Arrest warrant issued for woman guilty of accessory to murder for body found in barrel

An arrest warrant was issued Friday for a woman who pleaded guilty to accessory to murder after the fact in the death of Jennifer Barrett, whose body was found decomposing in a barrel two years ago.

Holley Alyssa Sullivan missed her sentencing date in court Tuesday, in Winnipeg, and violated terms of her bail by failing to live at the address provided to the courts. 

Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench Justice David Kroft granted Crown attorney Keith Eyrikson's request for Sullivan's arrest and a warrant was issued.

Sullivan, then 28, of Calgary and Jessica Elizabeth Reid, then 34, of Winnipeg were arrested in February 2017 and charged with accessory to murder in the death of Barrett.

Barrett, 42, was found dead in a barrel outside a Waverley Heights home on Dec. 1, 2017, but police estimate she was killed three months earlier on Aug. 25. Chemicals were used to aid in the decomposition, police said.

Sullivan pleaded guilty to accessory to murder after the fact on Feb. 22, 2018; Reid's pre-trial is slated for the new year.

Police also arrested Perez Cleveland, then 43, and he was charged with first-degree murder. Last week, he pleaded not guilty.

Sullivan, Reid and Perez all lived together in the home at the time of Barrett's death and moved out in November of that year, one month before Barrett was located.

Reid and Cleveland were former common-law partners, and she filed for a protection order against him Oct. 17, 2016, less than two months after Barrett is believed to have been killed.

Barrett moved from Sudbury to Winnipeg in 2012, Barrett's brother told CBC News this past spring.

He said his sister and Cleveland were in a relationship that ended in the late-1990s — around the same time Ontario police issued an arrest warrant for Cleveland on a series of offences, including assault and threatening death.

Cleveland left Sudbury but returned and reconnected with Barrett, her brother said, and may have enticed her to leave with the promise of moving to B.C.

He was previously charged with several criminal offences in Ontario dating back to 1995, including assault with a weapon, and a forgery offence in 2003 in the United States, where he was born.

Cleveland's trial is scheduled to take place in May and June of 2019.

Sullivan's next sentencing date can't be set until she is apprehended.