Speaker 1: Hey, there is Steve Fishman, and thank you for listening
Speaker 1: to Get the Money and Run. If you're into true
Speaker 1: crime podcasts, then I want to recommend one to you
Speaker 1: that I think you're going to appreciate. It's called Dakota Spotlight.
Speaker 1: It's hosted by James Woolner, and it investigates unsolved cases,
Speaker 1: suspicious death, and long forgotten stories. Most of them are
Speaker 1: from North Dakota and the surrounding region, thus the title.
Speaker 1: But what makes this podcast stand out is its focus
Speaker 1: not just on the events, but the people, not just
Speaker 1: the crime, but the characters around it. It's deeply researched
Speaker 1: and it's driven by this kind of uncanny commitment to
Speaker 1: get at the truth. There are eleven seasons of original reporting.
Speaker 1: The sound design's immersive, The interviews are really powerful. You
Speaker 1: get victims, families, investigators, even some people connected to the accused.
Speaker 1: Dakota Spotlight offers a level of depth and humanity you
Speaker 1: don't often hear in the true crime space. If that
Speaker 1: sounds like you're kind of podcast, then check out Dakota
Speaker 1: Spotlight wherever you listen, or you can visit Dakota Spotlight
Speaker 1: dot com.
Speaker 2: You're listening to Dakota Spotlight. My name is James Woolner.
Speaker 2: It's been four decades since a fifteen year old girl
Speaker 2: vanished while walking home on the streets of Williston in
Speaker 2: the North Dakota oil country. And it all started on
Speaker 2: April eleventh, nineteen eighty one.
Speaker 3: And we're waiting word on the President of the United
Speaker 3: States by George Washington hospital.
Speaker 4: Mister Reagan as we saw him pop up and sit
Speaker 4: back down his grin.
Speaker 3: Hospital and we get this story final aia wrapped up.
Speaker 5: All of the executives are on the das applauding the
Speaker 5: president's entry.
Speaker 2: A few moments ago in Washington, US, President Ronald Reagan
Speaker 2: has released from the hospital twelve days after being shot
Speaker 2: in the chest by a would be assassin. And in
Speaker 2: the state of Florida over at Cape Canaveral, NASA gives
Speaker 2: the green light for the first ever launch of Space
Speaker 2: Shuttle Columbia, set for the following day. The launch team
Speaker 2: has been breathed on the way in which a halt
Speaker 2: can be called to the countdown. The launch events are
Speaker 2: being controlled by the ground lawnch sequencer. Now that has
Speaker 2: been initiated elsewhere in the United States. It's business as
Speaker 2: usual on this Saturday in the Upper Midwest, mother Nature
Speaker 2: is hinting here and there that she just might follow
Speaker 2: through on her pledge, her promise of the actual manifestation
Speaker 2: of an actual springtime. All across this region. Northerners pack
Speaker 2: up the family car and head to the local shops
Speaker 2: and hardware stores, where parents inspect garden hoses and potting soil,
Speaker 2: and the kids are drawn to easter basket isles where
Speaker 2: they fondle bags of pink bunnies, yellow ches, and chocolate
Speaker 2: eggs wrapped in colored foild.
Speaker 3: There's a put swung off fyeballs center field easy out.
Speaker 3: Gary Ward is there and he takes it.
Speaker 2: In North Dakota, automobile owners who want to avoid a
Speaker 2: fine have just four days to get the snow tires off,
Speaker 2: and so all across the wide state, part of Saturday
Speaker 2: afternoon is spent out in the garage spring cleaning, listening
Speaker 2: to the Minnesota Twins lose again, this time against Oakland
Speaker 2: three to nothing.
Speaker 3: Son has went away.
Speaker 2: Saturday becomes Saturday night, and after the evening meal, many
Speaker 2: North Dakota's fall into one of three categories. First are
Speaker 2: those who have to stay home for the night kids
Speaker 2: and children with no say in the matter. They fall
Speaker 2: asleep in pajamas watching love Boat or Fantasy Island. The
Speaker 2: second category of those who just want to stay in
Speaker 2: for the night, the fatigued adults, many of them parents
Speaker 2: and homeowners. These North Dakotas sit up late and play
Speaker 2: cards or watch Chevy Chase hosting Saturday Night Live. Some
Speaker 2: just go to bed, while others nod off on the couch,
Speaker 2: only to wake up with a jolt again and cast
Speaker 2: a panicked look at the clock.
Speaker 3: Pleasant tomorrow.
Speaker 2: Their day is not quite done yet, because they are
Speaker 2: the parents and occasional chauffeurs of the third category, teenagers
Speaker 2: who have no desire at all to stay home on
Speaker 2: a Saturday night In April, of course, on April eleventh,
Speaker 2: nineteen eighty one, the Saturday night options for teenagers are slim.
Speaker 2: Some go to the movies, others ask a parent to
Speaker 2: drive them to the indoor roller skating rink on this night.
Speaker 2: One such roller skating rink is wheel Aware, just outside
Speaker 2: of the town of Williston, North Dakota.
Speaker 3: Was just a hangout where we'd all get together, you know,
Speaker 3: something to do on the weekends, especially in the cold,
Speaker 3: you know, winter months and stuff.
Speaker 2: This is Sandy Evanson in nineteen eighty one, she was
Speaker 2: Sandy Schubert. On the evening of April eleventh, nineteen eighty one,
Speaker 2: Sandy was just sixteen years of age when she went
Speaker 2: roller skating with some of her friends at wheel Awhile
Speaker 2: in Williston. The skating rink was a favorite hangout for
Speaker 2: Sandy and her friends.
Speaker 3: We were like, so hoot that, yep, I saved all
Speaker 3: my money and I think my first pair of skates
Speaker 3: were like one hundred and twenty dollars, which was a
Speaker 3: lot of money back then.
Speaker 2: At the wheel a while, the teenagers of Williston could
Speaker 2: get out of their homes and yet stay out of
Speaker 2: the cold and for the moment spartan out of trouble.
Speaker 2: They socialized, bought popcorn and candy at the concession stand,
Speaker 2: and skated to pop music beneath the giant disco ball.
Speaker 3: They would, you know, turn the lights down sometimes and
Speaker 3: have the strobe lights in the mirror ball and Joe, Yeah,
Speaker 3: there were boys there. There was ones that I had
Speaker 3: a crush on.
Speaker 2: Sandy and her friends often stayed at wheel Awhile until closing,
Speaker 2: when a parent would pick them.
Speaker 3: Up and there would be two sessions, like a usually
Speaker 3: like a seven to nine and a nine to midnight
Speaker 3: or something like that. I believe it was, but we
Speaker 3: would pretty much stay. I think we'd usually go from
Speaker 3: like seven to midnight.
Speaker 2: On this evening, if her memory serves her correctly. Sandy's
Speaker 2: parents are out of town, and so her friend's mother
Speaker 2: picks them up at wheel a while and drives them
Speaker 2: back to her friend's house, where they hang out for
Speaker 2: a while. Her friend's house is a few blocks north
Speaker 2: of Sandy's.
Speaker 3: Pretty close to eighteep Street and Ninth Avenue.
Speaker 2: After some time at her friend's house, Sandy decides to
Speaker 2: go home to walk home alone. Sandy never feels fully
Speaker 2: comfortable doing this, even though Willson is considered a pretty
Speaker 2: safe place by most of her friends at the time.
Speaker 2: On this night, she's on edge, however, maybe because her
Speaker 2: parents left town on business and she knows she's returning
Speaker 2: to an empty house in the dark.
Speaker 3: I'm scared. I'm like some parts I can remember running,
Speaker 3: you know, not because of the cold, but because I'm scared.
Speaker 3: It's dark and where are the weirdos? And things like that.
Speaker 2: Sandy arrives at home and is greeted by nothing but
Speaker 2: an empty house. Still feeling cold and out of sorts,
Speaker 2: she takes one look at her own bed and then
Speaker 2: heads to her parents' bedroom. Maybe she'll feel a little
Speaker 2: safer if she sleeps in mom and dad's empty bed.
Speaker 3: And I get covers all wrapped around me, and I
Speaker 3: had just drifted off, and I remember looking over. There
Speaker 3: was a clock by my mom's bedside table and it
Speaker 3: said like one. It was pretty much right on the
Speaker 3: dot at one, I believed, And I was like, who's
Speaker 3: calling at one? At first I thought it might be
Speaker 3: my mom and dad, but I thought, nah, they wouldn't
Speaker 3: be calling the sleeve. But maybe they're calling to see
Speaker 3: I got home from roller skating her. I remember thinking, though,
Speaker 3: this probably isn't a good phone call. Nobody calls at
Speaker 3: that time of night, you know, for something good. And
Speaker 3: I pick it up and it's Louise.
Speaker 2: Louise is Louise Cotton, a parent, the mother of fifteen
Speaker 2: year old Barbara Cotton, Sandy's childhood friend. But Sandy and
Speaker 2: Barbara don't hang out together anymore, you.
Speaker 3: Know, And so Louise knew that she probably wouldn't be
Speaker 3: hanging with me, And I thought, that's where she's calling
Speaker 3: to ask? And I said, no, I haven't seen her.
Speaker 2: And truth be told, nobody has admitted to seeing Barbara
Speaker 2: Cotton since that night. He didn't come home or call
Speaker 2: the next day, or the next year, or ever. Again.
Speaker 2: Some seemed to think she just ran away, ran away
Speaker 2: without her savings, without her eyeglasses, without any clothes, without
Speaker 2: taking anything with her. April of twenty twenty one marks
Speaker 2: forty years since Barbara Cotton vanished in Williston, North Dakota.
Speaker 2: What happened to Barbara Cotton?
Speaker 4: I would go to the movies with friends all the
Speaker 4: time and walk through that park.
Speaker 2: I'm standing at the corner of Main Street.
Speaker 3: Did you see anything unusual that night? Or you know?
Speaker 5: Her boyfriend watched her walk to Recreation Park, which is
Speaker 5: five blocks from her home.
Speaker 3: That house was there. There was another little house that
Speaker 3: they first moved into right back here. She didn't she
Speaker 3: didn't have a boyfriend.
Speaker 4: The pieces that I put together are not good. She
Speaker 4: does not end up into a good puzzle. I don't
Speaker 4: even remember the police coming to the house.
Speaker 3: Be lost with you, but mostly gentle and kind is
Speaker 3: what I remember about her. She didn't want to share something.
Speaker 3: She was hiding something, and her mom told me it
Speaker 3: was a new boyfriend. I'm like, but she didn't tell
Speaker 3: me about this boy and I don't know anything about
Speaker 3: this boyfriend.
Speaker 2: So are you telling me that law enforcement never interviewed
Speaker 2: you back then?
Speaker 3: Never, She's not gonna You're gonna run away with more.
Speaker 3: Money's close.
Speaker 4: I want to say, over three thousand, close to four
Speaker 4: thousand dollars in the savings.
Speaker 3: Can and then we all be hanging out together now
Speaker 3: instead of doing a podcast about her.
Speaker 2: According to the North Dakota Attorney General's website, Barbara Cotton's
Speaker 2: case is open and ongoing. It's a cold case. The
Speaker 2: full description on the website states, quote, during the evening
Speaker 2: of April eleventh, nineteen eighty one, fifteen year old Barbara
Speaker 2: Louise Cotton disappeared in Williston, North Dakota. Period end quote.
Speaker 2: That's all. The attorney General's website says, as if maybe
Speaker 2: sending a fair warning to any would be detective, suggesting
Speaker 2: this case is starving itself to death, Slowly proceed with caution,
Speaker 2: capier expectations or dreams of finding out what really happened
Speaker 2: to Barbara Cotton, Or maybe I'm just reading too much
Speaker 2: into it. Anyway, I recently ignored this potential warning and
Speaker 2: headed to Williston with my camera and audio recorder. My
Speaker 2: first stop in Williston would be the corner of Fourth
Speaker 2: Street and Maine. I'm standing at the corner of Main
Speaker 2: Street and Fourth in Williston, North Dakota, a cross the
Speaker 2: street from the Plainsman Building, which is the location where.
Speaker 2: The reason I headed to the corner of Forth and
Speaker 2: Maine and Williston is that although the Attorney General's website
Speaker 2: offers that minimalist version of the case, there is more
Speaker 2: information online and among other details, I've read that Barbara
Speaker 2: Cotton was seen leaving the area of the Plainsman Building
Speaker 2: at the corner of Forth and Maine. From there, she
Speaker 2: walked two and a half blocks west into a small
Speaker 2: city park named Recreational Park. Once at the park, she
Speaker 2: was just five blocks from her home. The following is
Speaker 2: from the Charlie Project at Charlie Project dot org. I
Speaker 2: cannot at present verify the validity of the following, but
Speaker 2: in a way, that is what this journey is all about,
Speaker 2: getting clarity. I am currently attempting to get information directly
Speaker 2: from the Williston Police Department. Ideally by the end of
Speaker 2: this paro will have a lot more facts for now, though,
Speaker 2: this is what the Charlie Project has for Barbara Cotton.
Speaker 5: Barbara was last seen leaving a restaurant on Main Street
Speaker 5: in her hometown of Willison, North Dakota, during the evening
Speaker 5: hours of April eleventh, nineteen eighty one. She had dinner
Speaker 5: there with her boyfriend and another friend. Barbara's boyfriend offered
Speaker 5: to accompany Barbara home afterwards, but she declined and left
Speaker 5: the restaurant alone. Her boyfriend watched her walk to Recreation Park,
Speaker 5: which is five blocks from home. Barbara never arrived at
Speaker 5: her destination and has never been heard from again. She
Speaker 5: did not take her clothes, eyeglasses, cigarettes, money, or any
Speaker 5: other personal belongings with her when she disappeared. She also
Speaker 5: left behind a paycheck from work. Her older brother stated
Speaker 5: he was very close to Barbara and she never told
Speaker 5: him of any plans to leave home. Barbara's case was
Speaker 5: originally investigated as a runaway case, and a missing person's
Speaker 5: report was not filed for several days. As a result,
Speaker 5: authorities now believe she may have been abducted, but the
Speaker 5: prime suspect in our disappearance, a former boyfriend, of Barbara's
Speaker 5: is now deceased. Her case is considered open and unsolved.
Speaker 2: I stood at the corner of Fourth and Maine, just
Speaker 2: outside the Plainsmen Building. The Plainsman was built as a
Speaker 2: hotel in the fifties during an oil boom. It's about
Speaker 2: five stories tall, made of brick, and sits at the
Speaker 2: northeast corner of the intersection. I thought, if Barbara's boyfriend's
Speaker 2: story was true, how well can a person see the
Speaker 2: park from that spot? If I'm stuttering here, it's really
Speaker 2: cold and windy, And I thought, could he actually see
Speaker 2: Barbara that far? And yes, I mean here, standing here
Speaker 2: in person, I can definitely see the park and trees.
Speaker 2: It's you know, I don't know, is that three hundred yards? Maybe,
Speaker 2: As it turns out, you can see the park pretty well.
Speaker 2: The distance is three hundred and ten yards two hundred
Speaker 2: eighty four meters. Fourth Street actually runs right into the park.
Speaker 2: That is, if you drive or walk from Main Street,
Speaker 2: you have two and a half blocks to travel, but
Speaker 2: once you get to Second Avenue West, you're at a
Speaker 2: dead end, stirring straight ahead into the southeastern end of
Speaker 2: Recreational Park. Barbara would have crossed Second Avenue and walked
Speaker 2: into the park before she vanished. We will be looking
Speaker 2: closer at the park and Barbara's remaining route home later.
Speaker 2: If you're like me, you probably have some questions you're
Speaker 2: wondering about. Who was the boyfriend, how did he die? When,
Speaker 2: Why did Barbara decline a walk home and head out
Speaker 2: by herself? Did she have an argument with her boyfriend?
Speaker 2: And who was the third person at dinner that night?
Speaker 2: As you'll see, there is confusion about this. Another question
Speaker 2: I have is where did Barbara, her boyfriend, and the
Speaker 2: third person eat dinner. I assumed it was at the
Speaker 2: Plainsman Building, but now I'm not so sure. I can
Speaker 2: tell you something about one of these questions, though, Sandy
Speaker 2: Evanson and others have told me that it was not
Speaker 2: out of character for Barbara to want to walk home alone.
Speaker 2: In fact, they remember her doing the same thing with them.
Speaker 2: She didn't need an escort. She felt more than comfortable
Speaker 2: walking alone. Hopefully, by the end of this podcast, we
Speaker 2: will answer all of these questions and more. When Sandy
Speaker 2: Evanson was a little girl, she lived along Fifth Street
Speaker 2: West between sixth Avenue West and seventh Avenue West, and
Speaker 2: just like in many communities. The houses on one city
Speaker 2: block shared a common alleyway behind the houses. One day,
Speaker 2: a new family moved into a home across the alley
Speaker 2: from Sandy. It was the Cotton family. Louise Cotton, a
Speaker 2: single mother divorced from her husband, moved in with three
Speaker 2: of her kids, a son Kent, a daughter, Barbara, and
Speaker 2: the youngest another daughter named Kathy.
Speaker 3: Here well, like, there was a parking spot a little
Speaker 3: bit longer than this, and right on the other side
Speaker 3: of it was Barbe's house. Yeah, and then there was
Speaker 3: a kind of a duplex thing in front that house.
Speaker 3: Was there. There was another little house that they first
Speaker 3: moved into right back here. Then this used to be
Speaker 3: a big, huge courtyard where we all played. Ok. Yeah,
Speaker 3: And I believe it was my mom let me know
Speaker 3: that there were some new little girls in the neighborhood.
Speaker 3: And I think it was her idea, go out and
Speaker 3: meet him and take your barbies. That'll break the you know,
Speaker 3: the ice. And so that was our first playdate that
Speaker 3: I remember. We were fast friends from that moment on.
Speaker 2: Sandy was a year older than Barbara in school, but
Speaker 2: they soon became best buddies.
Speaker 3: It was pretty much from like in the summertime, from
Speaker 3: the time we got up, but it was run across
Speaker 3: the alley and start hanging out together, you know.
Speaker 2: Sandy, Barbara, Barbara's brother and sister, and the other kids
Speaker 2: around the block often played together.
Speaker 3: And in that courtyard, all us kids would gather and
Speaker 3: we would play tag or you know, we would play ball,
Speaker 3: or we would ride our bikes in there. We would
Speaker 3: roller skates.
Speaker 2: Sometimes they would ride their bikes down to the corner
Speaker 2: store and get penny candy. They also gave skateboarding.
Speaker 3: A try, and then we'd get hung up our rock
Speaker 3: and go flying or something like that.
Speaker 2: Like other kids all over the country, Sandy and Barbara
Speaker 2: and the others made up a cluster of kids thrown
Speaker 2: together by pure geography. They were just the kids on
Speaker 2: the block.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, it was like we were a gang, you know,
Speaker 3: because we were all so close in age. And then
Speaker 3: there was a couple of kids that lived across the
Speaker 3: street and up and down the block, and the other
Speaker 3: kids in the neighborhood, and sometimes we would play all
Speaker 3: together in that courtyard or whatever. But kid Kathy and
Speaker 3: Barbara and I were pretty much a fixture, especially in
Speaker 3: the summer. You know, we would be all together all
Speaker 3: summer long.
Speaker 2: The Charlie Project also has this to say about Barbara
Speaker 2: at the time of her disappearance, Missing since for eleven
Speaker 2: eighty one, classification endangered missing sex female, race, white, Date
Speaker 2: of birth eleven ten, sixty five, age fifteen years old.
Speaker 2: Height and weight five foot two, one hundred pounds or
Speaker 2: one hundred and fifty seven centimeters forty five kilos. Clothing
Speaker 2: a blouse, jeans, loafers. Distinguishing characteristics Caucasian female, brown hair,
Speaker 2: hazel eyes. Barbara's ears are pierced and her left ear
Speaker 2: is slightly lower than her right. She has a dark
Speaker 2: brown mole on the upper right side of her chest.
Speaker 2: Barbara has a pronounced S curve in her spine, which
Speaker 2: causes her to walk with a slight limp. She smoked
Speaker 2: cigarettes in nineteen eighty one. Barbara wears eyeglasses, but left
Speaker 2: hers behind when she disappeared. Her teeth were in excellent condition.
Speaker 3: She was a very great and loyal friend. I can't
Speaker 3: remember ever having Really, if we had argument, it must
Speaker 3: never have lasted very long, because I don't remember ever
Speaker 3: being mad at her or her being mad at me. Ah,
Speaker 3: there's so much I wish I could get it all
Speaker 3: into words and remember everything. But she was very beautiful always,
Speaker 3: from the time she was little to she just got
Speaker 3: more beautiful as she got older. I'll read you something
Speaker 3: that I wrote down, you know, before you called. I
Speaker 3: was just like, I want to get this right so
Speaker 3: much for her, I wrote down. She had this long, beautiful,
Speaker 3: slightly wavy hair that was just the thing about her.
Speaker 2: When Barbara walked, she swayed back and forth a bit,
Speaker 2: and her hair swayed with her.
Speaker 3: It was just unique. And then she had these skinny arms,
Speaker 3: long skinny arms that hang by her side and kind
Speaker 3: of go with this walk. But mostly gentle and kind
Speaker 3: is what I remember about her. I never remember, I don't.
Speaker 3: I'm sure there had to have been one between us
Speaker 3: after all those years, like where we got in an
Speaker 3: argument or a fight, you know, as kids do, and
Speaker 3: then get back together or whatever, But I don't remember one.
Speaker 3: I always remember being good to me and like we
Speaker 3: were besties.
Speaker 2: As close as they were. Barbara Cotton did not share
Speaker 2: a whole lot of internal personal stuff with her friend Sandy, But.
Speaker 3: At the same time, I never saw her depressed or sad,
Speaker 3: where I would have asked her like what's bothering you
Speaker 3: or anything. It's like once they had moved in across
Speaker 3: they started a whole new life, and she just really
Speaker 3: seemed to flourish in that.
Speaker 2: As time passed on, Sandy not only got to know
Speaker 2: Barbara and her siblings, she got to know their mother, Louise,
Speaker 2: and she would spend time with the family and was
Speaker 2: included in the Cotton family outings.
Speaker 3: She used to take us on little trips, like we
Speaker 3: would go to dumpster something more or run down houses,
Speaker 3: you know that we're abandoned or whatever, and it'd be
Speaker 3: like a treasure hunt and we come back with all
Speaker 3: this dumb stuff that you really wouldn't mean, you know,
Speaker 3: but it'd just be a fun outing.
Speaker 2: The girls grew older, twelve thirteen years old, and one
Speaker 2: of Sandy's warmest memories are the nights the duo spent
Speaker 2: in a camper parked in the alley.
Speaker 3: We had a bus camper. It had a big kitchen
Speaker 3: in it, living room and fridge and all that, and
Speaker 3: we would pack up the snacks and you know, maybe
Speaker 3: the radio and maybe some cards or Connect four or something,
Speaker 3: and we would just stay in there all night, having
Speaker 3: sleepovers and just stay up all night talking about everything
Speaker 3: under the sun.
Speaker 2: Sandy recalls that when Barbara was in seventh grade, she
Speaker 2: had a crush on a neighborhood boy. I imagine Sandy
Speaker 2: and Barbara hunkering down in the camper during a North
Speaker 2: Dakota thunderstorm, playing cards and talking about their crushes.
Speaker 3: And so he had more freedom than we did, and
Speaker 3: we always just go I wonder if he's out in
Speaker 3: the neighborhood riding around on his bike, you know, and
Speaker 3: things like that.
Speaker 2: These were the good years, the innocent years before high
Speaker 2: school and the things that often come with it.
Speaker 3: Barba and I hung together. There was never no drinking
Speaker 3: or smoking or anything like that. It was good, wholesome
Speaker 3: kid fun.
Speaker 2: But somehow it seems all good things must come to
Speaker 2: an end.
Speaker 3: I would say that really when we started the lake
Speaker 3: drift apart a little bit is when I went on
Speaker 3: too high school and she stayed in junior high being
Speaker 3: a year younger than me.
Speaker 2: Their separation then would never be fully reconnected. They remained friends,
Speaker 2: but they just started hanging out with different people, drifting
Speaker 2: apart a bit. Sandy Evanson does not believe that her
Speaker 2: childhood friend Barbara just ran away one night forty years ago.
Speaker 2: She's never believed the story even back then.
Speaker 3: Ah, but I think it was, Oh, she's a runaway
Speaker 3: and I have to stay back. You know, when that happened,
Speaker 3: we were all probably a little naive. Bad things didn't
Speaker 3: happen like that that much. You did it, you know,
Speaker 3: especially William Williston.
Speaker 2: Sandy's mother was good friends with Louise Cotton, Barbara's mother.
Speaker 3: So like, I would get all my information for my
Speaker 3: mom then, and my mom would tell me the police
Speaker 3: think she run away, and we all knew that she
Speaker 3: didn't run away. It was just annoying and bother some.
Speaker 2: One thing Sandy learned early on is that it was
Speaker 2: assumed that Barbara had run away with this boyfriend who
Speaker 2: apparently worked in the oil fields.
Speaker 3: And then after that, they think she's run away with
Speaker 3: that guys, she was saying. And they're certain that they're
Speaker 3: gonna like him being in the oil field seismographing. He
Speaker 3: was moving around from town to town, from job to job.
Speaker 3: You know, they would do a job site in this
Speaker 3: town or that town, and then they'd put him up
Speaker 3: at a hotel. So they just for sure they were
Speaker 3: going to find her in one of his hotel rooms,
Speaker 3: and I do believe two times, if I'm not mistaken,
Speaker 3: they went and searched his hotel room, but never found
Speaker 3: any sign of her.
Speaker 2: The sixteen year old Sandy Evanson or Sandy Schubert at
Speaker 2: the time, didn't buy it at all. According to her memory,
Speaker 2: she even did some neighborhood canvassing, knocking on doors along
Speaker 2: Fifth Street West where Barbara would have walked after leaving
Speaker 2: Recreation Park.
Speaker 3: And we knocked on some doors, and we remember looking
Speaker 3: through the park yep, going through the park looking for
Speaker 3: any sign, and we saw absolutely nothing. I only remember
Speaker 3: one person answering the door, and it's like the second
Speaker 3: walk from the park, I think, and that person and
Speaker 3: that lady had says she didn't hear anything or see anything.
Speaker 2: And speaking of canvassing the neighborhood, to Sandy's knowledge, the
Speaker 2: police never did that.
Speaker 3: What did you canvas the neighborhood? I'm almost one hundred
Speaker 3: percent sure that they didn't. If the police had talked
Speaker 3: to any of us, we would have probably sent him
Speaker 3: over to the Luther's house because their house faced Barb's house,
Speaker 3: and they knew all of us very well. They had
Speaker 3: three kids that all played with us, and you know,
Speaker 3: did you see barb walking home that night, or did
Speaker 3: you see anything unusual that night? Or you know, or
Speaker 3: do you know anything about who Bub's been hanging around with,
Speaker 3: because kind of Pat Luther knew everything in the neighborhood.
Speaker 2: Of course, it's possible the police did canvass the neighborhood.
Speaker 2: I'm not certain at the time of this recording, but
Speaker 2: one thing Sandy is certain of. They've never spoken with
Speaker 2: her or asked her any questions. Her frustration is palpable.
Speaker 3: I don't want a bad mouth the police, but in
Speaker 3: some ways I do. I don't know if the police
Speaker 3: when Barbera goes missing, did they ever talk to Kent
Speaker 3: and Cathy, because they never did me. I don't remember
Speaker 3: them asking any questions. And that's just the part where
Speaker 3: she was always chalked up to be a runaway, but
Speaker 3: nobody was ever asked any questions.
Speaker 2: Some people in sandy situation would perhaps just give up
Speaker 2: on finding answers about a friend. They would leave it
Speaker 2: to the family and to the police, And basically she
Speaker 2: did leave it to them for the most part, but
Speaker 2: she never forgot about bar and others remembered Barbara too.
Speaker 2: Almost fourteen years after she disappeared. In January of nineteen
Speaker 2: ninety five, a reporter for the newspaper the Bismarck Tribune
Speaker 2: published an article about Barbara after speaking with Barbara's mother, Louise,
Speaker 2: her younger sister Kathy, and others. According to the article,
Speaker 2: the last time the Cotton family had received any leads
Speaker 2: had been nine years earlier. Barbara's mother, who is now deceased,
Speaker 2: is quoted several times in the article. I want to
Speaker 2: try to find her one more time, she said, and
Speaker 2: I try to run down everything but never find anything.
Speaker 2: I don't know what to say. We miss her and
Speaker 2: love her and hope she's okay wherever she is. I'd
Speaker 2: like to know what happened. I wish she would get
Speaker 2: in touch with me. She still has money in the bank,
Speaker 2: which I'd like to give to I was saving it
Speaker 2: for her college. I guess I should have let her
Speaker 2: spend it. Barbara's sister Kathy was also quoted. We were
Speaker 2: very close when she disappeared. I just want to tell
Speaker 2: her to please call home. Williston police Chief Don Wentz
Speaker 2: was also interviewed for the article. He noted that Barbara
Speaker 2: left without her glasses and a paycheck from work.
Speaker 3: Quote.
Speaker 2: Those aren't the actions of a runaway. He was also
Speaker 2: quoted as saying, at the time, we had posters out
Speaker 2: and her picture on milk cartons, et cetera. We checked
Speaker 2: out all leads. That was in nineteen ninety five. Fast
Speaker 2: forward now sixteen years to the year twenty eleven, thirty
Speaker 2: years since Barbara vanished. Sandy Evanson is not done looking
Speaker 2: and with renewed energy, she has an idea and a
Speaker 2: smidgeon of hope.
Speaker 3: Thirty years down the road, I'm working for the Wilson Harold.
Speaker 2: The Williston Herald is the newspaper in town. Sandy worked
Speaker 2: in the circulation department.
Speaker 3: And I'm like talking to my boss and go on,
Speaker 3: you know, I wonder if the Harald be interested in
Speaker 3: doing a story. And I started telling him about my friend,
Speaker 3: and he's like, Sandy, put everything down that you can remember,
Speaker 3: you know, on paper, and I'll give it to the editor.
Speaker 2: And so she did. She sits down and writes four
Speaker 2: pages in Longhand of her memories about Barbara's disappearance.
Speaker 3: Yep, as a matter of fact, I still have the
Speaker 3: notes that I gave to the editor.
Speaker 2: The Harald did run a story on April first, twenty eleven.
Speaker 2: You may recall that I said that I'd read here
Speaker 2: and there that when Barbara Cotton had dinner with her boyfriend,
Speaker 2: a third person was also present. The article in the
Speaker 2: Willison Harald, which seems to be based off of Sandy
Speaker 2: Evanson's four pages of notes, identifies the third person by name.
Speaker 2: According to the article, the third person was Louise Cotton,
Speaker 2: Barbara's mother. If this is true, then before she disappeared,
Speaker 2: Barbara had dinner with her boyfriend and her mother, and
Speaker 2: therefore Louise Cotton was one of the last people to
Speaker 2: see her daughter. This part gets confusing and is potentially important.
Speaker 2: Sandy sent me her notes, the same notes she gave
Speaker 2: the editor of the Williston Herald ten years ago, in
Speaker 2: which seems to be the basis or main source of
Speaker 2: that article. The following is from Sandy's notes. By the way,
Speaker 2: Sandy is uncertain today if this information came directly from
Speaker 2: Louise Cotton, or if Louise told Sandy's mother who told her.
Speaker 2: Louise said that Barbara and her boyfriend had dinner with
Speaker 2: her at the old Cakes and Cones restaurant, having a
Speaker 2: wonderful time. After some problems with Barb dating at her age,
Speaker 2: they separated on good terms. Barb left with her boyfriend
Speaker 2: and Louise returned home. After Barb never came home, she
Speaker 2: got in touch with the boyfriend. He said that he
Speaker 2: offered to walk Barbara home and she refused, saying she'd
Speaker 2: be fine. One of the questions I've asked the Williston
Speaker 2: Police Department is exactly that was the third person Barbara's
Speaker 2: mother at the time of this recording. I've not received
Speaker 2: a response yet, but let me explain why this feels
Speaker 2: so important and confusing right now. Ready, consider this, If
Speaker 2: the police have other information, meaning, according to them, the
Speaker 2: third person was not Barbara's mother, then wouldn't you think
Speaker 2: that after the article came out in twenty eleven in
Speaker 2: the Williston Herald, they would reach out to the reporter
Speaker 2: with the correction, or perhaps also to Sandy Evanson and
Speaker 2: ask her about this conflicting information. After all, Sandy heard
Speaker 2: this either from Louise directly or from her mother who
Speaker 2: was friends with Louise. If you're an investigator looking into this,
Speaker 2: you might wonder if maybe Sandy's information is correct, not
Speaker 2: what you have in your police file.
Speaker 3: I'm really be very disappointed about that article too. About
Speaker 3: I'm not kidding. There was no comment from the police
Speaker 3: department on it.
Speaker 2: But they didn't reach out and at least I've found
Speaker 2: no correction. And Sandy states that she has never spoken
Speaker 2: with the police about Barbara, so that leads us to
Speaker 2: believe that it's true. Right, Louise Cotton is the third
Speaker 2: person who went to dinner with Barbara and her boyfriend.
Speaker 2: This would be all fine and dandy. But if that's true,
Speaker 2: why or why in the world did Louise Cotton, Barbara's
Speaker 2: mother never tell her kids, Kent and Kathy, that she'd
Speaker 2: gone to dinner with their sister on the night she vanished.
Speaker 2: This is Kathy, Barbara Cotton's sister.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I see, I had no idea until last year.
Speaker 3: Was I believe.
Speaker 4: That my mom had I guess supper dinner supper with
Speaker 4: barb and her boyfriend.
Speaker 2: Barbara's brother, Kent Cotton, has also spoken with me about this.
Speaker 2: He doesn't remember hearing that his mother went to dinner
Speaker 2: with Barbara that night either. How is this possible? Did
Speaker 2: missus Cotton meet up with Barbara and her boyfriend and
Speaker 2: then not tell her other kids? About it for decades?
Speaker 2: Did she never say I remember the last time I
Speaker 2: saw a bar and then elaborate when and where and
Speaker 2: if she thought Barbara was acting normal or differently? Or
Speaker 2: did missus Cotton tell her kids and they both forgot?
Speaker 2: Or is that story about Missus Cotton seeing Barbara and
Speaker 2: her boyfriend in town that night simply not true. We
Speaker 2: will be hearing more from Barbara's siblings later on. We
Speaker 2: will also visit the park where Barbara was reportedly last seen.
Speaker 2: We'll be looking closer at the five city blocks of
Speaker 2: streets and homes between the park and the Cotton residents,
Speaker 2: will look closer at Barbara's personal life and ask was
Speaker 2: she a candidate for being a runaway. We'll also talk
Speaker 2: about abductions and look closer at Barbara's boyfriend. But before
Speaker 2: we move on to those things, I'd like to round
Speaker 2: off the saga of Sandy Evanson and her quest to
Speaker 2: find answers about her childhood friend. Sandy would like to
Speaker 2: see the police share more information with her. She thinks
Speaker 2: she might be able to help if just given a chance.
Speaker 3: Come on, it's been forty years. Can you tell us
Speaker 3: if you ever like did Louise say that they went
Speaker 3: out to eat or is this something that maybe was
Speaker 3: made up by loew later on, or does this story
Speaker 3: about them, you know, them going out to eating them
Speaker 3: Bob going back with their boyfriend that night? All I
Speaker 3: have is hearsay to go on that from Louise telling
Speaker 3: my mom and my mom telling me.
Speaker 2: And Sandy doubts that the person or person's responsible for
Speaker 2: Barbara's disappearance are still alive, but she'd still like answers,
Speaker 2: would still like to see the case moving forward. Sandy
Speaker 2: stays creative and optimistic, looking for clues and witnesses, witnesses
Speaker 2: who have aged forty years since that night.
Speaker 3: It's not like you're going to prosecute him, but maybe,
Speaker 3: like some of these memories coming up about this boyfriend,
Speaker 3: did they really eat at Cakes and Cones? Is that
Speaker 3: what Louise said or is that just something I misremember
Speaker 3: or that was miscommunicated or you know, or those kinds
Speaker 3: of things, And maybe that'll spark a memory of somebody
Speaker 3: that worked at Cakes and Cones or you know what
Speaker 3: I mean.
Speaker 2: Something tells me Sandy Evanson will never give up. Sandy Evanson,
Speaker 2: who knocked on doors and asked questions after Barbara vanished,
Speaker 2: was out a trace. Sandy who sent four pages of
Speaker 2: notes to the editor of the Williston Herald. Sandy who
Speaker 2: used to hunker down with Barbara Cotton in a family
Speaker 2: camper and together listen to music and talk about all
Speaker 2: of the adventures that were still yet to come. You know,
Speaker 2: if you could say something to Barbara today, regardless if
Speaker 2: she's alive or not, what would you like to say.
Speaker 3: I'm missed, sir. I'm sorry that I didn't do more
Speaker 3: back then. It I didn't call the police, spipe, but
Speaker 3: my dad was an ex cop. Why didn't I go
Speaker 3: to him more? And Oh, Dad, let's go down there
Speaker 3: and talk to him, man at talk to any of us.
Speaker 3: But I didn't understand how investigation worked, you know, at
Speaker 3: that age. And I feel guilty that we didn't do
Speaker 3: enough early on. I feel terrible that this happened to her,
Speaker 3: and she should have the chance to live and live
Speaker 3: a good life and have kids and get married, and
Speaker 3: then we'd all be hanging out together now instead of
Speaker 3: doing a podcast about her.
Speaker 2: Very recently, Sandy got excited. There was brand new hope,
Speaker 2: a new path forward, and an opportunity to help police
Speaker 2: find answers in any way she could. In twenty twenty,
Speaker 2: the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children came to
Speaker 2: Williston to review Barbara's case, and suddenly Sandy got a
Speaker 2: call and a voicemail from a detective at the Williston
Speaker 2: Police Department.
Speaker 3: And I don't have my phone on me when I'm
Speaker 3: at work or whenever she called me. I'm away from
Speaker 3: my phone a lot, and so I didn't get her
Speaker 3: phone call right away, and I literally called her back.
Speaker 3: And I had to be over two weeks, at least
Speaker 3: four to five times, going I missed your call. Here's
Speaker 3: what I'm going to be available if you want to
Speaker 3: talk to me. I'll set aside from two to five
Speaker 3: o'clock on Tuesday, or you know that kind of thing.
Speaker 3: Never ever, ever, once got a return phone call from her.
Speaker 2: Still to come on this season of Dakota Spotlight a
Speaker 2: Better Search for Barbara.
Speaker 4: I remember a guy sleep sleeping an art couch one
Speaker 4: day when I came home from school.
Speaker 2: So are you telling me that law enforcement never interviewed
Speaker 2: you back then?
Speaker 4: Never?
Speaker 3: I don't even remember. The police coming to the house
Speaker 3: was awesome and came into the park and then we
Speaker 3: would always King corner up to that corner of fifth
Speaker 3: and Third Avenue, and then walked straight up Fifth.
Speaker 4: The pieces that I put together are not good. Does
Speaker 4: not end up into a good puzzle.
Speaker 3: She didn't handle boyfriend.
Speaker 2: Dakota Spotlight is a production of forum communications researched and
Speaker 2: recorded and edited by me James Walner. This season is
Speaker 2: dedicated to my daughters and to all daughters everywhere. Some
Speaker 2: music in this season, including the song you're listening to now,
Speaker 2: provided by North Dakota born former Wishik Area resident and
Speaker 2: U n D grad Isaac Turner of Kalamazoo, Michigan and
Speaker 2: his seemingly infinite number of musical bands and projects. This
Speaker 2: band is named Wowza in Kalamazoo. We also heard a
Speaker 2: little from his band's Out and the Hollis Group. Search
Speaker 2: for wowsa Out and the Hollisgroup on bandcamp dot com
Speaker 2: or see the links in the show notes. Thanks much,
Speaker 2: Isaac and friends. To learn more about missing kids, check
Speaker 2: out the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at
Speaker 2: Missingkids dot org. To contact me, shoot me an email
Speaker 2: at Dakota Spotlight at gmail dot com. If you're loving
Speaker 2: this season, please tell your friends in real life and
Speaker 2: on social media, and give me a review and a
Speaker 2: rating on Apple Podcasts, and why not come and join
Speaker 2: us at the Dakota Spotlight Facebook group. Thank you so
Speaker 2: much for listening to this episode of season five, A
Speaker 2: Better Search for Barbara. Be safe, stay warm, and see
Speaker 2: you next time.