Colorado Husband Charged With Murder After Wife’s Death Was Initially Reported as Suicide

Patrick Theodore Barnett, 40, has been charged with his wife’s murder after claiming she slit her own throat.Lakewood Police Department

A Colorado husband who told police that his wife had taken her own life after struggling with postpartum depression is now facing a first-degree murder charge after investigators said evidence inside the couple’s Lakewood home did not support his account.

Patrick Theodore “Ted” Barnett, 40, was arrested following the Aug. 13 death of his wife, Lindsey Barnett, 37, a mother of two and elementary school art teacher. More recent reporting says prosecutors have also charged him with tampering with a deceased human body and tampering with physical evidence.

According to an arrest affidavit, Patrick called 911 shortly after 6 a.m. and reported that Lindsey had cut herself. First responders found her unresponsive in the shower, with a serious wound to her neck and a knife nearby.

Patrick told investigators that the couple had argued and that he had slept in the basement. He said he went upstairs the following morning intending to apologize and discovered Lindsey in the bathroom.

But detectives soon began focusing on what they described as significant inconsistencies between that explanation and the physical evidence inside the house.

Evidence in the bedroom raised immediate questions

Patrick claimed his wife Lindsey suffered from postpartum depression.Facebook/ted.barnett

Although Lindsey was discovered in the shower, investigators reported finding a substantial amount of blood on the couple’s bed, including on the sheets and pillow.

By comparison, there was relatively little blood around Lindsey’s body in the bathroom.

Investigators also documented a trail leading from the bedroom toward the bathroom. A plant beside the bed had been knocked over, and soil appeared to have been dragged in the same direction. Between the two rooms, officers found what the affidavit described as a small or “dainty” bloody footprint.

Those details led detectives to conclude that Lindsey did not reach the shower on her own and that her body had been moved from the bed, according to the affidavit.

Patrick continued to maintain that he had found her in the shower and said he did not know how she could have gotten there.

Police also documented bruising on Lindsey’s arms and legs, with some injuries considered potentially consistent with an attempt to defend herself. Investigators additionally reported scratches on Patrick’s abdomen and near his collarbone that they believed were consistent with fingernail scratches.

Postpartum depression became part of Patrick’s account

The couple welcomed their second child in February 2025.Facebook/ted.barnett

Patrick told investigators that Lindsey had experienced postpartum depression. The couple had welcomed their second child in February 2025.

But Lindsey’s mother, Donna Ott, gave police a different account of her daughter’s recent condition.

Ott acknowledged that Lindsey had previously experienced depression but said she had not recently shown symptoms, had never attempted suicide and had not expressed suicidal thoughts. She also told investigators that Lindsey loved her children and had been making plans for the upcoming school year.

Ott further alleged that Patrick had been verbally abusive toward Lindsey in the past.

A second woman contacts police

Lindsey worked as a school teacher and loved her children, her grieving mother told police.Facebook/lindsey.ott.3

Hours after Lindsey was found, the investigation took another turn.

Police received a call from a woman who identified herself as Patrick’s girlfriend and requested a welfare check because she had not heard from him since around 11 p.m. the previous night. She reportedly told investigators that this was unusual because the two communicated frequently.

According to the affidavit, the woman said she and Patrick had met online about three months earlier. She understood that Patrick planned to divorce Lindsey and said he had told her Lindsey had recently been in a psychiatric unit and had attempted suicide the previous weekend.

That disclosure conflicted with what Patrick had initially told detectives when questioned about infidelity. According to the affidavit, he first denied there had been infidelity in the marriage. After investigators confronted him about the other woman, he acknowledged the relationship but claimed Lindsey knew about it and accepted it.

Investigators also cited what they described as inconsistent statements from Patrick as they reconstructed what happened inside the home.

Lindsey remembered by her school community

Lindsey taught art at Hutchinson and Westgate elementary schools in the Jeffco Public Schools system.

Following her death, Hutchinson Elementary Principal DeAnn Hoffman remembered Lindsey for her passion for art education and dedication to students. The district made mental-health and support resources available to students and staff affected by her death.

The couple’s two children, a 3-year-old and an infant, were not injured, according to police.

Patrick Barnett was taken into custody and held without bond in Jefferson County. The case remains pending, and the charges against him are allegations; he is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.