Husband forced wife to behead ‘love rival’
When Armando Barron discovered that his wife had sent Snapchat messages to a male colleague, it led to a brutal revenge murder
Perhaps it was no surprise that Armando Barron checked his wife’s phone messages on the night of 19 September 2020. Britany, then 31, had recently told him she wanted a divorce. They had been together since they were teenagers and had three children. Barron,
30, was looking for answers to why Britany was saying she didn’t love him any more.
He couldn’t stand the thought that his wife might be speaking to other men. But unfortunately, Barron did find something on Britany’s Snapchat account. She was sending messages to a colleague at the medical manufacturing company where she worked, in Jaffrey, New Hampshire.
That man was Jonathan Amerault, 25, and he lived in Keene, 20 miles from Jaffrey, where he’d just bought a new home. He was an engineer, who loved hiking, climbing mountains and generally just being outdoors.
Jonathan and Britany had been working on a project together and had been exchanging messages. There was no evidence they were having an affair – but Barron thought the messages were flirtatious and was furious.
That Saturday night, Jonathan received a message that would seal his fate. On the following Monday, he didn’t turn up for work and was reported missing. His family and friends said that they hadn’t heard from him in two days.
Investigators discovered that, on that same day, Britany had called her work to say she wouldn’t be in. In fact, she said she was quitting and wouldn’t be back ever again.
Horror find
Two days after that, hunters spotted a makeshift camp in a remote woodland spot north of Errol, which was 200 miles upstate. They found Britany and told her that she was camping in a restricted area, and that she was in danger, because it was close to a bear baiting site.
They reported her to the authorities and conservation officers went to find her. Britany was there alone. She had a badly bruised face, and two black eyes. She said she was “clearing her head”. But there was a car hidden under some tarpaulin and when police arrived they discovered it was Jonathan’s vehicle.
They also found a headless body wrapped in tarp in a nearby brook. It was Jonathan – he’d been shot and beheaded.
Britany was arrested, and Barron was arrested shortly afterward, while driving his daughter near their home.
A chilling story
Why was Britany with the decapitated body of her dead colleague? When questioned by police, she had a shocking confession.
She said that after her husband had found the messages between her and Jonathan, it had triggered a violent fight. Barron had choked her and punched her in the face. Britany claimed he’d put a gun in her mouth and had threatened to kill her, before leaving their kids with a grandparent.
The couple had driven to the Annett Wayside State Park in nearby Rindge, New Hampshire. They sat in the car, and Barron had taken his wife’s phone.
“We’re gonna message your little boyfriend,” Barron had allegedly told his wife.
Barron had then messaged Jonathan using Britany’s phone and lured him to the park. They had lain in wait with a machete and a gun. Britany said she was too terrified to escape or get help.
When Jonathan showed up, Barron launched a sickening attack – which had ended in Jonathan being shot dead.
Afterwards, Britany had been forced to drive Jonathan’s car, and his body, 200 miles to the campsite, with Barron following
behind, all the while on the phone to her. He had even stopped at a store on the way to get tarp, lighter fluid, cleaning products and a
shovel.
They set up a camp in the woods, where Barron allegedly demanded that Britany cut off Jonathan’s head with a saw. She did, and it was buried separately. Then he made his wife send messages to her loved ones saying that she was moving to New Mexico.
Britany was arrested and later took a plea deal. In return for testifying against Barron, she pleaded guilty to covering up Jonathan’s murder. She was given a threeand-a-half-year sentence but in the end only served eight months.
Sickening details
Barron was charged with murder, and there were also charges for assaulting his wife. At the trial, earlier this year, even more horrific details were revealed to the court when Britany, now 33, took the stand and testified.
She said that when Jonathan arrived at the state park, Barron began his attack, which continued into the early morning of the next day. “You’re trying to f**k my wife?” he said, according to Britany.
“And he starts hitting him,” Britany testified. Jonathan fell to the ground and Barron stamped on his face. He turned the gun on his wife and made her stand on Jonathan’s neck and slit his wrists. As Barron hacked at him with a machete, he shouted, “Kill him. Shoot him. Do it.” She refused.
Jonathan was forced into his own car. Britany said that Jonathan had pleaded, saying, “I thought you were going to let me
He demanded she cut off the head with a saw
live.” Barron aimed his gun. “I guess that makes both of us liars,” he said, firing the gun three times.
Two bullets hit Jonathan in the chest, and one struck him in the head. Jonathan had defensive wounds where he’d desperately tried to save his life.
Britany admitted that, as she was driving to the campsite, she could hear Jonathan moaning in the back. The sounds eventually stopped. When she was asked in court about Jonathan, she described him as kind, sweet and funny. They’d gone to a park after work one afternoon and talked.
“I said I couldn’t offer anything more than friendship,” she testified, and later gave him a quick kiss when they drove back to work so she could get her car. They shared one more kiss during a work break that week, a day before the texts were discovered.
When asked if she wanted a relationship with Jonathan, she said, “I thought there might have been potential, but I wasn’t planning on a relationship.”
The prosecution said Barron was clearly guilty, and Britany had been under threat to help him.
“The defendant had all the motive to kill Jonathan because, for him, Jonathan was a man who had just started seeing his wife,” the prosecutor said. “A man who was at her workplace that he now knew was talking to his wife behind his back. The man that he instantly saw as a rival.”
The defence said Britany’s version of events didn’t match the physical evidence – and that made her testimony untrustworthy. They said Britany had killed Jonathan. “Her claims are like something out of a TV movie, not real life,” they said. “They’re sensationalised to make Barron seem like a monster and her a victim.” They also said Britany had had opportunities to escape.
But why would she admit to cutting off Jonathan’s head? If she was blaming it all on Barron, why not say he’d done that, too?
Immense suffering
Last month, Barron was found guilty of all 13 counts, including kidnapping, assault and murder. He was also found guilty of attacking his wife. At the sentencing, Jonathan’s mum Justine gave a statement. She called Barron a “verminous, conniving, murderous beast” and “lower than the excrement of filth”.
The judge was brutal with her delivery. “The depravity of your actions and single-handedly causing immense suffering and the death of Jonathan Amerault show an extreme indifference to the value of human life,” she said. She said the pain he’d inflicted was unfathomable and she had no hesitation in imposing a harsh punishment.
Barron, now 32, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, plus an additional 45 to 135 years.