Suspect Charged With Murder in Stabbing of Lexington Man

A West Columbia man was charged Friday with the murder of a 54-year-old man whose body was discovered in a grave in the backyard of a Lexington County home.

Richard Earl Barnes, 41, was charged with murder of David Johnathan Diblasi, of Lexington, according to the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department. Barnes was being held at the Lexington Detention Center on bail totaling $505,000 on charges of being an accessory after the fact to murder, manufacturing methamphetamine and possessing 28 grams or less of marijuana.

Barnes will remain at the detention center while awaiting a bond hearing on the murder charge.  

Another man, 27-year-old Worth Edward Cook III of Batesburg-Leesville, was previously charged with murder in the death of Diblasi, according to a news release. Cook was being held without bond on Friday at the detention center on the murder charge as well as financial transaction card fraud, obtaining property under false pretenses and violating the conditions of his court-ordered supervision.

Both Barnes and Cook were arrested in April in connection with Diblasi’s death.

Detectives say between March 9 and April 18, Barnes and Cook “acted with malice in killing” Diblasi by stabbing him multiple times at Cook’s home.

Diblasi’s mother reported him missing to the sheriff’s department on March 9. She told deputies that she had last seen him at their home on Feb. 25. 

On March 5, Barnes and Cook allegedly traveled in a white van owned by Barnes’ girlfriend to a Lexington Wal-Mart where Cook used Diblasi’s credit card to buy baby supplies and diapers, according to the release. Diblasi was not with Cook when he made the purchase. Cook’s girlfriend was pregnant at that time.

During the execution of a search warrant in April, detectives excavated a burial site in the backyard of Cook’s home. The body of Diblasi, who had been stabbed in his left eye and had a fractured skull, was found in the hidden grave, the release said.  

Authorities were able to identify him based on tattoos found on the body.

Cook is also accused of cutting up Diblasi’s white 1996 Isuzu Hombre pickup truck, which Diblasi had driven to Cook’s home, and sold the remaining parts to an auto parts store in Batesburg-Leesville. He also allegedly tried to use Diblasi’s credit card to buy a saw at a home improvement center, according to the release.