By Forum Staff
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced on Friday that Travis Blake was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the 2022 murders of his girlfriend, Karlene Barnett, and two of her family members, Dervon Brightly and Vashawna Malcolm.
Blake, 31, of Jamaica, was found guilty by a jury on April 2 of murder in the first degree, three counts of murder in the second degree and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree following a three-and-a-half-week-long trial. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on the first-degree murder charge, 25 years to life in prison on each charge of murder in the second degree, and 364 days in jail on each weapon charge. The sentences on the second-degree murder charges are to be served consecutive to one another for a minimum sentence of 75 years, and concurrent to the sentence imposed on the first-degree murder charge.
According to the indictment and trial testimony, on June 24, 2022, at approximately 2:15 p.m., EMS responded to 911 call from a resident at a single-family home on 155th Street about a deceased person. The caller, a son of the homeowner, was inside the home when he encountered a foul odor and discovered the body of his cousin, Vashawna Malcolm, 22, on top of a bed in an upstairs bedroom in an advanced state of decomposition. Her wrists, ankles and mouth were wrapped with tape, she was partially nude from the waist down, and she had three stab wounds to the chest and one to her neck.
Police then discovered two more bodies behind a locked door to the basement. Homeowner Karlene Barnett, 55, was found deceased in a puddle of her own blood with 10 stab wounds to her back, a stab wound to her head, and multiple skull fractures. Barnett’s son, Dervon Brightly, 36, was discovered in another basement room with 13 puncture wounds from a screwdriver driven repeatedly into his neck; and multiple skull and facial fractures consistent with having been inflicted by a hammer.
According to trial records, Barnett met Blake at work and the two were dating. They lived in the home together with Barnett’s son, Brightly, and Malcolm, a nursing student and Barnett’s niece visiting from the island of Jamaica for the summer. A fifth person, Barnett’s other son, also lived in the home.
Video surveillance of the exterior of the house, detailed in trial records, showed defendant Blake entering and exiting the home several times between June 22 and 24. The video recording also showed Brightly entering at approximately 2:50 p.m. on June 22 wearing a striped shirt. When Brightly’s body was discovered in the basement, he was wearing the same striped shirt.
The surveillance video also showed Blake outside the residence in a green shirt before Brightly came home on June 22. A short time after Brightly entered the house, Blake exited the building wearing no shirt and with a bandage wrapped around one of his hands.
Barnett was also seen on video coming home on June 22 around 7:30 p.m.– the last time she was seen alive. When she was killed, she was still wearing the jacket that she arrived home in. Blake is recorded on video for the last time after the incident at approximately 1 a.m. on June 24 walking toward Sutphin Boulevard and getting into a taxi.
Blake was apprehended in Maine weeks after the incident and extradited to Queens.
