Real Life Real Crime | What Happened to Barbara Blunt? Justice & The Fight Against Evil

Summary

Real Life Real Crime | What Happened to Barbara Blunt? Justice & The Fight Against Evil

Podcast: Real Life Real Crime
Host: Woody Overton
Guest: Sheriff Jason Ard
Release Date: May 2, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode marks the anniversary of Barbara Blunt’s disappearance and murder—a haunting unsolved case from Livingston Parish, Louisiana. Host Woody Overton is joined by Sheriff Jason Ard to revisit the investigation, share insider perspectives, and launch a renewed plea for the public’s help. The discussion is candid and passionate, reflecting both men’s personal and professional dedication to closing this cold case. Woody also underscores the power of “crowdsourcing justice,” enlisting listeners (“lifers”) in the fight against evil.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Legacy and Mystery of Barbara Blunt

• Case Overview
  • Barbara Blunt, age 58, disappeared on May 2, 2008. She was found missing from her well-kept home; her car was later discovered abandoned.
  • Woody describes the case as “a ghost”—no usable evidence, no confessions, and a crime scene described as “the cleanest” law enforcement had ever seen.
• Law Enforcement Challenges
  • The investigation faced immediate hurdles: heavy rain caused flooding, which compromised vehicle evidence (35:01).
  • Despite full commitment and resourcefulness from law enforcement, leads have dried up, and the case has remained unsolved for more than a decade.
  • “Everything fought against them from the weather to...evidence. A lot of stuff I can’t even get into.” – Woody Overton (07:24)
• Crowdsourcing for Justice
  • Woody highlights the role of podcast listeners in cold case breakthroughs, describing “crowdsourcing” as a modern law enforcement tool (30:34).
  • “It’s unheard of for law enforcement to reach out to a podcast to help solve a cold case.” – Woody Overton (38:27)
  • Listeners are urged to share tips anonymously, even the smallest detail.

Sheriff Jason Ard’s Uniquely Qualified Leadership

• Sheriff Ard walks listeners through his career—rising from a teenage cadet to Livingston Parish sheriff, touching every facet of law enforcement (15:57–19:53).
• Both men stress that this case isn’t hampered by inexperience or negligence; rather, it’s the kind of “ghost case” that defies standard approaches.
• Ard’s deep connection to the community and the department’s “boots on the ground” mentality is front and center:
  • “I truly love Livingston Parish, the community, and I love what I do. I love being a part of the Sheriff’s Office...” – Sheriff Jason Ard (26:05)

The Human Impact: Why Justice Still Matters

• The pain endured by Blunt’s family is palpable; Woody and Ard repeatedly invite listeners to put themselves in the family’s shoes.
  • “Imagine your mama being gone. Vanished...Think about what this family suffers daily.” – Woody Overton (41:09)
• Ard and his deputies are personally invested, with detectives on first-name terms with the family (45:16).
• The case haunts those who worked it—“This case really bothered us...it was unique...the cleanest crime scene I’ve ever seen.” – Sheriff Jason Ard (32:12–33:00)

The Need for Tips & Public Involvement

• Appeals are made repeatedly for anyone with information—no matter how trivial it seems—to come forward.
• Woody assures anonymity for tipsters and reiterates the importance of even the smallest detail leading to a breakthrough (42:45; 43:23).
  • “No tips too small. A lot of people...think they may know...but we need that information. We’re only as good as the information we receive.” – Sheriff Jason Ard (42:45)
• Listeners are also encouraged to spread the word about the episode and participate in a broader campaign to reach the right people.

Reflecting on Past Successes and Hope for the Future

• Woody references past successes (notably the Courtney Coco case) as evidence that listener involvement can solve even the toughest mysteries (43:23).
• Sheriff Ard vows to exhaust all tools, including this podcast collaboration, to bring Barbara Blunt home and to justice.
  • “I want to go as far out of the box as I have to, utilize whatever tools necessary...This is a new tool to us.” – Sheriff Jason Ard (48:34)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “You can’t rush perfection. You can’t rush something that you only get one shot at when it comes to making the people pay.”
  — Woody Overton (07:45)
• “I don’t have very many cases that haunt me...but this one really bothers me. And sometimes it will keep you up at night.”
  — Sheriff Jason Ard (32:12)
• “It was the cleanest crime scene I’ve ever seen...We had the FBI come in...and things worked against us on this case.”
  — Sheriff Jason Ard (33:00)
• “If you know there’s a killer out there...you could call it in. We’re not going to give you up.”
  — Woody Overton (41:09)
• “No tip is too small, y’all—anything. I don’t care how crazy you think it might sound...Send it to us.”
  — Woody Overton (41:48)
• “Old saying in law enforcement, we’re only as good as the information we receive sometimes, and we need that information no matter how small.”
  — Sheriff Jason Ard (43:14)
• “I’ll either solve it or I’m going to die working on it of old age.”
  — Woody Overton (45:33)
• “Sometimes we get...tunnel vision on these cases...but in this case, there wasn’t a way to get tunnel vision.”
  — Sheriff Jason Ard (48:14)
• “We need you to share it, share it, share it!...The more it gets out there, the more will come through.”
  — Woody Overton (46:38)

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Important Timestamps

• 05:52 — Woody Overton introduces the episode and the “murder-bursary” of Barbara Blunt
• 14:51 — Introduction of Sheriff Jason Ard; discussion of his law enforcement background
• 32:08–35:27 — Initial facts and unique challenges of the Blunt case
• 38:27 — Call for crowdsourcing and the importance of public tips
• 41:09–44:52 — Appeals to empathy, instructions for anonymous tips, and references to previous case successes
• 45:16–46:31 — Impact on Blunt’s family, personal vows to solve the case
• 48:09–49:22 — Sheriff reflects on “tunnel vision” and praises using the podcast as a new investigative tool
• 50:36 — Closing words of gratitude to Sheriff Ard, call for community action

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Action Steps & Tip Line

• Tip Line: 313-RLRC-TIP (confidential, anonymous)
• Every detail matters: Listeners are urged to submit any information or suspicions, regardless of how minor or uncertain they may seem.
• Share the episode and campaign to increase awareness and reach potential new sources.

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Final Thoughts

This episode provides a moving and in-depth look into the unresolved case of Barbara Blunt. The episode is a blend of investigative rigor, raw emotion, and a direct call to action. Both Overton and Ard underline their relentless commitment to seeing justice served and invite listeners to join them in this fight—demonstrating the evolving intersection of law enforcement, new media, and community engagement in solving real-life crimes.

Transcript

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[Sheriff Jason Ard]

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It's alright.

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[Sheriff Jason Ard]

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[Narrator or Voice Actor (possibly for a crime or dramatic segment)]

And the wolf is at your home. You're running over, that's for sure. He already knows all about you. Cut you down. No matter about you. Now you better walk alive.

[Woody Overton]

Warning this episode of Real Life Real Crime. The podcast may contain descriptions of acts of violence or that of a sexual nature and should be for people that are 18 years or older. He my warning people. I do not get the facts of these cases off of the Internet or for some television show. The facts I'm retelling you were presented to me by the victims of the crimes or the perpetrators who committed the crimes against the victims. My descriptions of the crime scenes, what I saw with my own two eyes. If you're going to get offended, please turn this podcast off now. Thank you.

Hello everybody and I'm Woody Overton, your host of Real Life, Real Crime, the podcast and today is a

day.

It's not that I I hate every year that because it's going to be the mark the the murder bursary of Miss Barbara Blount L And if you're not familiar with it, I've done multiple series on her and the she's 58 years old and on May 2nd, 2008 the she went missing pots and pans thrown around the kitchen as if she was spring cleaning. I may have second doubts about that now my personal self. But y' all know back in

the

day the I hadn't been gone from lives in Paris sheriff's office November, December, January, February, April, May. Six months in one day in I had my big office at state police and I had cable TV in there and. And I'm sitting after hours and I'm watching these live broadcasts and. And it's just a monsoon. It's just all this and I just had a bad feeling in my stomach. But selfishly I thought well I hate to say that but it's just truth The I didn't have any that were unsolved when I was with Livingston and I just had a bad feeling. I knew I said that lady's dead. That lady's dead. Somebody murdered her. But I also knew they had the best of the best on it and I know these guys are the best of the best because I came up with them. You know, I mean I. I worked there as a detective, one of the lead detectives until just six months and one day prior in a new sheriff. He's now the sheriff Art he was a chief deputy at the time. I knew they were going to be cracking the whip and doing all kinds of things and doing everything that they could and they did. But everything fought against them from the weather to is evidence a lot of stuff I can't even get into it. But I want said this before and I'll say it again at the time had I been working the case had it and I'm pretty sure would have been assigned to me if I had still been there. The There was nothing I would have done different. You know, cases roll the way they roll and. And investigations unfold the way they unfold. You get on things you can't get off of them and etc. Etc. And. And it's just everyone is different. It's like having kids. Everyone is different, although they're all the same, right? They might have your last name but they all got their own personalities. Investigations are the same way. And this one was a show from the beginning as far as everything going against law enforcement. You know, some cases you get where one person shoots another person and they're on video and they're like, I'm going to kill you. This is my reason. You get everything, this lock, stock and barrel wrapped up, that's on one end of the spectrum. On the other end of the spectrum you have a case like Ms. Barbara Blunt's and which is, is nothing could go right now. Sheriff Ard asked me back in many years ago to run her own real life work on the podcast. Now we've had a lot of success that we haven't certainly haven't gotten justice yet. We've had a lot of success, a lot of tips, a lot of the investigation is no longer cold. But you can't rush perfection. You can't rush something that you only get one shot at when it comes to making the people pay. Let's talk about the flip side of that coin. The people I'm talking about are gonna be the ones who abducted and murdered Ms. Barbara Blunt. I have, I mean I feel very strongly that I know what I know, but just getting it over that line, getting it over line because you know what, the people that did it, they're not going to tell on each other. These aren't some crackheads that you are going to get arrested again and the, you know, be in trouble for this and that and another and they're gonna flip on each other. It's not gonna happen. This is murder and it's a death penalty case. No doubt about it. There is not a DA in the history of the world. Even the states that don't have the death penalty that when this case is solved that isn't gonna give that, that wouldn't want the Death penalty for 58 year old Ms. Barbara, blind, two years older than I am now who sweetest, sweetest lady in the world, you know, had a twin sister that did, you know, raised her family or husband and been killed years earlier in a tragic railroad crossing incident. And but church going, everybody loved her. Just the best, best of the best. But you know what? Devil don't like the best of us. Devil wants to knock that goodness from this earth and he got it. But this bar was in heaven and the I want justice. I want to bring her home, give her a proper Christian burial and I want justice because I believe in fighting against evil. Right now, the evil's been winning all these years. So what I'm do is we're going to replay an episode, I think from way back in the beginning with Sheriff Ard and I, where we talk about the case. But y' all continue calling your tips 313RLRC TIP. And I love and appreciate each and every one of y'. All. Don't forget about getting your tickets, y', all, before they sell out. July 18th, my live show at Southeastern

in

Living Learning center in Walker. It's going to be great. You got the hotel and dental springs, the Hampton Inn. Call in, use the code. Real life, real crime. Get your discount. The big J side porch. It's going to be catering and alcohol sales and all that. Patreon convicts, your first drinks on me.

But the I love y'. All. Thank you.

Prayers, Ms. Barbara Blunt. Prayers for all the victims of crimes that are unsolved. And I love and appreciate each and every one of you. And I'm Woody Overton, you host the Real Life Real Crown, the podcast. Until next time, forever. Don't let me catch you down on murder by you. Peace.

Hello, everybody, and welcome to this episode of Real Life Real Crime, the podcast. As always, I'm your host, Woody Overton. I do have a very special guest, but first and foremost, for all you lifers out there, I want you to understand we will always continue to seek justice for Courtney Coco. We work on our case every day and we're not going to quit until the arrests are made. We haven't forgotten about it and we will continue to work on it. So keep that in mind. Having said that, we're going to be starting a new series and I'm gonna call it what Happened to Barbara Blunt and very special guest in the studio today to to help start the series. And y' all know we're raw and unscripted, and so just bear with me and we'll bounce around a little bit. But my guess is the honorable Sheriff Jason Ard, who is a sheriff of Livingston Parish. Good morning, Sheriff.

[Sheriff Jason Ard]

Good morning. Thank you for having me, Woody.

[Woody Overton]

Hey, thank you for being here. It's a real pleasure, everybody. Before we get into the base facts of the case, I want to take a minute and talk to Sheriff Hard listeners. I know that when most people think of their sheriffs or you think of a politician or, or you think they may have some law enforcement experience, et cetera. Like I've worked with sheriffs when I was with state police and I worked for different offices all over the state, and some sheriffs had some law enforcement experience. Some were retired troopers, whatever. But the I think what makes sheriff Ard unique is. And I know his history is his experience in a law enforcement field and it's not just a politician. So. Sheriff, I know I'm putting you on spot, but if you don't mind, can. Can you tell us about your career? I think the reason I'm doing this is because I know it's unique and I want the people to understand that you're not just a politician.

[Sheriff Jason Ard]

Yeah, I kind of. I do like that because I don't like people to know me as a politician.

[Woody Overton]

Right.

[Sheriff Jason Ard]

You know, unfortunately it comes with a job whenever you run for sheriff.

[Woody Overton]

Right.

[Sheriff Jason Ard]

But I started my career at the Sheriff's office in 1993 and fresh out of high school, didn't really know anything. The only reason I was drawn to law enforcement is because before that I was a cadet, the Dillon Springs Police Department as a teenager. And I just fell in love with it. I wanted to work at the Livingston Parish Detention center. And back then it was the Paris Jail. And I worked there for about three years. And then not long after that I was actually pulled to go on the street. Worked the street as a road deputy for about two years and I was promoted as the supervisor over the road and that was going to be in about 97. And worked in that capacity for another two and a half years and then was moved in the detective division. And I think during that time was probably when you probably came on board, I would think, as a road deputy and. But I left. Worked on the street for a while and then I left, like I said, with the detectives, and then was in detectives for a couple years and was promoted to. I say promoted. I was actually moved into the training division where I actually took on the role of a training officer as well as the full time SWAT commander.

[Woody Overton]

Right. In fact, you. You started this.

[Sheriff Jason Ard]

I did actually back in 97 when I was a patrol supervisor. We started kind of touring around with. Trying to start some kind of SWAT team because we didn't have one. And at the time we had some. I can't recall the officer's name right off my hand. I hate that I can't recall his name. But there was an officer that was killed. He was a narcotic officer in Baton Rouge doing the search. We were starting to have a lot of search warrants in Livingston and we just felt like it was time to make a change. So went to the sheriff at the time and he allowed me to start doing some research and, and sent me to training all over. And we created our SWAT team in 97. So I did that for several years as far and as well as training up until the year of 08. And so that wasn't long after Katrina, which was in 05, we. I was moved to the courthouse and was made of the chief operations.

[Woody Overton]

Right.

[Sheriff Jason Ard]

And then from 08, I'm sorry, that was in 06. It was right after Hurricane Katrina. I was Chief operations in 08 is whenever I was promoted to chief deputy.

[Woody Overton]

Right.

[Sheriff Jason Ard]

And then, of course, in 2011, Sheriff approached me about running for sheriff. He was ready to retire, and in 2012, I was sworn in as sheriff.

[Woody Overton]

Right.

[Sheriff Jason Ard]

Lives in parish. So today as I'm sitting here, I'm in finishing up my 28th year at the sheriff's office. That's amazing what I've done my whole life. And

[Woody Overton]

say this sheriff, I mean, to cover it, basically, y', all, he's done everything from jail guard to working the street, answering the calls, dealing with the public on a daily basis. Everything that y' all have heard me talk about in past episodes, to detect us and in then, you know, supervisor positions and when. When you're out doing the training and everything, that's not. That's all aspects of training for everybody in law enforcement. That's not just firearms training. It's that what. Whatever classes, advanced classes and people are coming through. He had his hands on it every day. Then getting into the chief operations or before chief deputy, you got into the almost what we call the code and tie side of things. Right, right. And supervising that really takes your aspects. So you've covered and touched every single aspect of the part before you were share.

[Sheriff Jason Ard]

Right.

[Woody Overton]

And, and, and it's safe to say you're coming up on the 30 years that you dedicate your whole life to protecting and servicing the citizens of Livingston Parish.

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[Sheriff Jason Ard]

is without a doubt that's what you do. That's just what I do. It's. I mean, I don't know anything else.

[Woody Overton]

I was fixing to say if you took that away from me, who, who would you be? Right? You wouldn't. That's who defines you at this point.

[Sheriff Jason Ard]

And I take it to heart because I truly love my parish. I was born here, raised here, and I truly love Livingston Paris, the community and I love what I do. I love being a part of the Sheriff's office and I tell my deputies all the time I'm just a name and a face. And the reason I tell them that is because I was in their shoes. And I know what it's like to have boots on the ground. I know it's right to have the vehicle pursuits, the foot pursuits and having to, you know, stay up all hours of the night and sometimes go 48 hours trying to get a crime solved just because you want to bring closure to that family.

[Woody Overton]

You know what it's like catch a 30 minute nap on top of your desk.

[Sheriff Jason Ard]

That's right. That's right. You know, we take these, these, these cases serious because I always say this. Our deputies live in Livingston Parish. Their kids go to school in this parish, have friends. We're so intertwined, we're so confused, connected, right. And when we have these type crimes, any type of crime, but you know, homicides, and we take them personally because we feel like it's, it's in our backyard.

[Woody Overton]

Right?

[Sheriff Jason Ard]

And it really is, it's in our backyard.

[Woody Overton]

Right.

And, and I think that's what sets the living parish sheriff's office apart. And I've talked about that in the past. It's a people, the, you know, the family aspect of it is very real. And, and, and, but that shows and yalls level of professionalism, et cetera. But thank you for that. I just want y' all listeners to understand if you could go out and find another sheriff in the state of Louisiana that has head of his toes in every aspect of the job. I want to meet him because this is the only one that I know. But. Okay, Sheriff, the. We're here today about Ms. Barbara Blunt. Now I want to talk to her about a second. I started getting calls on Ms. Barbara Blunt like almost after we dropped her first episode. And I, I knew a little bit about the case from the news media. I had gone on from the department by that time. But she must have been something really special because everybody just reached out to me. They're all different people, right. And, and I don't know that much about her yet. And we're going to get with the family next week hopefully and, and talk with them so we can let them tell about Ms. Barbara and what kind of lady she was, etc. But the, it's so much interest in this case from so many different people. And it got to the point where especially when we started doing the Corn and Coco series that and people were listening to episodes and they really started blowing my eyes like hey, call your sheriff. Yeah. And, and so but this is unique and I didn't know that it was actually a term. It's called crowdsourcing. And until we did the Courtney Coco case, where. And it's not. Not many people have ever taken this. This venue of reaching outside the normal channels other than crime stoppers or whatever. Reaching outside the normal channels and using the public and the listeners to help solve crimes. And. And. But it's. You know, it's a very real thing, and these people are very passionate about it. And we get people from all over the world. Like on the Coco case, you would think it was. It was their sister and. And. And. But the angle being that a lot of people, for whatever reason, will come forward and say things anonymous or say things to us that they won't say to law enforcement. Yeah. And. Which I thought was so crazy, I never would have thought it had been like that. But I must say this. The y', all, Sheriff Ard really has. Has opened up, and I. I'd say red carpet treatment, but he's opened up the doors and let us come in here. I mean, full access to the case file, etc. And I'm tell you this, my preliminary review of the file and meeting with the. The deputies that. Meeting with the deputies that work the case and including Sheriff R. And that Sheriff, during this time, you. You weren't just sitting in the office on this case. Right. But I went through y', all, and there's not one single thing that I would have done different. In fact, that I was amazed by the outside the box thinking that your guys did and you did to. To go outside the box before this even. And so this. Y', all. This is totally different than. Than the Coco case. This is. This is the finest example of law enforcement work that could be done. And. And so when you lifers, when we're dealing with this case, you remember, this is. This is different. We have. We have the access. We have the level of professionalism. There's no. There's no negativity, no shadiness or anything. That this is strictly just a tough deal. Now, when you have cases you can have. There's two ends of the spectrum. There can be a case where literally the officer could be on scene and see somebody kill somebody, a smoking gun, and you have all the evidence, video, everything in the world, just a perfect. And then get confessions. I mean, where everything can go absolutely perfect. But then for everything there is. There's an opposite. And I would say Ms. Barbara Blunt's case is the total opposite. I would call it a ghost case. And I'm gonna let sheriff talk about it. For a minute beyond. We got to have it. Your help. But the. This case is just, for lack of a better word, it's bizarre.

[Sheriff Jason Ard]

It really is.

[Woody Overton]

Cher, can you just tell us a little bit about it?

[Sheriff Jason Ard]

Well, you know, this. I'm proud to say I don't have very many cases that haunt me.

[Woody Overton]

Right.

[Sheriff Jason Ard]

That actually bother me. And sometimes that will keep you up at night.

[Woody Overton]

Sure.

[Sheriff Jason Ard]

And. And I know that a lot of the detectives that worked on this case share the same feeling. I do. That this case really bothered us. I mean, they all do. But this one is just. Was unique. And the fact where you have a lady like Miss Barbara that is very loved by her family, she's a Christian lady. That's all very highly. People think very highly of her. And, you know, she comes up missing, and there is no crime scene. And when I say that, I mean, even we had the FBI come in. It's the cleanest crime scene I've ever seen. And then things went. Worked against us on this case.

[Woody Overton]

It seemed like. It seemed like everything worked again.

[Sheriff Jason Ard]

It was. It was just like. It was just a perfect story. Normally, whenever you work in a case, you go from, you know, you find the first little bit of evidence, and that leads to another piece of evidence, and then. And then you start putting these pieces of puzzles together. And we couldn't even find a piece of a puzzle.

[Woody Overton]

Right.

[Sheriff Jason Ard]

I mean, it was just very puzzling to everybody what is going on here. And the. The really unique thing that happened to us was we find Ms. Barbara Blunt. She's missing. We start looking for her, obviously looking for whatever we could find. We find her vehicle not far from her home, parked on a road. And by the time we get our crime unit out to where the vehicle is, water has came. Now nature's kicked in. Mother nature. And we have water rising. And basically, we had water inside the vehicle before we can get it hooked onto a wrecker.

[Woody Overton]

Right.

[Sheriff Jason Ard]

It was. It was that crazy. And so we did a lot of searches, and we've, you know, DNA samples. I mean, we've done a lot with this case.

[Woody Overton]

Yeah. Back it up for a second. I think it was May 2, 2008.

[Sheriff Jason Ard]

Yes.

[Woody Overton]

Ms. Barbara Blunt lived. And. And I saw all the photographs at home. I haven't been there yet, but I plan to go there, y'. All. The. This house is a nice, nice house. Very well kept. I mean, I was almost like OCD kept. It was so clean. Those things were so neat. And it was during the daytime that she went missing. And just other than a couple Items. And I'll get into. On later episodes is it appeared she was doing some type of spring cleaning, and then she's gone.

[Sheriff Jason Ard]

Right.

[Woody Overton]

And then I. I think y' all responded. And the. You know, a short time later, her. Her vehicle was found on a hunting.

[Sheriff Jason Ard]

It was a hunt. Yes.

[Woody Overton]

But then y'. All. The weather, they said just the bottom fell out. 12 inches of rain in a matter of hours of flash flooding comes through. I mean, and they're trying to work the. Even the vehicle at this time, so it can't catch a break. And. And. But nothing. And now that. And we'll get into. I'll get into the details on later episodes, but the.

The.

The things that they've done to go outside the box to investigate this case are. Are pretty much just simply genius on top of what you do on a regular case. Right. But it's still. It's. And I hate. I don't. I shouldn't feel bad by using a term as it sounds kind of harsh, but it's a ghost. I mean, it's. It literally, it really is.

[Sheriff Jason Ard]

It's like I said. I mean, look, we get a lot of tips on Barb Blunt, and I'd say yearly we get tips. We may get a name or we may get some other information. And. And you've looked at the file. We follow up on that, and we went to extreme.

[Woody Overton]

Right.

[Sheriff Jason Ard]

I'm reaching out, and that's. That's why we're here in the studio today.

[Woody Overton]

Yeah.

[Sheriff Jason Ard]

It's for that purpose.

[Woody Overton]

Right.

And. And so y'. All. Ms. Blusman declared legally dead by now. And. And of course, you know, you can't say one way or another it. If it's a homicide or anything like that, because you. You don't have any evidence. But. But she's gone, the vehicles, you know, moved, et cetera. So. But life is. Somebody out there knows something. And if. If we can. If we can call it a crime, then I always say, and Sheriff, I know you know this, there's no such thing as a perfect crime. At some point, somebody's gonna mess up along the way, right? Correct. But the. It's been, what, 12 years? Going 11. 12 years, something like that. And. And people get older, they mature. You may have heard something back in the day or over the years or whatever and not come forward. And hey, we get that. If you. If you know that there's a killer out there and you don't want to come forward, then I get that. But you could call it in and we'll get into all the details in later episodes, etc. But we need Yalls help. Somebody out there knows what happened to Ms. Barbara Blunt. And the we got to do a life as you can, pull it together. We did it before. We can do it again in this family deserves closure, and that's my only goal.

[Sheriff Jason Ard]

You know, I really want to get this. This family closed.

[Woody Overton]

Right, right.

[Sheriff Jason Ard]

They deserve that. And somebody does. They know what happened.

[Woody Overton]

Absolutely.

[Sheriff Jason Ard]

And we have to do whatever we can do to reach out. And you said it earlier. And. And I can't really put my. Wrap my finger around it either, but, you know, there's people that don't want to talk to law enforcement.

[Woody Overton]

Right.

[Sheriff Jason Ard]

And a part of me understand. Understand that.

[Woody Overton]

Right.

[Sheriff Jason Ard]

And so that's why, you know, I came to you.

[Woody Overton]

Yeah.

[Sheriff Jason Ard]

And, you know, if they'll reach out to you, I mean, let them reach out to you.

[Woody Overton]

Right. Absolutely.

[Sheriff Jason Ard]

I'm okay. Whatever. Because again, at the end of the day, I just want to solve this for this family because they deserve this.

[Woody Overton]

That's it. Again, goosebumps. And I can see the passion in your face. And you're right. And it's not about who solves it. It's about getting it solved. And so, Lifers, you got to appreciate. I appreciate you giving us a chance to. To reach out and do this. And it's unheard of for law enforcement to reach out to a podcast to help solve a cold case. And I think it's genius because, you know, we have such a huge fan base of lifers in this area, and at the end of the day, it's our joint mission to find out what happened to Ms. Barbara Blunt. And crowdsourcing again. And Lifers. As the episodes go on, just like in Coco's case, the. As the weeks go on and the word spreads and the word gets out about this, more people are going to listen more. And the people who did this, the people who know are gonna listen, and they'll probably be the first one to listen every week. Right. So. But y', all. Somebody out there, you know, or you heard something, just have a gut feeling about something, and you were afraid to come forward. Here's the deal.

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[Woody Overton]

forward, you reach out through the anonymous line. It not going to give you up. And we'll never release your name or your information to anyone, including law enforcement, unless you want us to. But just give us information. Let us. Let us do what we do and let's find out what happened to Ms. Barbara Blunt. And it's just so important. Think about it. If it was your mama or your sister or your aunt or your grandmother and she'd been missing all these years, think about what this family suffers daily. And we'll get with them. And you'll get to hear directly from them. Because imagine your mama being gone. Vanished. And she was a widower, correct? Her husband got killed in 2004. An accident. So you know what? You know, people do the right thing. Come forward. You did not have to put your name to it. I will never divulge it. I don't have to. But we need your information. And yours might be that little hunch you had about so and so way back when or whatever. Or the little statement someone told you no tip is too small, y' all at anything. I don't care how crazy you think it might sound in your head or whatever. Send it to us. Okay? We can do this. Find out what happened to Ms. Barbara Blunt.

[Sheriff Jason Ard]

And I want to say something on that too. You're exactly right. No tips too small. A lot of people, unfortunately, they'll say things like, well, you know, I thought I seen her or maybe she was with somebody, but I Didn't. I wasn't really sure. It doesn't matter if you think that's right, that you know something, or you think that you may know who's involved or anything. We need that information. I mean, we. We do have tools to be able to help us to verify if what you've seen is true, but we have to have that information to follow up on. And the old saying in law enforcement, we're only as good as the information we receive sometimes, and we need that information no matter how small.

[Woody Overton]

That's exactly right. And y', all, like on. On Courtney's case, the. The. All. It was all the small pieces that all the different individuals sent in that we were able. Jim and I were able to piece together. Me with the boots on the ground doing Jim doing the analytical work. We were able to piece it together. And of course, we. Sheriff, we were getting like 150 calls a day. And as you know, we had to just, like, we're not law enforcement anymore, but we. And we didn't have any help. We didn't have. And certainly people that were willing to help us if we needed it, et cetera. So we. We did it. And we. The. As you know, sometimes cases roll when you. You're looking at one person really hard, and it just totally ended up being something totally different. Right? But it all came, y', all from the different. Different lifers given the different. And it started with the. The. The smallest piece of information, and that went to another piece, and that went to another piece. But you know what? I'm telling you, you're older now. If you knew something back in the day, you know, you. You probably have kids of your own or a family, your own. And that's what happened in Courtney's case. And people started coming forward. They were thinking, oh, my God, you know what? I held on to this all these years. It was just a thought. And y', all, we gotta do it for Ms. Barbara Blatt.

All right?

We gotta do it for this family. Put yourself in their shoes. I know it's one thing when I'm sitting here talking to the sheriff today about it, and we're talking about the base facts of the case, but when you hear this family's pain, just like you heard us do in the past, when you hear the real pain, right, Sheriff, I know, you know, this family and that it. They're tore up. They are.

[Sheriff Jason Ard]

I mean, it's just. I mean, you can only imagine what they're going through. I mean, I've been around them, and I Have detectives that have came real close to them.

[Woody Overton]

Right.

[Sheriff Jason Ard]

I mean they're on first name basis.

[Woody Overton]

Sure.

[Sheriff Jason Ard]

It's just, it's, it's very sad, right, to watch this, this, this go on. And again, that's our motivation is to

[Woody Overton]

get that close and they live with it every day, every minute of every day. And, and so what if it was your mama and, or your family member? But I tell you this, Sheriff, the. We'll either solve it or I'm a die working on it of old age. I know you're not ever going to get off of it, so I really appreciate it. And y', all, again, this is a whole different ballgame. I think we're like 99% ahead where we started in past cases. We have the level of professionalism and the, the work has been impeccable. And I, I not just saying that because I know those guys and, and the, and I met with him for many hours the other day at your office and they're just like you. I mean, this is the one that eats them. Right? And.

[Sheriff Jason Ard]

Oh, it does. And look, you've seen the, the case file is huge because every year there's something that goes on and it's just

[Woody Overton]

so much, so much information. And so y' all were doing today again announcing the case. I know a lot of y' all been waiting on it, so we're going to start putting out more and more in. But you can start calling now and we'll, I'll get the tip line in on, on the show notes and we'll have it on the social media and everything. But we're going to, we need you to share it. Share it, share it, share it. Share the episode. Get it out. Share. I think we're gonna do some stuff with may media and push out even further. Share it, share it, share it. And the more it gets out there, the more will come through. But I, I don't know. I, the, the, the. I just really, really appreciate you being a visionary and stepping outside the box like this. All right? And, and I promise you that we're going to do the best that we can and we're not going to get off of it. And again, y', all, you know, for a man in his position to put aside anything, you know, whatever you heard it, it's not about pride or whatever. It's about finding out what happened to Ms. Barbara Blunt. And I think that's huge. I think it speaks volumes to you.

[Sheriff Jason Ard]

You know, sometimes we get. You said it earlier again that it's easy to get Tunnel vision on these cases.

[Woody Overton]

Sure.

[Sheriff Jason Ard]

And you get on one track. Right. And you can miss things. And I've learned over the years, don't ever get tunnel vision.

[Woody Overton]

Right.

[Sheriff Jason Ard]

Even if the evidence is leading one way, don't get tonal. If you get that tunnel vision, you're going to miss things. And in this case, we were very good about not getting tunnel vision because there wasn't no way to get tunnel vision.

[Woody Overton]

That's right.

[Sheriff Jason Ard]

But where I'm at today is I want to go as far out of the boxes if I have to utilize whatever tools necessary. Necessary. Which we have been doing. This is a new tool to us.

[Woody Overton]

Right, Right.

[Sheriff Jason Ard]

You know, what you guys are doing, I think is phenomenal.

[Woody Overton]

Yeah.

[Sheriff Jason Ard]

Well, I appreciate reaching out to a crowd and a lot bigger crowd and getting their attention.

[Woody Overton]

Right.

[Sheriff Jason Ard]

And this family. The family deserves this.

[Woody Overton]

Right.

Right. And so I won't take much more your time, but, man, I really appreciate you. And in.

It's.

It's huge. I just thank you for it. I really do. And I hope. I pray that we can get the closure and this won't be keeping you up at night anymore. Right.

[Sheriff Jason Ard]

I appreciate it. I know you. You and Jim both and work the streets with y'. All. I know your capabilities, and I know you have the knowledge and having the outreach that you do is hopefully going to bring some kind of closure to this case. I'm excited anytime we get any kind of information that we might. We may not have information on this particular case, what we're doing, but I just have a feeling that this is going to lead to a lot more information.

[Woody Overton]

Right. And then y', all, again, I want to thank. Thank you, Sheriff, for being here. You took the time out of you today to drive and meet us at the studio and everything else. And I mean, you didn't have to do that. But again, it goes to show how much you care and how much you want to solve this case. And we appreciate it. And lifers, we're really going to be doing a lot more on this. The. Which is scratching the tip of the iceberg. But somebody knows what happened to Ms. Barbara Blunt. Somebody knows. Let's bring it home. Spread it. There's. There's power. And in the word. Spread it and in. More people will come forward and we can do this. Bring it home. Find out what happened to us. Barbara Blunt. Thank you, Sheriff.

[Sheriff Jason Ard]

Thank you.

[Woody Overton]

All right, y', all, I posted on social media, big news for real life, real crime this week, and I'm about to drop it on you. We are officially Announcing the Real Life, Real Crime, First Offense tour. It's going to be amazing, y'. All. The our first show date, House of Blues, April 4 in New Orleans, Louisiana, is canceled. We will reschedule soon. We're going to be doing a live podcast and followed with an intimate acoustic performance by Tom Play. And y' all know who they are. The official recording artist for Real Life, Real Crime, the podcast. We will reschedule soon. Now, our second stop, if you will, on the First Offense tour is in Alexandria, Louisiana on April 17th at the Alexandria Convention Hall. Now this is a big one, y'. All. The the we're going to do a full live podcast theater seating 750 people. Okay? It's going to be a great crowd. We're going to have this alcohol vendor is going to be there, but you will have seats. And when we get done, we're going to be followed up immediately by the Chase Tyler Band. And y' all know Chase Tyler is, if you don't know, he's one of the hottest upand cominging country performers, Africa. And in fact, last year he was inducted into Louisiana Country Music hall of Fame. So he puts on a hell of a show. So you get Real Life, Real Crime, and then you're gonna get the Chase Tyler Band. They're gonna rock it. And we'll have that convention hall blowing it up. And we also are going to have hotel rates, special hotel rates through the Holiday Inn, which is connected to the convention hall, so you don't have to drive anywhere. Again, huge performance, huge crowd, huge party on April 17. Now, the third stop on the first offense tour is April 18 at the World famous Tin Lizzies bar on the Tickfall River. Now, y' all heard me talk about swamp bars and all the episodes. 10 Lizzies is probably the oldest and the first and original swamp bar. Okay? And I'll be there doing what I do. And when I get done, the Chase Tyler Band will be taking the stage and rocking the house all night long. And included in your ticket fee is a huge plate of I think it's gonna be pasta lye, y'. All. And for y', all outside of Louisiana, don't know as that's just jambalaya without the rice with the pasta in it. But it's gonna be a kick ass great time, so you don't want to miss it. Get your tickets by going to eventbrite.com for both the Alexandria show on April 17 and for 10 Lizzies on April 18. And these tickets go on sale today. All right, y', all Check this out. The first Fence Tour continues throughout the summer. We will be going to Dallas, Texas. The Big D dates to be announced soon. Then we're going to be bringing the First Offense Tour back home to Baton Rouge, Louisiana to our people. A huge show, huge venue. Dates to be announced on March 9th. We're going to do a never before heard live podcast and then the Chase Tyler Band will be taking the stage and rocking the house for our hometown crew. Next up Houston Baytown area. Dates to be announced soon in the Windy City, Chicago, Illinois, one of my favorite places in the world. Dates to be announced soon and we're likely going to have more cities and we'll announce those locations and the dates as soon as we can lock them up. I just want to give another shout out and thanks Sheriff Jason R. For coming in today. It really means a lot. Sheriff we appreciate you and for everybody else, all you patron members, you know we love and appreciate you so much. We love all our members and y' all please keep liking us and sharing us. You're making us grow huge. It's so very important. And till next time or ever, don't let me catch you down on murder by you. Peace.

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[Woody Overton]

of appoint one for you.

[Miranda Rights Reader]

Do you understand your rights.

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And the wolf is at your core Know you running over that's for sure Already knows all about you Cut you down no matter by you now you better walk the line. I feel, I feel great.

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