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The mother of 20-year old Jessica Barnes of Pendleton, South Carolina has been through hell and back over the past two months, but there is peace in having answers. Cecilia Varvara‘s faith is her foundation. Her faith is what she leaned on as she searched desperately for her missing daughter — and now she’s leaning on it even more as she grieves for her upon learning her fate.
Less than a month after Varvara reported her daughter missing, she found herself standing resolutely next to Pendleton police chief Robert Crosby as he announced both the discovery of her daughter’s remains as well as the arrest of her daughter’s husband – 21-year-old Brandon Barnes – who is facing a murder rap after confessing to strangling his late wife to death.
Varvara’s strength in the wake of such tragedy may also stem from the fact that like most mothers, she knew deep inside something had happened to her daughter. She knew the texts she was receiving from her daughter didn’t sound like her. The tone was off and words she used all the time were spelled differently. For example, “mama” was spelled “Momma.”
She knew that no matter what was happening in her life, Jessica would have called her on her birthday.
On September 10, 2024 – after not being able to speak to her daughter since late July – Cecilia Varvara marched into the Pendleton police department and reported Jessica missing.
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Compounding Varvara’s fears was the fact that she believed Barnes was physically abusing her daughter. She had seen photos of the injuries her daughter had sustained – and they were horrific. She had held her hand as she sobbed over losing her son at birth due to injuries allegedly sustained during a brutal assault by Barnes.
“I know from the beginning that they did something to her,” she said.
“They,” the public would later learn, was a reference to Brandon Barnes and his two female co-conspirators.
According to the press release put out by chief Crosby, the police knew too. On September 16, 2024, the small department requested assistance in its investigation from the South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division (SLED).
“Details surrounding the disappearance were vague, and material and personnel from SLED were required for continued investigation,” the chief stated.
On September 20, 2024, the two agencies executed searches on the pool house where Jessica was living with Barnes and two 20-year old female companions – Kendall Mims and Victoria Tippett. They also searched a remote area in the Twin Lakes region of Pickens County, S.C. At the second search site – near a boat ramp on Lake Hartwell – authorities discovered human remains.
Shortly thereafter came confirmation of what Varvara had known all along – that Jessica had been murdered.
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RELATED | JESSICA BARNES’ MURDER: CHARGES FILED
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During the two weeks it took for a forensic odontologist to identify Jessica’s remains, Varvara spent every day hanging missing posters with Jessica’s beaming face around Pendleton. She also stopped into chief Crosby’s office daily for updates, parking herself at his desk to make sure her daughter didn’t get shuffled off into a pile of unsolved cases.
On October 1, 2024, it was Crosby who sat with her and told her what she already knew – that Jessica had been murdered by her husband and the two women living with them had helped him dispose of her body.
While it may have seemed odd to some that Varvara stood beside the police chief at the press conference, her presence made sense to those who knew how intimately involved she was in the investigation. Her persistence and fortitude was one of the driving forces behind the inquiry, and those same traits will play a huge role in her desire to spread awareness about domestic violence in Jessica’s memory.
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JESSICA’S VOICE
Before beginning the interview, Varvara and her best friend expressed frustration about how mainstream media has referred to Mims and Tippett as Barnes’ roommates or girlfriends.
“They aren’t either of those,” she said. “He was married to Jessica. They were lovers.”
Indeed, the situation is so bizarre it is difficult to find words to accurately describe it. When Jessica met Barnes, he was living with Kendall Mims. Jessica didn’t seem alarmed by that because Barnes told her Mims was his sister. This was just one of the many lies he told her leading up to their January marriage.
Varvara – herself a victim of domestic violence – was concerned about her daughter’s new relationship from the very beginning. She said Barnes frequently cut off communication between Jessica and her tight-knit family.
No one knows exactly when Victoria Tippett entered the picture, but when she did things seemed to shift. In late-July, Jessica seemed ready to leave the pool house where she was living with Barnes and the two women. She was tired of constantly cleaning and cooking for the others. She was also basically raising Mims’ baby – even breastfeeding her after losing her own baby in March. Things were going south fast with the dynamics of the group.
Jessica left briefly, but before she could unpack she returned to the pool house. A couple of days later, Barnes confessed to strangling her to death as Tippett allegedly watched.
Varvara takes solace knowing her daughter was a fighter and, according to police, fought back as she was being murdered. But she shouldn’t have had to fight back – which is the message she’s hoping to spread to others.
“If you’re in an abusive relationship, if you’re in a controlling relationship, there is help,” she said.
Varvara continued, “I survived, she didn’t – and that’s why I’m here to speak for her and (on) her behalf.”
In her grief, Cecilia Varvara still exudes grace. When asked what she would say to the three arrested in connection with her daughter’s murder, Varvara said, “I would want them to find Jesus. That’s what Jessica would want.”
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
Jenn Wood is FITSNews’ incomparable research director. She’s also the producer of the FITSFiles and Cheer Incorporated podcasts and leading expert on all things Murdaugh/ South Carolina justice. A former private investigator with a criminal justice degree, evildoers beware, Jenn Wood is far from your average journalist! A deep dive researcher with a passion for truth and a heart for victims, this mom of two is pretty much a superhero in FITSNews country. Did we mention she’s married to a rocket scientist? (Lucky guy!) Got a story idea or a tip for Jenn? Email her at jenn@fitsnews.com.
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