Botox on a Dead Man's Card: The Murder of Barry Schmalbach

Author

Benjamin Hayes

Publication Date

November 23, 2025

Barry James Schmalbach was 56 years old when he disappeared from Cape Coral, Florida, on the night of July 19, 2023, following an argument with his live-in boyfriend of only four months. He had a serious heart condition and took prescription medication for it daily, the kind of detail that made his sudden, complete silence all the more alarming to the people who knew him. What followed was an investigation built on security footage, a neighbor's account of banging and moaning through condo walls, cadaver dogs alerting inside his own Jeep, and a boyfriend who used Barry's stolen identity to pay for Botox treatments while Barry himself remained missing. Nearly two years later, a jury convicted that boyfriend of murder despite the fact that Barry's body has never been found.

A Relationship Already Ending

Barry lived with his boyfriend, Christopher Gregory Davis, in Cape Coral, the two of them together for roughly four months by the summer of 2023. According to evidence prosecutors later presented at trial, Davis was already aware that Barry intended to end the relationship. On the evening of July 19, the couple spent time together at Cruisers Bar, where witnesses observed that they did not appear to be getting along. Around 7 p.m. that evening, Barry sent a text message to a friend making clear that he no longer wanted to continue the relationship with Davis, a message that would later become a central piece of the prosecution's case regarding motive.

The Last Image of Barry Alive

Barry left Cruisers Bar around 11 p.m. that night following the argument, with Davis chasing after him. The two eventually walked back toward Barry's condo together, and surveillance footage from a nearby business captured what investigators would describe as the last confirmed image of Barry alive. Sometime after that, according to a voicemail Barry left for his friend Miguel Angel Blanco, he expressed clear distress about the state of his relationship with Davis, a message left in the hours before he vanished entirely.

Sounds Through the Walls

A neighbor living near Barry's condo later reported hearing banging noises that sounded like someone being slammed around, along with the sound of someone moaning on two separate occasions that night, testimony that painted a disturbing picture of what may have happened inside the unit after the couple returned home. A second neighbor separately reported observing Davis dragging something through the condo hallway at around 4 a.m., followed shortly afterward by the sound of a car departing the area.

A Story That Didn't Hold Up

In the days following Barry's disappearance, Davis told others that Barry was fine and simply staying with friends, going so far as to send screenshots of supposed text messages to support this claim. When investigators eventually checked in on Barry's actual apartment, they found it in unusual condition, every light left on, mud tracked throughout the space, conditions inconsistent with the simple story Davis had been telling people about Barry's whereabouts.

A Jeep That Told Its Own Story

Barry's own Jeep went missing on July 21, only to reappear the following day, July 22, showing mud stains, sand, and unlocked doors, physical evidence that raised immediate concern given everything else investigators were piecing together. When cadaver dogs were brought in to examine the vehicle, they alerted specifically to the scent of human decomposition inside, a finding that pointed directly toward the worst possible explanation for Barry's continued absence.

Duct Tape, a Tarp, a Pickax

Store surveillance footage captured Davis purchasing two rolls of duct tape along with a tarp in the period following Barry's disappearance. Between July 21 and July 23, he also bought a pickax and a shovel using cash, tools he later claimed he had needed to remove tree roots, before disposing of both items entirely. When investigators eventually interviewed Davis directly, they noted fresh cuts and scratches visible on his body, physical marks he did not adequately explain.

An Airbnb Under a False Name

Cell phone and vehicle tracking data showed Barry's Jeep pinging multiple times in the more remote reaches of Hendry County, Florida, in the days after his disappearance. Investigators determined that Davis had rented an Airbnb property in Clewiston during this exact window, booking it under his own brother's name rather than his own. When authorities later examined the rental property after Davis had checked out, they found furniture pushed askew and an unusual amount of sand and dirt scattered across the floor, conditions that echoed the mud and disarray already found inside Barry's own condo.

Spending a Dead Man's Money

Perhaps the most chilling evidence to emerge involved what Davis did with Barry's own financial accounts after he vanished. Davis called Barry's bank directly, impersonating him over the phone, and subsequently used Barry's debit and credit cards at multiple ATMs and businesses. Among the purchases made using Barry's stolen identity were Botox treatments and air freshener, mundane, almost grotesquely ordinary transactions carried out using the accounts of a man whose own body had, by that point, likely already been disposed of.

An Arrest, Then Extradition

In August 2023, Davis was arrested on an unrelated probation violation warrant and extradited to South Carolina, where he was made to serve a five year sentence connected to that prior case. Investigators later discovered that Davis had provided a false birth date during his interactions with authorities and was carrying active warrants out of both South Carolina and Georgia at the time, details that spoke to a broader pattern of deception well beyond just the circumstances surrounding Barry's disappearance. It was not until January 2024 that Davis was formally charged with Barry's murder, and June 2024 before he was extradited back to Florida to face those charges directly, at which point he was formally charged with second degree murder, tampering with evidence, and fraudulent use of identification.

A Trial Built Without a Body

Davis's trial took place in Lee County and lasted four days, featuring testimony from 40 separate witnesses in a case prosecutors had to build almost entirely on circumstantial evidence, given that Barry's remains had never been recovered. Assistant State Attorneys Andreas Gardiner of the Homicide Unit and Jennifer Justham led the prosecution, presenting jurors with the full accumulated weight of the case, the argument overheard through condo walls, the dragging sounds and departing car in the middle of the night, the cadaver dog alert inside Barry's own vehicle, the pickax and shovel purchased and later discarded, the remote Airbnb rented under a false name, and the unmistakable trail of fraudulent charges made on Barry's own financial accounts in the weeks after he vanished. In June 2025, the jury returned a guilty verdict, convicting Davis of second degree murder.

A Sentence Delivered Immediately

Davis was sentenced immediately following the verdict to life in prison for the murder itself, along with an additional five years for tampering with physical evidence and five years on each of eight separate counts of fraudulently using a deceased person's identification, every sentence ordered to run consecutively rather than concurrently. Cape Coral Police Chief Anthony Sizemore commended the investigators and prosecutors involved, describing the verdict as delivering long awaited justice for Barry and the people who loved him.

A Body Still Missing

More than two years after Barry Schmalbach left Cruisers Bar following an argument with the man he had been trying to leave, his remains have never been found, despite the extensive circumstantial case that ultimately convicted his killer. His case now stands as a notable example of Florida prosecutors successfully securing a murder conviction entirely without physical remains, built instead on the accumulated weight of witness testimony, forensic canine evidence, financial fraud records, and the quiet, damning trail Davis left behind in the days after Barry disappeared, right down to a stranger's Botox treatment charged to a dead man's card.

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