Barbara Kettell Rushton

Barbara Rushton left her home on Old Forest Road in Vestavia Hills on August 29, 1984, to play cards with friends. Her husband watched her drive away in her white 1980 Volkswagen Rabbit, and a short while later her friends called to say she hadn't arrived. Her husband called police, and a search was launched for her and her car. Neither has ever been found. Authorities interviewed family, friends, and co-workers and dug deep into her life. She had resigned her job. Co-workers told investigators they had seen her and her husband arguing the day before she disappeared. He daughter told investigators that her mother wasn't behaving normally before she left for her card game - she had a blank stare and was upset and crying. Over the next days and weeks, authorities did ground and aerial searches. Authorities flagged Barbara Rushton's Social Security number, but it has never again been used, nor have any of her credit cards. About $4,000 in her bank account also went untouched. Because she was a type-one diabetic who didn't have her insulin when she left home, some think she might thought she might have wandered away in a diabetic amnesia. She was eventually declared dead.

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