A Tennessee man with what police describe as a long record of violence is sitting in a jail cell awaiting extradition to Kentucky, charged with murdering a pregnant mother of three who was found dead inside her home in Pineville, Ky., on Sept. 23, 2026 — her unborn child missing from her womb.
Officers with the Pineville Police Department responded that day to a call about a deceased person in the 300 block of George Martin Drive. Investigators and the Bell County Coroner’s Office identified the woman as April Barlow Celio, 41, and determined she had been killed.
A Discovery the Day After
The case turned grimmer on Sept. 24. Investigators learned Celio had been pregnant when she died, and the Kentucky State Medical Examiner’s Office determined there was no fetus in her womb during the examination. The fetus had been cut from the womb.
Investigators from the Pineville Police Department, the Bell County Sheriff’s Office and the Kentucky State Police went back over the scene. There, while processing the home, they recovered what they believed to be fetal remains.
Much about the killing remains unexplained. Officials have not disclosed Celio’s cause of death, and the police account does not describe the relationship, if any, between Celio and the man now charged, nor does it offer a motive or detail the alleged robbery and kidnapping.
Warrants, Then an Arrest in Tennessee
Detectives identified DeMarcus Kenneth Johnson-Wright, 41, as a suspect. He was a felon with “an extensive violent criminal history and several outstanding violent felony warrants out of Tennessee,” the Pineville Police Department said. Court records show he already faced multiple outstanding warrants tied to earlier incidents, for suspected aggravated robbery, kidnapping, felony possession of a firearm and domestic violence.
A Bell County District Court judge issued warrants on Sept. 25 charging Johnson-Wright with first-degree robbery and kidnapping. Five days later, on Sept. 30, additional warrants charged him with murder involving domestic violence and tampering with physical evidence.
With the murder charge in hand, local authorities turned to the U.S. Marshals Service Central Kentucky Fugitive Task Force. Investigators developed information placing Johnson-Wright at a residence in the 200 block of Timber Court Drive in Clarksville, Tenn., roughly 250 miles from the Pineville murder scene. Federal, state and local officers took him into custody there around 11 p.m. Central time on Sept. 30.
A search warrant was later executed at the Clarksville home, where investigators said evidence relating to the case was recovered. Johnson-Wright was booked into the Montgomery County Detention Center in Tennessee.
A Mother of Three Laid to Rest
Celio was born in Pineville on Sept. 11, 1985. Her obituary describes her as a devoted mother and names her surviving children as Kaden Alexander Iracheta, Alaina Sofia Celio and Nicolas Antonio Celio. She is also survived by her husband, Antonio; her parents, Michael and Teresa Barlow; and her sister, Amanda De Paz, along with other relatives and friends.
Her funeral was held at Barbourville Funeral Home on Monday, Oct. 5, and she was laid to rest at Big Jim Cemetery.
De Paz launched a GoFundMe to cover funeral costs and to support her sister’s three surviving children. “They are left with questions, memories, and the heartbreaking reality that their mother’s life ended in violence,” she wrote in the fundraiser. She described her sister as an extraordinarily loving woman who gave freely of herself and was deeply loved by everyone who knew her.
As of Tuesday, Oct. 6, Johnson-Wright remained held in a Montgomery County, Tenn., jail while he awaits extradition to Kentucky, where he faces charges of domestic violence murder, first-degree robbery, kidnapping and tampering with physical evidence. The investigation is ongoing.