Man is arrested ‘after trying to beat his cheating wife’s lover to death with an aluminum bat’
A man is charged with attempted murder after finding his wife in bed with another man at a rented Airbnb.
John Dimmig allegedly hit the man so badly with a baseball bat that he had to be hospitalized.
He is also charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and burglary with battery in connection with the June 17 incident, where police say he stormed into a home in Lake Worth, Florida, to find wife Christie Barbato in bed with a co-worker.
Allegedly wielding a black Rawlings aluminum bat, an enraged Dimmig, 33, shut the door behind him and charged at the man, the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office police wrote in probable cause affidavit viewed by DailyMail.com.
He allegedly bludgeoned the man — whose name has been redacted from the aforementioned filing — at least three times.
Police said the man had been in town from Arizona and that he and Barbato were co-workers. The house where the alleged altercation took place was a rented Airbnb.
John Dimmig, 33, faces charges including attempted murder for allegedly assaulting a man he found in bed with his wife (right) – beating him with a baseball bat to the point where he was hospitalized
“I felt like he was out to kill me,” the traveling X-ray technician who took the beating reportedly told responding officers after he was found bleeding from the head at the scene.
Officers called to the temporary residence by a frantic Barbato — who is also a CT scan technologist — “saw the living room of the apartment covered in blood, with streaks leading into the bedroom.”
In the bedroom, officers encountered the injured victim – who they said was lying on his back and bleeding profusely from a wound to his head.
John Dimmig is also charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and burglary with battery after the June 17 incident, where police say he stormed into a Lake Worth, Florida home with a black Rawlings aluminum bat
Police said he stormed into a home in Lake Worth, Florida, and found his wife Christie Barbato (seen here) in bed with a colleague she had met in January. The victim – who was not named by investigators – was in town from Arizona and rented the residence as an Airbnb
Photos of the crime scene were taken before firefighters arrived and began treating the victim – who was then transported to St. Mary’s Hospital as a trauma report.
Due to the nature of the injuries, a crime scene was set up at the front door of the apartment, which police said did not belong to the victim.
He told investigators about the alleged altercation, saying it happened “while he was in bed with Barbato.”
Using his account and Barbato’s, the affidavit describes how police believe the incident happened.
‘[The victim] heard the front door of the house open. ‘[He] stated that he then got up to see who it was.
‘[The victim] stated that when he entered the living room he saw a little man running towards him with a bat.’
It adds: ‘[The victim] went on to say that the man attacked him and pinned him to the ground and hit him three times with an aluminum bat.”
Officers called to the temporary home by a frantic Barbato – who is also a CT scan technologist – “saw the living room of the apartment covered in blood, with streaks leading to the bedroom”
Barbato eventually managed to pull Dimmig off her supposed lover – at which point Dimmig was heard to say, ‘Don’t go anywhere near my goddamn wife again!’. Images posted to the couple’s social media accounts indicate they may have only recently married, but date back as far as 2018
Before interviewing Dimmig, the officers encountered a distraught Barbato, whose social media suggests she is the mother of at least three children
Surveillance video obtained from the property, including audio, substantiated the man’s claims – with Barbato reportedly heard yelling, ‘John! Stop! He’s bleeding!’
Barbato eventually managed to pull Dimmig off her supposed lover – at which point Dimmig was heard to say, “Don’t go near my damn wife again!”
In a separate video, the affidavit notes: “[Dimmig] can be heard yelling ‘Piece of s**t! F**k you!’ [and is then] seen leaving the house and walking towards the road’ with the bat in hand
The potentially damning footage has yet to be released and is currently being used in the case against Dimmig, which could result in a life sentence – if the attempted murder charge hangs.
Before interviewing Dimmig, officers encountered a distraught Barbato, whose social media suggests she is the mother of at least three children and may have only recently married the suspect.
In an interview, Barbato told police that her husband was responsible for the gruesome beating and that she was “in bed in the bedroom of the apartment with her colleague, whom she had known since January 2023.”
She added that she had met the victim for drinks earlier that evening, and had been invited back to his rental for what appeared to be a vile tryst.
Potentially damning footage of the attack has yet to be released and is currently being used in the case against the suspect, which could result in a life sentence
entered a vacation rental with a metal baseball bat and beat a man he believed had been in bed with his wife.
After Barbato spoke to police, they interviewed Dimmig at the couple’s home in nearby Lake Park. He claimed that he had not left the residence all day, except for a short trip to a grocery store.
Deputies added that when they arrived at the house, they saw Dimmig loading his Hyundai sedan with two bags of clothing.
When asked about the weapon used in the attack, Dimmig admitted to owning a bat, but refuted claims that he hit someone with it.
However, police quickly found evidence that seemed to contradict the suspect’s story, with deputies recording a bat outside the couple’s laundry room, as well as a torn black T-shirt and white undershirt that appeared to have blood on it.
The barrel of the bat had “little hairs” embedded in it, officers who drafted the affidavit noted.
They also added that Dimmig’s black Hyundai accents matched the description of a car captured on a traffic camera a few steps from the Airbnb a minute after the attack.
Dimmig is currently being held without bail and has pleaded not guilty to all charges against him. He is due to appear in court on July 17.