Left and Center: Carla circa, 1981
Right: Age Progressed to age 48
Vital Statistics at Time of Disappearance
Missing Since: July 1, 1981
Missing From: Clearwater, Jefferson County, Washington
Classification: Non-Family Abduction
Date Of Birth: February 19, 1967
Age: 14 years old
Height and Weight: 5’4″ and 110 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics: Caucasian Female, Brown hair, Hazel eyes
Clothing/Jewelry Description: A light blue colored zip up sweatshirt, a pair of blue jeans, and thong sandals with dark blue velvetcolored straps
NCMEC Number: 1038084
Details of Disappearance
Carla was last seen by her family when she left their residence across from Kalaloch Lodge in Kalaloch, Washington in order to go and babysit for a woman on July 1st 1981. The house she would be babysitting at was ten miles away in Clearwater, Washington.
She left with the child’s mother and was driven to her trailer home by a man named Kenneth Barry in his pickup truck. Carla was to babysit the woman’s infant child from that day through the Fourth of July weekend. The woman left the home for the night.On July 2nd 1981, the child’s mother returned to the trailer to find Carla gone. Her baby was sleeping on the couch and had evidently not been cared for in some time.
She also found signs of a struggle in the home. The living room area of the home was littered with the broken pieces of a liquor bottle and several large blood stains were on the floor. The shards were said to be from a Galliano bottle. There was not enough blood to indicate the person was injured fatally.
Extensive searches of both Kalaloch and Clearwater turned up no evidence of Carla’s whereabouts. Many of the people in the area at the time were celebrating the upcoming Independence Day and were either not sober or too distracted to remember anything in particular from the day she went missing.
Police suspect Carla was forcibly abducted from the home during the night of her disappearance at some point. Kenneth Barry was questioned about her disappearance and denied being involved in the case. Barry was a transient logger in 1981. He provided an alibi for the time she went missing but it was never corroborated with evidence. His pickup truck was searched for evidence related to the case. Glass shards from a Galliano bottle and blood matching Carla’s blood type was found inside of his vehicle.
Despite the evidence discovered, Barry was not charged with any crime in relation to Carla’s disappearance. He maintained his innocence until the case until he died in 1987. He apparently passed out while at a logging site in Forks after a car accident that left him seemingly unharmed. His cause of death was never officially determined. Police believe he was responsible for Carla’s abduction and murder.
In April of 2007, the investigation into Carla’s 1981 disappearance was reopened. In 2008, police searched a wooded area west of Port Angeles for Carla’s body but the search turned up nothing related to the investigation. They still hope to recover more evidence to prove Barry was involved in her presumed death.
One of Carla’s brothers has since passed away. The rest of her family continues to hope she will be located at some point in the future. Her disappearance remains unsolved and foul play is suspected.
Investigating Agency
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:
Jefferson County Sheriffs Office 360-385-3831
Source Information
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children