actually really cool too. Like, genuinely.

Yeah, genuinely nice. Brittany found in John what she'd been missing: a partner who felt like a friend. At home, her marriage to Armando was unraveling. Years of cheating. No financial support from this lazy douchebag Armando—unless his parents gave him some money, that is. There was no way out. She'd been with this adult toddler since she was very young. Their families living side by side. But Brittany had changed. She'd lost over £130 in the last 2 years. She'd built up her confidence and started building a career. She was building a life, ya know? And in John, she saw something potentially dangerous. A way out of her life with Armando. So Brittany told Armando that she wasn't in love with him anymore. He begged her for forgiveness about the cheating. He promised he would change, but she told him she was not interested in trying. She was just exhausted, which is understandable.

So Saturday you end up leaving. Did Armando go with you? I know that when the Fish and Game person came up to you today, you were digging, digging a hole today, and you told them that you felt like you were in a lot of trouble, that you were going to be in a lot of trouble. But there are clearly some answers that That we need to give to John's family. You know, they're looking for their son right now.

That man is dead. John is dead? But I did not kill him.

How do you know that he's dead? Brittney broke.

Her tears were soft at first, and then the truth slipped out. She said she'd be betraying him if she spoke. But the officer already knew she wasn't a killer. The bruises on her face, the blood tangled in her hair, the way they found her—alone, in the woods, digging a hole and crying. This was not a choice.

He found my phone on Saturday night. Armando did. Okay. And he opened my Snapchat and saw my messages, which were— pulled me to the bathroom where he was when he found it. He grabbed me by my neck and threw me down. And he showed me the phone. And he was choking me. And I was positive I was gonna die.

Armando choked Brittney until she saw black specks and stars. She told the officers she was surprised that he let her live.

My face was already pretty swollen and he opened the middle door. We fought for a while. He struggled, struggled. He put the gun in my mouth. I was just praying and I kept screaming, so he kept choking me so that I wouldn't scream, so the girls wouldn't hear me. They were upstairs. He told the girls to go into Grandma's house, and then he went and he told his mom. Like, we stood in the doorway and he's like, stay right there. He was holding me, and I saw my oldest daughter, and I just— I was telling her, help me, help me, like without words, like without saying it. And my poor baby, she just looked at me and her eyes rolled back in her head and she fainted. And I was like, fuck, I'm gonna die. He just told his mom, hey mom, I'm going out, and she didn't ask any questions. She was in the living room with the baby and she just thought we were having relationship problems, so she was like, of course, go out, have a date, you know, do whatever you guys need to do. I screamed so loud in the house and no one heard me.

No one heard me at all.

Armando walked Brittany outside to her car and started driving. He continued reading through her messages as they drove, administering blow after blow to her face with each flirty text he discovered. By the time they got to Annette State Park, her face was dripping with blood. After they parked, Armando started texting John from Brittney's phone.

And he messages him and I'm just like, "Please don't hurt her. Please don't hurt her." And he messaged him, "Hey, can we meet?" And of course, John was super stoked because it was me. And he was like, "Finally, we're going to hang out." It was probably 10 o'clock. Probably around 10 o'clock.

John replied. He'd be there in 30 minutes, he said. Brittney waited, praying for anything to stop him. But nothing did. Soon, John's car pulled into the lot.

And he gets out of the car.

He saw my face, like he saw me sitting, because I was sitting in the driver's side and Armando got out before he got there and he stood behind the car so that John wouldn't see that he was there. But I could tell John knew something was wrong, and then when he saw my face, he definitely knew something was wrong. Okay. And then that's when Armando came around the corner and he pointed the gun at him.

John threw his hands up pleading for his life. Armando was in control. He had a loaded gun. Um, he punched him.

John fell, and then he just started kicking him and kicking him and kicking him. He stomped on his face. At one point— this kills me because I've been thinking about nonstop. At one point, Armando looked at me and said, yeah, so you're gonna fuck my wife, bro? It's like, look at her now, do you still think she's pretty? And John looked up at me and he goes, yeah, she's still pretty. I was like, even when your life was like You were still so nice to me.

But the memory of John standing up to Armando was too much for Brittney. She had never experienced a man being that chivalrous.

Started asking him questions about us to see if the stories matched. And I didn't tell him everything because I didn't want to die. Mm-hmm. And then John admitted stuff that he didn't know. He got even angrier. At one point, he handed me the gun and he told me to do it.

Armando handed you the gun and told you to shoot John?

But we were outside and I was like, like, I can't do it. He's like, no, no, you wanna, you wanna do this? And I was like, I don't. Like, he's trying to make me prove who I was loyal to. And then he said, fine, stand on his throat. He said, "Come on, hurry up." He's like, "He's not dying fast enough." Brittney was crying, begging Armando to stop.

But he said he'd kill her too.

"I wasn't heavy enough to do anything to him." Humble brag. "I don't know, I guess. I don't know. He had me stand on there for a while and then finally John like actually had the ability to like move." like, like, just jerked me off. And I was like, when you—

thank you. When you had your foot on his throat, what was Armando doing?

Standing there watching.

Where does he have the gun? Pointed at us. Okay. Is it still in his hand? Yeah. Okay. Is he pointing at you, pointing at him?

I'm not exactly sure. Okay. I was trying.

And that goes on for what feels like a long time to you?

Yeah, but it wasn't long And then what happens? He's like, "Fine, this is taking too long.

Get off." Armando was frustrated. He wanted Brittany's stomp on John's throat to be the final pain that killed him. Shakespearean, this guy was. But John was still jerking and moaning, fighting for his life under her heel. That's when Armando picked John up like a sack and pushed him into the back of his own car. Then, Armando handed a knife to Brittany and told her to slit John's wrists. Brittany refused, but then he threatened her again. So, Brittany here, who couldn't point a gun at a perpetrator that was threatening her life, gave her new boyfriend what she calls a shallow cut. Just deep enough to satisfy Armando, yet keep John alive. Which way did you cut?

Like that, down, like down the forearm, down.

But I couldn't get— I couldn't— it was really hard to cut. Like, it was really hard to cut. It wouldn't just—

How many times do you go down? Just once.

As soon as it was open, I just— once. I didn't— Both sides? Okay. I don't even think the second one I, I even did. I don't even think I cut him, cut him deep enough to actually do any damage. He didn't—

okay, did you cut anywhere else? No. Okay.

No, that was the only thing. I stood on his throat and he made me slit his wrist.

Was this inside the car or outside the car?

The wrist was inside the car. The standing on his throat was outside the car.

Okay. Where is he inside the car? In the back.

They say if you want to slit your wrists and have it actually be effective, You should cut down the forearm lengthwise, not across, as so many unsuccessful suicidies do. Suicidies? Suicidies? Is John fighting at all?

He knew I didn't have a choice. He was like, please, no, please. But he wasn't like struggling to like get his arms away from me or fight me.

Just even worse. Armando grabbed Brittany, forced the trunk shut. And the two of them got in the front of John's car with him stuck in the back.

And we were both in the car, and at one point Armando got out of the passenger side to go get—

So you closed the— who closes the back door? I don't remember.

It might have been Armando, or it might have been me.

I don't remember. So the back hatch goes down.

Yep. And then we go into the front of the car, and then Armando puts the machete in the car, which I believe he hit him a couple times with that too.

Okay, uh, with, uh, like the handle? No, that—

the blade.

Yeah, okay. But it didn't do a crazy amount of— like, do you know where he hit him? I don't. I know his hands, probably. He was like covering, so like whatever was covering got hit. Okay.

And you guys go in the car? Yes. And then who goes in what seat?

I went in the driver's side and Armando went in the passenger, and he put the machete down on the floor and he's like get some. I don't know why he left me. I don't know why. And he looked at me too, like, I don't know if I should. And when he left, John said to me, he's like, just pick up the machete and kill him. Just pick up the machete and kill him. And I'm like, you don't understand, man. I'm not gonna kill him with that blow, and we're both gonna die in this car. And I just told him just to be quiet. Let's just stop. Don't— just stop. Because he hadn't killed him yet. And he told him that he wasn't going to— he was like, I'm thinking he's like, "I just might let you live." Like, he kept on playing with him. He even said something about the judge. He's like, "Do you know what this is?" Like, he was just so ridiculous. He came back to the car and he sat in it. And I don't remember what he said, honestly, after that. All I remember was hearing He pointed the gun at him and I heard the one gunshot.

You're on the driver's side, driver's seat.

I didn't look back to see.

Does he go back and open up the back?

No, he did it from the passenger.

He did it from the passenger seat.

He was turned back, aimed. How do you know where he shot him? He told me afterwards.

How many, how many shots did you hear? 3.

2 in the body and 1 in the head. Brittany claims she kept her face forward as the shots rang out. She said she couldn't bear to turn around, yet somehow she knew exactly where her boyfriend was shot. She told detectives she thought she'd be next, but then Armando told Brittany to start the car and take them home. Brittany's mind raced with all the possible scenarios, each one more graphic. Than the last. According to Brittney, as they pulled up to their house, Armando instructed her to go inside and pack up all their camping gear. He stood there and watched her, holding the gun down the hallway. Their girls and Armando's parents were fast asleep.

Every time we went outside, I could hear John. So John was still making noise?

What was he— what was he doing or saying?

He was just going "Uh, uh, uh." Armando told Brittney they'd be going deep into the woods in Jaffray. He had her follow him in the Jeep. And she drove John's car. Again, she's in a car. She has control of the car. She doesn't have to follow him. But she does. He handed her phone back. He could stay on the line the entire time and it was 1 o'clock in the morning. The sky was black. The roads were vacant. Armando stopped at a store to get a shovel and buy some supplies. All the while, Brittney's in John's car with his body in the back. She thought she was next, she says. Armando kept talking on the phone, asking questions she had to answer, keeping her paralyzed with fear. When they finally got to the forest at the end of the long logging road, Armando guided them deeper into the thick, cold woods. This was a place only a hunter would venture.

I was waiting for him to shoot me out there. Mm-hmm. Like, I was waiting for it. I was afraid for him to walk behind me. And so he told me to get rid of the body. And to hide the car and that he would be back Friday.

But before he left, Armando said something chilling.

As soon as the sun comes up, I'm gonna forgive you. Like, I decided I forgive you. He was like, even after all this, I'm still in love with you.

Isn't that sweet? And they say romance is dead. Brittany's phone had died, so he left it with her. Knowing she couldn't get help. He took off in their car. He planned to go home and resume life as usual. Tell his mother some lies about Brittany needing some space and pass his kids off to her while he plans his next move. By now, though, it was Monday and Brittany was expected at work. You know, the thing that Armando doesn't do. Armando had sent an email to her boss on Saturday night saying, she wouldn't be there. But what Armando didn't know was that Brittney's boss was aware of Armando's violence. This wasn't the first time he had beat Brittney. He had done it once before and Brittney had confided in her manager. So, when Brittney mysteriously didn't show up for work, her manager sent police to her house. As Armando drove away from the campsite, he hit a cell service area and his mother started calling, freaking out that the police were at her door. So Armando backtracked to Brittany. He needed to get her to call HR and stop the police from sniffing around.

So I called Jen and again, he's sitting with me the whole time.

So I'm like, you called Jen?

Jen Bell from my work. She's the HR lady. And she was just like, are you okay? And I'm like, him. She asked me when I had heard from John last and I lied to her.

What'd you say?

I told her the last time I talked to him was on Saturday and that we met at Temple Mountain because that's what Armando was writing down for me to say.

HR was actively looking for John at this point and they knew something was going on between him and Brittany. She lied. She said she hadn't heard from him. Then Armando texted her friends a strange message from Brittney saying she was leaving and going to New Mexico alone. He thought he had all his bases covered. Armando took her back to the campsite and left her with their dog and a .22 for protection. Yeah, he gave her the gun he used to kill John and told her what to do next. So once again, she's standing there holding a gun and not pointing it at her aggressor. That's twice now for you keeping score at home.

And what was the plan? Were you to bury that? Yeah, he, he wanted—

he made me cut off his head.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on a second. You did what?

Because he wanted the dental records to not be found.

Okay, so where is John's head?

It's in the woods.

It's in the woods. And what did you use to cut? A saw.

They're going to find it right next to the car. Okay. It's a saw. It was a saw.

Now, when did you do that?

Yesterday morning. Armando stood back and watched. After all, he wasn't, uh, big on things like working. He claimed he couldn't do it himself, so he made her do it. He put the saw in Brittney's hand and waited. And she obeyed. Now, people like to believe they'd fight, they'd refuse, they'd run. But in that moment, with death standing right in front of you, sometimes survival doesn't look like bravery. Sometimes it looks like doing something absolutely demonic. Just for the slim chance to see your children one more time. And anyone who thinks that they know what they would do in a situation like this is deluding themselves.

So you guys together, you and Armando, cut his head off? It was just me. It was just you? But you said Armando was still there? He was there. So he made you do that? He watched me do it. Okay, that was me. You said, I think, correct me if I'm wrong, that was part of your punishment? He said it wasn't the punishment. Oh, he said it wasn't the punishment. He said I could do it. But he made you do that? Yeah, he didn't have the stomach for it. He expected me to cut the whole thing up. What do you mean? Like to chop him up. So was that the plan? To bury him as well. He mentioned that, and then once I did that, I was like, what? Like, ah, what? No, I'm not doing that. I'm not doing that anymore. Never again. Like, ah, no, what? And then he said, okay, like, just bury him. Like, but you need, like, no later than tomorrow, it has to be done.

Armando told Brittany what to do. She had the guns, her bloody saw, a shovel, and her dog to keep her company. She stared at John's decapitated body. Raw and ragged, unable to process exactly what she'd done. Armando hugged her, told her it was hard for him to leave, but then he did anyway. I hate myself for this.

It's not your fault. I should have just left the kid alone. He's 25. He's 25. He was so nice to me. But you didn't know this was gonna happen. I didn't. I didn't know. I didn't know that talking to him was gonna cost him his life, dude. The hell? Like, who does that? Who kills somebody like that? Oh gosh, he's so stupid. He could have just left him alone. He could have just been like, you're quitting your job, you're never going back.

Yeah. That's all he had to do.

You're quitting your job. You're never going back. You can't talk to him anymore. Leave the guy alone. Leave him alone. He was such a gentleman. He was so nice, so sweet, was so good at his job. Like, he didn't deserve any of it. And I did it too. I did it too. I hurt him too. I really suck that I'm even I was thinking too, like, "What if he comes back?

What if he comes back after I dispose of everything and then he just lost me too?" Without Armando hovering over her, putting her under pressure, she just sat at the campsite trying to figure out what to do next. A million thoughts ran through her head about John, his family, her girls back home, Armando, all of it.

Before Saturday, has Armando been physically abusive to you in the past? In the past, yeah. Early past, like 18 past. So in the beginning of your relationship, he was abusive? It was just like a control thing. Like, he wanted me to be a certain way. Like, I wanted to smoke and party and drink. He didn't want me to want that stuff. Mm-hmm. But he gave me a black eye once before, one time, and when I was 19. And it was so out of nowhere. That was the scary part about him is that he has emotion but he doesn't show it. So when he blows up, it's like you didn't even see it coming because there was nothing there before. And he said something to me and I kind of pushed him, like I like pushed him like that, and he got on top of me and he just started punching me. And this one, you were into me? Oh yeah, this side too. He's slapping the hell out of my face, like just slapping me. And I was just like staring at him like I had no idea what was going on. Like no idea what was going on.

And then he said sorry and he was super apologetic and And that was it. And then up until that Saturday that I said I wasn't in love with him anymore, which was the Saturday before last when he slapped me. Before this past one, yeah. And he slapped me then, and that was, that was then. And then Saturday night and Sunday morning, he just— so from age 19 till 2 Saturdays ago, there was no physical abuse? No, no.

Here's the thing about a man like Armando. He's deeply insecure, but his insecurity doesn't show up as tears. It comes out in rushes of rage. Brittany said that until two Saturdays ago, he hadn't beaten her like that since the early days of their marriage. Maybe she had just learned how to stay in line. Just enough to avoid punishment. Or maybe it was that his mother was living next door, always close, always watching for bruises. But then Brittany changed. She lost £130, took control of her diet, started exercising, and started getting attention. And when Armando saw proof of that new life in her Snapchat messages with John, something in snapped. Because in his world, there were rules. He could cheat, he could call prostitutes, he could not work for years, basically be a complete deadbeat piece of shit. He could do whatever the fuck he wanted because he's the man. But Brittany was never supposed to become someone else. She was never supposed to have options besides him.

Like, I don't know when that decision to not kill me happened. I don't know because he's like, honestly, he told me that. He's like, you were both gonna die that night. He told him that was his plan to kill the both of you. He said you were both gonna die that night. I hope you know. I really didn't expect you to slit his wrists. You surely proved that you really cared about the family. He said the same thing about the head.

In Armando's warped mind, Brittany had proven herself. Every order followed. Every step obeyed. It all fed his delusion of loyalty. But none of this was loyalty. It was just pure survival. And that delusion, his inability to see the truth, may have been the only reason she lived. I do—

I am going to ask you for a couple of more things. Um, one being to bring us out to John's head. And show us where, where that is. Um, and the other being, I would like to be able to document your injuries with some photographs.

Brittany nodded and agreed. Now the police had the story. They knew what had happened. But knowing wasn't enough. They had to retrace every step, lock down every piece of evidence. They had to move fast because Armando Barron was still out there. Still armed. Still unstable and unraveling. And no one knew exactly what he might do next. When Jonathan Amaral went missing in late September 2020, no one suspected foul play. The assumption was simple: he was lost. An avid outdoorsman and biomedical engineer, John spent as much time as he could on the trails. If anyone could vanish by accident, it was him. But then something just didn't add up. Around the same time, his coworker Brittany Barron abruptly quit and disappeared. Inside the office, rumors had already started circulating. They had grown close in the weeks before he went missing. What felt like a coincidence started to feel connected. Then Fish and Game made a discovery deep in the woods. They found Brittney at a remote campsite, alone, beaten, and terrified. Nearby was John's Subaru, and not far from that, John. His body had been dismembered and decapitated. Brittney told investigators that her husband, Armando, had discovered the flirtation and snapped.

Out in the woods under constant threat, he forced her to cut off John's head herself. She obeyed only to survive. Before leaving the campsite for the final time, Armando told her he forgave her. In his mind, she had proven her loyalty to him, to their family. He believed in his dumb, underdeveloped mind that they could simply return home, resume their lives, and move forward as if none of this had ever happened. But nothing about this was forgettable. Armando had taken the life of Jonathan Amaral, who was deeply loved by his family, his friends, his colleagues, and everyone who ever met him. He wasn't someone who would fade, into the background. He was someone whose absence would be felt forever. The police found Armando quickly. It was easy. He wasn't that smart.

You're under arrest for domestic violence assault. So a domestic assault. What's that? On who? On Brittany. On Brittany? Mm-hmm. Okay. Okay? So that's, that's what you're charged with. So that's what we want to talk to you a little bit about. Okay. So where is she? Brittany? Yeah. Um, Brittany is at another police department right now.

Okay. Okay. The officer started reading Armando his rights, informing him that they already had Brittany in custody and had her testimony. Then he interjected.

So when do I get to call her?

Well, like, so do you understand these rights? All right. I'm gonna just ask you to initial next to yes, um, and then understanding these rights, are you willing to answer questions? No, without a lawyer.

No? Okay. Armando may be dumb, but asking for a lawyer was a surefire way to tell he knew the difference between right and wrong when it came to abuse, torture, and murder. He wasn't crazy, he was just evil. But still, Brittany told the officers she knew he would never hurt their children. Then again, I'm sure she would say she never thought any of this would happen either. Not exactly a great judge of character.

You don't think he would do anything? Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. I just— I'm like, I hope they're not there when they arrest him. I hope they're not there. I hope they don't see it. I feel so bad for him. Yeah. Even— I know it's stupid, but even after all that, like, I feel bad for him. Like, I feel bad for what's gonna happen.

She felt bad for him. Let that sink in. We've covered so many domestic violence episodes on this show, and any expert worth their salt will tell you that most domestic violence homicides are preventable. If someone strangles you to the point of passing out and puts a gun in your mouth, death is the next step. But Armando had only given Brittney a taste of what he was capable of at age 19. Then he hurt her in other ways by not being a provider, by cheating on her, and harming her emotionally. But that violence never reared its head again. Although it had clearly been brewing, seething inside Armando. And on the night he found the texts, he lost all control. Armando did a very good job at hiding who he really was. But we can only hide pure evil for so long. The police put Armando in a holding cell and he requested his phone call. So they let him call his mother and of course it went to voicemail. I'm sure she never got it.

Mom, it's me. They're taking me to King Cheshire House of Corrections, which is in Marlborough.

Cheshire House of Corrections in Marlborough.

They're charging me with more things now.

Just, I love you. If you could get a lawyer for me, thank you.

Jonathan's family was devastated. They avoided the media entirely as news of his brutal murder spread across local headlines and flooded the internet. His friends were grieving, trying to process the loss. At Teleflex, John and Brittney's coworkers were unable to comprehend how a rumored workplace flirtation could spiral into something so horrific. Even Brittany said it herself, Armando didn't have to do this. There were other options. He could have forced her to quit, made her find another job, put distance between them. But he didn't. Armando let something much darker take hold. Jealousy. Rage. It consumed him completely, spreading fast, like a cancer. And in that spiral, he never stopped to think. Perhaps he was incapable of it. Armando was charged with capital murder and 12 additional charges. Brittany was charged with falsifying evidence. Armando faced life. Brittany was looking at 3 to 7 years. They were both put in jail, leaving their kids in the care of Armando's broken, helpless mother who didn't even know how to check her voicemail. But as clips of Brittany's bruised, battered face in that arraignment room spread across the internet, a question lingered: did she really deserve to be locked away?

I mean, this was a woman who had been brutally beaten, strangled, and had a gun forced into her mouth inside her own home. She was made to watch John die and forced to participate in his torture. She was dragged miles into the woods where the man she'd been married to for 12 years stood over her and forced her to cut off John's head. Just imagine that for a moment. The isolation. The fear. If Brittney had screamed, no one would have heard her. No one would have come. In fact, it's a miracle that Fish and Game even found her. Armando made the mistake of taking them to what he thought was a public hunting area, but it wasn't. The landowner saw them and contacted Fish and Game. And look, sure, she could have gotten away multiple times. Sure, she could have pointed the loaded gun she was given by Armando to Armando and ordered him to stop doing what he was doing. But that would've meant she would've had to have been capable of pulling the trigger. And she just wasn't. I mean, she could cut off a human head, but she couldn't squeeze a trigger.

I still don't fully understand why. Maybe I never will. Maybe I am lucky to never have to know. I ask the audience though, what do you think? Is Brittany a victim? Or does she hold some culpability here? Brittany's lawyer started working on a deal. In exchange for her testimony against Armando, who we all know is really the bad guy, she would be granted parole until his trial. Jonathan's family was adamant that this was unacceptable, and the prosecution fought hard for Brittany to remain locked up. Brittany was put before the parole board to make her case. Baron's parole was vehemently opposed by Emeril's parents. They wrote a letter that was read by the victim's advocate urging the parole board to keep Brittany in custody until after she has testified against her husband.

So if you think chances are low that someone capable of doing all that wouldn't simply just run before testifying next month, or simply go back on her word at his trial, please think again.

In granting parole, the board made it clear that Baron must fulfill her obligation to testify truthfully at her husband's trial. Brittany told the board she understands and that her actions over those days continue to haunt her.

Something that I continue to struggle with is forgiving yourself for the choices that you make and being able to own, like, just really accept that it happened.

But should Brittany forgive herself? As a religious woman, is that even her place? Or is that something that only God can grant? Maybe self-forgiveness is necessary just to survive. Just to get out of bed in the morning, to eat, to face the courtroom. Maybe it's just something she has to say out loud to keep going. But could you ever truly believe it? Could you ever forgive yourself for something like this? Because I don't think I could. I think I'd be begging God and the universe and everyone in it for forgiveness every single minute of every single day until I didn't have a breath in me anymore. Brittany was a victim of Armando that night, but John was the victim. The only thing anyone could possibly fault him for was getting involved with a married woman. But John's presence lit something in Brittany. It gave her the confidence to finally tell her cheating, deadbeat husband that she was done trying to fix their marriage. And that shift is what set everything in motion. That push for her empowerment, her independence. It's what triggered Armando's suspicion and his need to start digging into his wife's phone. The plea deal allowed Brittany to skip straight to sentencing in exchange for her testimony.

In 2021, she pleaded guilty to falsifying evidence, which included removing John's head and putting it into a hole that Armando dug. But she was granted parole in April of 2022. Armando's trial took place a month later. His team argued that Brittany was a liar. She had participated much more in Jonathan's murder than she let on. Armando slumped in and out of the courtroom every day with his scraggly prison beard, potbelly, and snarling face. He was vile. No one felt a drop of sympathy for him, except maybe his own mother. In the end, Armando was found guilty and the judge spared him no mercy.

The depravity of your actions and single-handedly causing the immense suffering and the death of Jonathan Emerald show an extreme indifference to the value of human life. Your actions were brutal. They were absolutely horrific. They were selfish, and they were completely senseless. The abject cruelty, the pain and suffering, and all that you inflicted on Jonathan that night is unfathomable. As his parents just said, he did not deserve to die in that manner. One of the hardest parts of my job is often sentencing in cases and finding the appropriate balance to strike, uh, in imposing a fair sentence. However, I have absolutely no hesitation or reservation imposing the sentences that I'm about to impose on you, given your actions and the crimes that you committed. And that you were convicted for in this case.

The judge gave Armando life with no possibility of parole for Jonathan's murder. She tossed on even more years for the kidnapping and domestic violence. But in essence, he was never leaving prison unless he was in a body bag. The judge also instructed that he receive counseling in prison. Maybe they could beat morality into him somehow. Not that it mattered anymore. So, uh, that is the sentence.

You will be spending a very long time at the state prison for these heinous crimes.

Instead of taking the punishment he deserved, Armando spent the next 3 years filing appeal after appeal after appeal, all of which were denied. Now that he's exhausted all of them and spent all of our taxpayer money, he will sit quietly in prison waiting to die. No one will ever hear about him again. Jonathan, on the other hand, continues to be remembered for the incredible young man that he was. After the Barons were arrested, 18 of his friends honored him in a way he would have wanted— by hiking. They took a 6.5-mile climb up one of his favorite trails in New Hampshire. And built a small altar for his worn trail shoes. By the end, their legs were shot. Jelly, they told the local news reporters. But it was a release of grief and a path towards healing. Out there, surrounded by the elements John loved so much, they shared stories. They laughed, cried. They sent their prayers out into the mountains, hoping him. Somehow they'd reach him. And now, every time they return to those trails, they carry him with them. John loved life. He chased it into the unknown, down unmarked trails with nothing but a paper map and the confidence that he'd find his way.

He was smart, driven, and unafraid of what might be ahead. Then he met Brittany Barron. What started as a flirtation, a few messages and a couple of kisses in a parking lot, grew into something much more. John saw something in her, something worth caring about, and he couldn't quite pull himself away. John was a kind man. Brittany had never known that kind of kindness. Before. She'd spent her adult life with someone who cheated on her, who failed her, who just was one disappointment after another, and ultimately showed just how dangerous he truly was. John didn't see a situation to avoid. He saw a person in Brittany, and tragically, that was what put him in Armando's path. You know, we've got a lot of feedback on our new animated true crime history thing called Tales. Go check it out. Swordandscale.com.