William Barber

William James Barber is Andy Barber's father who went to prison when Andy was very young. William went to prison for raping and murdering a 19 year old girl. He got the nickname "Bloody Billy" because of this.

Andy had not had contact with his father since he saw him once in prison as a boy, but had to overcome his disdain for William in order to convince him to provide a DNA swab to help in Jacob's trial. After Andy and William had a disagreement over their father-son relationship, Andy left without the swab. Unbeknownst to Andy, Laurie Barber went to try herself to get a swab from William.

William let Laurie get the swab as he wanted to meet Andy's wife. In a phone call with Andy, William stated his liking for Laurie. Also in this phone call, William wanted to clarify that he was not responsible for the news media finding out that he was related to Andy and Jacob.

It was found that the gene for a lack of empathy was found in William, Andy and Jacob but the 'murder' gene was not passed down.