Charles Walter Nettlebeck
Orting, WA–Charles and Barbara Nettlebeck married in 2005. Marital bliss soon turned to divorce papers and restraining orders. In January, Barbara file for divorce and sought a restraining order as part of the divorce filings. She wrote: ‘I may be a corrections officer, but Charles’ anger and abusive behavior puts me in fear for my personal safety. His violent behavior is escalating.’ Charles killed Barbara on FridayFriday reviews
…nearly decapitating her with an ax.
Barbara wasn’t the only one to die by Charles’ hand, her daughter, Bretta Hawkins, suffered his wrath as well.
In divorce papers, Barbara wrote that she hadn’t told her husband she was filing for divorce because ‘I very much fear for my own safety and the safety of my family and our animals. (He) is both violent and very controlling – he’s always at our home and has been known to listen in on my phone calls. I am very frightened about how he will respond to my petition for dissolution.’ He was putting a severe strain on their finances because he wouldn’t hold down a job. He was mentally unstable. He abused animals on their property using whips, baseball bats, and even punching them with his fist.
Charles disputed Barbara’s allegations. ‘Barbara is a corrections officer who can take care of herself,’ he wrote. ‘When she was angry at me, she’d slam doors, yell and bunch up her fists and hit herself in the leg.’ He claimed that he has suffered from ‘extreme anxiety and depression’ since the early 1980s and had been unable to hold a job the past two years because of his mental health issues. Charles stated, ‘I do not deal with stress well.’ No shit?!?
Despite the restraining order, and though the couple were estranged and no longer living together, they came together last Friday to have a garage sale. Barbara’s daughter, Bretta, was there to help out with the sale.
After wrapping up the sale, Charles followed Barbara into the house to discuss the impending divorce. At some point, shit hit the fan. Barbara said something to Charles that pissed him off and he swung at her with an ax. He hit her so hard, her spine was severed and she was nearly decapitated. He then left the house in search of Bretta. He found Bretta outside, feeding the horses. He hit her with the ax three times.
Charles then went on a spray painting spree. He left little messages all over the outside of the house; ‘I loved my wife for better or worse. Why was she so mean to me.’ ‘Could not find help. No where to go’ ‘Living in motel. Money running out. No where to live.’ ‘Sorry to my friends.’ Two or three hours later, after he supposedly tried to hang himself, and failed, he called 911 to report that he had killed his wife and step-daughter.
Officers arrived to find Barbara’s body in the living room. Bretta was found barely alive, outside the back door, the ax on the ground next to her. She succumbed to her injuries the following day.
Charles Walter Nettlebeck, 52, pleaded not guilty Monday to two counts of aggravated murder and is being held on suicide watch in the Pierce County Jail without bail. Prosecutors have 30 days to decide whether they will seek the death penalty.
Barbara Jo Nettlebeck, 52, was a corrections officer for King County for nine years. Bretta Hawkins, 33, was a police specialist with Renton police for the past seven years. May they both rest in peace. And may someone slip Charles a nice, sharp razor blade.
Barbara Nettlebeck and Bretta Hawkins
Special2bme and Tazzzz have this one covered in the forums.
5:06 am on March 18th, 2009
Horrible Sad Sad story
Rest In Peace Barbara and her lovely daughter Bretta
what a horrible death those two had to suffer through
so so so sad, i cannot even imagine what happened on that day and i will try not to visualize the whole scene for all the people that knew, loved barbara and her daughter my prayers are with you all sorry for your loss
for sure i can only pray this rotten sick bastard gets the death penalty and geezzz who had the temper????? was not the two that had to die because of his actions
rest in peace
5:48 am on March 18th, 2009
Give me a break.
7:41 am on March 18th, 2009
I’m sure this ax-wielding crazy never laid hands on his wife, and was driven into this homicidal state by her false allegations of abuse, and her repeatedly punching herself….
8:32 am on March 18th, 2009
This is so very sad.
There is help available to people with mental issues
you simply have to want to be helped, and not be using it
as an excuse to sit on your ass and do nothing.
There are people that struggle with mental health issues daily,
and never use it as an excuse to harm others, or to avoid responsibility
for their actions.
He was angry because she was leaving his crazy ass and taking her
paycheck!
8:56 am on March 18th, 2009
Lord I pray for the mental stability of my fiance!
People just don’t leave anymore. They gotta take you out first. WTF?
See this is why I don’t play around with abuse. Not even a little bit.
What you raising your hand like you gonna slap me? IM OUT! You calling me every cuss word ever written? IM OUT!! You need to know what I’m doing and with who 24 fucking hours a day? IM OUT!!! You think you bout to beat up on me and my child? YOU OUT TOO MOTHERFUCKER!
10:16 am on March 18th, 2009
Well, looks like he has a place to live now.
Seriously…this is sad, both apparently nice career women, Barbara had the strength to leave….and then this. He was pissed cause he was out on his ass and had no one to keep him up!
10:40 am on March 18th, 2009
Very true, granny-g. I’m one of those people. I count several others as friends. Coincidentally, it’s anxiety and depression for me as well, and you don’t see me taking an axe to my family. Nor would you if my SO wanted to leave. Using your issues as a crutch is just sad and juvenile, IMHO. In this case, fatally so.
11:34 am on March 18th, 2009
Nadine
I totally agree with you this is a Horrible Sad Sad story and one of the worst I have read about in quite sometime. It sickened me to read this story and to imagine the fear, pain and the suffering they must have felt. I don’t even want to imagine the scene from that day because it would play over and over in my head and make me crazier than I am now.
Now for this sick fuck I don’t want him to get the DP because that’s an easy way out. I want him to suffer daily beatings & abuse at the hands of other inmates. That’s if he’s doesn’t stay in solitary confinement forever.
3:10 pm on March 18th, 2009
This tragic. Rest in Peace Barbara & Bretta…
4:04 pm on March 18th, 2009
This is a very sad story in so many ways. He clearly had mental health issues that were not taken care of but that does not excuse his behavior. Unfortunately, Barbara should have known that he should not have been near her, garage sale or not. She could have done it without him. I imagine she was probably being nice to him to try to keep him from going over the edge and it backfired. So many women take out restraining orders and then allow contact, this does not give the POS’ the right to harm/kill them but they have to think about why they took it out and stick with it. It would be nice if all restraining orders came with some sort of monitoring device but our Courts are so backed up already it probably wouldn’t help anyway.
Ladies (and gents) once a restraining order is issued, please, please stay away from the offender and call the police immediately if they contact you in any way!
7:13 pm on March 18th, 2009
LDHummingbird
I am depressive/very seldom manic and have been on medication for years.
So I know as well.
I had to fight for help but I did it. I am a wife, Mother of 5, Granny of 7, and I have a
full time job (6 days a week) as an Insurance agent.
I do not use my mental health to excuse any negitive behavior. Of all of the
people I know that also battle with this most are more likley to harm themselves
than others!
So I am depressed and stressed is a serious bullshit excuse!
For Mr. AX,
You got pissed because your meal ticket was not as stupid as YOU thought. She
was getting the hell away from you. Her only mistake was to trust you one last time.
I pray she and her daughter rest in peace. I pray that the folks in prison want to give
you some health tips, you know rectal exams. I am sure BIG BUBBA has just the
tool to take care of it. He is also a great dentist (or so I have heard).
Enjoy Mr. Ax
7:53 pm on March 18th, 2009
WTF? What in the hell is this world coming to? Babies being beaten, raped and murdered and now grown women being beheaded by an ax carrier psychopath!!! No need to worry about going to hell…seems hell has come to us.
I am a nurse who works in the psychiatric field and I can tell you from experience that anxiety and depression do not lead to killing your family with an ax (now schizophrenia and other disorders, left untreated, could). This man is just using excuses because he is a violent, angry man who couldn’t bear to see his wife leave and put him out on his ass.
Rot in hell, you sick SOB!!!
May God hold Barbara and her daughter in his arms forever.
9:30 pm on March 18th, 2009
I just wanted to say a few things in honor of Bretta. She was my friend, and she was a wonderful and beautiful human being. She was a person you could tell anything to, and she would never judge you, nor would she gossip about it to other people. She had such a great spirit–she loved every holiday, she believed in the goodness of people, and her goal in life seemed to be to do whatever it takes to make a person feel like they mattered. She never complained and she always had the best outlook on life, even in situations where the average person would gripe or complain.
She loved her mother dearly. She loved her pets, and she loved taking care of the horses and other animals at her mom’s place. She believed in love, hope and peace.
I wish she was still here. I guess all I can do is learn from her example and try to be half as good of a person as she was in her honor.
May Bretta rest in peace with her beloved mother.
She was too good for this world.
I love you Bretta!!!
6:45 am on March 19th, 2009
I am so sorry for your loss. Bretta sounds like she was such a wonderful person! From the description, it sounds as if she crawled from the barn to the house to check on her mother. So very sad.
I hope you find peace somehow.
I wish pain and suffering on Charles for the rest of his pathetic life. His actions were selfish, callous and despicable. No mercy. No more than he showed Barbara and Bretta.
RIP
10:25 am on March 19th, 2009
Thanks Zibarro for the nice words–it’s been an insane week.
Oh God, I hope Bretta didn’t crawl to her house from the barn. We were all hoping she wasn’t aware of what happened to her mother–she loved her mother so much, I don’t want to even imagine that she knew that her mother had been murdered by this SOB. But if she did know, she would have done anything to get herself back to help her mother. I just don’t want to think of her suffering, even though I know she and her mother suffered horribly. I guess was hoping this jerk had hit her when she was innocently feeding the horses, and praying that she was completely unaware that he was approaching her–I guess I’m still in my little bubble of denial. I’m sure we’ll find out all the horrific details if/when it goes to trial. All I can say is that this guy is probably going to try to plea insanity, and it makes me sick–he knew what he was doing and he deserves to pay every single second of every single day for it.
1:02 pm on March 19th, 2009
Agree. fucking asshole!
So sorry jujube, may you find comfort in your friends and family. I will say a pray for you!
1:17 pm on March 19th, 2009
Oh, crap… I sure didn’t mean to make it worse for you! It was a speculation… based on the fact she was feeding the horses – but was found by the back door. I’m sure she didn’t know for sure her mother was dead – but she probably suspected as much. She was probably only thinking of saving her mother. I base that on your description of her… just seemed logical that she would be concerned for her mother.
I agree he DOES deserve to suffer daily. This was not an ‘insane’ act — it was a planned, premeditated act of heartless, brutal murder!
2:59 pm on March 19th, 2009
Thanks everyone for your kind replies–and Zibarro, don’t apologize!! I know you didn’t mean to cause any upset. The truth of the matter is that these were horrific brutal PREMEDITATED murders, and I know I’m in denial right now. It’s the ugliest thing I’ve ever had to deal with, and we barely know the events that took place–just the end result. This pathetic low life took away two very precious people, and on a logical level, I know they suffered horribly, but emotionally, I am struggling with it. Bretta deserved so much more than life handed her, and I’m so angry that she and her mother had to go through this.
I plan on attending any future court hearings, so it’s probably better for me to hear the worst before I go to court and have a complete melt down and kicked out of the court room. I’m glad I found this website, because some of the local news have idiots commenting, making sick jokes and being complete a-holes. It’s nice to find a place where people are holding this sicko accountable for his actions.
Thanks everyone!
9:06 pm on March 19th, 2009
JuJube I wanted to say I’m sorry for your loss. I knew both Barbara and Bretta due to the pending divorce and this tragic ending breaks my heart. Barbara and Bretta were two of the nicest sweetest ladies I have ever met. Barbara was trying to do things right and get away from Charles. The last time we met she said she did not want to be one of those women on the news who got murdered by her husband and those words keep playing in my head. She thought he was going to totally lose it when he initially got served but that didn’t happen. She wanted to try keep things friendly and attempt to negotiate the divorce with him but apparently he was too unstable. I wish things could have turned out differently they didn’t deserve to die like they did. They are now in a better place and I hope they rest in peace.
9:06 pm on March 19th, 2009
fuck… thats right in my own back yard almost. GEEZ.. yeah i heard about it on Kiro7. knew it would be on the DD. a fucking AX? horrid just horrid.
jujube, my condolences for you and family.
9:34 pm on March 19th, 2009
JuJube, I am so sorry for your loss.
9:34 pm on March 19th, 2009
Wow…. just…..wow….
Rest in peaces Barbara and Bretta.
11:36 pm on March 19th, 2009
First off, thanks to everyone for their kind posts.
Altimjn–I’m sorry you’re going through a double loss here. I have never met Bretta’s mom, but I knew she was a wonderful woman based on the things Bretta had said to me about her. Plus Bretta was such a sweetie, you had to know her mother was the one who raised her to be that way. She was closer to her mother than any other person I’ve ever seen.
I think you’re exactly right–Charles didn’t act up the way they feared he would when he was initially served with the divorce paperwork. I know Bretta was worried about it, and when she later told me he packed his things and left (without much of a scene), I was relieved, and I think she was as well. I think his seemingly docile departure sort of made everyone think maybe he wasn’t as dangerous as he was. I’m just sick. I wish I would have told her to keep him away from herself and her mother forever. I’m sure he said a bunch of things about how he didn’t have any money, and maybe Barbara felt that the proceeds from the garage sale would satisfy him and make him go away for good. Bretta probably came over because she found out he was going to be there, and I know there’s no way she would have not been there to support her mother and make sure nothing bad happened.
I’m really heartbroken and I feel bad that I didn’t make a huge deal about how he probably harboring a grudge and that they shouldn’t let him step foot on the property. I think he had this plan in his mind, and I bet they will find out that he had brought the ax with him that day–maybe it was in his truck. I mean, I don’t think he was holding it during their conversation about the divorce, so he must have gone and retrieved it from some place. And he’s completely full of sh*t when he claims to have tried to hang himself. I watched his court appearance over and over again (I DVR’d it), and I see no signs of any injury to his neck (rope burn, bruises, etc) that would indicate he had tried to end his life. He just is trying his hardest to make people feel sorry for him, and to make Barbara and Bretta seem like the ones who were mean, when that wasn’t the case at all. I don’t think he is insane (although I’m sure he’s going to make an attempt to get off using this excuse). . . I just think he’s a selfish, violent bastard who threw a fit because he wasn’t getting his way anymore and took it all out on these two wonderful people.
I would give anything to turn back the clock and make Bretta promise never to go near this man again. But I can’t. This is going to haunt me for the rest of my life.
11:20 pm on March 22nd, 2009
[...] Charles Nettlebeck Had An Ax (excellent post!) Updated – Charles Walter Nettlebeck Killed His Wife and Step-daughter With an Ax Suspect in ax killings charged with murder Estranged husband charged in ax slayings, tried to kill self, police say Man charged in axe murders of wife, daughter [...]
6:12 am on March 23rd, 2009
jujube, there have been so many stories I’ve read here that just break my heart, and I want to reach out and give those that suffered in the crime my hugs and comfort. If I could do that, I’d be right there with you in court (I live in Egypt). Be strong; I don’t see how anyone will buy into this man’s insanity plea. If he knew he was a danger to anyone, it was his responsibility to seek help for himself…. he didn’t!
7:04 am on June 2nd, 2009
[...] Charles Nettlebeck Had An Ax (dreamindemon.com) [...]
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