A suspect was arrested after a pregnant woman was found dead in her Kentucky home, and her unborn child was removed from her womb before the killer fled the scene.
The Pineville Police Department confirmed that April Barlow Celio was found dead inside her home in Pineville, Kentucky, on September 23. Officers with the Pineville Police Department worked alongside members of the Bell County Coroner’s Office to determine that Celio’s death was a homicide.
As the State Medical Examiner’s Office performed the autopsy, it was discovered that Celio, 41, had been pregnant at the time of her death and that her unborn child had been removed from the womb.
Local police, Bell County sheriff’s deputies and Kentucky State Police then returned to Celio’s home and they found what they believed to be the baby’s remains.
Two days after Celio was found dead, two warrants were issued by a Bell County District Court judge for DeMarcus Kenneth Johnson-Wright on September 25. One warrant was for first-degree robbery and the second was for kidnapping.
Two more warrants were issued for Johnson-Wright’s arrest on September 30, with the latest warrants being for suspicion of murder and tampering with physical evidence.
Later that day, officials in Kentucky reached out to the U.S. Marshals Service to ask for help in locating Johnson-Wright after authorities came to believe he was hiding in another state.
By 11 p.m. on September 30, Johnson-Wright was tracked down by the U.S. Marshals Service at a residence in Clarksville, Tennessee, which was over 250 miles away from where he allegedly killed Celio.
The Pineville Police Department said that authorities were later granted a search warrant for his residence, and they found “materials relating to the case were recovered.”
Johnson-Wright was living in Tennessee at the time Celio was killed, and he already had warrants out for his arrest on suspicion of aggravated robbery, kidnapping, being a felon in possession of a firearm and domestic violence for previous incidents, according to records viewed by People.
Despite confirming his arrest, authorities have not shared whether Johnson-Wright and Celio knew each other before the murder. It’s also not clear how authorities connected him to the crime.
Johnson-Wright is currently being held in custody at the Montgomery County Detention Center as he awaits extradition to Kentucky to face charges.
It’s not currently clear if he has entered a plea or retained legal counsel following his arrest. The Pineville Police Department did not immediately respond to Us’ request for comment regarding the case.
Following her death, Celio’s family launched a GoFundMe to help raise funds for her three children.
“One moment she was here—someone we could call, hug, laugh with, and love—and now we are trying to figure out how to say goodbye to her far too soon,” Celio’s sister, Amanda de Paz, wrote on the page. “She was very loved by her family.”
