NM NM - Barbara Holik, 33, Taos, 23 June 1995

She's been missing for twenty years now. There's no evidence that she left the country and all of her possessions were left behind in her apartment. At the same time, there was nothing to indicate that a crime had been committed. Investigators can't rule out that she left voluntarily but they suspect it was most likely foul play. At this time, Holik is not in NamUs or the Doe Network.

NAMPN

Charley Project




Vital Statistics at Time of Disappearance
• Missing Since: June 23, 1995 from Taos, New Mexico
• Classification: Endangered Missing
• Date of Birth: March 24, 1962
• Age: 33 years old
• Height and Weight: 5'0, 120 pounds
• Distinguishing Characteristics: Caucasian female. Black hair, brown eyes. Holik speaks with a German accent. Her hair was waist-length at the time of her disappearance.

Details of Disappearance
Holik was last seen have a drink with some friends at a restaurant near the Taos Plaza in Taos, New Mexico on June 23, 1995. She sold jewelry and handmade pottery at a local gallery. After she didn't show up for work on June 27, her employer contacted the police. When Holik's friends went to her home on Rosarita Lane, they found the door open and her Ford Fiesta parked in the driveway. Her purse, luggage, passport, identification, keys and other belongings were inside her apartment, along with thousands of dollars in cash. The apartment appeared undisturbed but there was a pair of work gloves there which seemed out of place: one lay on the floor in the front of the refrigerator and the other was by the exterior door. Holik has never been heard from again.

A few days after her disappearance, a pair of Holik's shoes was found on the couch in a recently vacated apartment in her building. She had access to the apartment in order to turn the outside lights on and off. The apartment's telephone line had been cut and the mattress cover on the bed had been removed. There was no sign of her at the scene. By the time the police were notified, a maid had cleaned the apartment and destroyed whatever forensic evidence might have been left there.

Holik was born and raised in Germany, where her family still lives, and moved to the United States at age 28. She may have been living in the country illegally by 1995, but she hadn't come to the attention of immigration authorities. One of her friends was traveling from Germany to New Mexico and Holik was expecting the friend to visit her in a few days. She had even purchased tickets so she and her friend could go rafting together. She is described as a quiet, shy and very organized individual, and it's uncharacteristic of her to leave without warning. Holik was not behaving unusually prior to her disappearance, she wasn't dating anyone and there's no evidence that she left the country. Foul play is suspected in her disappearance, which remains unsolved.


Twenty years later, woman’s disappearance remains a mystery

http://www.taosnews.com/news/article_5a7e9a6a-1b61-11e5-a640-5ba1f83e34bc.html

Some friends believe she might have entered a witness protection program due to her supposed but unsubstantiated involvement with the aforementioned drug smuggler. Others suspect she simply disappeared for immigration reasons.

All these years later, the case’s lead investigator says he is not entirely convinced Holik’s disappearance is a crime to be solved.

“It didn’t look like foul play,” former Taos Police Department Capt. Manny Trujillo said recently. “There was nothing broken. It looked like she just got out of bed and went away.”

The investigation was a big effort, Trujillo recalls, but he also maintains it is possible she merely left town.

Click to expand...

From Germany: A woman went missing in Taos in 1995 - November 10, 2008

Something bad happened but it is hard to tell what. Usually, when a body is not found, the perp turns out to be someone close to the victim. Taos is a real small town. Some tourist coming and going and small artsy subculture that Barbara was part of. Otherwise not a wide field of suspects.

Might whoever had previously occupied the vacated apartment where the shoes were found be considered a suspect? It's possible that Barbara went there and walked into some kind of illegal activity that was going on.

2015 article:

The cord between the handset and telephone had been cut, the maid said, but she thought little of it at the time and went about her work — cleaning away whatever forensic evidence might have been left behind.

These discoveries cast suspicions on the four men who lived in the apartment temporarily while on business. But more than a month passed before the men were questioned at their company’s office in Albuquerque by the Taos investigator in charge of the Holik case.

The men said they had never spoken with Holik. Some said they didn’t even see her during their stay next door.

Those interviews, part of a case file that is 3 inches thick, were a part of the investigation that then-Taos Police Chief Neil Curran said he wished had been handled differently. Curran would like to have questioned the men himself.

“Those people could have been the key,” he said recently...

A library card found in Holik’s vehicle carried the name of a convicted drug smuggler, spurring suspicion. The man spent two decades in a federal prison, having been linked to a boatload of hashish off the California coast. Released a few years ago, the man said he knew nothing about Holik’s disappearance. After his name surfaced in the investigation, he sued Curran for defamation.

Click to expand...

http://m.santafenewmexican.com/news...025-543d-5beb-be61-03d4b5681e1b.html?mode=jqm

Updated Charley Project link:

http://charleyproject.org/case/barbara-holik



NamUs

Doe Network

Bumping for Barbara...it's now been 25 years.

While this case seems unlikely to ever have a break-through, I'll be following.

I doubt she "walked away" from her life in Taos willingly, since even her passport & I.D. were left behind.

And it seems obvious just where a potential crime occured.

Such a tragic case really.

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Holik, circa 1995

• Missing Since 06/23/1995
• Missing From Taos, New Mexico
• Classification Endangered Missing
• Sex Female
• Race White
• Date of Birth 03/24/1962 (61)
• Age 33 years old
• Height and Weight 5'0, 120 pounds
• Associated Vehicle(s) Ford Fiesta (accounted for)
• Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Black hair, brown eyes. Holik speaks with a German accent. Her hair was waist-length at the time of her disappearance. Her ears are pierced.

Details of Disappearance​

Holik was last seen have a drink with some friends at a restaurant near the Taos Plaza in Taos, New Mexico on June 23, 1995. She sold jewelry and handmade pottery at a local gallery. After she didn't show up for work on June 27, her employer contacted the police.

When Holik's friends went to her home on Rosarita Lane, they found the door open and her Ford Fiesta parked in the driveway. Her purse, luggage, passport, identification, keys and other belongings were inside her apartment, along with thousands of dollars in cash.

The apartment appeared undisturbed but there was a pair of work gloves there which seemed out of place: one lay on the floor in the front of the refrigerator and the other was by the exterior door. Holik has never been heard from again.

A few days after her disappearance, a pair of Holik's shoes was found on the couch in a recently vacated apartment in her building. She had access to the apartment in order to turn the outside lights on and off.

The apartment's telephone line had been cut and the mattress cover on the bed had been removed. There was no sign of her at the scene. By the time the police were notified, a maid had cleaned the apartment and destroyed whatever forensic evidence might have been left there.

Holik was born and raised in Germany, where her family still lives, and moved to the United States at age 28. She may have been living in the country illegally by 1995, but she hadn't come to the attention of immigration authorities.
One of her friends was traveling from Germany to New Mexico and Holik was expecting the friend to visit her in a few days. She had even purchased tickets so she and her friend could go rafting together. She is described as a quiet, shy and very organized individual, and it's uncharacteristic of her to leave without warning.

Holik was not behaving unusually prior to her disappearance, she wasn't dating anyone and there's no evidence that she left the country. Foul play is suspected in her disappearance, which remains unsolved.



I'm not sure if Reddit is an approved source, but there is a bit more information there:

Bump for Barbara