Discovery of naked murder victim in Brooklyn leads cops to crack love-triangle double homicide, arrest cuckolded husband

NEW YORK (TIP): The stabbing death of a man whose naked body was found outside of a Brooklyn apartment building exposed a sordid love triangle that ended in two killings, not one -and the arrest of a suspect Thursday, November 18.

Jerome Barrett, 35, is believed to have been having sex with a co-worker in a car parked near his East New York home early Wednesday when the woman’s husband interrupted their sexual encounter, police sources said.

The husband, Steve Whittingham,48, stabbed Barrett several times in the chest and did the same to his wife, Jonelle Barker, 36, killing them both, police said in announcing Whittingham’s arrest early Thursday night.

Barrett was mortally wounded but managed to flee, still naked and clutching his clothing, the sources said. He made his way to the entrance of an apartment building on Louisiana Ave. near Seaview Ave. in Starrett City shortly after 1 a.m. Wednesday, the sources said.

He was ringing the buzzer for various apartments, trying to summon help, when his wounds overcame him, the sources said. His clothes and wallet were found a few feet from his body, just outside the building’s entrance.

Roughly a day later, about 3:30 a.m. on Thursday, Barrett’s Kia was found parked on New Lots Ave. in Brownsville, the sources said.

Inside the trunk was Jonelle Barker’s body. She, too, was naked, the sources said.

Investigators believe that Barrett and Barker, who worked as baggage handlers at JFK Airport, were having an affair and that Whittingham killed them both in a rage after learning about her infidelity, the sources said.

Barker and Whittingham lived together in Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn, police said.

Shortly after Barker’s body was discovered, Whittingham surrendered himself to authorities, the sources said.