ND ND - Barbara Cotton, 15, Williston, 11 Apr 1981

Richard

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25 Years Ago:
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Barbara Louise Cotton
Missing Since April 11, 1981 from Williston, Williams County, North Dakota
Classification: Endangered Missing

Vital Statistics
Date Of Birth: November 10, 1965
Age at Time of Disappearance: 15 years old
Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 5'2" (157 cm); 100 lbs (45 kg)
Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Brown hair; hazel-brown eyes.
Marks, Scars: Pierced ears, curvature of the spine causing a slight limp when she walks, left ear lower than right ear. A dark brown mole on upper right side of her chest.
Clothing: Jeans, blouse and loafers.
Dentals: Available. She has excellent teeth.
Other: DNA available

Circumstances of Disappearance
Cotton was last seen leaving a local restaurant and walking down Main Street in Williston, North Dakota on April 11, 1981. She was never heard from again. She had no personal belongings with her at the time of her disappearance.

Extensive searches for her body have yielded no results or evidence about her whereabouts. The primary suspect in her disappearance, a former boyfriend, is deceased.

Investigators
If you have any information on Cotton's disappearance, please contact:
Williston Police Department Detective Ladwig, Missing Persons Unit
701-577-1212

Agency Case Number: 08202215
NCIC Number: M-069910154
Please refer to this number when contacting any agency with information regarding this case.

Source Information:
The National Center For Missing and Exploited Children
The E-clipse Network
Newslibrary
The Doe Network: Case File 1DFND

Link:
http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/1dfnd.html
 
Barbara Louise Cotton's case has the distinction of being the first featured case in the first Index of the Doenetwork. Unfortunately, there is little information available concerning her disappearance. And example from a newspaper is this eleven year old article:

Bismarck Tribune, The (ND) - January 29, 1995

Mystery lingers in Williston disappearance WILLISTON (AP) -- Barbara Cotton was seen walking down Main Street on the night of April 11, 1981, when she was 15 years old. Then she disappeared. Years of searching by law enforcement officers, years of chasing clues, have proven fruitless. But her family still holds out some hope.. ""I want to try and find her one more time,'' said her mother, Louise Cotton.. Mrs. Cotton, 65, has traveled as far away as Florida to follow leads, and called...
 
Eoanthropus Dawsoni said:
I was a cop in Williston when this occurred. It still bothers me that Barbara was never found.


Welcome to Websleuths!! Glad to have you.
 
I will be very interested in keeping an eye for postings you make about unsolved crimes in the upper midwest, particularly the missing persons -- there's simply way too many missing people.
 
This case (PHOTO)has allway's make my hair stand up on the back of my neck. A girlfriend of mine was killed in a MVA while on her way to meet me after i got off from work..She look like her so close she could of easy pass for her sister and if i saw both of them together i think maybe they be close enough to passed for twin's..bring's back memory's of a very terrible time in my life that iam not sure iam over yet..i know a little not all but a little of what parent's has to go through. I in the end had to call her parent's while they was gone on vacation at Daytona Beach to break the news to them..LE keep telling me they couldn't get no answer and my 1st call from the hospital i got them on the 1st ring of the phone..very sad time
 
wondering22 said:
I will be very interested in keeping an eye for postings you make about unsolved crimes in the upper midwest, particularly the missing persons -- there's simply way too many missing people.

I have stacks of notes on many cases that I have researched over the years. Some cases are very interesting and most are very depressing. Anytime a person vanishes it is a tragedy for the family, I can't imagine anything worse.

I quit law enforcement shortly after Barbara's disappearance but I have never stopped thinking about the case.
 
Many years ago, a friend of mine who grew up, way up in the northlands, up on the Iron Range, told me that there are mammoth pits filled with water virtually EVERYWHERE, where the locals would dump their garbage, ALL of it, including old cars, broken appliances, everything ended up in the mining pits - I think it was taconite pits --- and they are so huge & so deep, that it's simply horrifying to consider what all might be hidden away in them...
 
In addition to the abandonded open pit mines in the Iron Range, aren't there quite a few old granite quarries in the St Cloud region?
 
I am the sister of barbara louise cotton. My name is kathy cotton. I am glad there is still people out there that has not forgotten about her. I will never forget as long as i live. And to the cop who was here at the time of her dissappearance we need to talk.
and to anyone who may have information or a unsettled mind and knows something and affaid to come forward. please please we, i need to know. thank you kathy cotton
 
Kathy,

Welcome to websleuths. It has now been 30 years since Barbara went missing. I hope that some information will be forthcoming even after so much time has passed.

I am the sister of barbara louise cotton. My name is kathy cotton. I am glad there is still people out there that has not forgotten about her. I will never forget as long as i live. And to the cop who was here at the time of her dissappearance we need to talk.
and to anyone who may have information or a unsettled mind and knows something and affaid to come forward. please please we, i need to know. thank you kathy cotton
 

"This month marks the 30th anniversary of the disappearance of Williston's Barbara Cotton. Cotton, 15 years old at the time of her disappearance on April 11, 1981, was last seen leaving a local restaurant in the evening, on her way home.

Cotton is described as a white female with brown hair and hazel-brown eyes. At the time of her disappearance, she was 5 feet and 2 inches tall and weighed 100 pounds. Identifying characteristics are that her left ear is lower than her right ear and she has a dark brown mole on the upper right side of her chest. She would now be 45 years old."
 
doc4d95f1243305b2508140921.jpg
 
BCotton.jpg
BCotton2.jpg
BCotton1.jpg

Left: Cotton in 1981; Right: Age-progressed by NCMEC to age 42

Vital Statistics
Date Of Birth: November 10, 1965
Age at Time of Disappearance: 15 years old
Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 5'2" (157 cm); 100 lbs (45 kg)
Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Brown hair; hazel-brown eyes. Curvature of spine which may cause a slight limp when she walks; left ear is noticeably lower than right ear.
Marks, Scars: Pierced ears. A dark brown mole on upper right side of her chest. Mole on right side of neck.
Clothing: Jeans, blouse and loafers.
Dentals: Available. She has excellent teeth.
DNA: Mitochondrial DNA entered into CODIS
Other: X-ray showing scoliosis available.
 

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