MANCHESTER, NH – After he murdered his wife’s lover, Armando Barron ordered Britany Barron to cut off the head of Jonathan Amerault and bury it at a remote campsite in the Northwoods, according to police.
Now, both Armando Barron, 30, and Britany Barron, 31, are facing charges for their respective roles in Amerault’s killing. Armando Barron was arrested and charged Thursday with assaulting Britany Barron in connection with the murder investigation, according to an affidavit filed in Cheshire Superior Court.
Armando Barron allegedly discovered that Britany Barron was having an affair with Amerault, 25, from Keene, and then used her cell phone on Saturday to lure Amerault to Annette Wayside Park in Rindge. Britany Barron told police that her husband had savagely beat her after discovering her affair with Amerault, at one point during the assault he put a loaded pistol in her mouth.
At Annette Wayside Park, Armando Barron violently assaulted Amerault and tried to force his wife to shoot him, even putting the gun in her hands and wrapping his hand over hers, according to the police affidavit written by New Hampshire State Police Detective Stephen Sloper.
After Armando Barron tried and failed to get Britany Barron to step on Amerault’s neck, he forced her to cut her lovers’ wrists, according to Sloper. Armando Barron then shot Amerault three times.
The couple drove up to the Errol campground with Britany Barron being forced to drive Amerault’s Subaru up to the woods. There, she was forced to cut off Amerault’s head with a saw, and bury it in the woods. Amerault’s body was wrapped in a tarp and buried near a brook, and his car was covered with a tarp, according to Sloper’s affidavit.
Police contacted Teleflex Medical in Jaffrey where Amerault worked and learned he did not call out, but that his co-worker, Britany Barron was also out of work. Teleflex employees told police Britany Barron called to say she would not be at work and was likely quitting her job. Employees also told police they believed Britany Barron and Amerault were in a relationship.
Police contacted Armando Barron and he told detectives that he was despondent over the breakup of his marriage. He told detectives he last saw his wife Saturday night when he dropped her off at the side of the road in Temple so that she could go camping with friends. He then drove to Errol in Coos County, a three and a half-hour drive, and then returned home, he told police.
Anderson writes that police used cell phone signal data to locate Britany Barron. Her phone was last connected to a cell tower in Errol, and New Hampshire Fish and Game conservation officers found her at a campsite in the woods in Atkinson and Gilmanton Academy Grant.
Police say Britany Barron was alone at the campsite and armed. Near her was a large object covered by a tarp and covered with sticks and branches.
“I’m in big trouble,” she reportedly said to the officers.
The conservation officers report seen blood run out of the bound tarp covering Amerault’s headless body.
Britany Barron told police that she burned Amerault’s belongings and wiped down his car and was waiting for her husband to return. He was heading up to the campsite with their 9-year-old daughter and dirt and concrete, according to Sloper’s affidavit.
He was stopped and arrested in Coos County, though the affidavit is not exact, stating he was arrested in the State Police Troop F jurisdiction.
Anderson’s report indicates that police found Armando Barron’s car left in a Jaffrey parking lot and that there were visible red, brown stains inside.
The couple are set to be arraigned Friday, with Armando Barron in the Cheshire Superior Court and Britany Barron in the Coo Superior Court.
Armando Barron is charged with capital murder for allegedly shooting Amerault while engaged in the commission of a kidnapping, according to the statement released by the Attorney General’s Office.
Britany Barron is charged with three counts of falsifying physical evidence in conjunction with Amerault’s murder for altering, destroying, concealing or removing items of physical evidence when she believed an investigation was pending or about to be instituted with a purpose to impair their verity or availability.
Both Armando Barron and Britany Barron were ordered held without bail at their separate arraignments on Monday; his in Cheshire Superior Court and hers in Coos Superior Court. Britany Barron’s attorney, Richard Guerriero, argued that she should be free without bail, as she is a victim in the case.
“There is no reason to deprive this woman, who is presumed to be innocent, of her freedom at this point,” Guerriero said.
Guerriero argued that she was in fear of her life and daughter’s life when she carried out her husband’s grisly demands.
“She had no idea what else he was going to do,” Guerrieo said.
