Report: Homicide victim shot before cut up, burned

MANATEE — Detectives found what appeared to be blood and a foul odor emanating from the bed of a pickup seized last week shortly after a man’s dismembered body was discovered burning on U.S. 41, according to a search warrant affidavit released Thursday.

The affidavit also revealed that the victim, Roy Barnes Jr., had been shot with a shotgun before being dismembered into 10 pieces and his remains burned.

“As I walked up to the bed of the vehicle I observed in plain view a thick liquid that was running down the center of the truck’s bed towards the tailgate and several spots on the tailgate. The liquid and the spots appeared to be blood due to its color and consistency,” wrote Manatee County Sheriff’s Office Detective Jerome Diamond in the warrant. “The bed of the truck also had a very strong, foul odor coming from it.”

Presumptive tests of the liquid in the truck was positive for blood, according to the affidavit.

Authorities identified the body of the man as Barnes, 35, by using his fingerprints.

Barnes’ body was cut into 10 pieces and placed into black plastic garbage bags at an unknown location before being set on fire near U.S. 41 and Somerset Avenue, adjacent to Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport, according to the affidavit.

At the scene of the fire, the metal bottom piece of a shotgun shell was located. An autopsy of Barnes’ body revealed he was shot at close range with a shotgun, according to the affidavit.

Authorities located the truck after a Sarasota man, who reported the fire, watched a blue 2002 Chevy S10 leave the area. The man was able to give authorities a tag number to the truck after following it. He told investigators the driver of the truck was a woman.

The owner of the pickup said at her Sarasota home she didn’t have first-hand knowledge of Barnes’ death and did not know detectives found blood in the truck.

According to the affidavit, the woman’s daughter was driving the truck the day Barnes’ body was discovered. The woman declined to comment further.

Aside from the blood samples, detectives also found receipts, ropes, bungee cords and pieces of upholstery from the truck.

Manatee County Sheriff’s Office detectives are working with Sarasota Police Department in this case.

Anyone with any information can contact the sheriff’s office at 747-3011 or remain anonymous by calling Crimestoppers at (866) 634-TIPS (8477).