Barbara Ann Johnson-Willard

Date of Last Contact: June 14, 1996

Location of Disappearance: Jay, Oklahoma

Physical Characteristics: 5′ 5″ tall, 105 pounds, 29 years old, Caucasian female with brown hair and brown eyes. Barbara has pierced ears, and scars on scar on her abdomen, nose and forearm.

Last Seen Wearing: Shorts cut up the sides (medium), black and white 2 piece bathing suit, shoes turquoise color with designs (8-8 1/2).

Investigating Agency: Delaware County Sheriff’s Office

(918) 253-2700

Twenty-nine year old Barbara Johnson-Willard went missing from Jay, Oklahoma on June 17, 1996.

The day she was last seen alive, Barbara had been visiting her mother, who was dying of cancer, at Claremore Hospital. The day after was Father’s Day, and when Barbara failed to attend a family gathering celebrating the day, and then missed her father’s birthday on June 20th- her family knew something was wrong and reported her missing.

About a week after she was reported missing, her vehicle would be found abandoned near a ravine in Delaware County. Though it had rained in the time since the vehicle had been parked in the area, authorities were able to find DNA evidence inside the vehicle that matched Barbara and indicated that a deceased person had likely been in the trunk.

In 2011, a man who had been a co-worker of Barbara’s- a man who by 2011 was serving prison time in Kansas for unrelated sex crimes, would be charged with first-degree murder in Barbara’s case. Even though this man had been a suspect since early in the investigation, and there was fingerprint and DNA evidence suggesting he had been in Barbara’s vehicle, the case against him fell apart and charges were dropped in 2014.

Barbara was a mother of three when she disappeared. She has never been found and her entire family just wants answers for what happened to their person.

If you have any information regarding the disappearance of Barbara Johnson-Willard, please contact the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office at (918) 253-4531.