Bubbaworld

In view of the fact that no one from former Sheriff Earp’s office saw fit to even show up until four days after her vehicle was found in a pond there’s not a lot on which to assume that Earp’s office conducted any investigation other than having the OSBI lab perform some tests on the car after Earp’s office finally got around to recovering the vehicle.

When those test results indicated the car contained fluids from Willard and those fluids were consistent with a dead body, Earp still refused to consider and treat Willard’s disappearance as a homicide and this in spite of the fact that a probate court ruled that Williard was in fact missing and presumed dead.

In a report dated 4/6/01 and titled, “Delaware County: Judge finds petition insufficient” the Tulsa World reported that at least in the near term a grand jury investigation was not to be.

According to that Tulsa World report:

Delaware County District Judge Robert Haney denied a woman’s bid to impanel a grand jury Thursday when she fell 42 signatures short on her petition drive to launch an investigation into the 1996 disappearance of her sister.

“I know my sister is dead. I think anyone in my position would do everything within their power to find out what happened to their family member. We hoped that the grand jury could get to the truth about my sister’s disappearance so we could give her a proper burial. Is that too much to ask?

On 7/17/01 the Tulsa World published a follow up report, titled “Woman’s vehicle torn apart”. This report indicated that the car belong to the missing woman, Barbara Johnson-Willard, had been “dismantled”. The report also indicated that the vehicle has been at a family member’s residence since 1998 after the Sheriff’s Office released the car to the family.

Quoting from that report:

Deputy Wes Stephenson said the vehicle’s headliner had been ripped down; the door panels had been taken off; the car’s console had been taken apart and moved; and the trunk had been opened.

“As far as I can tell, it looks like it’s been searched — like someone was looking for something,” Stephenson said. “They gained access through a hole cut in the door by the OSBI when they were looking for prints.”

The report indicated that Rena Derryberry, sister of the missing woman, last saw her sister’s car in March and that it was intact at that time, which just happens to be the same time she was circulating a petition calling for a grand jury investigation into the case.

This development in the “Case of the Missing Case” gives one cause to believe that the person or persons responsible for the disappearance of Barbara Johnson-Willard is or are still in the area and very concerned about having left behind evidence which might link them to her disappearance.

On 10/05/01, the Tulsa World published a report titled, “2nd blaze in week claims home”, in which it was revealed that the home of Rena Derryberry, the sister of Barbara Johnson-Willard, had been destroyed by fire. The fire was the second to stike the home in a matter of days.

Quoting from the referenced report:

Derryberry said she hadn’t removed anything from the house after the first fire because the house seemed to be secure. Insurance adjusters had come to the residence on Monday and said the damage was repairable, she said.

“I can’t believe this has happened,” Derryberry said. “We were sleeping when the neighbor knocked on the door and said the house was on fire. Everything was in the house. Now it’s all gone.

n June of 2002, Delaware County Sheriff Lenden Woodruff, officially declared Barbara Johnson-Willard a homicide victim.

This declaration came six years after her disappearance and almost one and a half years after Woodruff succeeded Jim Earp as Sheriff of Delaware County.

Woodruff indicated his decision to treat the case as a homicide was the result of the 1998 OSBI report and investigations conducted by his department. Woodruff indicated that the Willard “case file” from prior to his assuming office was still missing and blamed the previous administration for the difficulties in working the case.

In July of 2003, a hiker discovered what was suspected to be a human bone in Delaware County. The hiker took the bone to the Sheriff’s Office. The Sheriff’s Office conducted a search of the area where the bone was found and located a second bone. The bones were turned over to the State Medical Examiner’s Office in Tulsa.

The Medical Examiner’s Office determined that the bones are from a human and female. The bones were recovered from the Lake Eucha area between Jay and Colcord, Oklahoma and are to undergo examination to determine their age owing to concerns they may be from a “burial ground”.

During the search for additional bones, a “cadaver dog” was brought in to assist and according to media reports the dog “hit” on the area of a collapsed cave which was filled with huge rocks. At last report the Sheriff’s Office was attempting to determine how to remove the rocks to learn if the remains on which the dog “hit” were human or animal.

As of the time of this writing, late November, 2003, no additional information has become available.

Whether former Delaware County Sheriff Jim Earp’s conduct in this case is the result of gross incompetence or something more sinister is a question begging to be answered. About the only hope for an answer is by impaneling a grand jury to investigate not only Willard’s disappearance but also Earp’s actions or lack thereof in this Case of the Missing Case.

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