DETROIT (WXYZ) — Chantrienes Barker, 52, is serving life in prison for the 1998 murder of a man in Detroit. Barker was convicted of Conspiracy, Kidnapping, and Felony Murder.
Barker's son, Deangelo Martin, was 14 when she went to prison.
Now, at the age of 34, Detroit Police call Martin a suspected serial killer, accused of taking the lives of three women in 2019.
In March, the body of 52-year-old Nancy Harrison was found in a vacant house on Coventry near Remmington. In May, the body of Travesene Ellis, 53, was found in a vacant house on Linnhurst near Gratiot. And on June 5, the body of Tammy Jones was found in a vacant house on Mack Avenue near Mount Elliott. Each location is on Detroit's east side.
But 7 Action News has learned that DNA has also linked Deangleo Martin to the case of Annetta Nelson. The body of the 57-year-old woman was found in a vacant house on Winthrop near Plymouth on the city's west side.
Annetta Nelson had been strangled.
Nelson's case made headlines and spread fast on social media when surveillance video showed a homeless man dragging her lifeless body out of the vacant house. That man was then charged with her murder, but the charges were later dropped when police discovered evidence that cleared the man.
Right now, Martin has not been charged in any homicide. He is charged with rape and attempted murder in a case that involved his alleged attack on a woman in the home where his paternal grandparents live on Barlow on Detroit's east side.
Martin was raised by his late father and his family.
One of Martin's relatives on his mother's side told 7 Action News that soon after police announced he was the suspected serial killer, they called his mother in prison.
"Of course she's stunned, I mean, that's her son, you know, that's her baby. I know she's shocked about all of this," said the relative who did not want her name used.
We're told Martin keeps in touch with his incarcerated mother. And the relative recalled a conversation he had with his mom several years ago.
"He was very, very emotional when he talked to his mom. He cried like he was six or seven-years-old when he talked to her."
