Every year, thousands of people disappear. Fortunately, many of them have been found. However, many people will leave their homes and never be seen again. It can be devastating for the families of these people. It is one thing to lose a family member to an illness or a car accident because you know what happened. In contrast, when someone disappears, they vanish as if they had never existed.
The disappearance of a Zanesville, Ohio mother named Barbara Frame is one such case. On Facebook, I found a page titled Help Find Barbara Frame – Missing from Zanesville, Ohio. I was curious about Barbara and wanted to know more about her. Unfortunately, Barbara’s story is one that is common in many different households across the country. Family members either walk away from their lives or suffer a tragic event.
This is Barbara’s story:
Her last known location was her apartment on Alice Street in Zanesville, Ohio on January 30, 1985. She had just finalized her divorce from her husband Jeff a few weeks earlier. Her ex-husband visited her on the day she vanished.
According to Barbara’s three children, she had a busy day planned. Once she had met with her attorney, she planned on getting groceries, visiting her mother who had cancer, and then speaking with her landlord. She left home at 5:00 p.m. almost 40 years ago and hasn’t been seen since. As it turned out, she didn’t actually have a scheduled appointment with her attorney.
The next day, her car would be found near United Technologies, where she worked. However, her car was not parked in its usual spot. Unfortunately, Barbara’s mother passed away shortly after her disappearance. Barbara would also be absent from her mother’s funeral. If her family wasn’t sure about her disappearance, they now knew something had happened to Barbara.
According to a family member, Barbara and her ex-husband Jeff had a volatile relationship that included domestic violence. Additionally, Jeff often showed up at her apartment to try and persuade her to return to him.
According to the Charley Project, Jeff took two inconclusive lie detector tests. It was reported that he had gone to someone for drugs in order to intentionally alter the polygraph results.
Barbara’s family doesn’t think she left on her own. A devoted and loving mother, she would never abandon her family. Her mother suffered from cancer and she would have never abandoned her when she was sick. Barbara has a daughter named Kathy Huber who manages the Facebook page dedicated to her mother. Kathy shared added a special Mother’s Day message about her mother:
Happy Mother’s Day to my beautiful mom. I had her in my life for 14 years, nine months, three weeks, and four days. She is mother to three grown children and grandmother to six grandkids that she never met. She will never be forgotten.
While I don’t have any missing loved ones, I cannot help but feel sorrow for Barbara’s family. She has children she hasn’t seen in nearly 40 years and grandchildren who will never know the warmth of a grandmother’s hands. Barbara was described as having green eyes, weighing 130 pounds, and standing 5’6.”
If you are reading this and can help Barbara’s family find out what happened to her, please contact The Zanesville Police Department at (740) 455-0700.
Marc is a former Clermont County resident and an avid reader. Feel free to contact him through his website at www.themarcabe.com. He also has a podcast called Catch my Killer where he interviews family members seeking justice for their murdered loved ones. You can listen at www.catchmykiller.com.