Replay: Barbara Cotton Part 1 - A Lost Girl
The Vanished Podcast
Wondery
4.5 • 15K Ratings
🗓️ 23 December 2024
⏱️ 55 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On April 11, 1981, 15-year-old Barbara Cotton vanished without a trace from Williston, North Dakota. Her mother, Louise, immediately began contacting Barbara’s friends, hoping to learn to find her. When no one had seen her, Louise reported her daughter missing to the Williston Police Department and passed along any tips she received. However, as the weeks and months passed, there was no sign of Barbara, and the case went cold. To those closest to her, it seemed as though little was being done to locate her, fueling their suspicions that the investigation was stagnant. The prevailing assumption at the time was that Barbara may have run away, a common conclusion for missing teens in that era.
However, decades later, the case remains unsolved, and there is now a renewed push to uncover the truth behind Barbara Cotton’s disappearance. Many questions remain unanswered, and the search for answers continues.
If you have any information about Barbara Cotton’s disappearance, please contact the Williston Police Department at 701-577-1212.
You can follow Barb’s story on social media at Find Barb Cotton. You can find more information at FindBarbCotton.com, and check out Dakota Spotlight wherever you get your podcasts.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I think even if they don't know that they don't know that they have the key to what happened. |
| 0:19.5 | I do think that there's someone out there that has some piece of information that they |
| 0:25.1 | don't probably feel as significant. |
| 0:27.7 | Or, you know, maybe they've been holding on to cover up for somebody else or something. |
| 0:35.0 | I do. |
| 0:36.1 | I think there's something out there that could unlock this. |
| 0:41.3 | She was very trusting. Probably too much, I suppose. She was very sensitive to other people's needs |
| 0:49.9 | and was very thoughtful. With Barb's case, you know, from 1981, |
| 0:56.3 | a lot of people have passed away, |
| 0:57.8 | a lot of people that no doubt had to have known something. |
| 1:02.9 | The longer you wait, the more those people pass away. |
| 1:06.1 | And, yeah, it's just, it's very unfortunate in that aspect. |
| 1:10.9 | Well, first of all, it's heartbreaking, listening to how many cases out there, like Barb's there |
| 1:16.5 | are. Sometimes it gets really hard to keep the hope alive, but we're going to keep trying. |
| 1:23.4 | This is maybe our last chance to find out any answers because it's 40 years old. |
| 1:29.3 | If we don't get any of these answers now, then we probably never will. |
| 1:33.3 | I watch a lot of true crime and we see, especially like with DNA now and stuff, |
| 1:39.3 | 40, 50 years later, they're solving cases. |
| 1:43.3 | Part of the reason, like, reason why I like to watch them, |
| 1:47.7 | and I like to see them being solved, and I like to see the family get their justice. |
| 1:55.0 | On April 11, 1981, a 15-year-old girl named Barbara Cotton disappeared from Williston, North Dakota. |
| 2:03.6 | Barbara's mother Louise called around to her friends to see if they had seen her, but no one said |
... |
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