Teen charged in Landowski killing to be tried as adult

PORTSMOUTH

Robert Lee Barnes, 17, will be prosecuted as an adult on charges of murder and burglary, as the result of a hearing Wednesday in Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court that revealed new details in the Meghan Landowski case.

Barnes is charged in the slaying of Meghan, a 16-year-old Woodrow Wilson High School sophomore who was found dead in her Simonsdale home on April 10.

Police interviewed more than 100 people, scoured the crime scene for forensic evidence and sought computer communications during a six-month period before arresting Barnes on Oct. 23. They also sought hospital records of people who had sought treatment for cuts, because investigators found blood at the scene that was not Meghan's.

Three weeks before Barnes was arrested, a detective questioned him about the case, according to testimony that came out during the hearing. Detective Robert McDaniel testified that he asked Barnes if he would provide a DNA sample that day and the youth declined.

McDaniel did not say what led him to the teen and testified that he had asked for DNA samples from other people he spoke to during the investigation.

The next day, Barnes called him and said he had information about the case and asked to see him, McDaniel testified.

On Oct. 3, McDaniel went to Churchland High School to talk to Barnes again. This time, Barnes handed him a piece of bubble gum for his DNA.

McDaniel did not testify about DNA lab results but said based on information he got from other investigators, he went back to the school on Oct. 23 and had Barnes pulled from class.

Barnes agreed to go to the detective bureau with him, and his mother was called and told to meet them there. They were there for several hours. According to testimony, Barnes and his mother twice got up, left and got in their car. B oth times they came back after about 15 to 20 minutes.

Prosecutors were prepared to play video of a lengthy police interview.

Defense attorney Lawrence H. Woodward argued the admissibility of the videotape. Ultimately rather than have the tape played, the defense attorneys stipulated there was probable cause for the case to be sent to the grand jury.

According to other information that came out Wednesday, an autopsy showed Meghan died of stab wounds to the neck.

Meghan's mother and stepfather, Angela and Chris Shortt, sat in the tiny, crammed courtroom with a small group of supporters. Angela Shortt wore a black and pink T-shirt that memorialized her daughter. The others wore pink, which was Meghan's favorite color.

Chris Shortt did not testify, but attorneys agreed in a stipulation that his testimony would be that he came home about 4:10 p.m. that day and found Meghan's body face down in a pool of blood in the dining room.

Carl Sequeira, a forensic detective, testified that the body was partially clad and there was tape across the teen's mouth. Her arms were bound behind her back.

Sequeira said police collected 387 pieces of evidence from the crime scene.

"There was blood all over the place," he said. Investigators found several shoe prints of Nike Air shoes around the body and from the body to the kitchen sink, he said.

They got DNA samples from a skirt and underwear, a blanket, sheet, pillowcases, and a plastic tape roller under the bed in an upstairs bedroom.

Downstairs, Sequeira said, they took DNA samples from the faucet, spray handle and a knife left in the kitchen sink.

Janie Bryant, (757) 446-2453, janie.bryant@pilotonline.com