UNSOLVED NC - Wilkes Co, Photo of Gagged Woman Tied To Chair, Circa 1970s or Early 80s

[dms]

1) But, it is all heresy at this point.

Best typo ever.

 

[Russian Blue]

Benson & Hedges cigarettes

Exactly I smoked those at one time I have to admit. I immediately recognized the package.

 

[Moosebegoose]

Aside from that nothing in Barbara's story would take her from North Dakota to this guy's apartment in North Carolina, I'm not seeing that much resemblance.

I do have to say that only in ONE photo of Barbara I saw a resemblance. Hair style / thickness / colour look very similar to me.

 

[Alfie]

The slide mount looks like a blank piece of cardboard. Correct? I wonder if it could be dismounted to inspect for information. FIlm edges usually have information.

 

[aThousandYearsWide]

I work at a thrift store and a chair came in a couple of months ago that made me think of this case since it has been suggested her gag was tied to the back of the chair. The tag says it's an antique valet chair.

Sent from my LG-M153 using Tapatalk

 

[yurena]

The look on her eyes does not give me the impression she is scared.

Also her hair at the top of the head is perfectly coiffed -including the strands of hair on their way to be beneath the towel, hope that makes sense; difficult to explain in writing for me- which is quite unusual as any woman about to get gag would put on a fight with her kidnapper and shake her head several times to avoid that happening to her.

Imho that photo is staged and just a tasteless prank. I also believe the background -furniture esp. make of chair, accessories, cigarettes on her shirt pocket etc- are staged too in order to appear this picture was taken long time ago, in the 70s or 80s. Not so long ago I think.

 

[Sailor Haumea]

The look on her eyes does not give me the impression she is scared.

Also her hair at the top of the head is perfectly coiffed -including the strands of hair on their way to be beneath the towel, hope that makes sense; difficult to explain in writing for me- which is quite unusual as any woman about to get gag would put on a fight with her kidnapper and shake her head several times to avoid that happening to her.

Imho that photo is staged and just a tasteless prank. I also believe the background -furniture esp. make of chair, accessories, cigarettes on her shirt pocket etc- are staged too in order to appear this picture was taken long time ago, in the 70s or 80s. Not so long ago I think.

I tend to lean towards this conclusion, but I won't rule out this being genuine.

 

[Dkamplain]

I moved to wilkes as a kid in 1989. We still dont have alot of crime in the area in comparison🤷*♀️ Idk who this person is but what i do know is in 82 there was alot going on when you look backwards that we didnt have the access to information about that we do now. This could be a joke, could be a domestic dispute bw the couple or it could be a case of a woman who went missing and just noone knows about yet😥 There was the murder at the Jump Off, Angie Hamby and the Ore Knob Murders all in the 80's all easily within driving distance. There was a rapist i think at Appalachian state university who killed a couple women too... but i didnt know about any of this as a kid growing up in the area until i was atleast 30 years old because you didnt talk about these things!

 

[Gardener1850]

I don't know why, but I thought of this thread when I saw this missing woman's picture:

http://www.startribune.com/aggressi...ke-elmo-woman-missing-for-30-years/470143803/
Her thread here: https://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?58697-MN-Susan-Swedell-19-Lake-Elmo-19-Jan-1988

 

[daisy6441]

I came to this thread when I searched Teresa Marie Byers. Let me start out by saying I am "young". I'm 33 so I don't have first hand knowledge of the 70's and 80's.
This picture and the picture of the teen girl and young boy tied up remind me of something I remember hearing. Back in the pre-internet days, which I barely remember, the ways to get *advertiser censored* were limited. You either had to buy it or make it yourself. But making it yourself required going somewhere to get film developed if it was made with a camera (unless you buy a new fangled Polaroid). People who processed film might be convinced (by money or free product) to develop these types of things or they might keep photos like that and refuse to turn them over either with intention to destroy it or keep it themselves. "Sorry no pictures, your film was exposed."
The thing that I believe I remember is that there was a market for these types of photos. Not just local but people putting ads in magazines and newspapers to both sell or buy certain types of photos. Its possible photos were sent across the country either directly or by being passed around or lost. Move into an apartment and get a box of dirty pictures kind of thing.
On the other hand, its not unheard of for murderers to keep things like that but its surprising he would have left it behind unless he was prevented from retrieving it for some reason (like her being awarded what was left in the home when the divorce was granted).
Maybe the ex was making side money by taking kinky pictures with his girlfriends?

 

[Elainera]

This is an interesting thread, thank you Carl, for starting it.

I think the woman might be from India, that was my first thought.

I do feel she looks scared and as if she'd been crying.

I wonder whether the photo should be circulated more widely to receive more attention. Maybe on facebook. Either on a page (or pages) dedicated to mysteries and/or crime, or on a page set up only for this woman. Would that be helpful?

 

[UnlicensedPI]

I can't believe some of the comments I've read on this thread. I'm disappointed in my fellow sleuthers.

One early comment said it's fake because women put their hair in front of their shoulders when they take pictures. One commenter is trying to paint the ex-wife as an evil, vengeful ex and is progressively using more exclamation marks and making less sense. People are speculating about medical chairs in the man's apartment, which his ex-wife has been to and definitely would have noticed. People are saying the girl looks like she's smiling, which likely wouldn't be the case even if it was a hoax. I hope I don't have to explain why I feel the way I do about these comments.

We should trust that Carl knows what he's talking about in bringing this to our attention. He's our MVP. And we should definitely strive to bring our opinions to the table in a sensitive way. Less hostility towards each other and alleged victims.

On that note, here's my (virtually meaningless) opinion.

I do want to say I think her hair DOES look disheveled, but the sunlight hitting it and her sitting in a white room camouflage it against the window sill behind her. I think the object behind her is most likely a white wicker chair, and the thing people think is a lever looks like part of the chair unraveling, sort of like this:

I don't really think analyzing his apartment is going to get us anywhere. We already know the who, where, and when. It has nothing to do with the girl.

I think she has her hands tied behind her back, given her stiff posture. It does look like the cigarette box is slightly crushed to me.

I think she resembles Amy Billig more than anyone else. Looking at her nose and the shape of her eyes, it looks identical to me.

The bangs are distorting her face a little bit.

I kind of resemble Amy and this woman. I'm ethnically Jewish, but I don't think we share the same ethnicity. Just throwing it out there.

Edited for formatting.

 

[LucyOso]

I think Amy was mentioned at one point. But, is sure does look like her..

 

[Curious.1]

An obvious point but if you try opening your mouth, even just holding a pencil in your teeth, your cheeks go up and you look happier on the upper half of your face. If her mouth was open i.e. crying when she was gagged, her cheeks will be higher. Scary photo.

 

[Romulus]

Bump! Carl nothing news?

 

[sony12]

Returning to this thread almost four years later. With old photos like this it is so hard to tell if they are real or fake as people did create photos like this just for fun back in the day. You kind of have to look at the small details to give you any type of hint as to its legitimacy. In this case yeah I am not sure if this was real that they would have staged the scene right in front of an open window and the girls hair does look pretty neat for someone that has supposedly been gagged (and to be honest any time these days I see a picture of tied up lady with cigarettes in hand I usually lean towards it being staged).

 

[Tony1902]

yikes. I hate getting scared off a thread.

yikes. I hate getting scared off a thread.

it used to be called ‘getting Dewey-ied.’

 

[Cubby]

The photo looks staged to me. Hair is in place, open window, undisturbed soft pack of cigarettes and it looks like she is biting the top of whatever is somewhat loosely tied as a gag.

Personally, the ex-wife sounds off. If he was hiding something, he wouldn't have left it behind. Clearly, she wasn't over him or she wouldn't have snooped. The girl in the photo, is probably a former girlfriend.

I hope whomever sent the photo has moved on.