A Deadly Love Triangle
By: Christina Aliperti
Tags: Love Triangle, Murder, True Crime

This is not a well known case, but it happened in my neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY.

In late November of 2014 Jonelle Barker, 36 and her husband Steve Whittingham, 49 were having marital issues and Jonelle moved out of the family home. Barker worked as a baggage handler at John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens, NY. Some reports say that Whittingham also worked at the airport and others say he was a construction worker but for all intents and purposes they were known as hard working, good people.

In December of 2014, Jerome Barrett, 35, and his wife traveled from New York to Virginia. The trip was a sad one; Barrett’s father was dying of cancer. He got to spend time with his father and was by his side on December 10th when he took his last breath. Barrett and his wife then returned home and he went back to his baggage handler job at John F. Kennedy International Airport. They planned to return to Virginia during the weekend for Barrett’s father’s funeral. Friends and family say Barrett loved his wife and they seemed to have a loving relationship, so what happened soon after came as a huge shock to everyone.

According to 1010WINS, on December 16th, 2004, Steve Whittingham received an anonymous phone call in which the caller instructed him to drive to Louisiana Avenue and Seaview Avenue in the Spring Creek Towers neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY to see what his wife was doing. When Whittingham arrived there, he found his wife Jonelle in a KIA suv. She was with Jerome Barrett. Both were naked and they were having sex when Whittingham arrived.

Now, even though Jerome Barrett was naked and having sex at the time that Whittingham unexpectedly arrived, Whittingham would claimed that Barrett tried to attack him with a knife. Whittingham allegedly struggled with Barrett, took the knife from him and then stabbed both Jerome Barrett and his own wife, Jonelle Barker multiple times in their chests.

Barrett was able to grab his clothing and get out of the car. He dropped his clothing and wallet along the way but he made it to the apartment building on the corner of Louisiana Avenue and Seaview Avenue in an attempt to get away from Whittingham and get help. Jerome Barrett, fell to the ground and died in the entryway of the building, naked and covered in blood, right under the security camera that monitors the entryway and that all tenants in the building have access to through their TV. Sadly, that image of him was shared online and went viral in the community.

As Jerome Barrett lay dying, Steve Whittingham put his wife, who he had stabbed in the chest, into the trunk of Barrett’s vehicle. He claims that she was still alive at the time. He drove a few miles away and parked the KIA, with his wife’s body in the trunk. Then he walked away.

The following day, Steve Whittingham turned himself in to the police and was charged with 1st and 2nd degree murder. The 2009 KIA with the body of Jonelle Barker inside was recovered later that night. According to the NY Daily News and NY Post, Whittingham’s lawyer, Jay Cohen said that his client was acting in self defense at the time of the fatal stabbings, never meant to hurt anyone and had been in tears since it happened. “Some guys could go eat a hamburger afterwards. He’s not that kind of guy,” Cohen said.

However, to avoid a life sentence without the possibility of parole, Whittingham plead guilty to 1st degree murder and on Monday, November 2nd, 2015, he was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. He is currently serving his time at the Green Haven Correctional Facility in upstate NY. He is eligible for parole in the year 2039.

These are the questions that I’m left with:

1.The phone call — who made that call and did they ever think it would lead to murder? Did Whittingham already have a pretty good idea of what he would find, so he grabbed a knife and planned to go kill his wife and whoever she was with?

2. Was there an emotional break somewhere along the line — cheating wife, marriage falling apart, betrayal etc. that led an otherwise good man to commit the most heinous of crimes or was he just a ticking time bomb and the time on the clock finally ran out?

3. He could have confronted his wife about her infidelity and then divorced her, what made him choose to murder 2 people and ruin his life also?

4. Could something like this happen to any of us with the right combination of events?

Fancy talked about this case on Wednesday in her live True Crime Tidbit and if you missed it, we would love to hear what you think about this case so be sure to leave us a comment! As always, for more true crime you can visit us at Murder By Design or give our podcast, The Good Wives Guide To True Crime, a listen. We have also teamed up with our friend Todd Matthews to bring you Gone Cold, a brand new podcast that focuses on missing people and unsolved cases.