Missing Person Photos
A missing person is a person who has disappeared and whose status as alive or dead cannot be confirmed as their location and condition are unknown. A person may go missing through a voluntary disappearance, or else due to an accident, crime, death in a location where they cannot be found (such as at sea), or many other reasons. In most parts of the world, a missing person will usually be found quickly. While criminal abductions are some of the most widely reported missing person cases, these account for only 2 to 5 percent of missing children in Europe.
By contrast, some missing person cases remain unresolved for many years. Laws related to these cases are often complex since, in many jurisdictions, relatives and third parties may not deal with a person's assets until their death is considered proven by law and a formal death certificate issued. The situation, uncertainties, and lack of closure or a funeral resulting when a person goes missing may be extremely painful with long-lasting effects on family and friends.
A number of organizations seek to connect, share best practices, and disseminate information and images of missing children to improve the effectiveness of missing children investigations, including the International Commission on Missing Persons, the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC), as well as national organizations, including the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in the US, Missing People in the UK, Child Focus in Belgium, and The Smile of the Child in Greece.
Resources for Missing Persons
According to current statistics, 4,000 people in the United States go missing every day.
Sometimes a child suddenly vanishes from the bus stop or the local park or even from their own yard or bedroom. Or a teenager doesn�t return home after a walk to the neighborhood grocery store or a bike ride or a party with friends.
Other times, an adult is mysteriously absent from their job or neighbors haven�t seen them for several days, and family and friends haven�t heard from them either.
Missing Person Photos
Barbara Ann Johnson-Willard
Johnson-Willard, date, approximate 1996; John Weeks
Date Missing 06/17/1996
Missing From
Jay, Oklahoma
Missing Classification Endangered Missing
Sex Female
Race
White
Age 29 years old
Height and Weight 5'5, 105 pounds
Clothing/Jewelry Description A black and white two-piece swimsuit, size medium shorts cut up the sides, and size 8 or 8 1/2 turquoise shoes with designs on them.
Associated Vehicle(s) Maroon and gray 1986 Mercury Cougar (accounted for), White pickup truck (accounted for)
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Brown hair, brown eyes. Johnson-Willard's ears are pierced and she has scars on her forearm, nose and abdomen. Her nickname is Bobbie. Her maiden name is Johnson and some agencies may refer to her as Barbara Willard.
Details of Disappearance Johnson-Willard was last seen at her family's residence in Jay, Oklahoma on June 17, 1996. She watched movies with her niece, when left to go to her own rented mobile home. She has never been heard from again. Five days later, her family realized she was missing. She had not been to work, picked up her paycheck, or taken care of her dog since June 17.
Johnson-Willard's maroon and gray 1986 Mercury Cougar was discovered abandoned near a brush-clogged ravine in Delaware County, Oklahoma on June 27, ten days after her disappearance.
Shreds of clothing were inside the car's trunk and gasoline tank. Blood and skin tissue samples discovered inside the trunk were matched to Johnson-Willard's DNA; the body fluids found corresponded to a deceased person. Transmission fluid had been poured over the vehicle, but the car was not ignited.
A white pickup truck was seen in Johnson-Willard's driveway on June 17 and was originally thought to have something to do with her , but it turned out to belong to her neighbor's landlord. Bloodhounds were unable to track the scent of anyone leaving her mobile home.
In June 2011, fifteen years after Johnson-Willard's disappearance, authorities charged John Lee Weeks with first-degree murder in her . Weeks, a coworker of Johnson-Willard's at the Simmons Industries poultry processing plant, is originally from Arkansas. He was in prison in Kansas serving a fifty-year sentence for unrelated sex crimes at the time he was charged.
A photo of Weeks is posted with this summary. Investigators stated he'd been a suspect from early on in the investigation, and they had fingerprints and DNA evidence from Johnson-Willard's car to implicate him.
However, in 2014, the murder charge against Weeks was dropped for lack of evidence. He was returned to Kansas to resume serving his sentence. His earliest release date will be 2037.
Johnson-Willard was adopted as a child. She left behind two daughters. The investigative file into her disappearance disappeared in 2001, but was found under unknown circumstances in 2005 in a storage room in the Delaware County jail. Foul play is suspected in her disappearance due to the circumstances involved.
Investigating Agency
Delaware County Sheriff's Department
918-253-4531
Other
Barbara Ann Johnson-Willard: Gone, But Not Forgotten
The Joplin Globe
KOAM TV
KTUL
News on 6
NamUs
The Oklahoman
Missing Person Photos
A missing person is a person who has disappeared and whose status as alive or dead cannot be confirmed as their location and condition are unknown. A person may go missing through a voluntary disappearance, or else due to an accident, crime, death in a location where they cannot be found (such as at sea), or many other reasons. In most parts of the world, a missing person will usually be found quickly. While criminal abductions are some of the most widely reported missing person cases, these account for only 2 to 5 percent of missing children in Europe.
By contrast, some missing person cases remain unresolved for many years. Laws related to these cases are often complex since, in many jurisdictions, relatives and third parties may not deal with a person's assets until their death is considered proven by law and a formal death certificate issued. The situation, uncertainties, and lack of closure or a funeral resulting when a person goes missing may be extremely painful with long-lasting effects on family and friends.
A number of organizations seek to connect, share best practices, and disseminate information and images of missing children to improve the effectiveness of missing children investigations, including the International Commission on Missing Persons, the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC), as well as national organizations, including the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in the US, Missing People in the UK, Child Focus in Belgium, and The Smile of the Child in Greece.
Resources for Missing Persons
According to current statistics, 4,000 people in the United States go missing every day.
Sometimes a child suddenly vanishes from the bus stop or the local park or even from their own yard or bedroom. Or a teenager doesn�t return home after a walk to the neighborhood grocery store or a bike ride or a party with friends.
Other times, an adult is mysteriously absent from their job or neighbors haven�t seen them for several days, and family and friends haven�t heard from them either.
Missing Person Photos
