More details have emerged surrounding the murder of Jennifer Barrett of Sudbury, whose decomposed body was discovered stuffed in a barrel in the backyard of a Winnipeg residence last August.
It has been reported that the man charged with first degree murder in Barrett's death, Perez Adaryll Cleveland, is the father of Barrett's teenaged son. Sudbury.com is withholding the name of the boy out of respect for the family.
Prior to living in Manitoba, Cleveland accumulated a lengthy record in Sudbury. His history of violence included 10 criminal charges in the Nickel City alone including assault, assault with a weapon, threatening death, break and enter, and breach of prison, among others, dating back to August 1994 and as recently as April 2001.
It has been reported that in 1999, a $1,000 reward was offered in Sudbury for information on Cleveland relating to assault charges.
It has also been reported that he was convicted in the U.S. state of Georgia of forgery in 2003.
In Dec. 2016, Cleveland was arrested in Winnipeg and charged with 55 offences relating to a string a violent assaults from Aug. 14 to Sept. 27. It was while in custody on those charges that he was re-arrested and charged with Barrett's murder.
It has been reported that Barrett began a relationship with Cleveland — who, it's been reported, has fathered 10 children, including six in Sudbury — in Sudbury around in the mid-1990s.
Cleveland's propensity for violence was further illustrated by one of the two women charged as an accessory to Barrett's murder, Jessica Reid of Winnipeg. In October 2016, Reid filed a restraining order against Cleveland, alleging he had assaulted her with vice grips, a blow torch, golf clubs, a machete, and threatened her with death.
Barrett herself was fairly active on Facebook, posting regularly on a weekly basis until late 2013 when her posts became more sporadic. The last post that is visible is on Feb. 2, 2014. The information she shared on her Facebook says she attended both École McDonald-Cartier and École Secondaire Catholique L'Heritage, before studying nursing at Collège Boréal.
Her profile also lists her as being in a relationship at the time, but doesn't say with whom.
Barrett practiced nursing in Sudbury for several years after graduating, a former co-worker told Sudbury.com.
The two worked together at Pioneer Manor from 2008 to 2012, when Barrett left the job. The co-worker, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, remembers her as a dedicated nurse who took her job seriously.
"She wasn't overly social outside of work, that I know of," said the former co-worker. "She kept a lot to herself. I knew about her son and how much she adored him, and that his father wasn't really involved back then. She enjoyed hockey, and her son was really into it as well."
The former co-worker told Sudbury.com Barrett moved away in 2012 to rekindle a relationship with the father of her teenaged son, now known to be Cleveland. The individual said Barrett relocated to Ottawa first and heard she lived in Florida following that.
When Barrett and Cleveland landed in Winnipeg is not yet known.
According to Winnipeg police, homicide detectives began an investigation in the late fall of 2016 into human remains that had been recovered in a barrel in the backyard of a residence in the Waverley Heights neighbourhood of Winnipeg.
The remains were identified as Barrett through DNA testing.
According to a Winnipeg police release, Barrett "succumbed to injuries sustained during an assault that lasted several days." Her remains were then placed in a barrel along with several chemical agents that sped up decomposition of the body. The barrel had been left on the property.
Also charged with accessory after the fact to murder are Reid, 34, and Holley Alyssa Sullivan, 28, of Calgary.
Barrett and the three accused in her death all lived together in the residence where her remains were found. Their relationship is currently unclear, though, according to report, Reid was in a common law relationship with Cleveland when she filed a protection order against him in October 2016.
The Barrett family is not speaking with media.
We will continue to follow this story as more details emerge.
