Secrets in the Sand | Full Episode | Forensic Files

[Music] Justin is very kind and he's gentle and he's very giving he's got a great sense of humor he can
make anybody laugh my name is Lisa I was Justin's best friend the winner this year of course is
Justin Parker of a young man with the world at my fingertips I had everything to look forward to
I wanted to be a CEO chairman of the board I wanted to run a major company [Music]
he loved April very much extremely special person sunshine commitment to family Justin April hit it off instantly April
and I and both were initially very impressed with what he was setting out to do he definitely pursued her and she
was willing we were very very attracted to each other I think instantly we were married in the Bahamas
it was a very fun very fun time [Music] this case started out on a Saturday night August 17 2002.
[Music] my name is Howard Cole and I'm a detective with St John's County Sheriff's Office
[Music] approached the guy pulled again we were struggling it was a fight his wife was shot and he
was shot and I left her there I was trying to find help he was shot four times and within a centimeter of my lung a
bullet passed I was deeply ashamed I had abandoned her hair alone on that Beach [Music]
we initiated an extensive search of the area and we found his wife April Barber dead on the boardwalk
a gunshot went to the face and I think that I went crazy at them screaming he would be sleeping and he would be
drenched in sweat his nightmares were heartbreaking I'm a Broken Man fortunately in this case the victim
April Barber left us enough Clues to continue on with the investigation April's tires were slashed
there are certainly a few people that had a romantic interest in April April we need to talk about the car that
was seen at the location [Applause] we need to find the driver of that car April told different people in her life
different pieces of information none of us had the whole story secrets in the sand tonight's 48 Hours
mystery [Music] foreign [Music] very fun loving Carefree couple and they looked really good together April
Barbara had the kind of wedding most girls only dream about she was beautiful a beach in the Bahamas at Sunset a
beautiful dress a handsome groom a special day special time for her wasn't it was she happy
she was she was but April's Aunt Patty Parrish says April was hardly a traditional bride she had a gorgeous
white dress that I remember her cramming into her suitcase and here we are trying
to get the wrinkles out of it the day of the wedding she was more of a country girl at heart
the lucky groom was Justin Barber what kind of things you do after the wedding as newlyweds you don't have to go in any
detail I'm talking about like things you did out in the public you know I don't think we spent a lot of time okay
if anyone deserves such a happy day it was April so many of the days before it had been difficult and sad her mother
had passed away when April was 17. she died from cancer that was very difficult for April she
was finishing her senior year in high school [Music] made April grow up fast her father fell
apart and later got into trouble over drugs so April briefly took over the mothering of her younger brother Kendon
who was only one and her sister Julie who was nine she took care of us to get me up first goal get me off to school
she'd cook us dinner she just took the place of our mother losing her mother also gave April's life
a purpose she went to college determined to pursue a career in medicine treating
cancer patients she definitely didn't take life for granted and and had pretty clear goals about what she wanted out of
life this is a few months after we met her best friend Amber Mitchell says College also opened up a whole new world
for April [Applause] and at the Kappa Delta sorority house she found a new home she was extremely
cheesy happy bubbly and if you stood next to her you look forward in 1998 when she was 23 April's world
became even brighter she met Justin at the time a top student in the University of Oklahoma's MBA program Amber was
there the night they met a lot of the guys she'd recently dated had not yet sort of found their place career-wise
and Justin came along as such a complete opposite and I think that was very attractive to her
and when Justin first brought April home his mother Linda took to her right away
I liked her immediately she was very beautiful very natural you could just tell she was a good person she fit in
real well with the family [Music] just 10 months after they began dating that Justin and April elope to the
Bahamas I just worried that it was really quick and that maybe they didn't know each other well enough yet to do
that but I supported her completely because she was happy and I wanted to see her happy when they returned from
the honeymoon April and Justin moved to Georgia for work and April's siblings Julian Kendon came to live with them for
a while but it didn't last it was too much for the young couple to handle course it was difficult for them because
they were so young and trying to raise two kids they tried their hardest to give us everything that we could
possibly want or need I think there was stress almost immediately they're still getting to know each other
and they've got other people in their home and careers they're starting and just a ton of change it's a lot for any
new married couple to take on [Music] then just two years into the marriage April and Justin's careers forced them
apart April who worked in Radiology took a new job in Georgia but Justin a business executive was transferred here
to Jacksonville Florida nearly three hours away they saw each other mainly on weekends
did you want her to come and be with you and leave that job alone it wasn't just
a normal job that she took there it was the next step up in her career and it was a very very good opportunity for her
at an early age and so I fully supported that they had lived like this for more than a year when in the summer of 2002
April came to Jacksonville to celebrate their third wedding anniversary on the night of Saturday August 17th they went
out for dinner and drinks April wanted to eat at Carrabba's had a nice dinner shot a few games of pool after pool
decided to go for a drive Justin says their destination was a remote State Beach we had been there a
few times before April's previous birthday and I think perhaps the year before his place that we would go to be
alone on the beach go off their shoes and started walking along the shoreline suddenly just
just a strange and threatening man appeared in front of them it was Caucasian he had a hat on it's a dark
hat with a logo how big was he in relation to me slightly taller and heavier 200 pounds
do you think it was Robert yes did you hear anyone say give me your money he was yelling
yelling what I don't know exactly what I'm telling I assume that he wanted money
did you see a gun yes Justin says he lunged at the man we were struggling it was a fight then shots
rang out Justin doesn't remember what happened next he thinks he passed out after it was all over you came to yes
and what happened you looked around yes what'd you see nothing first April was nowhere to be seen did you
call her name out oh yes I was yelling her name Justin's wife and his attacker had both disappeared into the darkness I
ran down the beach I couldn't find her I would screaming I remember feeling confusion I remember
feeling nauseous Panic after desperately scouring the beach in search of April Justin Barber says he
finally found his 27 year old wife floating face down in the surf he rushed into the water and tried to
revive her she wasn't responding to me so what'd you do testing I pulled her out of the water
Justin says he pulled April to Shore and that's when he noticed she'd been shot he tried several times to lift her into
his arms but he couldn't do it my body just was not responding the way that I think that it should have panicking he
bent over April's limp body and grabbed the waistband of her pants then dragged her several hundred feet we got to the
point at which the boardwalk meets the sand and then there's a set of stairs that
lead up to the boardwalk I couldn't very well drag her up the stairs I wanted to
lean her over my shoulder and try to carry her that way to the road but his last ditch effort to lift April also
failed I dropped her and I think the sound of her hitting the ground caused a reaction to me
and I knew at that point that what I was doing was just not worse [Music] it was at that moment Justin Barber says
that he figured out what was wrong the reason he couldn't carry his petite wife to safety was because Justin himself had
been shot and not just once but four times and now Justin says he was forced to do the unthinkable leave his wife
here on the beach while he blazed the trail to find help alone I don't know what the thought process was but I left
her I left her and where did you go I ran across the uh the boardwalk to the highway looking for
help and that's when I saw the first car company realizing he had left his cell phone at home Justin says he darted into
the middle of the road to wave for help but three cars whizzed past him I ran to our vehicle I remember getting
in the truck and driving back to town shaken and injured Justin sped off into the darkness I was driving erratically I
was looking for help I was looking for attention I remember seeing a red light and
stopping there and cars were there and I started yelling for help there at a major intersection Justin Barber says he
finally found a Good Samaritan who called 9-1-1 I think somebody's been shot okay is he conscious at all yeah
he's conscious trying to keep doing trying to keep him that away apparent within minutes the paramedics arrived
Justin told them what happened to April and they rushed him to the emergency room we got a call of a reported robbery
an attempted robbery with a shooting meanwhile Detective Howard Cole and the entire Saint John's Sheriff's Department
immediately sprang into action we had a gentleman up there who had been shot four times initially we didn't know
where we just knew that he had said that it was on the beach foreign [Music] they instantly made a chilling discovery
when the deputy found her she was laying there on her back at the photo Boardwalk
completely wet she was pronounced deceased right there at the scene [Music] police now had a homicide investigation
on their hands and a killer on the loose Cole rushed to the hospital to find out
from Justin everything he knew he just said how's my wife and I basically said that paramedics were on scene they found
her and she was deceased foreign Justin managed to compose himself and tried to describe the gunman
who killed April he did not know what the guy looked like he did not see his face it was too dark his description of
the suspect at that time is that he was taller than me he was stronger than me and he had on a baggy t-shirt and a ball
cat Cole then photographed the wounds the gunman had inflicted on Justin he had been shot in his left hand his left
shoulder the base of his neck and most alarmingly his chest I don't remember feeling pain at that time
my mind was uh was on April Justin's wounds turned out not to be life-threatening and doctors released
him the next day [Music] soon after he flew back to Oklahoma to face the Grim task of burying his wife
well the funeral was it was it was lovely and awful April's best friend Amber says the funeral made it clear
just how many people loved April and felt close to her we did everything we could to make it a tribute of how
wonderful she was [Music] Justin however seemed distant according to Amber Justin was almost mute he was
looking at the floor he wouldn't make eye contact with anybody Justin's brother Charlie wasn't surprised he says
Justin was simply overcome with grief after losing April well he was emotionally devastated physically
wounded and emotionally devastated I've never seen him like that even when our dad died
Charlie was so worried about Justin he wouldn't leave his side so they flew back to Florida together once there
Charlie says Justin was able to put his grief aside for one reason only he wanted to get back as soon as possible
so he could help in any way he could with the investigation even returning to the place where April
died and spending over 10 hours with police to help look for Clues everything they asked for I gave them
every time they wanted me to come back to St John's County and talk to them some more I did whenever they wanted a
statement I gave it to them but almost immediately Justin felt police were overlooking critical clues
that pointed to April's possible killer the biggest one Witnesses told police they had seen a second car parked at the
beach around the time Justin and April was shot they saw a car right there at the
boardwalk they described the car and the police chose to do nothing we didn't have a tag number we didn't have a
reliable make I would have loved to have found it because you know what that was
a potential witness in my mind but the simple fact is we could not Justin was also mystified why police
weren't thoroughly investigating suspicious incidents that happened while April was living on her own in Georgia
April had a stun gun because she did not feel safe there April's car was broken into and just three weeks before the
murder so was her house we did speak with the investigator the BET actually worked at burglary there's no connection
with that with this case were there any people in April's life who you would consider to be a threat to her I think
that we're stretching a bit when we say that I think that there are some some folks in April's life that should have
been investigated but there are certainly a few people there that had a romantic interest in
April but did the police follow up on those leads no I don't believe they did but what Justin didn't know is police
were pursuing leads of their own and in fact they thought they were already zeroing in on April's killer
[Applause] [Music] to Detective Howard Cole Justin Barber was the prime suspect in April's murder
from day one the situation is he presented it wasn't adding up even the basic premise of Justin's story
didn't make sense to Cole is this the kind of place this area right here where someone would stick
somebody up Rob somebody I don't I don't see why they would I mean it just doesn't make any sense it's never
happened before and it hasn't happened since Cole's suspicions were first raised when
he found out nothing was taken during the alleged robbery including Justin's wallet and April's diamond ring
and when Cole took Justin to the beach after April's funeral he became even more suspicious
he certainly appeared to be crime but there was no tears coming down his face he was almost like rubbing his eyes
just like that you know what I mean like trying to force up some emotion so Cole took a closer look at Justin's
account of what happened after he left April on the beach that night beginning with his attempt to flag down three
passing cars if what he was saying is true I would have expected to get numerous 9-1-1
calls and we received none most troubling of all to Cole was that when Justin got into his car to find
help for his wife he drove almost 10 miles before stopping there's a McDonald's right here
that would have been open there's a Walgreens [Applause] right here that's 24 hours that would
have been opened just north of here you'll come up there's a 24-hour Shell station would have been open and they're
very well illuminated if you're truly were trying to get help that certainly would be a place that I would consider
getting help I think anybody would accept that that man drove left his wife and drove 10
miles away to get help that just doesn't even that defies reason meanwhile April's family and friends
like Amber Mitchell were comparing notes and growing suspicious of Justin too when you put it together it was
frightening what was really going on the story they began to piece together was of a marriage in trouble and they
realized that problems surfaced right at the beginning when April's siblings Julie and Kendon came to live with the
newlyweds in Georgia whenever we first lived with them it was good towards the end of living with them it got kind of
tense I was very strong-willed and I didn't like it so the family brought Julie back to
Oklahoma and Kendon soon followed against Justin's wishes he was really why he cared so much about it except for
if he liked the appearance of being such a noble guy to take in these children Amber says she realized appearances were
very important to Justin he would put his high school jeans on once a month to make sure they still fit and if they
didn't he would fast until they did he gave April a hard time about weight to the point she was almost paranoid about
gaining weight and she was Tiny Amber also knew that April suspected Justin was having an affair in
Jacksonville she didn't know her name but she had learned that Justin was playing tennis with her and April was
certain that there was more than tennis and that it was an affair and confronted
him about it detective Cole discovered the woman was Shannon Kennedy who worked at the agency
where Justin's company rented cars Cole invited Shannon to the police station the same afternoon he was interviewing
Justin Shannon Kennedy came in right away and she was very honest she said it started
out as kind of a social relationship to go out have drinks and whatnot and eventually progressed into a sexual
relationship Justin however was less honest at least at first he adamantly denied having any affairs with anyone
Shannon Kennedy specifically I said well I'm going to bring her in this room we're going to get to the bottom he said
no no no he said I I did I did sleep with her I have been having an affair with her only confronted with you know
her and he being in the same room did he tell the truth to me that's huge when he searched Justin's apartment Cole
made another Discovery two life insurance policies one in Justin's name one in April's for two million dollars
each I thought we could be looking at a possible motive I mean two million dollars that's a
whole lot of money April's Aunt Patty Parrish says she had always been troubled by that but April
thought it was a lot of money neither April nor I could understand why he was insisting to have a two million
dollar life insurance policy on her life Amber Mitchell thinks she knows why he was in debt up to his eyeballs
stock market losses and other expenses had left Justin over fifty thousand dollars in debt
by the summer of 2002 between the affair and the money problems April had had enough
she was leaving him she told him that she was leaving him as the circumstantial evidence
implicating Justin was mounting detective Cole began to examine the crime scene more closely and now even
the fact that Justin had been shot four times began to seem suspicious he had one wound to his left shoulder
which was out and away he had another one in his right shoulder same thing it was kind of out and Away you sang out
and away from vital organs yeah I'm saying out and away from Center Mass exactly from the stuff that counts
Justin and his brother Charlie found detective Cole's description of the wounds preposterous
it hurt him he was in a lot of pain for a few weeks after he had to keep the one
arm in a sling have you ever been kicked by a horse nope I have and I felt like I'd been kicked by a
horse in several places it was painful it was painful then just months after the murder while
police were still trying to gather hard evidence against him Justin suddenly moved to Oregon where he got a new job a
new woman and started a new life far from detective Cole scrutiny but suspicions about Justin Barber
persisted he's very controlling he has no feeling I'm not a violent person very intelligent very charismatic I would
never ever consider doing anything like that and he was committed to this situation turning out successfully for
him I did not kill him [Music] even though Justin Barber had moved to Portland Oregon far from the scene of
April's murder she was always on his mind I wore my wedding band on a leather thong around my neck why'd
you wear that ring around your neck because I wasn't ready to let it go it was a reminder of her
and it was a reminder of my failure during our marriage [Music] so Justin distracted himself with work
come on Angel let's go and with a new woman he would take me to the movies and what take me to dinner
we were just best friends Lisa who asked us not to use her last name says Justin often relived what
happened to April that night on the beach he felt like he just abandoned her he never forgave himself
Justin never forgave April's family either it was because of them he claims that he remained the prime suspect
did April's family suspect you right away I believe now that they did at least very very quickly and now I've
learned that they voiced their accusations to the police immediately April's Aunt Patty Parish makes no
apologies for putting the spotlight on Justin he planned every moment of it this was premeditated
totally calculated yet months and then years went by without an arrest so Patty who was a judge in Oklahoma
stepped up the pressure on Florida prosecutors to arrest Justin judge Patty was insistent that we keep
this case on the front burner but State Attorney John Tanner worried his prosecutors would get burned by the case
we knew it was a case that could be lost you just don't expect a person to shoot
themselves four times but as we begin to search for who did it we determined that
all the evidence LED back to the husband after years of pressure and painstakingly weighing the evidence
which was largely circumstantial prosecutors finally rolled the dice in July 2004 a very different looking
Justin Barber was arrested for murder did you kill your wife no sir I did not kill my wife did you shoot yourself four
times to cover up the murder no that's ridiculous did you love April I did I still do
June 2006 four years after April's murder all right Mr Bailey show the jury in with his family behind him Justin
Barber is finally put on trial in Saint Augustine Florida take common sense with you and apply the
evidence you'll be convinced that the defendant murders life the state attorney's office is seeking
the death penalty and two of its youngest prosecutors Matt foxman and Chris France are trying this
high profile case I'll call you next week what was your gut reaction when you first received this case
well it's a career case I think for a prosecutor the threshold problem for us I think would be to convince a jury that
someone would shoot themselves four times Justin Barber has insisted and I believe
that he's an innocent man and the only thing we're interested is an exoneration Chester Justin's attorney Bob Willis
will try to convince the jury that a robber and not Justin Barber killed April on the beach
now you will find that within a very short period of time after April Barber's death it was found
on the evening of August 17 2002 that the police focused exclusively their attention on Justin Barber
when the prosecution star witnessed Detective Howard Cole disagrees if information had led to another suspect
would you have been open to it and investigated it absolutely Cole testifies that he asked Justin why
he drove more than nine miles from the beach after the shooting he said he didn't really remember much
about that drive did you ask him why he didn't stop at any houses yes and what did he tell you
he said he didn't want to get some old man out of bed Cole also testifies that even though
Justin said he dragged April by her waistband and had a bullet hole in his hand his blood wasn't visible on her
pants looking on the top line of her pants there and her stomach do you see any evidence of anyone's blood yes I don't
but the defense strikes back they say Justin's blood was found on April how about the blood that was uh here on her
uh right here inside upper left arm did you know at that time that that was Justin Barber's blood no sir you know it
now though don't you yes okay Miss Kennedy if you just come right up here please prosecutors turned their
attention to Justin's possible motives and call Shannon Kennedy to the stand when he became involved uh with the
defendant did you know that he was married not originally no did you ultimately come to that conclusion though yes
and what sort of things did the defendant say about his wife or his marriage he said that he loved her he
just couldn't live with her [Music] you want it look at just the fact that he was cheating on his wife and the fact
that there was two million dollars and you want to stop right there then we can't do anything about that if on the
other hand you're really seriously interested in who killed April Barber let's look at the evidence
foreign [Music] that's exactly what prosecutors do next when they drop a bombshell all right
call you next week six months before the murder they say Justin went online to research how to
shoot himself without getting hurt a computer expert recovered a record of those Google searches
you recognize what I'm showing yes sir I do yeah well I said Google search in which the keywords medical trauma
gunshot and chest were performed this finding that computer search where he was actually shot that was the first
indication that he had researched a specific location and he just happened to be shot there that that was a pretty
big Turning Point just hours before April was murdered Justin went online again in this exhibit what does it say was
downloaded basically tell me that the MP3 Guns and Roses Used To Love Her was downloaded
oh [Music] together [Music] how significant was that song in this case well it was significant because of the
timing downloaded just hours before the murder then when he's set to turn his computer over to law enforcement after
the murder that was the only song deleted Justin surfed the internet so often his
lawyer says the evidence is meaningless at a potentially 2200 queries they wind up with two that looked bad in
retrospect I think I could probably do that on anybody's computer and Justin says he's not giving up I will fight
until I have no more options then you'll be screaming all the time that you're innocent yes because I am
innocent [Music] [Music] as Justin Barber's murder trial drags into a second week the pressure is
growing on two families [Music] who once were close [Music] this is devastating for us and it's
devastating for them it's particularly tough on April's siblings Julie and Kendon whom Justin
once helped raise it was heartbreaking because somebody that we trusted and somebody that we had loved would would
be capable of doing something like that to our sister and we both looked up to him
I got your Stern if you'll come right up here please try and raise your right hand to clerkle story Justin's defense
now attacks one of the most critical points in the case whether Justin's wounds were superficial or not a defense
expert testifies that Justin's wounds were serious one nearly struck an artery what would be the result if that's
Oblivion artery which was a penetrated extensive hemorrhage and possibly death possibly yes
then prosecutors present two witnesses who say they saw another car at the crime scene the problem is they can't
agree what color the car was it was an older model car light colored dark in color
the trial finally boils down to a key Point illustrated by this graphic which represents a crime scene photo of
April's face that the jury was shown to prosecutors the blood flowing in a single Direction proves Justin is lying
the blood flow is everything Justin Barber's story is that she was shot down by the water and then carried 18
different positions with her head moving in all kinds of directions the blood flow would be everywhere
instead it's in a unified Direction and what the significance of that is his story just wasn't true but the defense's
expert testifies the blood flow is consistent with Justin's story in my view she was shot in that location near
the water and plus other blood which had come out was probably washed away by the
ways because she was as I understand from face down in approximately one foot of water
finally the case draws to a close this is a pure circumstantial evidence case the gun was not recovered in this case
there's certainly no one that ever saw him involved in any aspect of this crime at all
he wanted it all he didn't just want to evade a prosecution he wanted that for sure and he wanted
the two million dollars and he wanted sympathy for being shot and if he wanted to look like a hero who tried to save
his wife if the jury finds Justin guilty he could be sentenced to death good what was the first thing the jury did
when he went for in The Liberation room for the first time you pray what did you
pray for wisdom one person's already dead and another one might die so we were we wanted to make sure
that we were sure deliberations drag into a second day Agony Agony it was very very difficult
waiting there all day we're up to about hour 28 of deliberations and then a third
by the third day I was beginning to fear that the jury was hung but jurors are still trying to sort it
all out [Music] all right Mr Barbara would you please rise for the verdict finally on day four
a verdict would a jury find defendant Justin murtis Barber as follows guilty of first degree premeditated murder as
charged in the indictment [Music] April's family and friends are overcome but their emotions are mixed I was happy
but then again it breaks my heart it's understandable Kendon your reaction to the verdict
Joy Joy yeah but then I I live with him for your thoughts your feelings relieved for an instant
handed to the sheriff of St John's County pending the penalty phase foreign Justin's family does not have mixed
emotions they are simply Furious [Music] I would love to know what those jurors saw that made them think that he did
this because he didn't and they didn't prove that he did it so I don't know what they went by
the jurors say they were swayed by many factors especially the blood evidence if
she had been shot out on the beach there would have been some smearing some blood
flow in another Direction so the blood flow on her face did not match the story that Justin told correct also there was
the computer that he had searched for gunshot wounds gunshot trauma right chest and gets shot in the right chest
I really can't tell you on national TV what I think about him but uh it's not good
it's not good at all we were adults here tell us Georgia I think he's a dirty son
that's what I think he is but Justin Barber who might now be sentenced to death is defiant if that
jury thinks I killed April then they should execute me I would never ask for mercy
for the person who killed her why not because they don't deserve it and if that jury believes that I'm that
person then they should send me to death row [Music]

A couple strolling on the beach is attacked. Was the husband a victim like his dead wife - or the perpetrator? "48 Hours Mystery" correspondent Harold Dow reports. Watch more full episodes of "48 Hours" on Pluto TV.

Crime. Social justice. Impact. "48 Hours" investigates the most intriguing crime and justice cases that touch on all areas of the human experience including greed and passion. "48 Hours," which premiered in 1988, has developed a rich history of original reporting and impact journalism that has helped exonerate wrongly convicted people, caused cold cases to be reopened and solved, and along the way changed lives.

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Brief Summary

April Barber was murdered; her husband Justin was convicted of first-degree murder after a complex investigation and trial.

Key points

A Life Cut Short. April Barber is found dead after a violent confrontation, leaving a community in shock.
The Tragic Night. April and Justin's anniversary celebration takes a dark turn when they encounter danger on the beach.
Unraveling the Truth. As the investigation unfolds, suspicions arise about Justin's involvement in April's murder.
Justin Barber's Arrest. In July 2004, Justin Barber was arrested for the murder of his wife, April.
The Verdict. On day four of deliberations, the jury finds Justin Barber guilty of first-degree murder.
Family Reactions to the Verdict. April's family feels mixed emotions after the verdict, while Justin's family is furious.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I was deeply ashamed.

Justin expresses his feelings of guilt after the incident.

1:59WatchMar 28, 2023

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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