Pineville police found April Barlow Celio dead inside her home on George Martin Drive on September 23. Officers and the Bell County coroner’s office quickly ruled the 41 year old’s death a homicide. The next day, investigators learned she had been pregnant. The state medical examiner’s office reported that no fetus remained in her womb.
While processing the scene, Pineville police, Bell County sheriff’s deputies, and Kentucky State Police recovered what investigators and medical examiners believed to be fetal remains. Authorities have not released the cause of Celio’s death, the method used to remove the unborn child, or whether the child was alive at the moment of removal. The discovery of remains at the residence indicates the child did not survive. No public statement has described any attempt to keep the child alive after removal.
Detectives identified DeMarcus Kenneth Johnson-Wright of Clarksville, Tennessee, as the suspect. Bell County District Court issued warrants for him on September 25 charging first degree robbery and adult kidnapping. On September 30 the court added warrants for murder classified as domestic violence and for tampering with physical evidence. The domestic violence designation on the murder warrant is the only public indication of a possible prior connection between Johnson-Wright and Celio.
Officials have declined to describe any relationship or to state a motive. Reports note that investigators have not confirmed how, or even whether, the two knew each other before the killing. Johnson-Wright already faced outstanding Tennessee warrants that included aggravated robbery, kidnapping, felon in possession of a firearm, and domestic violence, according to records reviewed by news outlets. Pineville police described him as having an extensive violent criminal history.
On the evening of September 30, the U.S. Marshals Service Central Kentucky Fugitive Task Force and Middle Tennessee Fugitive Task Force, working with Clarksville police and the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, located him at a residence on Timber Court Drive in Clarksville, more than 250 miles from the Pineville scene. Officers arrested him around 11 p.m. Central time and took him for an interview with Bell County and marshals investigators.
A search warrant executed at the Clarksville home produced materials investigators said related to the case. He was booked into the Montgomery County Detention Center and remains there awaiting extradition to Kentucky. The investigation, led by Pineville Officer Patrick Brooks, is ongoing. No other person has been publicly named as a suspect or accomplice.
Celio was a married mother of three. Her surviving children are Kaden Alexander Iracheta, Alaina Sofia Celio, and Nicolas Antonio Celio. She is also survived by her husband Antonio and her parents, Michael and Teresa Barlow. Her sister, Amanda de Paz, described her in a family statement as someone relatives could call, hug, and laugh with, and said the family is now trying to say goodbye far too soon.
A funeral was scheduled in the days after the arrest. Under Kentucky law, a murder conviction can bring a sentence ranging from 20 years to life or, in cases with aggravating factors, the death penalty. First degree robbery is a Class B felony carrying 10 to 20 years. Kidnapping penalties depend on whether serious injury resulted.
Those ranges are statutory maximums and minimums; any actual sentence would be decided later by a judge or jury if the case reaches that stage. Police statements released through local outlets and the marshals service form the core of what is publicly confirmed. Further details on the precise sequence inside the home, the condition of the fetal remains, and the items seized in Tennessee have not been disclosed.
