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.



Missing Person Photos

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

Jennifer Joyce Barton
missing person case update January 2023 found new details posted
missing person case update January 2023 found new details posted
missing person case update January 2023 found new details posted
missing person case update January 2023 found new details posted
Barton, date, approximate 1976
Date Missing 05/16/1976
Missing From
Austin, Texas
Missing Classification Endangered Missing
Sex Female
Race
Black
Date of Birth 05/31/1955 (67)
Age 20 years old
Height and Weight 5'7, 135 pounds
Clothing/Jewelry Description A burgundy body suit, blue jeans, and sandals.
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics African-American female. Brown hair, brown eyes. Barton has a light, freckled complexion. There is a scar on the calf of her right leg, and her ears are pierced. Barton may go by her initials, J.J.
Details of Disappearance Barton planned to go to the movies with a friend in Austin, Texas on May 16, 1976. She was short of cash and stopped at a bar in the vicinity of east 11th Street and Waller Street to see if she could get some money there. She met two African-American men inside the bar, and spent half an hour talking to them. One of them is described as 5'4 with a thin build, wearing a sailor's cap and a t-shirt. The other was 5'6 with a heavy build and a large Afro.
One of Barton's friends was walking down the street at the time, and saw the van go around the block and come back up the street. She looked into the van, but didn't see Barton. Barton has never been heard from again.
Two other young African-American women, Brenda Moore and Debra Stewart, both disappeared from Austin in the spring of 1976, and it's possible the three s are related.
Stewart wasn't a prostitute, but she was drawn to the nightlife in the 11th Street area and she and Barton did have friends and acquaintances in common. Moore was separated from her husband and worked as a nurse's aide; it's not clear whether she had any connection to Barton, Moore or the 11th Street area.
There is no hard evidence that Moore, Barton and Stewart's disappearances are connected, but police are looking into the possibility.
Barton was raised in an upper-middle-class family and was well-behaved as a child, but she dropped out of Reagan High School in her senior year and began dating a man who was a drug dealer and a pimp. After her boyfriend was imprisoned, she started using heroin and became a prostitute.
In February 1976, her pimp was murdered in a robbery gone bad at an Austin hotel. There were rumors that Barton had set him up, and she was afraid that his friends would come after her.
Shortly after the murder, Barton's apartment was broken into and vandalized; obscene pictures and words were painted in red on the wall and someone pinned her underwear to the wall and wrote "blood" nearby. It's unclear whether the murder of Barton's pimp and and the subsequent break-in at her apartment are connected to her later disappearance.
Barton had made comments about wanting to go to California, and police looked for her in the Los Angeles area, but their searches turned up nothing. She has a record for robbery, assault and prostitution, but she has not been arrested since her 1976 disappearance. She is considered endangered and foul play is suspected in her .
Investigating Agency
Austin Police Department
512-974-5250
Other
NamUs
Texas Department of Public Safety
The Austin American-Statesman
KXAN
The Vivid Faces of the Vanished

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.



Missing Person Photos

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