Brooklyn Michelle Barrett (Obituary and GoFundMe).
A young woman in Utah has accepted legal responsibility for shooting and killing her friend in an abortive suicide pact earlier this year.
On Tuesday, Heavenly Faith Garfield, 22, pleaded guilty to one count of manslaughter, under a provision that criminalizes aiding another person’s intentional suicide, Utah County court records show.
In exchange for her guilty plea, prosecutors dismissed charges of murder in the first degree and discharge of a firearm. Those initial charges were filed over the late spring death of Brooklyn Michelle Barrett, 21, who the defendant shot in the head on a bed of flowers.
On April 30, police were called to the scene of the crime — a house on East Propeller Row in Saratoga Springs, a medium-sized city roughly 35 miles due south of Salt Lake City — by the defendant’s father.
The 911 call was clear.
“The reporting party told dispatch that the deceased individual had been shot and killed by his daughter,” a probable cause statement reads. “The caller stated that Garfield shot the deceased according to a suicide pact between her and the deceased in which one party would fatally shoot the other and then herself.”
Responding officers found Barrett with a lone and “obvious gunshot wound to the head,” according to the court document. In that grim upstairs bedroom, the woman’s body was “covered with a blanket and there were flowers laid on the bed,” law enforcement wrote.
On the nightstand, officers found an unloaded Smith and Wesson M&P 9 mm pistol. The magazine had been removed from the gun and one telltale spent shell casing was found in the bed with Barrett. Another lone piece of ammunition also proved key in the case.
On May 2, Garfield’s sister voluntarily provided investigators with the second bullet — this one, however, unspent.
“Garfield’s sister said that Garfield had given her the bullet and told her that it was the bullet she intended to use to shoot herself,” the probable cause statement reads.
That same day, the defendant’s father provided police with two boxes of ammunition — along with the receipt for the bullets — purchased from a tactical shop in town, according to the court document. He explained he had previously removed the ammunition from his daughter’s 1999 white Suburban after she asked him to do so.
“The first box he produced contained Sig Sauer 9 mm Rose FMJ rounds; all rounds were still in the box,” the statement goes on. “The second box contained Federal Premium Jacketed Hollow Point rounds. There were two rounds missing from the second box.”
Investigators appear to have marshaled several pieces of evidence to support the suicide pact theory of the tragic case.
Found alongside Barrett was “a note written and signed by Garfield and the deceased in which both parties discussed their intention to die by suicide,” according to the probable cause statement.
A second friend of the deceased woman solidified the idea that she wanted to die — and how, exactly, she had planned to die.
“Officers were later contacted by a friend of the deceased who had called dispatch and requested a welfare check of the deceased out of concern for her safety.” the court document reads. “The friend provided screenshots of several text messages between him and the deceased in which the deceased expresses suicidal ideations. The friend also advised that he was aware of a suicide pact between the deceased and Heavenly Faith Garfield, and specifically, that the pact was that one party would fatally shoot the other and then herself.”
Law enforcement also found photographs in which Garfield and Barrett are seen together “purchasing the firearm” meant to kill them both, according to the probable cause statement.
A GoFundMe for the slain woman’s funeral expenses is ongoing.
Her obituary remembers her fondly, in detail, and does not shy away from the state of affairs leading up to her death:
Brooklyn loved spending time with her parents and her siblings.
Brooklyn attended Herriman High School, from where she graduated in 2021. She was employed at a daycare at her time of death. She loved working with children.
Brooklyn loved traveling and going on vacations with her family. She found happiness in anything to do with water and taught swim lessons and served as a lifeguard for many summers. She enjoyed the outdoors, hiking, watching planes take off and land, ice skating, Dr. Pepper, taking pictures of sunsets, and cars. She loved all things beautiful, especially butterflies and wildflowers. She had a favorite stuffed whale that she named “Whaley,” which was almost always with her.
No matter her struggles, Brooklyn’s smile and laugh would always light up the room. She would cheer anyone up, even when she herself was suffering. Although there is heartbreak for her surviving friends and family, we are comforted to know that she was met in heaven by many who love her. She will be sorely missed.
During a hearing on Tuesday, Barrett’s family agreed to the plea deal, prosecutors told the judge overseeing the case.
Garfield faces punishment of one to 15 years in state prison and a fine in excess of $10,000. She is slated to be sentenced on Nov. 6.
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
