Wallingford Native Found Guilty Of Murder In Florida Cold Case

WALLINGFORD, CT — A former Wallingford man was sentenced to life in prison after a jury convicted him of killing a woman in Florida more than 20 years ago, according to the Palm Beach Post. Todd Barket, 51, was arrested earlier this year after a fingerprint as part of a background check for a job application linked him to the murder of Sondra Better in Delray Beach, Florida, in 1998.

The 12-person jury found Barket guilty of first-degree murder and robbery with a weapon after about an hour of deliberations, according to the Palm Beach Post. Barket is a Lyman Hall High School graduate and played quarterback for the school’s only state football championship in 1985, the Meriden Record-Journal reports.

Better, 68, was found violently stabbed and bludgeoned to death at Lu Shay's Consignment Shop on South Federal Highway in Florida in August of 1998, according to the Delray Beach Police Department.

Delray Beach Police said the suspect left a bloody, evidence-laden scene behind. Droplets of the killer's blood led from Better's body to the cash register drawer and out the front door all the way to the sidewalk outside, according to police. The suspect's fingerprints were left on a heavy, decorative ball.

The big break in the 20-year-old cold case came when Barket submitted his fingerprints for a background check to the Agency for Healthcare Administration to become a certified nursing assistant, according to Delray Beach Police. The fingerprint came back as a match in the Automated Fingerprint Identification System database.

"Though the killer's fingerprints and blood samples were entered into national databases, there were no matches until December 2018, when Barket submitted his prints for a background check for a potential employer," Delray Beach Police said at the time of the arrest. “The DNA found at the scene also matches Barket's DNA."

Barket testified in his defense and didn’t dispute that his fingerprint and blood were found inside the store. He claimed that he had been shopping in the store with his wife and touched a decorative marble ball two weeks before the homicide, according to the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

The Sun Sentinel reports Barket also said that he was working as a day laborer on construction jobs and must have cut his hand the same day he returned to the store to buy the decoration, which was the same day as the homicide. He claimed he made an impulsive decision to steal money out of the cash register because no employees were around and said he never noticed Better’s body on the shop floor or “would have called 911,” according to the Sun Sentinel.

Read more at the South Florida Sun Sentinel here and the Palm Beach Post here.