Carter County investigators say mother and son are dead in murder-suicide

A mother and son are dead after what the Carter County Sheriff’s Office is calling a murder-suicide.

The bodies of Barbara Lee Barnette, 82, and her son, Brian Scott Barnette, 52, were discovered Sunday evening by deputies who went to the family’s home on Taylortown Road near the Happy Valley community after relatives request a welfare check. A preliminary report indicates Brian Barnette shot his mother then turned the weapon on himself. The bodies were sent to the ETSU Quillen College of Medicine for autopsies.