STANDISH – Nearly four months after Joshua Barron’s body was discovered in a Yuma, Ariz., canal, his mother, Lynn Barron of Baldwin, is still searching for answers in what authorities deem a suicide.
Her persistence with Yuma officials, however, may yet yield results, especially with recent reports that the Yuma police chief is taking a second look at the case.
In June, Barron, who lived in Standish for much of her son’s childhood, flew to Arizona and met with authorities to review evidence and ask investigators why they ruled his death was a was suicide when she says the evidence points to murder.
“I have information that suggests my son was killed,” said Barron. “The evidence just doesn’t add up and I want someone to tell me why. They could not do that.”
Barron’s 22-year-old son graduated from Bonny Eagle High School in 2007 and was working as a corporal and aircraft mechanic in the U.S. Marine Corps in Yuma, when he was found dead with a gunshot wound to the head March 21 in an irrigation canal just miles from the Marine base where he was stationed. After a two-month investigation that went through several agencies, the Yuma Police Department ruled the death a suicide.
“Based on the evidence we have, we believe Joshua Barron’s death was a suicide,” said Sgt. Clint Norred, spokesman for the Yuma Police Department. “The official cause of death was a bullet wound to the head.”
It’s a wound Barron says her son couldn’t have inflicted.
“There’s no way Josh was able to shoot himself in the middle of the back of his head and aim it out the forehead,” said Barron. “I do not believe he had the necessary range of motion. Josh was 5 foot 6 inches tall, weighed approximately 220 pounds, and had very broad shoulders. The gun is approx 61?2 inches long. It would have been physically impossible for him to hold it where they said he did.”
That is not the only evidence Barron has to prove what she believes was murder and a cover-up. On the day Joshua Barron’s body was found, authorities took photographs of the area surrounding the canal. Time-stamped at noon, several “reddish brown spots” were found on the ground, as well as a soled footprint coming out of the water and a live round from the same type of gun the police say the Marine used to kill himself. No other evidence was found along the canal at the time when photos were being taken. According to the police report, at 3 p.m. on the same day, three hours after the initial search for evidence, the gun was found upstream from where the first pieces of evidence were found.
“So what the police are telling me is, Josh shot himself and left blood splatter on the ground, but before falling into the canal, which was 2 to 3 feet from the blood splatter, he walked upstream, deposited his cell phone on the ground, and then walked further upstream to drop his gun, and then returned to the original spot,” said Barron. “That’s the story they want me to believe? I’m sorry, that just doesn’t work for me.”
Barron also said her son’s cell phone, found the day he went missing, was in between the two evidence areas and had no fingerprints on it.
“They also want me to believe Josh wiped his phone off before shooting himself,” said Barron. “Who does that? It all just seems a little off to me.”
Norred did not want to get into specific details from the case, but during an interview last week reiterated, “Based on the evidence, Joshua Barron’s death has been ruled a suicide due to a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.”
Demanding answers and feeling like authorities are not being honest with her, Barron has written to Maine Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, and Arizona Sen. John McCain asking them to reopen the investigation into her son’s death. She also contacted the Arizona Attorney General’s office, which she said told her the Yuma Police Department was out of their jurisdiction.
“They were very nice,” said Barron. “But they told me I had to contact the Yuma mayor and ask him to reopen the case. I have done so, but have not heard back.”
Calls to the offices of Snowe, Collins and McCain, as well as the Arizona attorney general and Yuma mayor, were not returned.
Barron has also made several pleas to the U.S. Marine Corps for help and has not received a response.
“I was supposed to meet with my assigned casualty assistance officer when I was there in June,” said Barron. “He called me the day I was supposed to meet with him and told me he wasn’t allowed to meet with me anymore. When I asked why, he could not answer me.”
Repeated calls by Barron to the Yuma Marine Corps base were not returned, she said.
“My son stood for honor and integrity and for me to be treated the way I was by the Marine Corps in this situation is just wrong,” said Barron. “I’m trying really hard to see the honor and integrity from the Marines right now.”
Although the Yuma police have not officially reopened the case, Police Chief Jerry Geier has agreed to re-examine the case himself.
“The chief, at the urging of Ms. Barron, has agreed to personally review the case,” said Norred. “He hasn’t reopened it, but if any new credible information is brought to our attention, he very well could.”
Although the police have officially said Barron died of a gunshot wound to the head, the death certificate she has lists the cause of death as “undetermined.”
“That just kills me,” said Barron. “Why is it undetermined? They told me an official cause will be listed this month. What will be official now that hasn’t been so far? It’s just not right.”
For the most part, Barron’s friends and family support her and believe she is right, but there are a few people that have urged her to let go and move on.
“I can’t, and I won’t,” said Barron. “I want honor and justice for my son. I won’t stop until he has that.”
Cpl. Josh Barron, second from right, poses during happier times
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