The Missing -- A Weekly Exposé of Lost Souls -- Issue #14

May 16, 2008

In this week's edition of "The Missing," we revisit the mysterious disappearance of Ahren Benjamin Barnard, a 35-year-old resident of Boise, Idaho, who went missing in December 2004.

"I live with this every single day," Ahren's mother, Vicki Barnard, said in a telephone interview with Investigation Discovery. "It's like this lead coat that you wear, this heavy thing that you can't put aside, unless you are a person willing to walk away from your loved one. Life goes on for everyone else and you can't fault them for that. It's good that people want to lead their life, but it is so hard to live in this gray area. Your life moves on but you still have one foot stuck in the gray."

Ahren was last seen around 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, December 4, 2004. According to Vicki, she spoke with her son on the telephone the night before he disappeared, and he was in a good mood. He was looking forward to the New Year and told her he was thinking about buying a limousine and obtaining a chauffeur license.

"We had a good conversation," Vicki remembered. "We started to make plans for Christmas and he said he was going to call me the next day."

When Ahren failed to call his mother the following day, she was concerned but told herself he probably got busy and forgot to call. However, with each passing day her concern turned to worry, and her stomach was soon in knots.

"It was highly unusual for him not to call me or to return my calls," Vicki said. "Ahren always carried his cell phone wherever he went. He could not live without it. He had even purchased a second identical phone, which he always kept plugged in and charging so that whenever he needed to he could swap the batteries. You have to understand-we have a very close bond. He's my only child; I raised him myself since he was a toddler, so when I didn't hear from him I knew something was wrong."

Vicki contacted all of Ahren's friends, but none of them had heard from him since the previous week. She then contacted his ex-girlfriend, the mother of his young child, but she had not heard from him, either. Vicki lived several hours away in another state, so she called the Boise Police Department and asked them to check on her son. Officers later gained entry into Ahren's house but saw nothing out of the ordinary to suggest foul play.  With few options left, Vicki decided to travel to Boise to investigate the situation herself...

Continue Reading About The Disappearance of Ahren Benjamin Barnard

Ahren's Photo Courtesy Vicki Barnard

Comments

[Linda Armbruster]

Thank you for getting Benji's story out. The more people see his story, the more likely we will find Benj. Someone out there knows what happened to him. Hopefully some one will come forward soon.

[Ra'Vae Edwards]

Thank you so much for posting this article. Just like the thousands of missing persons in this country, the stories are sad. They are heart-breaking, heart-wrenching and tear-jerking. To compound the pain, the family members of the missing are often ignored by law enforcement and media. It is inexcusable and there simply is no explanation for it. I believe strongly in doing whatever we can do to help the families of the missing find closure. They need it. They deserve it. But most of all, their loved ones deserve it. Again, thank you for this story and for the many more to come. Speaking as a journalist, I want you to know that your work is appreciated, admired and overall - respected.

[singingtothewheat]

I am writing about one of the programs I watched last night. In this program the investigator decided that one man was higher on the scale of evil because he made a choice to be addicted to cocaine.
I was absolutely stunned and amazed that someone in that field could ever be so missinformed about the nature of addiction.
In this program, one man was placed lower on the scale because he was a schizophrenic off his meds. It was his mental disorder that led directly to not taking his medication. It is also the addicts mental disorder that causes him to take his medication of choice, cocaine. There is no diffrence, NONE. I have enjoyed this program but was really in shock to hear this sort of false logic from someone who's supposed to be "a pro"

[Niki]

This is a great article and I commend Investigation Discovery for bringing Benji's disappearance to the public fore. Yet the articles also highlight a serious problem with our legal system. How impossible it is to get the police to investigate a missing adult! The assumption is that all missing adults simply walk away from their lives. True. Some do. Yet the higher percentage is that something tragic has happened to them and the laws are not designed to get the police moving on the disappearance right away. Think about it. It's only been in recent years that laws have been passed that involve the police from the first minutes when a child is missing. We now have amber alerts. What is it going to take to change the laws on missing adults? I do not know the actual percentages but I would think that over 90% of missing adults do not simply walk away from their lives, no matter how complicated. This son was always close to his mother. Benji does not have the character to harm his mother in this matter. He would have already contacted her. I never even met Benji. But I am a mother of two sons and I raised them by myself. I know the close bond that exists between mothers and sons. Benji, and so many others, did not just walk away. LAWS MUST BE CHANGED TO HELP PROTECT ADULTS FROM PREDATORS! And the news media must pay attention and keep these missing adults in the public's awareness by articles such as these. Thank you for this article, but we need many more like it, please!
And to the Boise PD. Well, you've managed to mess up this case so far but it may not be too late. Start investigating and NOW!! Every missing adult, in the absence of proof that they did walk away, must be investigated from the beginning with the suspicion that you would bring to a common theft. Find out what happened to Benji! And do it NOW! Niki

[Vicki Barnard]

Thank you, Mr. Lohr, for sharing Ahren's story with your readers. It has been so very difficult to get media attention for this healthy adult male, yet the power of the media may be the key in finding him. So again, thanks.

And thank you for helping to educate the public on the crisis of missing people in America today. The Dept. of Justice refers to this situation as a "mass disaster over time." Today there are over 105,000 reported missing children and adults in our country, and experts estimate that only half of those missing have been reported to law enforcement. Every 37 seconds a child disappears in our country, with adults vanishing at nearly the same astonishing rate. According to law enforcement records, approximately 95% of children are returned safely, but estimates for homicide among missing adults have been stated as high as 85%. Yet, funding for the National Center for Missing Adults was held up in a congressional committee in 2007, never being released, until the organization was forced to shut its doors.

I've written to all of my Idaho and Oregon congressional representatives regarding legislation for handling of missing persons cases. None of them wrote back or returned my calls, including Sen. Gordon Smith who recently lost an adult son and whom I thought would definitely be sympathetic to this cause.

It is time for America to embrace this serious issue and put the money where it is needed most - better and consistent legislation (perhaps at the national level rather than state level), DNA collection requirements for all felons, more law enforcement, more specialized training for law enforcement, clearing houses that include adults as well as children, and non-biased media where all missing are treated with respect. Your contribution, Mr. Lohr, is an excellent one.

THANK YOU!

Vicki Barnard
Mother of Missing Ahren Barnard