Barry Martin Bennett (December 10, 1955 – August 19, 2019) was a professional American

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

defensive tackle A defensive tackle (DT) is a position in American football that typically lines up on the line of scrimmage, opposite one of the Guard (American football), offensive guards; however, he may also line up opposite one of the offensive Tackle (gridir ...

who played eleven seasons in the

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(NFL) for the

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. Since 1975, the team ...

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and the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. The Vikings compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. Founded in 1960 as ...

. He attended and played football at

Concordia College (Moorhead, Minnesota) Concordia College is a private liberal arts college in Moorhead, Minnesota. Founded by Norwegian settlers in 1891, the school is associated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and is unrelated to the Concordia University System op ...

, where he was coached by Jim Christopherson.

Death

Bennett and his wife Carol were found shot to death at their

Long Prairie, Minnesota Long Prairie is a town in Todd County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 3,458 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. By the 2020 United States census, 2020 Decennial Census the population had grown to 3,661. It is the coun ...

, home on August 21, 2019. A friend went to check on them after phone calls and texts had gone unanswered since the day prior. Investigators determined that the couple was killed on August 19; Carol was shot multiple times in the back and torso, while Barry was shot multiple times in the head and torso. On August 23, the couple's son, 22-year-old Dylan Bennett, was charged with two counts of second degree murder, without premeditation, in connection with the killings. He is believed to have taken his mother's car and traveled to

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, from where he boarded a flight to Cancun, Mexico. Barry had told the Todd County Sheriff's Office in December 2018 that Dylan had expressed thoughts about killing his parents while being treated at a mental health facility. Dylan was arrested in Cancun on August 24. Dylan Bennett pleaded guilty on August 24, 2020, and was sentenced to two concurrent life terms without parole.

References

1955 births 2019 deaths American football defensive linemen Concordia Cobbers football players New Orleans Saints players New York Jets players Minnesota Vikings players People from Long Prairie, Minnesota Players of American football from Saint Paul, Minnesota Deaths by firearm in Minnesota People murdered in Minnesota Patricides 20th-century American sportsmen {{Defensive-lineman-1950s-stub