Background: News footage of the scene where the body of Brooke Stratton was found in October 2024 (WKOW). Inset (left): James Barnes-Morris (Wisconsin Department of Corrections). Inset (right): Brooke Stratton (Madison Police Department).
Months after a Wisconsin man allegedly told his friend he “had to get rid of” his girlfriend, he has been charged with her murder.
James Barnes-Morris, 25, was formally charged with first-degree intentional homicide with a domestic violence modifier by the Dane County District Attorney on March 25, six months after his girlfriend, Brooke Stratton, 24, was found dead in a Madison pond. According to a search warrant obtained by WKOW, a local ABC affiliate, Barnes-Morris allegedly told a friend that he “had to get rid of her” on the night of Sept. 30, 2024, the last day she was seen alive.
