When James Wolner travelled to Williston, North Dakota, all he knew about the disappearance of Barbara Louise Cotton was what he could read on the North Dakota Attorney General’s website. Once in Williston though, the threads began to slowly unravel and before it was all said and done, there were not five episodes (as he had planned) of A Better Search For Barbara, but twenty-one.
According to the Attorney general website (in 2020, before James started looking into the story) Barbara was last seen on April, 11, 1981 after walking home from a restaurant after eating dinner with her mother and her boyfriend.
[2024 UPDATE: Since Dakota Spotlight has covered this case, the attorney general’s website has amended the listing. Now it simply states the following: “During the evening of April 11, 1981, 15 year old Barbara Louise Cotton disappeared in Williston, North Dakota.”]
Twenty episodes later there are at least three persons of interest. James travelled to Montana and California in search of answers to what happened to Barb.
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