'Emotional and excited' Pennsylvania man, 40, confesses he bludgeoned his Air Force veteran wife with a fireplace poker and left her in the basement for two days to die for cheating on him

A Pennsylvania man has been charged with criminal homicide after police say he confessed to stabbing and bludgeoning his wife to death with a fireplace poker, and then leaving her to die in the basement of their home for two days following an argument about infidelity. 

Daniel Barrett, 40, was described in charging documents as being 'emotional and excited' when he walked into the Plymouth Police Department on Monday evening and admitted to brutally killing his wife, 43-year-old Mary Barrett, two days earlier for cheating on him. 

Officers went to the couple's restored colonial home in the 100 block of Gaylord Avenue and followed a trail of blood through the house and down into the cellar, where they discovered the victim's lifeless body. 

Daniel Barrett, 40 , has been charged with criminal homicide in connection with the bludgeoning and stabbing death of his wife, Mary Barrett, 43

Barrett on Monday confessed to brutally killing his wife with a fireplace poker inside their restored colonial home in Plymouth, Pennsylvania , on Saturday 

Mary was reportedly found lying on the floor with a hole in her skull. 

An autopsy determined that Mary's cause of death was blunt force trauma and the manner of death was homicide, reported PAhomepage.com. 

During an interview with investigators, Daniel reportedly said that he and Mary, his wife of more than five years, got into an argument on Saturday about her spending time with another man. 

The  dispute escalated when Daniel allegedly punched Mary in the face, after which he said he blacked out, reported Fox56. 

He told police when he came to, he found himself standing over his wife holding a pair of fire tongs over his head, which he then used to strike her. 

Daniel then grabbed a fireplace poker and proceeded to bludgeon Mary with it multiple times before it became 'entangled with her body,' according to the court documents.  

Daniel told police that he and Mary got into an argument after she allegedly admitted to cheating on him with another man

Daniel said he punched Mary (left and right) in the face and blacked out. When he came to, he was standing over his wife and beating her with fireplace tongs 

That is when the 40-year-old allegedly grabbed a knife and stabbed the victim in the lower back. 

Daniel said he went to splash water on his wife and heard a noise from Mary. After that, he dragged her down the stairs into the basement and left her there for dead. 

According to the documents, Daniel did not go back into the basement until the following day to cover his dead wife with a sheet. 

The husband told investigators between the time he killed his wife and the time he went to the police to surrender, he considered committing suicide but decided against it.    

Daniel allegedly struck Mary, a US Air Force veteran, with a fireplace poker on the head and stabbed her with a knife 

He then dragged her body down the stairs into the couple's basement and left her there to die. He covered her body with a sheet the next day 

Mary was in the US Air Force for 20 years and served three tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan before retiring in 2014 and settling in Plymouth, where she took a job as a secretary for Plymouth Borough, reported The Citizens' Voice.  

In May 2015, Mary and Daniel got married. She leaves behind a 14-year-old daughter from a previous relationship.

Friends and neighbors described Mary as a kind and caring person, a great mother and a dedicated community servant. 

'She would do anything for anybody,' Councilman Bill Dixon said of the victim.  

Daniel Barrett is being held at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility without bail.