FAYETTEVILLE (KFSM) — A Fayetteville man has pleaded not guilty to kidnapping and threatening to kill his infant daughter earlier this month, which spurred a two-day manhunt across Northwest Arkansas.
Danny Trent Barrows, 38, is charged with two counts of kidnapping, two counts of first-degree terroristic threatening and one count of first-degree domestic battery — all felonies.
Barrows was being held Friday (Aug. 31) at the Washington County Detention Center on a $250,000 bond. His trial is set for Oct. 30 in Washington County Circuit Court.
He faces up to 80 years or life in prison if convicted on all counts.
Barrows allegedly kidnapped his 2-month-old daughter on Aug. 13 after a fight with the girl’s mother over custodial rights, according to police.
The woman told investigators Barrows beat and threatened both her and their daughter with a knife. She said Barrows forced her to drive for hours along the back roads of Washington County hoping to disorient her.
Barrows finally made her stop the car near Whitehouse Road and U.S. 71. He told her to get out and walk into the ditch where there were bushes so he could kill her.
She said she exited the vehicle, then tried to run around and grab her daughter out of the back.
She told police that as she was reaching for the child, Barrows cut the back of her leg with the knife. Believing he would continue slashing her, she fled, she said.
She was picked up on the side of the road by a passerby. Barrows attempted to bust the car window as the vehicle pulled away but was unsuccessful, she said.
The passerby took the woman to a nearby gas station, where police and Central EMS were summoned. Barrows reportedly drove off in the woman’s car with the child inside.
An Amber Alert was issued Aug. 14 for the baby, and she was recovered at her grandmother’s house later that day.
On Aug. 15, Barrows was supposed to turn himself in to the U.S. Marshals. But when the marshals arrived to meet Barrows in West Fork, he forced a companion from a truck and sped off.
Authorities arrested Barrows later that day near Chester, where police found him hanging from the bridge of Arkansas 282.
Washington County, Crawford County, Arkansas State Police, Mountainburg Police, U.S. Marshals, state Highway Patrol and Game and Fish were all involved in the pursuit and capture.
