GENESSEE COUNTY, Mich. — A convicted bank robber who was released from prison last fall, arrested this week after his girlfriend was found beaten and strangled near the Flint River on Monday, is now charged with murder.
John Barritt, 45, was arraigned on felony murder charges, as well as car-jacking, arson, tampering with evidence, and preparing to burn property on Friday in Genesee County.
Barritt was taken into custody by authorities in Calhoun County at the victim’s home on Monday, just hours before her body was found in Flint. Police were at 44-year-old Amy Wienski’s home looking for her after she’d been reported missing.
A rental car leased to Wienski was found burned in Mt. Morris Township on Sunday, intensifying the search for her prior to the gruesome discovery on Monday night along the Flint River.
Police said an autopsy showed she died of blunt force trauma and strangulation. Investigators say a potential witness supplied information that led to Wienski’s body on Monday night, though they don’t believe that individual was a witness to the actual murder itself.
Investigators said they have more than enough evidence to believe the victim was killed in Mount Morris Township.
Crime laboratory technicians from Michigan State Police and detectives from the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Department searched the woman’s home for evidence on Thursday.
