Mary Jane Barker, born 28 February 1953 disappeared from a neighbor's yard in Bellmawr, New Jersey 3 days before her birthday on 25 February 1957. She disappeared in the company of a 4 month old Cocker Spaniel puppy. She was last seen going to meet with her friend and neighbor, 6-year-old Maria Freitta, the owner of the dog. Her disappearance occurred around 10:30 a.m. on a Monday. By 1:30 PM the police were notified and she was presumed kidnapped. A clue that lent weight to this theory was found along a nearby stream bank which seemed to have the footprints of a man, child, and dog. The police stated that the small footprints on the mud matched the size of Barker's shoes.
On the first night after her disappearance more than 200 volunteers did a foot-by-foot search. Eventually well over a thousand people were involved. Her fourth birthday came and went with no sign of her.
At some point during the investigation the police received a phone call with a ransom demand from an unidentified person requesting 500$ for the safe return of the girl. This avenue was investigated but it could not be ruled out that the phone call was made as a prank, or by someone trying to get rich quick during the proceedings.
On the sixth day of her disappearance Mary Jane's body was found. And here is where it gets weird. Apparently, Maria Freitta, the owner of the dog and the girl's friend, went with her mother to a vacant, newly built ranch house next door to her home. This home was under construction at the time and the property was owned by her aunt and uncle. At some point Maria managed to open a 3 by 5 foot bedroom closet's door, when her missing dog bounded out of the closet and leaped happily at her. Also in the closet was Mary Jane, dead, in a seated position, the hood of her blue coat partially covering her blonde hair. She was found in the same clothes she had on when she disappeared.
The coroner examined the body and it was determined that Mary Jane had died of starvation. The coroner also determined that there was no indication of foul play, no signs of sexual assault or trauma of any kind. He assumed the child had gotten locked in the closet and subsequently died of starvation. While that's a little odd in and of itself it gets even weirder.
The property where she was found on had been searched not once, not twice, but three times during the days that Mary Jane was missing. Furthermore, there was no animal or human excrement found in the closet despite the dog not being housebroken.
And while the dog was later euthanized(Poor Maria, lol, lost her friend and dog) to examine it's stomach's contents to the best of my knowledge the results of that examination have never been made public. So wtf?
If Mary Jane Barker was placed inside the closet after her death, then why? If she was in fact kidnapped then why were there no signs of trauma on her body? And why, if you're going to kill a person would you starve them? Was it all a freak accident.
We may never find out the truth. What do you think?
Join me next time, on Mystery Files, with Sophie.
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Also I don't think you can starve to death in 6 days. Actually I know you can't I've went longer without eating. Dehydration maybe. It just sounds like the coroner was lazy.
Originally posted by Sophie
Fine, but how'd she get in the closet? And if she was there for the whole time, how did the search party miss her three times in a row?
their just regular village folks, not professional searchers. they prolly cleared the rooms, not the closets.
Originally posted by Sophie
Fine, but how'd she get in the closet? And if she was there for the whole time, how did the search party miss her three times in a row?
thats the biggest issue i see. they say two separate individuals searched the house yes the girl never made an attempt to call out. i dont buy that for one second. not only would the dog go ape-shit but the girl would be desperate for help after being starved and dehydrated.
Also I don't think you can starve to death in 6 days. Actually I know you can't I've went longer without eating. Dehydration maybe. It just sounds like the coroner was lazy.
Originally posted by benny vader
or it could be exposure if its cold.
im more inclined to think the ME was a fucking retard and didnt do an autopsy that would have passed muster by a real ME.
same with the 'vet' who killed the dog. you dont need to kill an animal to examine its stomach contents, ffs. you pump its stomach. altho im not sure they had that technology back then...but even if they didnt...feed the fucking thing an emetic (vomitty stuffs) to make it puke its guts out....PLUS it can be monitored to see what it shits out. PLUS, PLUS, even if the retardo-vet was too lazy to do any of that he could have just done surgery. vets do it all the time to dogs that eat stupid ass shit that they cant pass thru their digestive system.
Originally posted by infinityshock
im more inclined to think the ME was a fucking retard and didnt do an autopsy that would have passed muster by a real ME.
same with the 'vet' who killed the dog. you dont need to kill an animal to examine its stomach contents, ffs. you pump its stomach. altho im not sure they had that technology back then…but even if they didnt…feed the fucking thing an emetic (vomitty stuffs) to make it puke its guts out….PLUS it can be monitored to see what it shits out. PLUS, PLUS, even if the retardo-vet was too lazy to do any of that he could have just done surgery. vets do it all the time to dogs that eat stupid ass shit that they cant pass thru their digestive system.
come to think of it ...
i think some high 90s or maybe as high as 99% of all the ''mysterious'' cases were all due to sheer incompetence, dereliction, retardation or all of them on the part of the people involved in finding out the truth.
