A fugitive recently captured after a two day manhunt is no
stranger to the prison system, having served 11 years for killing
the mother of his child during a fight with a single stab wound to
the heart, according to Dispatch archives.
Also check out a story on Barnes’ capture and arrest for trying to kill a peace officer.
A fugitive recently captured after a two day manhunt is no stranger to the prison system, having served 11 years for killing the mother of his child during a fight with a single stab wound to the heart, according to Dispatch archives.
Joel Barnes, 39, of Gilroy, has been in and out of the justice system for nearly two decades and has a long history of violence and anger, according the Dispatch archives. While he was arrested for a number of crimes, his largest crime occurred May 14, 1995, when 25-year-old Barnes killed Tracy Lynn Little – his 27-year-old common-law wife – during an argument. At the time, Little had a 17-month-old son with Barnes and 6-year-old daughter with another man.
The relationship between Barnes and Tracy Little was in many ways typical of a relationship plagued by domestic violence, said Perla Flores, program director for domestic violence and sexual assault services at Community Solutions. Community Solutions, a nonprofit based in Morgan Hill, helps shelter and counsel survivors of rape, domestic battery, and other crimes.
The night of Tracy Little’s death began with Barnes playing pool with a close friend and that friend’s girlfriend, according to archives. Barnes had been fighting with Tracy Little, and when he got ready to go home about 11 p.m., he expressed worry that she would chide him for being out so late. Barnes’ friend told him that if Barnes got upset, he should leave and come over to the friend’s house to defuse the situation.
Yet Barnes did not seem to heed that advice, according to archives. He was next seen by a police officer speeding down Monterey Street about 1:30 a.m. The officer followed him to South Valley Hospital, where the officer caught up with Barnes in the emergency room trying to help nurses secure Tracy Little to a stretcher. Nurses spent the next 90 minutes trying to save her, but she was pronounced dead at 2:46 a.m.
Barnes told police that he had been fighting with Tracy Little and that “she fell on the knife and stopped breathing,” Gilroy police Sgt. Al Morales said in 1995. However, Barnes told his father – a retired California Department of Forestry firefighter of 26 years – about that same time that he accidentally stabbed her while trying to leave their residence at 1129 Montebello Drive.
“‘Dad, I had this knife and I was just trying to scare her,'” Barnes’ father said Barnes told him soon after the incident.
Barnes was booked for murder that same night, and he would eventually plead no contest to voluntary manslaughter about a year later, according to archives.
In many cases where a man kills his partner, he does so when she is about to end the relationship, Flores said.
“That is the most dangerous time for her,” she said. “That’s when he knows that he’s losing control.”
Because domestic violence is about staying in control, the abuser sometimes exercises the ultimate act of control – taking the victim’s life – when she tries to leave, Flores said. However, there was no specific indication that Tracy Little was breaking up with Barnes, according to archives.
As with most couples whose relationship ends up with a killing, Barnes and Tracy Little were no strangers to domestic violence, according to Tracy Little’s relatives at the time.
“He used to beat her up pretty bad,” said Martha Little, Tracy Little’s grandmother, soon after the killing.
Barnes and Tracy Little’s relationship started quite humbly in the spring of 1993, according to archives. According to their child’s age, Tracy Little must have gotten pregnant about this time. Barnes, described as shy, had not had a girlfriend for some time, and was overjoyed to link up with Tracy Little, Barnes’ family said. At the time, Barnes’ parents were active members of the Gilroy Elks Lodge – Barnes’ father was president for a time and Barnes’ mother was house manager.
Yet, about a year later in July 1994, there were already signs of trouble, as evidenced by one fight that got out of control, according to archives. Barnes and Tracy Little were at Barnes’ parents’ house and were scheduled to go to their fourth counseling session together, but Barnes refused to go. He left the house and got into his car, where Tracy Little caught up with him, kicked his tire and hit his windshield with her fist.
Barnes got out of the car, walked over to her, punched her in the stomach – causing her to double over – and then kicked her in the face, according to archives. She ran inside, where he caught up with her and put her in a headlock, pulling at her hair with his free hand. Tracy Little tried to fight back, grabbing Barnes in the groin, but the fight was stopped only when Barnes’ mother intervened.
Barnes’ parents called police, but he fled before they arrived, according to archives. They later arrested him for battery, to which he eventually pleaded guilty, and he was sentenced to 32 weeks of anger management counseling. However, that type of counseling is inappropriate for that crime, Flores said.
“Abuse is not about anger,” she said. “It’s about this value system – because I’m a male, I have the right to have control over this person.”
When police talked to Tracy Little, she told them that she “had been punched two or three other times” before, according to archives. After one attack, her eye was swollen for four days and she had to miss her daughter’s school play.
Flores emphasized that domestic violence victims are not typically meek individuals, but people who have tried to leave the relationship multiple times. Often, they feel tethered to the people abusing them because the abuser has threatened them or their children.
“If the children are in jeopardy, there’s a tremendous amount of power that’s built in that puts women at a disadvantage,” she said.
Stopping abusive relationships means supporting the people being abused and giving them viable options to escape their situation, Flores said. Ending the propagation of abusive relationships means changing a community’s value system and promoting equality between men and women.
“In order to change those behaviors, that comes from prevention, that comes from education, and that comes from the community being aware and holding batterers accountable,” she said.
HOW TO GET HELP
People who have suffered domestic abuse or sexual assault can call Community Solutions’ 24-hour crisis intervention hotline at (877) 363-7238. The call is confidential, and operators are bilingual.
