The following is based on your complainant’s review of the reports of other officers and your complainant’s own investigation: On December 6, 2025, at shortly before 8:00am, Ramsey County Emergency 911 received a call from an apartment building on Suburban Ave. In St. Paul, Ramsey County. The caller said that from a neighboring apartment, he could hear a man assaulting a woman, as the woman called out, “please don’t kill me.” St. Paul Police responded. At the back door of the building, they encountered a woman rushing out with several children.
She was identified as DJJ ([DOB REDACTED]). Her boyfriend and the father of one of her children is the defendant, MICHAEL LEE BARLOW ([DOB REDACTED]). DJJ said that this morning, the defendant came to pick up their mutual child [NAME REDACTED] on coming inside of the home, where he grabbed her phone. She said that he threatened to call police and have her arrested. (A domestic abuse no contact order prohibits her from having contact with him.) She said that she tried to leave, but he slapped her in the face and grabbed her by the hair, in order to drag her back up the stairs.
DJJ’s seven-year old daughter told officers that she saw “the man” hit DJJ with an open hand. Officers observed and photographed a small red mark on the side of DJJ’s upper lip and scratch marks on the side of her neck. Officers encountered the defendant inside of DJJ’s apartment. At first, he denied that anything had happened and in fact denied knowing DJJ altogether. He then said that he had come to the apartment to pick up his child [NAME REDACTED] had argued there. In a later Mirandized interview, the defendant claimed that it was DJJ who had assaulted him, including strangling him with the hood of his sweatshirt and scratching him.
Officers observed and photographed a scratch on the defendant’s arm; they saw no mark on his neck. The manager for the building told officers that tenants have regularly reported aggression to him by the defendant toward DJJ, including chasing and beating her. He noted that it is DJJ, not the defendant, who is on the lease. He said that on this night, the 911 caller told him that the caller saw the defendant chase down DJJ, spit in her face, and block her from leaving. (The 911 caller has not yet been reached for a follow up interview.) The defendant has been convicted of at least the following qualified domestic violence-related offenses: 1. Domestic Assault – Gross Misdemeanor Convicted February 15, 2024 Case No. ••-CR-••-•••• 2. Assault in the Fifth Degree – Misdemeanor Convicted February 11, 2025 Case No. ••-CR-••-•••• 3. Domestic Assault – Misdemeanor Convicted June 28, 2022 Case No.
