Rhett Michael Barlow was arrested by the Raleigh, North Carolina police after allegedly attempting to hire someone to kill a man who was responsible for his mother’s death in a car crash in 2016.
In 2016, Donald Caulder Jr. was driving a 2004 Freightliner dump truck full of logs while towing a Bobcat when he rear-ended a 2004 Toyota Sienna driven by Michelle Simone Barlow, an English teacher at Wake Forest High School. Caulder’s vehicle pushed Barlow’s car into the back of a 2011 Freightliner tractor-trailer, killing her at the scene.
Rhett Michael Barlow, the son of Michelle Simone Barlow, was arrested on Saturday after police said that Rhett wanted the man who caused the crash, Donald Caulder Jr., dead for what he did to his mother. Raleigh Police said that Rhett asked someone to kill Caulder.
During the 2016 wreck, the North Carolina State Highway Patrol stated that Caulder did not attempt to brake or swerve to avoid hitting Michelle. They also stated that he has had eight driving-related violations since 2008. At the funeral, Michelle’s husband said he forgave Caulder, but Michelle’s two children, including Rhett, were having a hard time with their mother’s death – as any child would.
Police transported Rhett to the Wake County Detention Center, where he is being held on a $1 million secured bond.
The investigation into this incident is ongoing. Additional information will be released as it becomes available.
