Barbara Joe Kelley, 17, of Fortuna, California, was last seen on June 17, 1950, when she went out with her 28-year-old boyfriend, Henry Red Baird. The next morning Baird’s body was found on a beach at Table Bluff, south of Eureka; he had been shot in the back of the head and was found naked except for shoes and socks. His clothes were folded nearby, and Barbara’s clothing was hidden beneath them, but Barbara herself was missing — only her shoes and stockings were unaccounted for.

Barbara worked as a waitress at the Sweet Shop in Fortuna and was noted for a religious background. In 1963 a man named Gayle Patrick Irish confessed to killing both Barbara and Baird and said he had abducted Barbara after shooting Baird, but no charges followed because investigators could not locate Barbara’s remains or otherwise corroborate the confession. Her fate remains unresolved and the disappearance is an open cold case.

Did anyone in the area know Barbara, her routines, or the couple’s movements on June 17, 1950?