Son charged with murder after 72-year-old mom’s body found in garage, Texas cops say

Hours after a man waved a gun at deputies attempting to perform a welfare check, his 72-year-old mother’s body was found inside a garage, Texas cops say.

The son, 36-year-old Robert Barnes, was charged Thursday afternoon with murder and tampering with a corpse following the death of his mother, Lucila Barnes, according to Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez.

Deputies were dispatched around 9 p.m. Wednesday to a home in northwest Harris County when family members reported the 72-year-old woman as missing, Sgt. Jason Brown said in a news briefing streamed by KHOU. She was last seen Tuesday and her adult son was being uncooperative when family members came to the home.

He did not allow deputies into the home Wednesday, even brandishing a gun at them, the sergeant said. Deputies later returned with a search warrant.

A “large amount” of blood was found inside the house, but deputies initially did not find Lucila Barnes. Homicide detectives with the sheriff’s office arrived and found the woman dead in the garage.

Her body was found in a crate, the sheriff said.

The woman had “been dead for some time,” Brown said. A cause of death has not been listed, but Gonzalez said her body was “dismembered.”

Gonzalez called her death a “sad and horrific case.”

This story was originally published October 21, 2021 at 2:41 PM.