SheWhoMustNotBeNamed
Former Member
Missing Since: March 18, 1981 from Lexington, North Carolina
Classification: Endangered Missing
Date Of Birth: April 19, 1967
Age: 13 years old
Height and Weight: 5'7, 125 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics: Caucasian female. Brown hair, brown eyes. Donna has a mole or a birthmark on her right arm. She is of Native American descent.
Clothing/Jewelry Description: A dark blue jacket, an orange sweatshirt and jeans.
Details of Disappearance
Donna left her family's residence in Lexington, North Carolina on March 18, 1981 at approximately 8:30 p.m. She was planning to walk to a friend's home nearby. She was last seen walking on on Hemstead Street Donna contacted her friend shortly thereafter, but she never arrived at the house and has not been heard from again.
Donna's two-year-old sister, Anita Barnhill, died in February 1966. Her family said she had fallen out of a high chair and hit her head, and her death was ruled an accident. In 1999, a reporter looking into Donna's disappearance became suspicious about Anita's death and urged police to reopen the investigation. Authorities reclassified Anita's death as a homicide by child abuse. No one has been charged in connection with the child's murder, however. Police stated the investigation into Anita's death does not change Donna's missing persons case.
Foul play is possible in Donna's case. Decades after her disappearance, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children changed the classification of her case from a non-family abduction to lost/injured missing.
Investigating Agency
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:
Lexington Police Department
336-249-8947
Charley Project
NCMEC