Background: News footage of the scene where the body of Brooke Stratton was found in October 2024 (WKOW). Inset (left): James Barnes-Morris (Wisconsin Department of Corrections). Inset (right): Brooke Stratton (Madison Police Department).
Months after a Wisconsin man allegedly told his friend he “had to get rid of” his girlfriend, he has been charged with her murder.
James Barnes-Morris, 25, was formally charged with first-degree intentional homicide with a domestic violence modifier by the Dane County District Attorney on March 25, six months after his girlfriend, Brooke Stratton, 24, was found dead in a Madison pond. According to a search warrant obtained by WKOW, a local ABC affiliate, Barnes-Morris allegedly told a friend that he “had to get rid of her” on the night of Sept. 30, 2024, the last day she was seen alive.
WKOW reported that according to the search warrant, Stratton and Barnes-Morris had a heated argument at a friend’s house a few days before she went missing. That unnamed friend was interviewed by police and said that he hosted a gathering at his home that included Stratton and Barnes-Morris. Following the blowup, he told police, Stratton reportedly accompanied another friend to his house to spend the night there.
A friend and witness at that location told detectives that Stratton thought James “was truly going to kill her.” She reportedly left the second location at around 7 a.m. on the morning of Sept. 30. An incident report by the Madison Police Department stated that Stratton was last seen walking with a man, identified in the warrant as Barnes-Morris, the same morning.
According to the search warrant, Barnes-Morris spent time with another friend hours later. Detectives said that he allegedly told the friend, “I had to get rid of her,” he “needed more bricks and rope,” and that “the weeds made it hard.” The friend also reportedly said that Barnes-Morris was wet and had bloody scratches on his legs.
When Barnes-Morris was asked about those statements during an interview with detectives, he reportedly laughed before asking for a lawyer, according to WKOW’s reporting on the warrant.
Stratton’s body was found in a pond on Oct. 3, 2024; police took Barnes-Morris into custody the same day. Police said he was hiding in the basement of a friend’s house and was allegedly in possession of Stratton’s credit cards and cellphone.
In January, police referred charges to the district attorney’s office, who formally charged Barnes-Morris with first-degree intentional homicide with a domestic violence modifier after reviewing case files and the autopsy results on Stratton. He remains in custody at the Dodge Correctional Institution and is scheduled to appear in court on March 28.
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