Mother-In-Law Woes Lead to Suicide Threat, Manhunt

If you have an outstanding warrant for your arrest, you might want to avoid creating a manhunt for yourself.

An unemployed man did just that, according to the blotter of the Orange County Sheriff's Department.

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Paul Anthony Barnett, 50, and Frances Barnett, 49, were taken into custody after a late-night call Monday to 9-1-1 triggered a search for the married couple near the Oso Parkway Bridge in Las Flores.

According to the blotter, Paul Barnett—not using his real name—told the California Highway Patrol he wanted to kill himself. He gave his location as near the Taco Bell. He then hung up.

On a callback, Barnett explained he and his wife both wanted to kill themselves because his mother-in-law was mean and kicked them out of their home; the 9-1-1 operator noted that Barnett sounded inebriated.

Becoming increasingly uncooperative, Barnett said his wife was walking deeper into the woods, and hung up. Sheriff deputies did a patrol check of the bridge.

About four minutes later, after one callback went unanswered, Barnett responded and shared his real name, according to the blotter, and indicated he could see sheriff cruisers. Deputies eventually got a visual on the couple behind the Taco Bell near the bridge and they were taken into custody at 12:22 a.m. on Tuesday morning. Both Barnetts had outstanding warrants for their arrests.

Paul Barnett remains in custody at the Central Men's Jail, solving his housing issue—and providing respite from his mother-in-law.

The original call was made Monday, 11:44 p.m., from Antonio and Oso.

This report was culled from the Orange County Sheriff's website. Not all facts in each report are made public; the outcome of the report, as well as the facts, may differ from the original blotter item. All items are alleged to have occurred. There should be no assumption of guilt based on this limited information.