Marlin Adarryl Barnes (April 6, 1974 – April 13, 1996)Marlin Adarryl Barnes, Florida Death Index, 1877-1998

FamilySearch FamilySearch is a nonprofit organization and website offering genealogical records, education, and software. It is operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and is part of the Church's Family History Department (FHD). The Fami ...

. Retrieved 2 September 2021. was a

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...

for the

University of Miami Hurricanes The Miami Hurricanes, known informally as The U, UM, or The 'Canes, are the intercollegiate sports teams that represent the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. The Hurricanes compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic ...

. He was found brutally beaten to death in his apartment in 1996, along with his longtime friend, Timwanika Lumpkins. Barnes was a six-foot, 220-pound linebacker who played second string for the Hurricanes. Barnes and linebacker

Ray Lewis Raymond Anthony Lewis Jr. (born May 15, 1975) is an American former professional football player who spent his entire 17-year career as a linebacker for the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football f ...

, who later won two

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s with the

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, were teammates and roommates at the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private university, private research university in Coral Gables, Florida, United States. , the university enrolled 19,852 students in two colleges and ten schools across over ...

Murder

On the morning of April 13, 1996, Barnes' body was discovered when his roommate Earl Little came home to pick up the keys to his truck. Little found that someone had slashed two of the tires on his truck, and when he attempted to open the door to the apartment, he noticed that there was something obstructing the door. When Earl looked through an opening in the door, he saw Barnes' body slumped against the door with a pool of blood surrounding him. Barnes was severely injured and had nearly lost his entire face in what appeared to be a brutal beating, and was close to death when Little found him. By the time the police arrived, Barnes was already dead. It was discovered that Barnes had been beaten to death with a blunt object. After a thorough search of the rest of the apartment, police found the beaten and broken, yet alive, body of Barnes' longtime friend, Timwanika Lumpkins, pinned between the bed and the wall. She later died in the hospital.

Investigation

After seventeen days of investigation, it was concluded that Lumpkins' ex-boyfriend Labrant Dennis had entered the apartment after slashing the tires on Little's car. After entering the apartment, Dennis proceeded to beat Barnes twenty-two times with the butt of a shotgun. When he was done with Barnes, he turned on Lumpkins, doing the same to her as he did to Barnes. Dennis was sentenced to the

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...

but his sentence was reversed by the

Florida Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Florida is the state supreme court, highest court in the U.S. state of Florida. It consists of seven justices—one of whom serves as Chief Justice. Six members are chosen from six districts around the state to foster geog ...

in 2020.

Aftermath

In December 1996, the

agreed to a financial settlement with the families of Barnes and Lumpkins due to the murders having occurred in an on-campus apartment. All parties agreed to maintain the confidentiality of the settlement terms. But the ''

Miami Herald The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by McClatchy, The McClatchy Company and headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida. Founded in 1903, it is the fifth-largest newspaper in Florida, serving Miami-Dade, Broward County, Fl ...

'' reported that each family received more than $1 million.

In popular culture

In 2003, the

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documentary series ''

The New Detectives ''The New Detectives: Case Studies in Forensic Science'' (or simply ''The New Detectives'', formally "Forensic Detectives") is a documentary true crime television show that aired two to three different cases in forensic science per episode from 1 ...

'' covered the case in the episode named "Crimes of Passion" (S8; E10) with the similar murder case of Ralph Gawor from

Fresno, California Fresno (; ) is a city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County, California, Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley (California), Central Valley region. It covers a ...

. The

Investigation Discovery Investigation Discovery (stylized and branded on-air as ID since 2008) is an American multinational pay television network dedicated to true crime documentaries, similar to corporate sibling HLN. It is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery's netw ...

documentary series ''The Perfect Murder'', in a 2018 episode titled "The Last Blitz"' (S5; E10), depicts the Barnes-Lumpkins murders and the shock waves experienced by the University of Miami campus and community. The

Hulu Hulu (, ) is an American Subscription business model, subscription streaming media service owned by Disney Streaming, a subsidiary of the Disney Entertainment segment of the Walt Disney Company. It was launched on October 29, 2007, initially as ...

documentary series ''Death in the Dorms'', in a 2024 episode titled "Marlin Barnes" (S2; E3), covered the case and contains numerous interviews with family and friends of the victims.

References

External links

U. S. District Court Southern District of Florida: Labrant D. Dennis vs. Florida Department of Corrections - Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus
(dated: December 3, 2015) {{DEFAULTSORT:Barnes, Marlin Miami Hurricanes football players 1996 deaths 1996 murders in the United States 1974 births Players of American football from Florida Murdered African-American people People murdered in Florida Deaths by firearm in Florida Deaths by beating in the United States Murdered American students