Pandora, family secrets

We’ve entertained a number of discussions along the way with the Phylicia Barnes homicide. And now we will have to have the “Pandora” discussion. I had a chance to have an informal interview with her mother Janice Sallis. I wanted to understand her side of the story because she has been relatively quiet. And although most of what I learned will not be published, I have received her blessing to move forward with this particular discussion. We’ll call it the “Pandora” discussion.

Multiple visits, what makes this one stand out? Aside from the murder …

We heard Kelly Barnes and Deena Barnes in interviews challenge mother Janis Sallis on how often Phylicia Barnes had been to visit them in Baltimore. We can now confirm that Phylicia did visit the Baltimore family on five occasions. And each time she returned without incident-so what was different this time around?

Family Secrets

We have a family secret that was revealed, so this must be introduced into the equation now. And this family secret could have sealed her fate. Janice shared with Deena a startling family secret just before Phylicia arrived in Baltimore. It had to have been an interesting conversation, and I’m told that some parties were upset about that particular news getting out. This phone conversation with Deena about the family secret is explosive enough, all secrets like these are. And who wanted this secret to remain just that?

Why should it remain one?

Russell Barnes may have wanted to keep this situation a secret permanently. He might not have been ready to share that information with the family just yet. Maybe he wanted to be in control over how and when this was revealed to the others. He must have felt some kind of way about this news being shared with Deena via a phone conversation with his ex-wife. It wasn’t her place to put this out there. If a secret of this magnitude was to be shared by anyone, it would be by him and on his terms.

The secret

As the Barnes sisters are preparing to spend the Christmas holidays together, they are learning of a mystery sibling for the first time.

Is this explosive enough to set someone off? We don’t know. But what we do know is that the mystery sibling does exist, and that this is one of the things that distinguishes this visit from the others.

I confirmed with Janice Sallis that she is very pleased with the progress of the case. She hears from the authorities regularly, and she remains confident in their ability to solve this case. For fear of learning of anything more than I needed to know about the investigation, we limited the discussion to her feelings about the progress of the case.

Can you imagine what all the authorities know at this point?