Jonathan Barrows 2 weeks before he was murdered
(click for larger image)

Full Name: Jonathan Wayne Barrows
Born: July 3, 1978 in Westminster Maryland
Died: August 28, 1998 in Huntsville Alabama, buried in Sykesville Maryland at Long View Cemetary. In the back left row by the tree.
Parents: Shirley Barrows and Wayne (?)
Siblings: Stephanie Vinge
Married: none
Children: none (though was dating a girl I went to highschool with named Mandy Bennett who got pregnant by him (so she claims) and had an abortion)

Notations:

- Was murdered at gunpoint by Thomas Rozelle because he was to testify against him in court. Alabama did not have a witness protection program at the time. He received 25 years to life with the possibility of parole. He comes up for parole in 2008. His son, Eric, was also sentenced to the same time, same parole, different prison. The way I understand it is, Jon was friends with Rozelle’s son Eric. They had a falling out and Jon went to retrieve some of his possessions from Eric Rozelle’s home. As they were leaving, Thomas Rozelle fired shots at the car. No damage was done, but Jon was going to testify against Thomas Rozelle (who had a history of this type of violence) in court. When they went to one of the hearings, Thomas Rozelle went up to Jon after the hearing and told him explicitly “You will never testify against me in court.”

Since Jon drove a pretty distinguished vehicle (The white dodge ram with blue racing stripes), one day Thomas Rozelle spotted him driving down the road and followed him to a grocery store parking lot. When Jon got out of his truck, Thomas and his son Eric came up to him and started threatening him. When Jon didn’t back down, Thomas put a gun to Jon’s temple and shot him. Then he stood there and watched him die in front of all the people that came to help.

Crystal’s Notations:

- The last time many of the family in Maryland saw Jon was at our cousin Tony Wright’s funeral several months before (Tony Wright was born stillborn to Michael Wright and Maria). He was remembered helping Trula Peach up the hill at Longview Cemetary where he and Alma Johnson are now buried.

- While searching the internet I happened across this site (http://www.legislature.state.al.us/SearchableInstruments/2002RS/Bills/HB294.htm) which displays an Act called the “Jonathan Wayne Barrows Witness Protection Act” in the state of Alabama. I am not sure if this Bill has actually made it through the legal system or not, but I know his mother Shirley Wright was adamant about having the law passed after Jon’s murder. Surprisingly there is very little information on his murder.

- Jon was renouned for his interest in video games, and was regularly participating in video game tournaments, namely Nintendo. One of my favorite memories with Jon is when we were probably 9 or 10, we had the “Power Pad” by Nintendo and would play the racing/hurdle game. But since neither of us could play it normally by walking on the pad, we beat the game (I think the fastest character was named Cheetah) by each of us pounding both of our firsts on one of the foot circles.

- Jon was also a student of Karate (I am unsure which tradition, possibly Tae Kwon Do)

- Jon at one time drove a blue Mazda Miata Convertible and later a white Dodge Ram pickup with blue racing stripes