Mr Barnes’s hands were also found by Cohee’s mother, Terri
Police arrested Brian Cohee in 2021 after discovering the remains of 69-year-old Warren Barnes. The incident, which involved a then 19-year-old Cohee, sparked a local investigation and is documented in the true-crime documentary “Parents Discover Teen Son’s Horrifying Secret” on the YouTube channel EXPLORE WITH US.
The heinous crime involved Cohee decapitating, dismembering, and mutilating Mr Barnes’s body, then bringing some of the body parts home, where they were discovered by his mother. His mother on a 911 call told police that the teen had a “fascination with the morbid”.
In addition to the head, Mr Barnes’s hands were also found by Cohee’s mother, Terri, decomposing in a separate plastic bag hidden in his wardrobe.
Cohee attempted to dispose of the remaining body parts by placing them in the trunk of his car and trying to drive the vehicle into the Colorado River.
The documentary showcased police dashcam footage capturing the moment authorities arrived at the Cohee residence.
During the police questioning at his home, Cohee was asked, “Your parents have raised concerns about some items they may have found in your room. Can you elaborate?” Cohee responded calmly, saying, “Yes, I believe so. A human head and hands, from that man who went missing. I killed him with a knife.”
When pressed further by the officers about his motives, Cohee added, “I always wondered what it would feel like to commit murder.”
Later, during a painful recollection in a police interview, Terri remembered the moment she discovered Barnes’s severed head in her son’s closet. She recounted, “I was tidying up his room, putting things away, and came across a plastic container in his closet. As I started digging through it, I found a plastic bag. Curious, I picked it up, feeling its weight, and noticed it was infested with maggots. I took it to the sink, noticing it was double-bagged. I opened the first bag but couldn’t bring myself to open the second. I immediately called his father and said, ‘You need to come over right now.'”
Cohee’s parents subsequently dialled 911 to report the horrifying find, even acknowledging to the dispatcher that their son had displayed a disturbing fascination with ‘death and mortality’.
Cohee confessed to using a kitchen knife to end Barnes’s life and revealed that he had been contemplating taking someone’s life for six months beforehand.
He further disclosed his intent to target a homeless individual or a prostitute, believing that their absence would likely go unnoticed.
In another part of the documentary, Cohee recounted the grisly details of his crime to investigators, displaying no signs of emotion or remorse.
He said, “It was the night of February 27th it was a full moon and I figured I could see so well why not try it out, I am in a bad state of mind at that time, I have a major depressive disorder.
“I was driving around and I saw a shape and I am like ”oh interesting”. I’m like that’s a homeless person, so I grabbed my knife, I put on three layers of gloves because plastic gloves can betray their users because they’re so thin, I took the knife I pulled back the canvas and stabbed his neck.
“At first, he was in a state of panic, asking, ‘What are you doing? Why?’ But I just continued stabbing his neck,” he recounted to investigators.
He described himself as “growling” and making “animalistic noises” as he inflicted the wounds on Barnes.
He then chuckled as he provided nauseating details of how he dismembered the man’s body, followed by an apologetic remark, “Sorry, that’s morbid,” directed at the investigators.
Cohee appeared eager to divulge the grisly specifics of his crime to the investigators, displaying excitement as he recounted the murder and seemed to relish the memory.
Despite pleading insanity, Cohee was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole last year, having been found guilty of first-degree murder.
Additionally, he was convicted on two counts of tampering with a dead body and tampering with evidence.
Judge Richard Gurley, who presided over the case, described it as one of the most horrific he had encountered in his 37-year tenure within the criminal justice system.
