A man who admitted to choking and beating a woman with whom he was in a “nonexclusive romantic relationship” was charged with first-degree murder, Washington D.C. police said.
Romaine Maddox, 36, was found dead at the Ivy City Hotel in Washington D.C. at around 11:20 a.m. on Friday.
Investigators said Maddox had multiple lacerations, deformities in her head and blunt-force trauma, according to court documents.
Surveillance video revealed Maddox checked into the hotel with William Barrett, 59, at 7:20 p.m. Thursday. Barrett told investigators he had been in a “nonexclusive romantic relationship” with Maddox for a year.
Police arrested Barrett on Friday on suspicion of homicide.
Court documents state the officer who arrested Barrett saw blood on his head and face. Once Barrett was arrested, police seized his boxers, cell phone, two pairs of gloves and the suspect's shoestring as evidence. All of which had apparent blood on them, according to court records.
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Berrett told police he and Maddox were arguing when she started hitting him.
"She was running her mouth and hit me," Berrett told police.
In response, Berrett told police he choked Maddox with his belt, which was also seized as evidence.
"Barrett displayed how he accomplished this by elaborating through hand gestures that he approached the decedent from the rear while she was face down on the ground and got on top of her," states court documents. "Defendant Barrett stated that he thought he killed her at that point."
He was surprised when she began crying for help. The court document states he hit her with a closed fist to silence her.
He then became "irate," and hit her face several times with the ceramic lid of the hotel room's toilet.
Documents state the ceramic toilet bowl cover was broken into multiple pieces.
According to court documents, this is the chain of events that was captured on CCTV from the hotel before Maddox's body was discovered Friday morning:
The hotel provided police with a copy of his ID and CCTV footage.
An officer who saw an alert on Barrett recognized him from a prior arrest this year and took the suspect into custody on Friday afternoon.
According to court documents, the suspect is being held without bond. He will return to court on March 11 for a preliminary hearing.
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