A Blond-on-Blond Marriage Goes Dark
(“As the Tide Turns,” Forensic Files)
Justin Barber and April Lott’s union started with a destination wedding in the Bahamas and ended with a homicide on an empty Florida beach three years later.
Like two other killers previously covered in this blog, Justin Barber placed the blame on an anonymous attacker and injured himself so he’d also look like a victim. But he didn’t opt for just a few lacerations (Jeff MacDonald) or a single bullet wound to the fleshy part of an arm (Brenda Andrew).
Barber went above and beyond. Nonetheless, police won a first-degree murder conviction against him for his wife’s death. Here’s a summary and update:
JUSTIN BARBER
Episode: As the Tide Turns
DOB: 03/02/1972.
Appearance: 5-foot-9, blue eyes, blond hair, 145 pounds.
Facility: Walton Correctional Institution, DeFuniak Springs, Fla.
Outlook: Life without parole.
CRIME: On August 17, 2002, April and Justin Barber went for an evening stroll on a Jacksonville beach. Justin claimed that a robber shot April once in the face and shot him four times — in the hand, neck, and both shoulders. But the blood evidence didn’t wash, and his computer revealed online research on creating bullet wounds without hitting major organs. Justin, a 30-year-old MBA, was also having an affair with a tennis gal pal, was deep in credit card debt, and was the beneficiary of April’s $2 million insurance policy. Investigators theorized he wanted to get his hands on the money before his wife, a radiology technician, divorced him. They believe Justin shot himself and April. A jury recommended the death penalty in 2006, but he got life instead.
LIFE BEHIND RAZOR WIRE: The Florida Department of Corrections lists Justin’s custody status as “close,” the second-most restrictive category. But his facility offers nice-sounding programs such as cabinet-making, smoking cessation, and (best of all) R.E.A.C.H, whereby inmates train and rehab dogs that have been neglected or abused. On the down side, the Miami Herald reported in 2018 that mortality rates for inmates in Florida prisons have surged and the deaths are occurring at a younger age. The influx of K2 has contributed to the problem. In 2018, one of Barber’s fellow inmates at Walton C.I. died from smoking the synthetic drug.
UPDATE: Barber requested a new trial based on the ever-popular “ineffective counsel” claim, but was refused in 2013. Despite being maligned by Barber, his original defense lawyer Robert Stuart Willis “still believes in Barber’s innocence,” the St. Augustine Record reported. Reader comments left at various videos are divided between those who find his teary laments insincere and those who think he’s an innocent man railroaded.
ONE OBJECTION TO THE CASE: The fact that Barber downloaded a Guns ‘N’ Roses song with the lyrics, “I Use to Love Her But I Had to Kill Her” was used as evidence of his intent. Please, it’s just a song. Fifty million have listened to “Don’t Fear the Reaper” on YouTube since 2009, and I’ll bet most of them are still alive.
TAKEAWAY: Research your diabolical schemes offline.
Watch the Forensic Files episode on YouTube or Amazon Prime.
You can also see the Dateline Mystery about the case online.
