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Missing woman: Defendant said he would do ‘something bad’ before she disappeared
DAYTON — A week before his girlfriend vanished, Harold Barker told a bartender that he was going to do something that would return him to prison, the bartender testified Tuesday, Aug. 25.
“I could tell that he was extremely agitated and upset,” said Monica Davis, a bartender at Shag’s Tavern. “He told me he was going to do something bad and he was going to go back to jail.”
Davis said that Barker and Shelly Sue Turner were regulars at the bar, and that they usually came in every weekend. But this was the only time she ever saw Barker in the bar without Turner. He did not specify what “bad” thing he was going to do, Davis said.
Barker, 55, is on trial this week on charges of murder, felonious assault and tampering with evidence. All charges deal with Turner’s disappearance. The trial, before Common Pleas Court Judge Barbara P. Gorman, started Monday.
Barker told police that he last saw Turner, 38, outside Shags Tavern, 1926 Smithville Road, on Sept. 30, 2006. Turner’s belongings, including her Ford Explorer, were found at her home. Her body was never found, but police have said they are certain she is dead.
Under cross examination, Davis said that Turner and Barker seemed happy together, and told her about a month earlier that they were engaged.
Assistant county public defender Mike Pentecost asked Davis about a police report, which quoted her as saying that Barker told her that he wasn’t upset with Turner. Davis said she did not tell police that, and that must have been a mistake.
Though she usually works Friday and Saturday nights at the bar, she was off Sept. 30, 2006, which was a Saturday, Davis said.
The bartender who filled in for her, Brittany Eads, and a regular customer, William Davis, both testified that they did not see Turner or Barker at the bar that night. Eads said she had never seen either one before, but that she recognized most of the customers that night. William Davis said that he had spoken to them briefly on previous occasions, but did not know them well.
Barker initially cooperated with police after Turner’s family reported her missing. He told police they were outside the bar when a silver car pulled up outside the bar and someone yelled Turner’s name, according to a police incident report. Barker said Turner walked to the car, handed Barker his ring and left with a guy named “Bill,” according to the report.
William Davis, who goes by Bill, testified that he did give a woman a ride from the bar that night, but it was not Turner.
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