Account
Mar 07, 2009
Feb 10, 2023
Amber
Barker
36
10
59 inches
70 lbs
White / Caucasian
Female
In the early evening of December 18, 1997, 10-year-old Amber Renee Barker was at a friend's house in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. After a phone call with her mother who told her it was time to come home, Amber left her friend's residence. She was last seen at approximately 6:00 p.m. riding her blue ten-speed bicycle in the 3000 block of Northwest 45th Street, heading towards her own home in the 3100 block of Northwest 39th Street. Amber, a fourth-grade student at James Monroe Elementary School, never completed the short journey home and has not been seen or heard from since. At the time of her disappearance, she was described as a White female, 4'11" to 5'0" tall and weighing between 70 and 80 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing a beige long-sleeved shirt with a brown collar, light-colored jeans, and "No Excuses" sneakers, with her hair partially in a white cotton elastic ponytail holder. The day after Amber vanished, her bicycle was found abandoned in Denniston Park, about a mile from her home, near Northwest 27th Street and Drexel Boulevard. The discovery of her belongings continued on December 20th, when her sweater, shoes, one sock, and a ring were found scattered along Drexel Boulevard and Northwest 12th Street. One of her shoes was located a block away from the other. Investigators reported that evidence including blood, hair, and fibers were found near her possessions. A small spot of blood was on her shoe, but it was too minuscule for a DNA comparison. However, a partial DNA profile of an unknown male was developed from evidence found on her sweater, which also contained blue fibers and what was believed to be vomit mixed with possible ejaculate. Suspicion in the case quickly fell upon Daniel John Smith, the common-law husband of one of Amber's sisters. Smith had a prior conviction for attempted kidnapping in 1995. Just a month before Amber’s disappearance, police had been called to another of Amber's sisters' homes after she alleged that Smith had hit her for refusing his sexual advances. On the evening Amber went missing, Smith was reportedly at the Barker residence and left immediately after Amber called her mother to say she was on her way home, heading in the same direction from which Amber was traveling. Though police wanted to question him further about Amber's disappearance, on December 22, 1997, just four days after she was last seen, Smith was found to have died by suicide, hanging from a tree in Ray Trent Park in Del City. While he was never officially named a suspect, both law enforcement and Amber’s family believe he had knowledge of what happened to her. The case remains an unsolved and heart-wrenching mystery, compounded by the later deaths of one of Amber's sisters in 2013 and her mother in 2014. Foul play is strongly suspected in her disappearance.
Dec 18, 1997
Oklahoma City
Oklahoma
Oklahoma County
73119
30353
Oklahoma City Police Department
Oklahoma City
Oklahoma
Oklahoma County
73102
Mike Burke
Cold Case Detective
701 Colcord Drive, Oklahoma
4052971129
Local
Law Enforcement
97122598
Oklahoma City Police Department
Brown
Brown
Brown
06/21/2026
