Account
Dec 12, 2008
Jun 10, 2024
Barbara
Hunt
60
20
60 inches
80 lbs
100 lbs
White / Caucasian
Female
In the small town of Marion, Virginia, a young woman’s disappearance has left a family and a community searching for answers for decades. Barbara Jean Pauley Hunt, a 20-year-old female, was last seen in Smyth County, Virginia, on January 17, 1985. On that day, her sister saw her walking down Main Street, visibly upset and crying. Barbara was distressed because she was scheduled to report to jail and felt pressured by police to become an informant against her friends, something she was unwilling to do. This encounter would be one of the last confirmed sightings of the young mother, who left behind a young child. The day she vanished remains etched in the memory of her loved ones, a day that began with turmoil and ended in an enduring mystery. Later on the day she was last seen by her sister, Barbara went to the Club Cafe, a bar located on Main Street in Marion. Reports from that time suggest she appeared to be under the influence of drugs. While at the bar, she left with four other women in a borrowed car. A couple of hours later, the women returned to the bar, but Barbara was not with them. That evening, her concerned parents began to search for her, but their efforts were in vain. Barbara Jean Pauley Hunt has not been seen or heard from since. The circumstances surrounding her departure from the bar and the fact that she was never seen again have led investigators to suspect foul play. The investigation into Barbara's disappearance has spanned years and has included a significant development that brought a glimmer of hope for resolution, only to be followed by more uncertainty. In 1995, a decade after she went missing, her boyfriend at the time, Roger Dale Dunford, was arrested and charged with her murder. Authorities believed he may have shot her to death. Despite the arrest and the presentation of new evidence to a special grand jury, the subsequent trial ended without a resolution. The jury was unable to reach a verdict, and the case against Dunford could not be successfully prosecuted. The lack of a body presented a significant challenge for the prosecution. The case remains an active investigation, a cold case that continues to haunt Smyth County. The overview of this case is one of a troubled young woman who disappeared under suspicious circumstances, a prime suspect who was tried but not convicted, and a family left to wonder what happened to Barbara on that cold January day in 1985.
Jan 17, 1985
Marion
Virginia
Smyth County
6796
Smyth County Sheriff's Office
Marion
Virginia
Smyth County
24354
819 Matson Drive, Virginia
2767824056
County
Law Enforcement
SA97JC
Smyth County Sheriff's Office
4099
Brown
Unknown
Unknown
06/19/2026
