Prosecutors accuse Patrick Barnett not only of killing his wife but also of moving her body and altering evidence after her death.
LAKEWOOD, Colo. — The prosecution of Patrick “Ted” Barnett now rests on three distinct felony allegations: that he deliberately killed his wife, that he tampered with her body and that he tampered with physical evidence before police arrived at the couple’s Lakewood home Aug. 13.
The First Judicial District Attorney’s Office filed the counts Aug. 19 after reviewing a Lakewood police investigation into the death of Lindsey Barnett, a 37-year-old elementary art teacher. Barnett, 40, is charged with first-degree murder after deliberation, tampering with a deceased human body and tampering with physical evidence. Those charges reflect prosecutors’ theory of both the death and what allegedly happened afterward, but they remain accusations. Barnett is presumed innocent and has not been convicted of any offense in the case.
Two days after prosecutors announced the charges, Barnett appeared before District Court Judge Andrew Poland with defense attorneys Sarah Varty and Tyler Smith. The Aug. 21 proceeding lasted about 10 minutes, according to the Denver Gazette. Members of Lindsey Barnett’s family and her friends attended, while the defense lawyers declined to comment after court. Barnett remained in custody without bond. The hearing moved a case that began as an emergency call into the early stages of a formal district court prosecution.
The tampering charges help explain why investigators’ reconstruction of the house is so important to the case. Patrick Barnett told authorities he discovered his wife bleeding in the shower after waking downstairs and going to the main level of the home. Detectives, however, wrote that forensic evidence placed the critical events in the master bedroom. They found substantial blood on and around the bed, a disturbed plant and a blood trail extending toward the bathroom. They reported comparatively little blood where Lindsey was ultimately found.
Police responded shortly after Patrick Barnett called 911 at about 6 a.m. He told the dispatcher that his wife had cut her throat and was not breathing and said a knife was in the shower, according to the arrest affidavit. Responders found Lindsey Barnett there with a severe neck wound. West Metro Fire Rescue personnel attempted emergency measures before she was pronounced dead. Investigators later determined, according to the affidavit, that she had died on the bed and had been moved into the bathroom rather than reaching the shower by herself.
That conclusion is central to the allegation of tampering with a deceased human body. It also affects the murder allegation because detectives say the scene was inconsistent with the self-inflicted injury Patrick Barnett described in his emergency call. Police documented bruising and additional recent injuries on Lindsey Barnett, including an injury to a finger they viewed as potentially defensive. Her clothing and the relative lack of blood on much of her body also drew investigators’ attention when compared with the amount found in the bedroom.
The physical-evidence charge arises in a case where detectives repeatedly compared Patrick Barnett’s statements with what they observed. Police photographed fresh-looking scratches and other injuries on him, including marks that investigators said were consistent with fingernail scratches. Barnett said injuries on his body were connected to an ultimate Frisbee competition the previous weekend. Officers also reported apparent dried blood on his neck and behind an ear. The affidavit says he was unable to explain why blood would be present there under the account he had given investigators.
His description of the marriage changed in another important respect. Barnett told police that he and Lindsey had been struggling with communication, parenting differences and intimacy and had started sleeping separately, with him in the basement. Yet he also said they were trying to rebuild the marriage and had recently traveled to Scotland in hopes of improving their relationship. During his first interview, he denied infidelity. Later that day, a woman contacted police and said Patrick Barnett was her boyfriend.
The woman’s call was prompted by concern that she could not reach him. According to the affidavit, she told detectives they had met online about three months earlier and that Patrick had led her to believe Lindsey was no longer living with him and that the marriage was ending. Barnett admitted the relationship when police interviewed him again but said Lindsey knew about it. Authorities have not said the relationship establishes a motive, and prosecutors had not publicly identified a motive in the materials reviewed for this article.
Investigators also heard conflicting descriptions of Lindsey Barnett’s mental health. Patrick Barnett told police she had dealt with depression connected to pregnancy and childbirth. The other woman said he had described Lindsey as severely unstable and had told her of a recent suicide attempt. Lindsey’s mother told police that her daughter had experienced depression but had never attempted suicide or voiced suicidal thoughts. She said Lindsey loved her children and was preparing for the coming school year. Detectives treated those statements as part of the broader inquiry into Patrick Barnett’s initial suicide account.
Lindsey Barnett worked as an art teacher at Hutchinson and Westgate elementary schools. After her death, school officials described a teacher who invested deeply in students and art programming. Her family remembered her as a devoted mother, sister and daughter with a love for art and nature. Those statements came as relatives began attending the court proceedings against her husband and as the schools offered support to students and staff affected by her death.
The prosecution must still establish what evidence is admissible and whether it supports each element of the three offenses. First-degree murder after deliberation requires prosecutors to prove more than the fact of a death; the state must satisfy the elements of the charged offense beyond a reasonable doubt. The tampering counts similarly require proof of the conduct alleged in those charges. An arrest affidavit, while detailed, presents the investigative basis for an arrest and is not itself a verdict.
A status conference was scheduled for Sept. 14 after Barnett’s Aug. 21 appearance, and local reporting said a preliminary hearing could follow later. No reliable publicly available account located for this update established the result of that later conference. As of the latest independently verified reporting, Barnett remained charged with the three felonies and the case had not reached a determination of guilt or innocence.
Author note: Last updated September 28, 2026.