Delaware County, Oklahoma

Barbara Johnson-Willard, "went missing" from her home in Delaware County, Oklahoma on June 21, 1996.
At the time of her disappearance she was 29 years old and had two young daughters.

Willard's car was found in a pond near Colcord, Oklahoma within days of her disappearance.

The car was found by the property owner who indicated it took four days for then Delaware County Sheriff Jim Earp's staff to respond to her calls regarding the car in her pond.

That was only the beginning of the waiting...

After waiting four years for the Delaware County Sheriff's investigation to determine what had happened to their loved one, the Willard family contacted an attorney in hopes of obtaining information on the investigation supposedly being conducted into the disappearance of Barbara Johnson-Williard.

When the Willard family attorney, Wesley Johnson, requested a copy of the case file under the provisions of the Open Records Act, on October 27, 2000, then Delaware County Sheriff Jim Earp reportedly refused to speak with Johnson and there after basically "stonewalled" attempts by the Willard family to see the investigation file.

At that point the Tulsa World in a report dated 2/07/01 and titled, "Family Seeks Jury Probe" revealed that Willard's family was seeking court approval to circulate a petition for a grand jury to investigate not only Willard's disappearance but the Sheriff's Office handling of the missing case file.

This Tulsa World report revealed:

Willard's car was found in a pond outside Colcord just days after she was reported missing, officials said. Property owner Sandy Lowe said she repeatedly reported the abandoned car to the Sheriff's Office and couldn't get a deputy out to her house for four days.

The investigative report by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, released in 1998, indicated that body fluids found in the trunk of Willard's car were hers, and that the fluids found were consistent with those of a dead person, but Earp didn't rule the investigation a homicide.

Johnson said what Willard's family has gone through for four years is unfair. "We just want to look at the file. We just want to know what happened to Barbara."

This same Tulsa World report indicated:

Sheriff Lenden Woodruff, who took control of the Sheriff's Office on Jan. 2, said Willard's file, which is the property of Delaware County, wasn't in the office when he took over from former Sheriff Jim Earp.

Apparently the only record from the investigation which existed at the time was the 1998 OSBI (Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation) report from the lab test on fluids found in Willard's abandoned car. Evidently that record was in the custody of the OSBI and not entrusted to the Delaware County Sheriff for "safe keeping". The remainder of the Willard case file along with any evidence, witness statements and investigative reports has been missing for who knows how long and under what circumstances.

In a subsequent report dated 3/1/01, and titled "Sister granted access to file" the Tulsa World reported:

JAY -- District Judge Robert Haney on Wednesday granted the sister of Barbara Johnson-Willard -- who disappeared in Delaware County in 1996 -- the right to certain county records under the Open Records Act. Johnson-Willard's sister, Rena Derryberry, petitioned the court on Feb. 6, asking it to open the investigative file into her sister's disappearance -- a file that, according to state statues, is supposed to be kept in the Sheriff's Office.

Derryberry, through her Tulsa attorney Wes Johnson, petitioned to amend the request Wednesday, asking the judge to make former Sheriff Jim Earp answer for the investigative file, since Sheriff Lenden Woodruff, who took office on Jan. 2, says the file wasn't in the office when he took over.

Haney denied the request, saying Earp, a private citizen, doesn't fall under the rules governing the Open Records Act because the act pertains to public officials, not private citizens.

Johnson argued that because Earp did not respond to numerous requests for the file before leaving office that Earp was still responsible for the records.

Johnson told the judge that he believes someone other than the county has control of the records, noting the file is "possibly being kept in someone's garage."

"If they can't provide the file, then you can come back on contempt," Haney said. " But that's as far as I can go on this petition."

The judge also denied Johnson's motion to strike Wednesday's hearing, but granted his motion asking to review certain records. Haney said Derryberry is entitled to crime scene photos, crime scene diagrams and offense reports, but not specific work product, "if they, indeed, exist."

To which we at Bubbworld will add "if any investigation or records ever existed!"

In view of the fact that no one from former Sheriff Earp's office saw fit to even show up until four days after her vehicle was found in a pond there's not a lot on which to assume that Earp's office conducted any investigation other than having the OSBI lab perform some tests on the car after Earp's office finally got around to recovering the vehicle.

When those test results indicated the car contained fluids from Willard and those fluids were consistent with a dead body, Earp still refused to consider and treat Willard's disappearance as a homicide and this in spite of the fact that a probate court ruled that Williard was in fact missing and presumed dead.

In a report dated 4/6/01 and titled, "Delaware County: Judge finds petition insufficient" the Tulsa World reported that at least in the near term a grand jury investigation was not to be.

According to that Tulsa World report:

Delaware County District Judge Robert Haney denied a woman's bid to impanel a grand jury Thursday when she fell 42 signatures short on her petition drive to launch an investigation into the 1996 disappearance of her sister.

The referenced report also indicated:

Derryberry said that at least four of her petitions, which contained dozens of signatures, were stolen from local stores around the county before she had a chance to collect them.

"There were a lot of people who helped me get those signatures," Derryberry said. "I can't thank everyone enough.

"I know my sister is dead. I think anyone in my position would do everything within their power to find out what happened to their family member. We hoped that the grand jury could get to the truth about my sister's disappearance so we could give her a proper burial. Is that too much to ask?

On 7/17/01 the Tulsa World published a follow up report, titled "Woman's vehicle torn apart". This report indicated that the car belong to the missing woman, Barbara Johnson-Willard, had been "dismantled". The report also indicated that the vehicle has been at a family member's residence since 1998 after the Sheriff's Office released the car to the family.

Quoting from that report:

Deputy Wes Stephenson said the vehicle's headliner had been ripped down; the door panels had been taken off; the car's console had been taken apart and moved; and the trunk had been opened.

The ashtray had been removed but was left lying on the floor; the glove box had been rifled but not removed; and the carpet had been pulled up and rolled, he said.

"As far as I can tell, it looks like it's been searched -- like someone was looking for something," Stephenson said. "They gained access through a hole cut in the door by the OSBI when they were looking for prints."

The report indicated that Rena Derryberry, sister of the missing woman, last saw her sister's car in March and that it was intact at that time, which just happens to be the same time she was circulating a petition calling for a grand jury investigation into the case.

This development in the "Case of the Missing Case" gives one cause to believe that the person or persons responsible for the disappearance of Barbara Johnson-Willard is or are still in the area and very concerned about having left behind evidence which might link them to her disappearance.

On 10/05/01, the Tulsa World published a report titled, "2nd blaze in week claims home", in which it was revealed that the home of Rena Derryberry, the sister of Barbara Johnson-Willard, had been destroyed by fire. The fire was the second to stike the home in a matter of days.

Quoting from the referenced report:

Derryberry said she hadn't removed anything from the house after the first fire because the house seemed to be secure. Insurance adjusters had come to the residence on Monday and said the damage was repairable, she said.

An insurance investigator, who arrived at the house to investigate the first fire, drove up as the firefighters were trying to put out Thursday's blaze. He said the fire didn't appear to be a result of the first blaze. He would not comment on the cause of the fire, just that it was under investigation.

She said she had threats but didn't take them seriously.

"I can't believe this has happened," Derryberry said. "We were sleeping when the neighbor knocked on the door and said the house was on fire. Everything was in the house. Now it's all gone.

In June of 2002, Delaware County Sheriff Lenden Woodruff, officially declared Barbara Johnson-Willard a homicide victim.

This declaration came six years after her disappearance and almost one and a half years after Woodruff succeeded Jim Earp as Sheriff of Delaware County.

Woodruff indicated his decision to treat the case as a homicide was the result of the 1998 OSBI report and investigations conducted by his department. Woodruff indicated that the Willard "case file" from prior to his assuming office was still missing and blamed the previous administration for the difficulties in working the case.

In July of 2003, a hiker discovered what was suspected to be a human bone in Delaware County. The hiker took the bone to the Sheriff's Office. The Sheriff's Office conducted a search of the area where the bone was found and located a second bone. The bones were turned over to the State Medical Examiner's Office in Tulsa.

The Medical Examiner's Office determined that the bones are from a human and female. The bones were recovered from the Lake Eucha area between Jay and Colcord, Oklahoma and are to undergo examination to determine their age owing to concerns they may be from a "burial ground".

During the search for additional bones, a "cadaver dog" was brought in to assist and according to media reports the dog "hit" on the area of a collapsed cave which was filled with huge rocks. At last report the Sheriff's Office was attempting to determine how to remove the rocks to learn if the remains on which the dog "hit" were human or animal.

As of the time of this writing, late November, 2003, no additional information has become available.

Whether former Delaware County Sheriff Jim Earp's conduct in this case is the result of gross incompetence or something more sinister is a question begging to be answered. About the only hope for an answer is by impaneling a grand jury to investigate not only Willard's disappearance but also Earp's actions or lack thereof in this Case of the Missing Case.

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