The Vanishing of Barbara Barkley

Episode 197

Nineteen year old Barbara Jean "Bobbie" Barkley arrived for a normal day of work at the pipe furniture store in Pinellas Park, Florida on Friday, May 29th, 1981. Less than three hours later she had mysteriously vanished.

There were no signs of a struggle, no indications of where Bobbie may have gone. Left behind were her purse and her cigarettes; the only things missing were Bobbie and her 1973 Plymouth Fury. While, at first, her family thought there might be a reasonable explanation, investigators were immediately concerned.

Less than a year earlier, two other women had vanished under similar circumstances from within the same area. Police found one body, but the other remained missing. Soon it became a race against time to determine if Bobbie had been targeted by someone she knew or if she'd fallen victim to a yet unknown serial killer.

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Sources:

30 May 1981, 19 - Tampa Bay Times at Newspapers.com

30 May 1981, 30 - Tampa Bay Times at Newspapers.com

09 Jan 1982, 15 - Tampa Bay Times at Newspapers.com

02 Jun 2013, B1 - Tampa Bay Times at Newspapers.com

02 Jun 2013, B2 - Tampa Bay Times at Newspapers.com

06 Jun 1981, 23 - Tampa Bay Times at Newspapers.com

09 Oct 1981, 24 - Tampa Bay Times at Newspapers.com

09 Oct 1981, 41 - Tampa Bay Times at Newspapers.com

Pinellas Park Police Department - Cold Case File

The Evening Independent - Google News Archive Search