Update: Texas Man Caught Planning To Murder Girl, Act On Necrophilia & Cannibal Fantasies

UPDATE 8/24/20

Alexander Nathan Barter, the Northeast Texas man who went on the dark web in 2018 in an attempt to lure a teenage girl so he could experience what committing murder, necrophilia and cannibalism felt like, has been sentenced to decades behind bars.

Barter, 23, pleaded guilty last December to charges of attempted coercion and enticement of a minor and distribution of child pornography.

In a plea agreement with the government, Barter has accepted a 40-year maximum prison sentence, or 20 years on each of the two counts, according to a Sept. 18 news release from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Once free, he must submit to a lifetime of supervised release.

Over the course of 10 days two years ago, Barter messaged with a person he believed was the father of an underage girl but was in reality a Homeland Security Investigations undercover special agent.

The news release states Barter expressed “repeated interest in killing, raping and eating the 13-year-old child” and “provided the undercover with instructions on traveling from Florida to Shelby County, Texas, what to tell the child to get her to agree to travel, and how to conceal evidence of their crime.”

On Oct. 19, 2018, Barter arrived at a prearranged meeting point in Joaquin, Texas. Instead of the father and daughter, investigators met and arrested Barter, who had a knife and a trash bag in his possession.

Mark Dawson, the special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations Houston, said the case “is among the most morally depraved and appalling criminal conspiracies” he has witnessed in his 23-year law enforcement career.

“As this chilling case demonstrates, online talk is not always just talk,” U.S. Attorney Stephen J. Cox said, noting the “constant vigilance” of investigators “prevented an evildoer from finding a likeminded accomplice and bringing his grisly plan to fruition.”

“This case is a sobering reminder of how the brave men and women of law enforcement face down the worst of the worst in the scariest of scenarios,” Cox added.

ORIGINAL POST 10/26/18

SHELBY COUNTY, TX — A man who went on the dark web and found a father willing to let him kill his daughter and then act out his necrophilia and cannibal fantasies is now under arrest.

KTRE reported Alexander Nathan Barter, 21, recently posted online his sick desires involving a girl and provided two encrypted email addresses for interested parties to get in touch.

According to an affidavit, he got a bite from a dad offering up his young daughter. Barter had no idea he was actually talking with a Texas Department of Public Safety undercover agent.

“Nice! I’m in East Texas. How old is your daughter? Can we kill her?” Barter, a food processing plant employee and laborer for a local ministry, allegedly asked the agent.

Over days, Barter emailed back and forth with the "dad" to arrange a supposed hiking trip with the pair. However, instead of a walk through the forest, he planned to take the girl to a hotel in his hometown of Joaquin, Texas, where he would kill and ultimately cannibalize her.

During the online exchanges, Barter instructed the agent on how to prepare for the twisted crimes. He told him to buy an untraceable burner phone and new clothes to wear after the murder was complete. He also provided the agent with an excuse for why the girl was missing, telling him to return to his home in Brevard County, Florida, and claim to the police his daughter had run away.

Barter, alleged the affidavit, insisted he wouldn’t back down from going through with the murder. “I’m not going to change my mind about this,” he emailed the special agent. “I really want to do this.”

On October 19, an FBI sting operation took down Barter outside of his Texas home before he could act out his fantasy. He was caught carrying a garbage bag and knife and leaving for what he believed to be the clandestine father-daughter meeting.

According to the affidavit, Barter confessed to his plan, and he was arrested for first-degree criminal solicitation, first-degree conspiracy to commit capital murder, second-degree attempted capital murder, and second-degree attempted sexual performance of a child.

“The dark web, and the individuals that operate there, pose an increasing threat to the safety of our children,” Shelby County District Attorney Stephen Shires said in a statement. “Hopefully, this will serve as a continued reminder that parents should always be vigilant and aware of what their children are doing on the Internet.”

Barter is currently being held without bond at the Shelby County Jail.

Read more: KTRE, Newsweek