Episode 156: Armando Barron
25-year-old Jonathan Amerault
32-year-old Armando Barron and 33-year-old Britany Barron
33-year-old Britany Barron of Jaffrey, New Hampshire, seemed to be happy on the surface. She had three beautiful daughters, was married to her husband, 32-year-old Armando Barron, and was a hard-working and devoted mom. Britany worked at a company called Teleflex where she worked as a machine operator, and here she met 25-year-old Jonathan Amerault. The two bonded and became very good friends after growing closer while working on the same work project, and they began texting and communicating over Snapchat.
On September 19th, 2020, Armando found the text messages between Britany and Jonathan and became unhinged. He accused her of having an affair, saying she was cheating on him with Jonathan. He then grabbed her by the throat, threw her onto the ground, and began choking her. He then dragged her into their bedroom, hit her multiple times in the face, pulled out a gun and put it in her mouth. He stated “You know you’re going to die, right?” before taking her phone and messaging Jonathan, asking him to meet at Annett Wayside Park in Rindge, New Hampshire.
Armando sent their three daughters to their grandmother’s, who lived right around the corner, before taking Britany out of the house and driving to the park. When Armando saw Jonathan, he began beating him and then kicking him once he was on the ground. Armando made Britany step on Jonathan’s neck and cut him, but when he asked her to shoot Jonathan, she refused. Armando then forced Jonathan into the back of his car and forced Britany into the driver’s seat before stepping away. Armando then got into the car and fatally shot Jonathan three times, twice in the chest and once in the head.
Armando then told Britany to drive Jonathan’s car, with his body still in the back seat, towards a campsite up in Errol, about 200 miles away. Armando followed behind, talking to her on the phone the entire time. Once they got to the campsite, Armando allegedly forced Britany to cut off Jonathan’s head, bury it, and wrap the body up in a tarp before disposing of it. As she was disposing of the body, Armando drove off and headed back home, leaving her at the campsite.
The body was found several days later by New Hampshire Fish and Game officers in a swamp after they found Britany at the campsite, telling her camping there was not permitted. They took notice of how badly beaten she was and observed Jonathan’s car concealed with a tarp, and then found his body.
In court at her own trial, Britany stated “He said that we needed to cut off his head so that there would be no dental records of the body” and said that she used a saw brought from home to behead Jonathan. Britany pleaded guilty to three counts of falsifying evidence and was sentenced to three and a half to seven years in prison, with two years suspended and credit given for time served. She was released from jail on parole in April of 2022.
Armando’s trial began about a month later in May, with Britany taking the stand to testify against him. Armando’s defense attorneys argued that Armando wasn’t the one who shot Jonathan, but that it was Britany. Attorney Morgan Taggart-Hampton stated “The wrong person is on trial.”
Armando initially pleaded not guilty to the charges of the murder of Jonathan, but did admit to hitting and beating Britany, telling the court he had broken her nose, tried to strangle her, and kicked and beat Jonathan as well.
Senior Assistant Attorney General Benjamin Agati said that Britany “was no less a victim” the night of Jonathan’s murder, stating “If you don’t recognize that at sentencing, it belittles what occurred to her or sends a message both to her and other members of the community who may have been or may be subject to violence that in the grand scheme of things what happened didn’t matter. It does; it does matter.”
Justine Amerault, Jonathan’s mother, was present at the trial and described her son as someone who loved hiking, and he had climbed 66 of the 67 4,000-plus foot mountains in northern New England. He had served in the Boys & Girls Club of Souhegan Valley and as a camp counselor, which he loved doing.
During closing statements, Prosecutor Benjamin Agati stated “The defendant had all the motive to kill Jonathan, because for him, Jonathan was a man who had just started seeing his wife. A man who his wife thought looked like an Abercrombie model, 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.” It was also brought up in court that Britany had recently confessed to her husband that she no longer loved him and had asked for a divorce, and Jonathan’s murder had happened very shortly after that conversation.
On May 27th, 2022, the Cheshire County jury returned the guilty verdict less than two hours after the judge sent them to deliberate. Armando was found guilty of 13 charges, including first-degree murder, kidnapping and domestic violence. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. In addition to life in prison, he was sentenced to 45 years on charges of kidnapping, two counts of criminal solicitation of murder, two counts of criminal solicitation of first-degree assault, and second-degree assault against Jonathan Amerault. In July of 2022, a judge sentenced him to a total of 10.5-23 years in state prison on a felony second-degree assault charge and four domestic violence charges, of which two were felonies and two were misdemeanors. He also received a 3.5-7 year sentence, which was suspended, on a charge of second-degree assault with strangulation.
Armando remains in prison.
Image sources:
vocal.media - “The story of how Britany Barron and her husband, Armando Barron killed and beheaded her ex-lover.”