Killer Gets Life for Brutally Murdering Girlfriend

A Florida man will spend the rest of his life in prison after brutally stabbing his girlfriend to death inside her West Palm Beach apartment.

Robert Wayne Murray, 60, was sentenced on Friday to two consecutive life sentences without parole for the 2020 murder of 63-year-old Jenie Barbato. In August, a Palm Beach County jury found him guilty of first-degree murder with a deadly weapon and armed burglary.

The killing happened on September 14, 2020, when Murray snuck past security at the Century Village retirement community and broke into Barbato’s apartment through a window. Armed with a butcher knife, he stabbed his former girlfriend 11 times in the upper back and torso, according to investigators.

Detectives said Murray’s rage stemmed from Barbato cutting off contact. In fact, before the attack, Murray texted others asking them to reach out to Barbato on his behalf. In one chilling message, he warned: “Okay thanks if she don’t do it watch the news.”

Authorities revealed Barbato had blocked his number, and the pair were already known to law enforcement because of prior domestic incidents.

On the night of the crime, deputies were called for a welfare check after a neighbor spotted the broken window. Blood was found on the door and lock, and Barbato’s body was visible inside, lying face down in a pool of blood.

Court records show Murray even placed a 911 call that night, telling the dispatcher he was upset his girlfriend stopped talking to him and claimed he wanted to kill himself. Investigators later determined it was Murray himself making that call.

For Barbato’s family, Friday’s sentencing closed a painful chapter. “I am filled with so much emotion,” one of her daughters told WPEC. “It’s been five years — five very long years — but we have come to a resolution.”

Another daughter remembered her mother’s incredible strength, noting she had survived a heart transplant a decade earlier. “She’s a beautiful, wonderful, caring mom. She is my heart, my everything,” she said. “This month should have been her 10-year heart transplant anniversary. Today should have been a celebration.”