Gloria Jean Barnes, 35, was found dead on July 13, 1997, at the Seven Gables truck stop in Springfield, Missouri. Four truck drivers discovered her body wrapped in blue furniture blankets on the asphalt behind the truck stop; an autopsy showed blunt-force trauma to the head with a fractured skull and stab wounds to the chest and leg. She was wearing a white T-shirt that said Spring Break and black shorts. The discovery came one day before her 36th birthday.

Barnes had last been seen in Joiner, Arkansas, around midnight on July 10. In the early hours of July 11 she used a payphone at a Joiner convenience store to tell her brother someone was trying to get her; the same store was burglarized that night. An unconfirmed sighting placed a woman believed to be Barnes walking along Interstate 55 about a mile from Joiner. Her body was later found nearly 300 miles from where she was last seen in a city with which she had no known connections.

Investigators followed leads including anonymous tips, intercepted CB radio traffic from someone claiming responsibility, and a possible gray Peterbilt semi described with Graceland imagery and names that may read Memphis Consolidation or Trailer Transit. No arrests have been made and the case remains unsolved. If anyone knew Gloria, saw her in July 1997, or has information about the truck described, please come forward.