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Family violence hints preceded homicide

By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com

Ralph Dee Barr, who was shot and killed Friday morning by his 23-year-old daughter in their south Fayette home, had been violent in the past with his wife and daughter, according to a 2002 incident report filed by the Fayette County Sheriff’s Department.

The deputy who filed the report on May 18, 2002 wrote that Windy Barr said her father once “pulled a shotgun” on her before her prom over a year before. The deputy also noted that Barr’s wife, Natalie Strickland Barr, “seemed very afraid of her husband” and admitted that she and her husband had “slight” physical altercations in the past.

Windy Barr told detectives Friday that she shot her dad while defending her mother, police said. Police haven’t released details about what led up to the shooting, but chief detective Bruce Jordan said Windy Barr won’t be immediately charged with murder.

That decision will be left up to a Fayette County grand jury, Jordan said.

“Her statement is that she was defending her mother,” Jordan said.

The fatal shot to Mr. Barr, 48, was fired by a .44 Magnum, Jordan said.

In the 2002 police report, Mrs. Barr also told the deputy that her husband suffers from some type of mental disorder, the report stated.

The deputy was originally called to the Barr’s home in the Swan Lake Landing subdivision because of an argument between Ralph Barr and his daughter Windy. The report indicated that Windy Barr moved out of the home after the deputy arrived on the scene.

The 2002 police report also indicates that the reporting deputy noticed several firearms in the house. Because of that fact, he urged any deputies reporting to that home in the future to use caution.

“Several guns were visible within cases in the front room, by the front door,” the report stated.

Ralph Barr was employed by Northwest Airlines and lived here part of the time, living in Memphis at other times, police said. Natalie and Windy Barr also lived at the Swan Lake Landing home here, police said.

Ralph Barr’s body was found in the foyer of the home when deputies arrived on the scene, Jordan said.

The two-story home, which is currently on the market with a listed value of $389,900, is on a parcel that appears to extend to an adjacent lake.