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14x14 - Fate Date

Posted: 01/18/24 19:40
by bunniefuu
Up next...

They meet in cyberspace.

He was fishing for women on
the Internet.

Rebecca had sent some
suggestive pictures of herself.

They make plans to
meet face-to-face.

They were getting all hot and
heavy with each other.

A day later,
Rebecca and two others are

dead...

They all appear to be
execution-style murders.

And the k*ller
disappears into thin air...

But not without a trace.

Every crime that occurs these
days probably has a digital

component.

On average, 911

dispatchers in Tulsa, Oklahoma,
receive about 3,000 emergency

calls a night.

One night they got a call about
a fire that sounded routine.

And what's your name?

The 911 operator
told Kenneth to stay on the line

as firemen race to the scene.

Then, something strange

happened.

It appeared that there was
some sort of interaction with

somebody maybe that was walking
up to him.

Somebody maybe that was walking
up to him.

When firemen

arrived at the scene, they put
out the Blaze.

And in a car parked in front of
the home, slumped over the

steering wheel was the man who
called 911.

He'd been shot to death.

He was identified as 24-year-old
Kenneth Maxwell, a truck driver

who lived just a mile away.

Friends said he was going home
from a party when he drove by.

That's just horrific.

No one ever thinks the good
samaritan is going to be a

victim.

Inside the house,
firefighters found two bodies...

A man in the kitchen shot in the
head at point-blank range...

His body is right there and

he's covered up with a rug.

And a woman in a back bedroom.

She's naked and shot several
times in the head through a

pillow, like someone was trying
to muffle that sound.

The victims were
identified as the homeowners...




We were not able to find any
kind of connection between

Kenneth Maxwell and the barneys.

But investigators
learned that Rebecca and Fred

Barney had an unusual
relationship.

After six years of marriage,
they were getting a divorce.

They had no children, and the
divorce was amicable.

So they decided to continue to
live together and sleep in

separate bedrooms until the
divorce was final.

So, they didn't have, I
guess, what you want to say, an

intimate relationship anymore,
but they were still good

friends.

In the dining room,
Rebecca's clothing was folded in

two neat piles.

Anybody that takes their
glasses off and puts them on

their clothing in the dining
room, I'm thinking, "there is

something really went bad here.

This is not a voluntary thing.

Somebody is forcing Rebecca to
do this."

That's when you realize this
is not gonna be your average

m*rder.

Arson experts
determined the fire in Fred and

Rebecca Barney's house was no
accident.

You got a stove pulled out,
gas line cut.

It has all the appearances of
somebody trying to conceal what

had just taken place in that
home.

But the k*ller
hadn't counted on someone

driving by and reporting the
fire.

That call cost Kenneth Maxwell
his life but saved a lot of

evidence.

I remember him mostly for his
last act, and that was trying to

help somebody in need.

That's my first memory of him
when I think of Kenneth.

Bless his heart.

He saved the investigation.

He got 911 help there.

Fire department put out the
fire, and there was still plenty

of evidence for us to analyze
and work off of.

Kenneth Maxwell's


damage to the bodies.

From the evidence at the scene,
it appeared the k*ller caught

Fred Barney completely
off-guard.

He had been shot once in the
back of the head.

Fred was wearing pajamas.

It appeared that Fred had been
making a sandwich in the

kitchen.

There was no real sign of a
struggle.

Rebecca's body was found in the

bedroom.

She had been shot numerous
times, leading investigators to

conclude she'd been the primary
target.

He puts that pillow over her
face and sh**t her, and I think

it's significant that he shot
her more than once.

He sh**t Fred once.

He sh**t her three times,
'cause he is pissed.

Ballistic tests
revealed all three m*rder

victims, Kenneth Maxwell and
Fred and Rebecca Barney, were

all k*lled with a .22-caliber
w*apon... the same .22-caliber

w*apon.

The lack of forced entry
indicated that Fred and/or

Rebecca knew the k*ller.

First glance, it appeared
nothing had been stolen.

The victims' money and credit
cards were untouched.

There was a television right
there in the living-room area.

And if I was a burglar or I was
gonna rob someone, some of those

things I would have been taking
as I was leaving.

But in a back
bedroom, something was missing.

The computer tower itself was
gone.

So, that alarmed me right off
the bat.

Why would a k*ller
steal only the computer?

To me, that clearly showed,
very quickly, that there's a

computer angle on this crime,
there's an Internet angle on

this crime.

On the night of the
murders, investigators

discovered Fred and Rebecca were
seen together in a bar called

"Arnie's," a regular hangout of
theirs.

Witnesses said they were with a
man no one at the bar had seen

before.

Nice to meet you.

Welcome to Arnie's.

They described him as a
really tall guy.

He was well over 6'4 ", 6'5".

She's introducing him that
night as "this is my new

Internet boyfriend."

Friends said that
Fred looked tired and

disinterested.

Fred didn't like this guy and
communicated that.

It seemed pretty apparent to the
patrons in the bar who knew Fred

that Fred wasn't very enamored
with the date that Rebecca was

bringing.

Rebecca didn't
introduce the man to

acquaintances by name, but she
did introduce him, nevertheless.

Rebecca had introduced this
man that she was with as "this

is my 10-inch cowboy," I think
is how she referred to him out

at the bar.

Patrons and staff
told investigators that Fred,

Rebecca, and "the cowboy" left
Arnie's together at closing

time.

The bar was only five minutes
from the barneys' house.

Arnie's closes around 2:00,
the fire is being called in at



So a lot happened between the
time they left that bar at

Arnie's and that hour before
those murders happened.

I mean, a lot... something went
really wrong in that hour and



Investigators knew
nothing about the so-called

"cowboy."

They had no name, no idea where
he was from, but something found

at the crime scene quickly
filled in a lot of those gaps.

At Rebecca Barney's
autopsy, the medical examiner

determined she'd been sexually
assaulted, but collecting a

biological sample wouldn't be
easy.

Miss Barney was on her
menstrual cycle, and so there

was so much of her DNA, that it
was literally overwhelming the

other contributing DNA that we
were finding.

Fortunately, a

quick-thinking paramedic at the
scene had swabbed parts of

Rebecca's body while others
were trying to save her life.

This is pretty "heads-up."

"I know this is a crime.

She was found nude.

What if there's DNA?"
And, turns out, yes, there was

saliva... both on Becky's neck
and on her breasts.

But when the DNA
profile was put into the

national DNA database of known
criminal offenders,

investigators encountered
another setback.

They did not get enough
markers to work to compare it to

that database.

Investigators were
fairly certain the DNA belonged

to the man seen with Rebecca and
Fred in the bar just an hour

before their deaths.

But who was this man?

The computer had been stolen
from Fred and Rebecca's home,

but investigators did find
several e-mails Rebecca had

printed.

One was from a man with an
unusual screen name.

He had a screen name.

I believe it was cowboy4you67.

The communication was very
sexualized.

The printout showed
that Rebecca and cowboy4you67

had exchanged suggestive
pictures over the Internet.

Hers were considerably more
modest than his.

He attached a picture of,
apparently, himself, a picture

of his penis with a ruler right
next to it.

In one of the e-mails that I
viewed, it was sad because you

could tell that Rebecca was
trying real hard.

She was lonely, kind of a lost
soul.

Investigators were
fairly certain these e-mails

were from the man with Rebecca
and Fred at the bar on the night

of their murders.

"This is my 10-inch cowboy,"
I think is how she referred to

him out at the bar.

Certainly a material witness to
perhaps the last hour or hours

of the lives of Fred and
Rebecca Barney.

The cowboy had also
provided this picture, but since

he was wearing sunglasses, there
was no way to identify him.

We didn't have his name or
his particulars like an address

or phone number or anything like
that.

To find out,
investigators turned to the

Tulsa police cyber crimes unit.

I'd venture to say, every
crime that occurs these days

probably has a digital
component.

There's gonna be some type of
communication utilizing the

Internet or some type of cell
service.

A court-authorized
search revealed the person using

the screen name cowboy4you67 met
someone new online just three

days before the murders... a
person with the screen name

wyldivy.

They find out who wyldivy is.

It's Becky.

Cowboy4you67 was
identified as James kidwell... a


computer-science student who

lived in Gore, Oklahoma, about a


site.

He's divorced, he's got two
kids, he's having some money

issues, so he's living at home.

A year earlier,
kidwell had been questioned but

never charged in a
domestic-v*olence incident.

He had a warrant in relation
to slashing tires of an

ex-girlfriend.

You know, that's a red flag in a
domestic situation.

When police
notified law enforcement in

Gore, Oklahoma, that they
planned to arrest James kidwell,

they got a pleasant surprise.

On that particular day, when
we were headed to Gore to serve

our warrant, the Gore p.D.

Actually pulled kidwell over on
some unrelated charges.

Police couldn't
help but notice that kidwell's

car was a mess.

I mean, he's just got junk
pouring out of it... rods and

reels and just...

It's like he almost lives out of
that car.

It's probably pretty obvious to
Rebecca pretty quick, "all

right, maybe he is well-endowed,
but he's not the kind of guy I

want to have a relationship
with."

When kidwell was
arrested, police found a loaded

r*fle in his car... a weapons
violation.

He was asked if he knew
Rebecca Barney, and he told us

he didn't know anyone by that
name.

His computer would
tell investigators the truth.

When James kidwell
was arrested for the murders of

Kenneth Maxwell and Fred and
Rebecca Barney, he was with a

young woman he'd met online less
than 12 hours after the crime.

When questioned, she told police
she immediately regretted dating

him.

She said he always carried a
loaded w*apon.

She was absolutely scared.

I mean, just kind of invaded
this young lady's life.

I mean, she definitely felt
threatened by it.

Kidwell lived with his mother.

Inside, police didn't find the
m*rder w*apon or the computer

stolen from the barneys' home.

But the hard drive on kidwell's
computer showed numerous

contacts with many women.

But he'd only deleted one series
of files... the ones addressed

to wyldivy2003, Rebecca Barney's
screen name.

This one folder... for some
reason, he felt a need to delete

that.

To me, that indicates a need to
hide something.

The evidence showed
kidwell met Rebecca online just

three days before the murders,
and during that time, exchanged

more than 70 e-mails.

The day before the murders,
Rebecca gave kidwell her

telephone number.

After the murders, all
communication stopped.

Jimmy did not send any
messages to her after the

sh**ting.

Totally inconsistent behavior
with the behavior of the three

days before the homicide.

And despite claims
he didn't know who Rebecca was,

kidwell's computer showed he had
a keen interest in her m*rder.

Someone using that computer
for several days after the crime

was looking up news stories to
see what the latest news was on

the crime.

Kidwell was
confronted with this cyber

evidence.

Mr. kidwell begins to change
his story.

Kidwell then
admitted knowing Rebecca Barney

and admitted he was hoping for a
sexual encounter but said when

Fred Barney accompanied them to
the bar, it was clear to him

the date was going nowhere.

He told us he, Rebecca, and
Fred did go to Arnie's bar that

night.

And he told us that he was only
there probably 5 to 10 minutes

before he left, heading back to
Gore, Oklahoma.

Ballistic testing
revealed that kidwell's

.22-caliber r*fle was not the
m*rder w*apon.

But records showed kidwell also
owned a .22-caliber handgun,

which police were unable to
find.

In kidwell's dryer,
investigators found two shirts.

Although they'd been washed,
they still contained

rust-colored stains.

Despite being washed and dried,
analysts were able to obtain DNA

from the stains and generate a
profile.

They could not exclude
Rebecca Barney from being a

contributor to that profile, and
only one in 12,000 individuals

in the general population would
match that profile.

But was kidwell's
DNA at the crime scene?

The profile from saliva on
Rebecca's body was very weak.

So analysts returned to the DNA
from Rebecca's r*pe kit.

Because she was menstruating,
the DNA was predominantly

female.

But there were minute amounts of
male DNA, too.

This time analysts used a
process called y-str, which

zeroes in on one part of the
sample, the "y" chromosome,

which only men have.

When you're looking at a
sample that has a large amount

of female DNA and a very small
amount of male DNA, it's like a

needle-in-a-haystack technique.

Fortunately, there
was enough to generate a

profile, and it matched
James kidwell's.

Investigators were convinced
that on the night of the

murders, James kidwell was
primed for a torrid sexual

encounter.

You're not driving 75 miles
just to say, "hi."

As a precaution,
Rebecca asked her estranged

husband to accompany her on her
first meeting with kidwell.

He did so reluctantly, since
he'd just returned from a

business trip.

The evidence shows when they
returned to the barneys' house,

Fred went to his room and
changed into his pajamas.

Prosecutors believe that Rebecca
refused kidwell's advances

either because she didn't like
him, because of her having her

menstrual period, or both.

Regardless of the reason...

Fine.

Kidwell got angry and left...

But not before getting a
.22-caliber handgun from his

car.

By this time, thinking kidwell
was gone, Fred was in the

kitchen making a sandwich.

Kidwell shot him at point-blank
range.

Fred!

Oh, my god.

Get your clothes off now.

What have you done?!

Shut up.

Get your clothes off!

Get them off.

Hurry!

He then forced
Rebecca to take off her clothes,

assaulted her in the bedroom,
then k*lled her.

To cover up the crime, he pulled
the stove from the wall, cut the

gas line, and started the fire.

He left with the barneys'
computer, thinking he was

removing all the evidence.

Kenneth Maxwell drove by on his
way home from a party, saw the

flames, and called 911.

I can see flame, but I can't
really see smoke.

I mean, the back of the house is
lit up.

Is that a fire in there?

When kidwell saw
this, he shot Maxwell, too.

Police never recovered the
barneys' computer or the m*rder

w*apon.

But kidwell left plenty of
electronic and biological

evidence behind.

The thing that sticks out
about this case to me more than

anything is Kenneth Maxwell and
the sacrifice that he made for

being a good citizen.

In November of


and convicted of three counts of
first-degree m*rder.

He was sentenced to life in
prison without parole.

I think just being detailed
and paying attention to detail,

in my opinion, is what you have
to do in each and every case,

you know, to ensure that you
don't miss anything.

Nothing you put on a computer
is gonna disappear unless it's

at the bottom of a lake or is
somehow destroyed in a fire.

It's going to follow you even if
you think you have destroyed it.