Hell and Gone Murder Line: Barbara Bryan

lived nearby in Manila, Arkansas. He told police he had been en route to his job at the Brown Shoe factory in Osceola when he turned south on the highway and saw the body lying in the edge of a ditch. He went to a nearby business, the Reese Wholesale Furniture Outlet, in contacted the Arkansas State Police in Jonesboro, who then called the Mississippi County Sheriff's office because the body was

in their jurisdiction. Officer Richard Nash from the Mississippi County Sheriff's Department arrived at the scene at six fifty six am.

twenty feet away. So, once again in rural Arkansas, we have a woman whose body was found in a ditch near a highway and her car was found several miles down the road. And just like in Amanda Tussing's case, which we discussed last week, there were suspicions that a police officer may have been involved, and Barbara's murder is also still unsolved. I'm Catherine Townsend. Over the past five years of making my true crime podcast Helen Gone, I have learned that there is no such thing as a

small town where murder never happens. I have received hundreds of messages from people all around the country asking for help with an unsolved murder that's affected them, their families and their communities. If you have a case you'd like me and my team to look into, you can reach out to us at our Helen Gone Murder Line at six seven eight seven four four six one four five. That's six seven eight seven four four six one four

or five. This is Helen Gone Murder Line. Police had responded to a murder scene along the shoulder of the road. From there things happened fast. The County corner was contacted at seven fifteen am. Arrangements were made to move Barber's body so that it could be tested. At seven twenty one am, Sergeant J. C. Brewer arrived on the scene. He noted the position of Barber's body. It was facing the west side of the road shoulder, her feet were

facing the highway. She had what appeared to be a large shotgun wound to the chest and part of her left hand had been shot off. They found casings and shotgun shells scattered around.

black center mounting with eight surrounding clear settings. The interesting thing about the ring was that it appeared to investigators that had been cut into and peeled open. From the way they describe it, it's not totally clear, but it seems like someone used a tool or something to try and remove the ring from Barbara's finger, and.

Investigators figured out Barbara had been shot at least twice, possibly with a twelve or sixteen gage shotgun, the type of shotguns that are used for hunting. Both of these gun sizes, by the way, are used for hunting deer and for hunting other types of game. The twelve gage is slightly larger, but both of these weapons packed serious firepower. Barbara was shot at least twice at very close range. From the position that she was in, it seemed as though she was shot in the chest from behind on

the left side. This severely damaged her lungs and would have been fatal. Then she was shot again. From the description of the autopsy report of the powder burns on Barber's hands and the fact that part of her left hand was missing, it seems as though she may have had her hand near her neck when she was shot. The state medical examiner, Dan Cook did find more wounds on Barber's head, but he said that they were most likely the result of the shotgun pellets rather than direct shots.

So when people go hunting deer or other animals, they often do it with buckshot. That's literally what the ammunition is named for. The male deer, the buck. There are several large pellets that are packed into a shotgun shell. Now, according to Field and Stream, buckshot is ideal for quote close ranges inside fifty yards. Buckshot is lethal on thin skin targets from bobcats to coyotes, to leopards to people

end quote. When you use a shotgun and buckshot, it comes out in a burst rather than a single shot. Forensic testing determined that the bullets had entered Barbara's left shoulder at a forty five degree angle, so it would be reasonable for police to consider the possibility Barbara knew her killer she was standing there talking to them, then she might have turned around to walk away before her killer shot her. Remember, she had her purse under her

right arm. Police found a chalky white substance on the front of Barber's dress, just below her breast. They never really explained what that was. Now this is just a guest since I'm not a gun expert. I do know they use buffering powder inside shotgun shells made of polyethylene,

so that might have been what it was. It could have been something totally different, like a deodorant stain, for example, So I can't say for sure, but a buffer powder is more likely in my opinion, because the medical report did point out one of Barbara's wounds had powder burn. What this means is that Barbara's killer shot her at very close range. The autopsy also mentioned Barbara was not

wearing underwear. Now, this could have been a fashion choice, but we also have to consider the possibility that it might have been removed, possibly by the killer, maybe in an attempt to camouflage DNA, if the killer had any type of sexual encounter with her, either consensual or not before her murder. There were two shots fired, so it seems as though either Barbara's killer shot her in the back and then turned her over and shot her, or shot her and then fired the fatal shot as she

tried to run away. Either way, this was an execution and it was brutal and judging by the way that her killer tried to wrench the ring from her finger, this was very personal. Barbara Brian's murder happened in the same general area as the murder of Amanda Toussing, the case that we discussed in a previous episode. As we mentioned, Amanda Tussing was making a forty mile drive from her fiance, Matt Irvin's home in Jonesboro to her parents house in Dell, Arkansas.

It was raining hard that night and Amanda never made it home. Her car was found part just off Highway eighteen near Monette. Her body was found days later in a ditch near Lake City. Like Barbara's, Amanda's murder is still unsolved, and even though the causes of death are different, Amanda may have been strangled and there were no gunshots involved, while Barbara was very obviously fatally shot, there are some similarities.

Both women were petite, both of their bodies were recovered my away from their cars, and both bodies were found in locations that made investigators believe the killer had to have a lot of local knowledge. A lot of people in this neck of the woods have connected Barbara and Amanda's cases over the years.

of other kids in that region. She had a brother named Gary, and again, very much like an Amanda Tussing's case, when police found Barbara's purse, it had her car keys and all of her belongings inside it. Barbara's nineteen seventy four brown Chevy Nova was parked five miles from where her body was found.

the car to the sheriff's department. Investigators wanted to check out the vehicle's condition. They were thinking, maybe the car broke down, Maybe Barbara encountered a stranger, maybe she stopped to pick someone up and he pulled a gun on her, or maybe she had someone with her in the car. The car broke down, something went wrong and they got into an argument. They had to consider all different types

of scenarios. They saw that the gas gauge showed that the car was empty, but that was kind of a red herring because when police started the car up, it ran fine. Later they figured out the gas gauge itself was broken, but the car had plenty of gas in it. In the police report noted the vehicle exterior had do on it, so they weren't able to lift Layton prints. The vehicle was impounded to the Sheriff's department for further processing.

But then I can't find anything more in this report about what happened to the car, whether they did take fingerprints. They got into her bag, they u zipped the carrier and found Barbara's stuff inside. They found a white pair of pants and maroon blouse, her makeup, her curling iron, all of the stuff that she would need to get ready, as well as two small plaster statues and an ankle bracelet. They also found photographs of two white men. So police

got more information from Barbara's girlfriend, Joyce. She looked at the photos in Barbara's bag and said that one of them was Jerry Shaw. She said that Jerry Shaw and Barbara had been dating for several months and that things were going well. They found a greeting card inside and it was also written by Jerry Shaw. But then Joyce told them something shocking. Joyce said that for the past several years, Barbara had been dating someone else, a police

officer named Johnny Williams. Johnny Williams lived in Black Oak, which was a small town nearby by the way. This was very close to the area where Amanda Tussing's body was found. Johnny was born in nineteen forty six, so by two thousand, when Amanda Tussing was murdered, Johnny would have been fifty four years old. He served in the Navy in Vietnam and then after that was a police officer in Black Oak, and he also worked in the neighbouring county at the Craighead County Sheriff's office. At one

point he was an Arkansas State trooper. We mentioned that he became a suspect in Amanda Tussing's death because of his alleged behavior. Apparently he had a habit of following single women around in his police cruiser. But in nineteen eighty, Johnny Williams would have been thirty four and now we find out that he was dating Barbara Bryan. Joyce told police that Johnny was not happy about the fact Barbara.

the time Amanda disappeared. A lot of people at that time talked about the possibility that Amanda Tussing might have pulled over for a real police officer, and that perhaps a real police officer had.

they did, whether they ever questioned him. There was just nothing written in the media about it at all. Since Amanda's case is still open, police will not release the case file. But I hoped if we could get some information on Barber's case, maybe we could figure out whether Johnny Williams was a viable suspect in her murder or possibly in others. We did a Foyer request and we were able to get a copy of the incident report

on Barbara's death. We got that from Mississippi County, Arkansas, and it turns out there was a lot more detail on record about Barbara Brin's death enough to make me really question why Johnny Williams was never arrested. I'll get back to that in a minute. Let's go back to the crime scene. Police were trying to figure out what Barbara was doing out there on that stretch of highway. They were looking for witnesses. Now, they knew from Barbara's

friend Joyce, that Johnny Williams had been dating Barbara. They wanted to find out about his movements on December eleventh and December twelfth, nineteen eighty and they pretty quickly found a lead. I have actually never seen this happen before in a case that I can remember.

lines and all the potential complications that that entails. Police were trying to piece together where everyone was on the night of December eleventh. Apparently, on that night, Clyde Eldridge was sleeping in the tyronsa police station. He told investigators he got to the police station at twelve fifteen am.

Island was closed. Johnny Williams stated to him, if you know who to contact, you can go hunting there.

he heard someone leaving the police station. He explained that when the front door is unlocked, it wakes him up. He stated he usually wakes up when someone opens the door and then gets up to see what they want. After he woke up, he walked to the front of the police department and looked outside. He noticed Johnny Williams was gone. Johnny Williams jeep Eagle was not parked in front.

Clyde said he wasn't exactly sure of the time. He went back to sleep, and the next thing he remembered was at four forty five am, when the police chief, Floyd White, came into the police department and woke him up. This is almost like a movie about smalltown police, complete with people admitting to sleeping on their jobs at night

and people crashing in the police station. Evidently police were very suspicious of Johnny Williams, because on the very next day, in December thirteenth of nineteen eighty, Johnny Williams was interrogated. Investigators gave him a lie detector test. The investigator's name was George Stewart. They administered the polygraph at the Mississippi County Sheriff's Department. The lie detector examiner said Johnny Williams had been deceptive, which means investigators concluded that Johnny Williams

lied during that test. Again, I think we have to be very careful about putting too much faith into light detectors.

had seen Johnny Williams that night. They found a man named James Miles, a police officer in Laponto. He said he saw Johnny at around two thirty am on the morning of December twelfth. He said Johnny was traveled north on Highway one forty one thirty five. He saw Johnny driving his Jeep Eagle. He recognized Johnny and he recognized the car. He said he did not see him again during his shift, which ended at three am. Investigators pulled the desk log from the Tyronza Police Department from the

night of December twelfth, nineteen eighty. They searched Johnny Williams Jeep Eagle in the back seat on the left armrest. There was a small piece of reddish orange string entangled in the carpeting. This was entered into evidence and cataloged. Investigators also found a pair of green hip boots and

a pair of camouflage coveralls on the back floorboard. There was a rust colored vest in the back of the car too that had several Western number six shotgun shells inside it, as well as a plastic container of rifle cartridges. They had found Johnny Williams hunting gear immediately after Barbara Bryne's body was found. According to the incident report, police identified the man she had been dating, a police officer

named Johnny Williams, as a suspect. He admitted that he had been in the Tyronza, Arkansas area, in the early morning hours of December twelfth. He said that the chief of Police, Floyd White, could verify this. The problem with that was Chief White told police that he had seen Johnny between the hours of four thirty and five am, but not before that. Floyd White said that he came back to the police station at around seven am that morning. He said by that time Johnny was gone, but his

jeep was still parked in the lot. Then Floyd said he left again and came back a second time at eight thirty am. He said by that time, both Johnny and his vehicle were gone. Floyd said that Johnny did carry a gun, a separate gun, presumably from a service revolver, in a brown carrying case. Johnny admitted that was his

deer rifle. Police interviewed Johnny. They asked him about Barbara's death, and he openly admitted he knew that because he had dated Barbara, that police considered him a suspect in the case, but Johnny completely denied having anything to do with her death.

in from work. He said he wanted to talk about their relationship, but he said he couldn't find Barbara, so he kept looking for her throughout the night, but his story was that he never connected with Barbara. This seems to conflict with him telling officers that he found out about the date with Jerry on Thursday night. I'm not exactly sure what the story there is if he's mixing up Thursday night and Friday night, but it doesn't seem to make any sense. However, he does not get called

on it. Police were very suspicious of Johnny.

with this other woman. This other woman's name was Gay Couch, and eventually Gay Couch became Gay Williams.

Johnny Williams got cancer. He was sick for several years, fought back, but then a few months later he developed heart problems. He died in twenty ten. He was sixty three years old. In George Jared's book Whispers in the Willows, George mentions that he heard that on his deathbed, Johnny was questioned again about Amanda Tussing's murder, but denied having anything to do with it. After he left law enforcement,

Johnny founded a company called Williams Trucking Company. And by the way, there are rumors Johnny was fired from law enforcement, but I can't find any official record of that. As we know from this podcast, there are a lot of instances where departments choose to quietly allow an officer to leave on his own terms so they can avoid the

bad publicity. But to me, it's terrifying that these members of law enforcement, who have such an enormous amount of power, are out driving around and the public is completely unaware of any of these pretty terrifying suspicions that their fellow officers have about them. Johnny and Gay eventually had children. They were still married when he died. From what I can find in public records, it seems as though Barbara Brian's parents and her brother Gary have all passed away.

So what are we left with because there seem to be a lot of missing pieces in this case file. For example, I never saw any mention of testing those fingerprints from the car. Again, I never found any interviews with Jerry Shaw, the man Barbara was dating. It seems like everyone kind of forgot about Barbara's case, but we haven't. I want to see if we can uncover more information about these police officers who may have thought their secrets

were buried forever. Barbara Bryan, Amanda Tussing, and all the other victims whose bodies were found along random strips of Arkansas roads deserve that. I'm Katherine Townsend. This is Helen Gone Murder Line, Helen Gone Murder Line is a production of School of Humans and iHeart Podcasts. It's written and narrated by me Catherine Townsend and produced by Gabby Watts and Miranda Hawkins. Music contributed by Ben Solee. Special thanks to Amy Tubbs for her research assistance. Noah camer mixed

and scored this episode. Executive producers of Virginia Prescott Brandon Barr, and Elsie Crowley. Listen to Helen Gone ad free by subscribing to the iHeart True Crime Plus channel on Apple Podcasts. You can follow the show on Instagram at Helen Gone Pod. If you have a case you'd let me and my team to look into, you can reach out to us at our Helen Gone Murder Line at six seven eight seven four four six one four five That six seven eight seven four four six one four five