Judge Hands 25 Year Prison Term to Man Who Murdered His Girlfriend

Press Release

Defendant Bludgeoned Victim with a Ceramic Toilet Tank Cover Before Strangling Her to Death with a Belt in a Fit of Rage

WASHINGTON - William Barrett, 69, of Mount Holly, New Jersey, was sentenced in D.C. Superior Court, for the February 2024 murder of his girlfriend, 36-year-old, Romaine Maddox. The announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves and Chief Pamela A. Smith, of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

Barrett pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree murder while armed on August 23, 2024, before the Honorable Robert Okun, who sentenced the defendant, on October 25, 2024, to 25 years' incarceration followed by five years of supervised release.

According to the government's evidence, at approximately 7:00 p.m., on February 22, 2024, Barrett and Ms. Maddox, checked into a hotel in the 1600 block of New York Avenue, N.E., to celebrate Ms. Maddox's birthday. Hotel surveillance cameras captured the defendant and the victim, who was ecstatic to celebrate her birthday at the hotel, entering their room, where they spent the next several hours. At around 2:00 a.m., hotel surveillance video captured Ms. Maddox screaming for help from their hotel room. She was never seen alive again. Barrett told detectives that he and Ms. Maddox got into an argument that turned physical. Barrett became enraged grabbing a ceramic toilet tank cover from the bathroom and hitting Ms. Maddox over the head several times, causing the ceramic lid to break into three pieces. While she was lying face down on the floor, Barrett wrapped his belt around Ms. Maddox's neck and pulled upward. Barrett then fell asleep while the victim's bloodied body lay at the foot of the bed. Barrett got up in the morning and saw Ms. Maddox unconscious and unresponsive on the floor and he left her in the room. Hotel staff discovered her body a few hours later.

In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Graves and Chief Smith commended the work of those who investigated the case from the Metropolitan Police Department and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia.

They also commended the work of Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah C. Santiago, who investigated and prosecuted the case.

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Updated October 28, 2024