232: The Darkest Ride: Terror Lurking in the Bushes | The Disappearance of Amber Barker

Summary

Serialously with Annie Elise - Episode 232 Summary: "The Darkest Ride: Terror Lurking in the Bushes | The Disappearance of Amber Barker"

In Episode 232 of Serialously with Annie Elise, host Annie Elise delves deep into the haunting true-crime case of Amber Barker, a 10-year-old girl who vanished under mysterious circumstances in Oklahoma City in December 1997. This comprehensive summary captures the critical elements, discussions, and lingering questions surrounding Amber's disappearance, shedding light on the investigation's complexities and the enduring quest for answers.

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1. Introduction to Amber Barker and Her Life

Amber Renee Barker was a vibrant 10-year-old girl living with her mother, Bonnie, in a close-knit neighborhood northwest of downtown Oklahoma City. Born on Valentine's Day in 1987, Amber was the youngest in her family, with several siblings. Despite her parents' divorce before her birth, Amber shared a strong bond with her mother and maintained a cordial relationship with her father, Robert.

Amber was known for her responsible nature—earning the reputation of a "teacher's pet" and enjoying roles like a hall monitor at school. Outside academics, she was a tomboy who loved working on cars with her father, expressed artistic creativity with spray paint, and nurtured a passion for animals, aspiring to become a veterinarian.

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2. The Fateful Day: December 18, 1997

On December 18, 1997, Amber's day began typically. After attending school, she biked home on her blue ten-speed bicycle before heading to a friend's house—a routine excursion she undertook regularly. However, this day deviated disastrously.

At approximately 05:09, Amber called her mother from her friend's house, apologizing for being late past her usual curfew of sunset. She explained that she had lost track of time but assured Bonnie she was safe and not in any danger. Amber seemed anxious about being reprimanded for missing curfew, a rare occurrence for such a disciplined child.

By 06:00, despite Bonnie's reassurances, Amber hadn't returned home. Bonnie's initial attempts to locate her daughter were futile, as Amber had already been seen leaving her friend's residence without delay. Concern escalated when no signs of Amber appeared, prompting Bonnie to report her missing at 08:14.

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3. Police Investigation and Initial Findings

The Oklahoma City Police Department responded swiftly, recognizing the gravity of Amber's disappearance. Early theories speculated that Amber might have been involved in an accident, such as being hit by a car, especially since her bike was found undamaged in Denniston Park the following morning at 09:51. However, the lack of injuries or hospital records contradicted this theory, leading investigators to consider foul play.

By 11:15, with no substantial leads, the police intensified their efforts, distributing flyers, appearing on news segments, and conducting neighborhood searches. A pivotal yet ultimately inconclusive lead emerged when a witness reported seeing a girl matching Amber's description at 12:21. However, discrepancies in the timeline rendered this tip likely a case of mistaken identity.

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4. Enter Daniel Smith: A Suspect with a Troubling Past

Central to the case is Daniel Smith, Amber's uncle by marriage—the ex-boyfriend of her older sister, Brandi. Daniel's history raised significant red flags:

• Criminal Record: In 1995, Daniel was convicted of attempted kidnapping. A month before Amber's disappearance, he was involved in a domestic disturbance, where he allegedly assaulted Brandi after she refused his advances.

• Suspicious Behavior: On the day Amber went missing, Daniel was initially at Bonnie's house searching for Brandi and his daughter. Shortly after Amber's phone call, Daniel departed abruptly, a detail that coincided suspiciously with Amber's disappearance.

• Evidence: Blue fibers found on Amber's clothing matched the interior of Daniel's silver Mitsubishi, suggesting possible contact. Additionally, his car was discovered abandoned near the crime scene with brown hair fragments nearby—potential evidence linking him to the case.

Despite these indicators, Daniel maintained his innocence, and his alibi was complicated by conflicting accounts from others present at Bonnie's house. As 22:59 highlights, Daniel's sudden suicide added another layer of complexity, abruptly ending any direct interrogation that might have shed light on Amber's fate.

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5. The Investigation Stalls Amid Family Tragedies

Following Daniel's death on December 21, the investigation hit a significant roadblock. Without his testimony, crucial pieces of the puzzle remained missing. Adding to the family's turmoil, Amber's father, Robert, passed away in 2007, followed by her sister Brandi in 2013 under suspicious circumstances. Brandi's death was officially attributed to drowning during a storm, but inconsistencies—such as the improbable nature of her injuries relative to the alleged cause and her tumultuous relationship with Daniel—fuel skepticism among those close to the family.

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6. New Developments: Forrest Rice and Joseph Bishop

Years later, in 2015, attention shifted to Forrest Rice, an inmate and close friend of the late Daniel Smith. The police sought Rice's DNA to compare with the partial DNA evidence found on Amber's sweater. Despite Rice not being a primary suspect, the connection raised questions about possible overlooked links within Amber's immediate circle.

Simultaneously, Joseph Bishop, who was Brandi's boyfriend at the time of Amber's disappearance, became a person of interest. Discrepancies in his statements about Daniel's presence at Bonnie's house suggested potential involvement or knowledge of the events that transpired on that critical day. Despite undergoing polygraph tests—56:13—Bishop maintained ignorance about Amber's whereabouts, yet the police continued to scrutinize his role.

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7. Ongoing Investigation and Unresolved Mysteries

As of October 2023, the investigation into Amber Barker's disappearance remains active but unresolved. The Oklahoma City Police Department, alongside the FBI, continues to review existing evidence with modern forensic techniques, hoping to uncover new leads. Despite periodic age-progressed photos and renewed public appeals for information, Amber's fate remains unknown.

In a closing report from News 9, it was emphasized that the case is far from cold. Investigators believe that someone with knowledge of Amber's disappearance holds the key to solving the decades-old mystery. The family, burdened by loss and unanswered questions, persists in seeking closure, holding onto hope that Amber might one day return—or at least, that the truth behind her disappearance will be unveiled.

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8. Conclusion: A Call for Community Vigilance

Annie Elise concludes the episode by urging listeners to remain vigilant and proactive. By sharing Amber Barker's story across various platforms, there's a collective hope that fresh eyes and ears might uncover vital information. The enduring mystery of Amber's disappearance serves as a stark reminder of the vulnerabilities children face and the critical importance of community awareness and participation in solving such cases.

Notable Quotes:

• Amber's Mother's Plea (16:24):

  "Amber, we're with you. And mommy's gonna come and get you, honey. I really love you."

• Police Spokesperson on Active Investigation (40:44):

  "Oklahoma City police confirmed they have been quietly looking into this case for the past four years."

• Brandi's Sister Debbie on Daniel's Innocence (47:12):

  "I believe that Daniel was innocent, that he had nothing to do with Amber's disappearance."

• Joseph Bishop's Statement (56:20):

  "I have no idea what happened to Amber Barker that day."

---

The disappearance of Amber Barker remains one of Oklahoma City's most perplexing unsolved cases. As the community continues to seek answers, the enduring legacy of Amber's story underscores the critical need for persistence, community involvement, and advancements in investigative techniques to bring closure to affected families.

Transcript

[Annie]

Hey true crime besties.

[Elise]

Welcome back to an all new episode of serial asleep. Hey everybody.

[Annie Elise]

Welcome back to an all new episode of serial Aslee with me, Annie, Elise.

[Elise]

I hope you guys are all having a good start to your week so far.

[Annie Elise]

Had a good weekend.

[Elise]

We are going to dive right into today's case. It's actually one that came from TikTok.

[Annie Elise]

And the reason I say it came.

[Elise]

From TikTok is because when I tell you how many times I was tagged in this video and in this story, literally in the hundreds, maybe even thousands, it was like a tsunami of mentions.

[Annie Elise]

And tags and DMS over the weekend.

[Elise]

Of everyone like wanting me to talk about this case. So did some research, wanted to see is there enough information, what value could we add to it. And now here we are, we are talking about it and it's the case of Amber barker.

[Annie Elise]

It's a 10 year old little girl who went missing in Oklahoma in 1997.

[Elise]

And the details will literally leave your.

[Annie Elise]

Jaw on the floor.

[Elise]

So I'm gonna jump right in.

[Unknown]

It is the face and the case investigators cannot forget.

The whole family was question, everybody was questioned, taken down a police station and polygraphed and all that.

Did you undergo a polygraph?

Yes, I did. Then they let him go and then three days later they found him hanging dead in the park.

I just want to tell Amber, if you're out there, I love you.

[Annie Elise]

In December of 1997, the people of Oklahoma City were feeling very festive, very.

[Elise]

Excited for the holidays. Kids were counting down the days until the holiday break.

[Annie Elise]

Parents were busy wrapping gifts and presents and families were of course putting up all of their holiday decorations. Now at that time, a little girl.

[Elise]

10 year old Amber Renee Barker, lived.

[Annie Elise]

In the city with her mom. And even though Oklahoma City was pretty.

[Elise]

Big, Amber and her mom had a.

[Annie Elise]

Home in the cozy, close knit neighborhood just northwest of downtown. It was kind of the place where the neighbors all knew one another. The kids all played outside until the.

[Elise]

Street lights came on. You know the vibe right now.

[Annie Elise]

Amber had a big family with a bunch of brothers and sisters. She was the youngest in the family in part because her parents got a divorce while her mother was pregnant. So they split up before she was born. Which also fun fact, she was born.

[Elise]

On Valentine's Day in 1987.

[Annie Elise]

She mostly lived with her mom Bonnie.

[Elise]

And the two of them were very, very close.

[Annie Elise]

Now, Amber being a young 10 year old kid, she was afraid of the dark and because of that, she refused.

[Elise]

To sleep in her own bedroom.

[Annie Elise]

Instead, almost every single night she and Bonnie would watch a movie together in.

[Elise]

The living room and.

[Annie Elise]

And then they would fall asleep on the couch together. Amber was also close with her dad, Robert. She was a bit of a tomboy.

[Elise]

She liked to work on cars with her dad. It was really something that they bonded over and the two of them talked about Amber learning how to weld when she got a little bit older. She was also very artistic.

[Annie Elise]

She was making pictures with spray paint. Her favorite colors to use were blue and green.

[Elise]

I mean, she just had so many amazing characteristics about her.

[Annie Elise]

Now, at 10 years old, Amber was.

[Elise]

In the fourth grade.

[Annie Elise]

And she was definitely a bit of a teacher's pet.

[Elise]

She was very responsible. She always followed all of the rules. And her favorite task that she especially loved was being a hall monitor, which.

[Annie Elise]

I didn't even know that those things existed.

[Elise]

Okay. I thought that was just something from like sitcoms or movies. But she loved to do it.

[Annie Elise]

And whenever anybody asked Amber about what she wanted to do when she grew.

[Elise]

Up, she would just tell them she already knew.

[Annie Elise]

She wanted to be a veterinarian. She loved animals. Now, Amber could be shy and she.

[Elise]

Could be quiet, but she would also.

[Annie Elise]

Open up to people that she knew.

[Elise]

A little bit better, like her family and friends.

[Annie Elise]

She liked spending time with her friends.

[Elise]

After school on the weekends, she would.

[Annie Elise]

Go to the local park with them. She'd ride bikes around the neighborhood with them.

[Elise]

I mean, just really wholesome things.

[Annie Elise]

So Thursday, December 18, was a relatively normal day.

[Elise]

Amber woke up, she got dressed, she ate breakfast, and she went off to school.

[Annie Elise]

Afterwards, she got home and she hopped.

[Elise]

On her bike like she always did.

[Annie Elise]

A blue ten speed bicycle. She rode a few miles north to.

[Elise]

Go see a friend over at their house.

[Annie Elise]

And keep in mind, Amber made this trip all the time.

[Elise]

It took her maybe 10 minutes to.

[Annie Elise]

Get to the friend's house.

[Elise]

That's it.

[Annie Elise]

And this was somebody that she knew.

[Elise]

And hung out with most days after school too. So again, everything was just normal and very routine that day.

[Annie Elise]

Another thing that was normal was that.

[Elise]

Amber's mom, Bonnie, had a be home before sunset. Like I said, Amber was pretty responsible. She was a big rule follower.

[Annie Elise]

So usually there weren't any issues around this rule.

[Elise]

She had to be home by sunset.

[Annie Elise]

And she always was.

[Elise]

Except that day, by 5:45, it was already dark and Amber still wasn't home. That was really unusual because Amber just didn't miss curfew.

[Annie Elise]

But right when Bonnie was starting to.

[Elise]

Get worried and wonder what was going on, she got a phone call.

[Annie Elise]

And it was from Amber. Amber told her that she was still.

[Elise]

Over at her friend's house.

[Annie Elise]

She was very, very apologetic because she knew that she had broken a rule, something that she never did.

[Elise]

She just said that she had lost track of time. She wasn't hurt, she wasn't in danger. There was nothing to worry about.

[Annie Elise]

She just simply lost track of time.

[Elise]

Now she did sound really freaked out, but mostly because she thought that she was going to be in trouble for home so late.

[Annie Elise]

But Bonnie assured her daughter that everything would be okay. She wasn't going to punish her.

[Elise]

Especially because this was just like a one time thing.

[Annie Elise]

She knew Amber was a good kid.

[Elise]

She had never done anything like this before.

[Annie Elise]

So she just told her, you know, just get home safely. So Amber said that she was going.

[Elise]

To leave right away and bike straight home again.

[Annie Elise]

She sounded a little worried, but not.

[Elise]

In a way that was like a.

[Annie Elise]

Huge red flag for Bonnie. It sounded more like Amber was just.

[Elise]

Nervous because she had never ridden alone.

[Annie Elise]

In the dark before.

[Elise]

It was going to be a new.

[Annie Elise]

Experience for her and not one that.

[Elise]

She was completely thrilled about. Remember, she was scared of the dark.

[Annie Elise]

Well, Bonnie was in full like understanding mom mode. So on top of telling Amber that.

[Elise]

She wasn't angry and that she wouldn't.

[Annie Elise]

Be getting into any trouble, Bonnie also told Amber not to be so worried about getting home. She said it was a quick trip. She had biked the same route a.

[Elise]

Million times before during the day, so.

[Annie Elise]

Everything would be alright. Just be calm, you'll be fine.

[Elise]

I'll see you soon.

[Annie Elise]

So then they told each other their goodbyes. They said that they would see each other soon.

[Elise]

And they hung up.

[Annie Elise]

Now given that the bike ride was only about 10 minutes, Amber should have been home around 6pm or so. So when 610 rolled around, Bonnie started getting worried. But she tried not to freak out too much.

[Elise]

I mean, maybe Amber didn't leave for home immediately after hanging up the phone.

[Annie Elise]

Maybe she stopped to say bye to her friend. Maybe she went to use the bathroom. Maybe she got a quick drink of water. Who knows?

[Elise]

I mean, there were a lot of perfectly valid legitimate reasons for her not to be home yet.

[Annie Elise]

So Bonnie waited for five more minutes, then 10 more minutes. But by 6:30 there was still no sign of Amber. And it was late enough now that.

[Elise]

Bonnie knew that it wasn't some ordinary delay.

[Annie Elise]

Something was wrong. So she got in her car and.

[Elise]

She drove toward that friend's house.

[Annie Elise]

And the whole time she was looking at all of the roads, all of the sidewalks, just looking for her daughter.

[Elise]

On her blue bike. But unfortunately, she didn't see any sign of her.

[Annie Elise]

So the next step was for Bonnie.

[Elise]

To call everybody that she knew.

[Annie Elise]

Amber's friends, her family, people from the school, literally anyone she could think of. Her hope was that someone had seen Amber and knew what had happened to her. But the only person who admitted to seeing Amber that day was the friend that Amber had been visiting with. And they told Bonnie that Amber did leave right away after they were done.

[Elise]

Talking on the phone.

[Annie Elise]

There was no bathroom break. There was no longaby. None of the things that she was thinking could have been a possibility. The friend even said that they had watched Amber get onto her bike and.

[Elise]

Start heading down the street toward home.

[Annie Elise]

So she had definitely been on her way a while ago. Needless to say, this situation did not sound good.

[Elise]

I mean, all the signs pointed to Amber being in trouble.

[Annie Elise]

So that's when Bonnie picked up the.

[Elise]

Phone, dialed 911 and reported her 10 year old daughter as missing.

[Annie Elise]

Right away, the police sprang into action.

[Elise]

I mean, they had every reason to take this report seriously right off the bat.

[Annie Elise]

First of all, Amber had never run away before. She didn't have some sort of history of taking off. She also had no reason to just.

[Elise]

Suddenly run away now. She got along with her family.

[Annie Elise]

She got good grades.

[Elise]

She hadn't ever complained about bullying or a boyfriend or anything like that.

[Annie Elise]

And sometimes, unfortunately, in these cases, you do see the police kind of dragging.

[Elise]

Their feet a little bit, right?

[Annie Elise]

Not taking the disappearance seriously right away. But that was not the case here.

[Elise]

They immediately understood that this was a very big deal.

[Annie Elise]

And they did everything that they could.

[Elise]

Do to try and track Amber down.

[Annie Elise]

They started by canvassing the neighborhood, questioning.

[Elise]

Neighbors, searching for anyone who might have.

[Annie Elise]

Seen Amber or heard anything unusual. But all of their initial investigations went nowhere. Nobody had seen her. In fact, they wondered if that was one of the key issues. Visibility. Meaning that literally, people were not able to see Amber at night here. Specifically, the police theorized early on that.

[Elise]

Maybe this wasn't even a crime at all.

[Annie Elise]

That maybe Amber had been hit by.

[Elise]

A car on her way home.

[Annie Elise]

This all just somehow was some horrific, tragic accident. There were a few problems, though, with this theory. I mean, she wasn't in any of the local hospitals. She hadn't been found hurt or dead at the side of a road either.

[Elise]

I mean, not yet anyway.

[Annie Elise]

But their theory was that maybe a.

[Elise]

Driver might have run her over by.

[Annie Elise]

Accident, then panicked, and because of that.

[Elise]

Disposed of her body and her bike somewhere.

[Annie Elise]

But that theory didn't hold up.

[Elise]

For long? Because the next morning at around 10.30am, Amber's bike was found.

[Annie Elise]

It was found lying against a tree.

[Elise]

In Denniston park, just a few blocks.

[Annie Elise]

From both her and her friend's house. And the bike, it was in great shape. There was no dents, no scrapes, no other damage that might suggest that it was in some sort of car accident. Now, as for the question of how.

[Elise]

That bike ended up there, well, most.

[Annie Elise]

Of the kids in the neighborhood apparently liked playing in this park. And Amber was no different. It was a go to spot for her. She hung out there all the time. So with the bike being found there, the new theory was that maybe Amber stopped at this park on her way home from her friend's house.

[Elise]

Maybe she wanted to take a break.

[Annie Elise]

Catch her breath during this long ride home, even though it was only 10 minutes. Or maybe she spotted some friends and decided to hang out and play with them for a while. But then think about it.

[Elise]

Amber had already called her mom, apologizing.

[Annie Elise]

Apologized for being late, and said that she was nervous about riding home in the dark. So if she was really that nervous to make that 10 minute bike ride.

[Elise]

Straight home, would she really go off course to hang out at the park after dark? It didn't add up either way.

[Annie Elise]

The police kept the bike to do.

[Elise]

Some more investigating and to try to learn more.

[Annie Elise]

The next step was to raise awareness to make sure that people knew that Amber was missing. They were asking for tips, they were.

[Elise]

Asking for leads, everything.

[Annie Elise]

They went on the news. They printed flyers and they stood on the streets asking anyone who happened to pass if they had heard or seen anything weird in the neighborhood. The hope was that maybe somebody might have seen Amber while they were driving.

[Elise]

Home, because she did disappear right around.

[Annie Elise]

6Pm so maybe somebody who didn't even know Amber or know anything about her case might have spotted her when they were driving past.

[Elise]

They might have been coming home from work and they might not have thought.

[Annie Elise]

Anything about it at the time. They might not have even realized that they had any information that the police were interested in hearing. So now the police were going out to everyone else saying, basically, yes, we do want to hear from you. Tell us what you know. And keep in mind, with all of.

[Elise]

This going on, it had still been.

[Annie Elise]

Less than 24 hours since Amber had gone missing. And during that day, on day two.

[Elise]

Amber's family was handing out flyers everywhere.

[Annie Elise]

And during that, they started talking to one man who said that he thought he had seen Amber on the day of her disappearance, that he thought he.

[Elise]

Saw her at around 5:25pm he described.

[Annie Elise]

The girl that he had seen. And it did sound exactly like Amber. A fair skinned five foot tall girl with long dark hair and bangs. And the girl he saw even had a blue bike. According to this man, there was also a boy with this girl. The boy was selling candy and Amber was talking to him. So that all sounded pretty compelling.

[Elise]

Maybe it could have been a lead.

[Annie Elise]

Maybe it could have been a sign.

[Elise]

Except Amber wasn't missing at 5:25pm when.

[Annie Elise]

That man saw this little girl. Remember, she was still at her friend's house. We know that she hadn't left yet.

[Elise]

Because she called her mom from her friend's phone.

[Annie Elise]

And her friend also confirmed that Amber didn't leave to head home until much later. So the best guess that anybody could come up with was that the man.

[Elise]

Had seen a different little girl who.

[Annie Elise]

Just happened to look just like Amber. It was the kind of neighborhood with a lot of families and kids, so it made sense. And since this man didn't actually know.

[Elise]

Amber, it definitely would be easy for.

[Annie Elise]

Him to confuse her with a different.

[Elise]

Little girl who had maybe been out.

[Annie Elise]

On the street at that same time. So the police ruled the tip out, thinking it had nothing to do with Amber. And with that sighting ruled out, they didn't have a whole lot of other.

[Elise]

Leads or theories to go off of.

[Annie Elise]

But that fact in and of itself told them something. If Amber wasn't seen by any of her friends, and if she wasn't in a car accident, that really only left one final possibility. The possibility that no parent ever wants to consider.

[Elise]

It was looking more and more likely that. That Amber was kidnapped.

[Annie Elise]

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[Annie]

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[Annie Elise]

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[Annie]

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[Elise]

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[Annie]

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[Elise]

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[Annie]

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[Annie Elise]

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[Annie]

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[Elise]

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[Annie]

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[Annie Elise]

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[Annie]

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[Annie Elise]

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[Annie]

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[Annie Elise]

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[Elise]

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[Annie]

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[Annie Elise]

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[Annie]

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[Annie Elise]

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[Annie]

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[Annie Elise]

Nobody could find any sign of Amber Barker anywhere. Even though the police searches were incredibly intense. They were looking for her everywhere, and Bonnie was pleading for help.

[Unknown]

Amber, we're with you. And mommy's gonna come and get you, honey. I really love you. I just want to tell Amber if you're out there, I love you.

[Annie Elise]

Sadly, by this time, investigators were seriously considering the possibility that Amber might have been dead. So their searches now weren't limited to only areas where a girl who was.

[Elise]

Alive might turn up, like parks and friends houses.

[Annie Elise]

They were also looking in all of the places where somebody might dispose of a body like storm drains. They also had divers looking in nearby creeks and rivers. And to give you a sense of.

[Elise]

How serious they were, at one point.

[Annie Elise]

The detectives even set up roadblocks, and.

[Elise]

They would stop any driver who happened to come through.

[Annie Elise]

They would show them a photo of Amber. They would ask if they had seen.

[Elise]

This girl or, in general, if they.

[Annie Elise]

Had seen anything suspicious in the area recently.

[Elise]

They would just try to get answers.

[Annie Elise]

Other officers went up to the kids who lived in the neighborhood to see if they had any information, too. Not just information about Amber specifically, but they wanted to know where different children would like to go, where they all.

[Elise]

Hung out, where the secret spots were. Were there any places that they would.

[Annie Elise]

Sneak off to in order to get.

[Elise]

Away from their parents, Anywhere that Amber might have run away to or where her kidnapper might have run away to, you know, if she had been maybe.

[Annie Elise]

Taken by an older kid or even a teenager. I mean, seriously, they were looking at every single possibility. There was no scenario that was too.

[Elise]

Out there or too wild for them to explore. But no matter where they looked or who they talked to, they found nothing.

[Annie Elise]

Eventually, they brought in the FBI to help them investigate. And if there's one silver lining to.

[Elise]

This whole situation, it's that kidnapping is a federal crime.

[Annie Elise]

So even though the police still didn't know for sure if Amber was kidnapped or not, their suspicions were strong enough that they could ask for extra help. They could bring in the big guys, the big team.

[Elise]

Right.

[Annie Elise]

So the FBI agents and the police worked together to set up a system that would manage all of the hundreds of tips that were pouring in.

[Elise]

And, I mean, when you have that many officers out there, cars pulling cars over, chatting up the local kids, doing.

[Annie Elise]

All the things, you do end up.

[Elise]

With a ton of information you need to vet through.

[Annie Elise]

The issue was that they didn't know.

[Elise]

How much of that information was relevant or useful.

[Annie Elise]

So the next step was to sift.

[Elise]

Through everything, figure out what was important, sort everything out.

[Annie Elise]

Well, as the saying goes, quantity doesn't always equal quality.

[Elise]

Because even though there were hundreds of.

[Annie Elise]

Tips flooding in, the investigation was going nowhere. Everyone in Oklahoma city, especially in the.

[Elise]

Area where Amber lived, they had their.

[Annie Elise]

Eyes peeled, but nothing was happening. They all agreed that they would report anything that they saw or anything that they noticed, no matter how small or how significant it might have felt, but they still ended up with nothing. That is, until the night of the 20th. And to give you a sense of the timeline, that still is just two days after Amber went missing. And that's when the Police got a phone call from a woman who said that she found a single shoe that looked like it belonged to a young child. Now, when Amber had gone missing, she had been wearing dark pants, a cream.

[Elise]

Long sleeve shirt with a brown collar.

[Annie Elise]

And no Excuses sneakers. The shoe that the woman had seen was also a no Excuses sneaker.

[Elise]

And it was also the right color and size.

[Annie Elise]

So when the police went and recovered this shoe and showed it to Amber's mom, Bonnie, she said right away that it was Amber's.

[Elise]

It had to be.

[Annie Elise]

The shoe was found 20 blocks south of Amber's house and 13 miles from.

[Elise]

Denniston park, that park where all the.

[Annie Elise]

Kids hang out, also where Amber's bike had been found. And once the police found the first.

[Elise]

Shoe there, they began searching the area.

[Annie Elise]

To see if they could find any other clues around, which was a good.

[Elise]

Call because they ended up finding a lot.

[Annie Elise]

At around 9am the investigator saw a second shoe, the other half of this pair. It was a few blocks away from where the first shoe had been found. Then at around 1.40pm the same day, her beige shirt was found in some bushes. After that, they found a sock. And then one of Amber's sisters found a silver ring on the side of a street. It was the same style and same size as a ring that Amber wore all the time. So basically these items were scattered all over, several blocks apart from one another, yet all in the same neighborhood. It was almost like a trail of breadcrumbs leading towards something, something bigger. Now, Amber's pants, underwear and her other sock were never found. But the evidence from the items that.

[Elise]

Were found was extremely troubling because her sweater had vomit on it.

[Annie Elise]

And inside the vomit, the police found something that they believed could be semen.

[Elise]

But they couldn't confirm that that's what it was for sure. Which.

[Annie Elise]

More on that in a second. I do have to say though, that this detail is especially disturbing if it's true. Because if Amber was vomiting and if her throw up had semen inside of it, then that tells you a little bit about what might have happened to.

[Elise]

Her after she was kidnapped.

[Annie Elise]

And it tells you what sick, horrible things her abductor subjected this young, innocent.

[Elise]

10 year old girl to. One of her shoes also had a.

[Annie Elise]

Tiny speck of blood on it. The investigators wanted to look at the DNA in the blood, but the sample unfortunately was too small. There just wasn't enough of it there.

[Elise]

For them to get anything useful out of it.

[Annie Elise]

However, the material that may have been.

[Elise]

Semen was a little bit more helpful.

[Annie Elise]

Again, There wasn't enough of it to get any solid DNA. But the police now knew something important.

[Elise]

That Amber's abductor and kidnapper most likely was a male.

[Annie Elise]

They also believed that her kidnapper almost certainly assaulted her in a sexual way after abducting her.

[Elise]

There were also blue fibers on Amber's sweater.

[Annie Elise]

And this was important because Amber's older sister Debbie had an ex who drove a silver Mitsubishi with a blue interior. The carpet was blue, the seats were blue, even the dashboard was blue.

[Elise]

And this ex was 24 year old Daniel Smith.

[Annie Elise]

And I know what you guys might.

[Elise]

Be thinking, that's a bit of a stretch. I mean, a lot of people have blue seats or blue carpet on their cars.

[Annie Elise]

So how does the presence of blue fibers tell the police enough to make.

[Elise]

Them take a closer look at the ex boyfriend, Daniel?

[Annie Elise]

Well, Daniel wasn't just some random guy.

[Elise]

Who Debbie had a fling with for a week or two or something like that. They were very serious. They actually had a common law marriage because of how long they were together. They also lived together and had a daughter together.

[Annie Elise]

In spite of all of that though, their relationship was rocky.

[Elise]

And that's putting it mildly actually. Daniel and Debbie fought all the time, nonstop.

[Annie Elise]

And Debbie didn't feel comfortable or safe around Daniel sometimes. So at one point she actually ran.

[Elise]

Away to get away from him. She took her daughter and she went.

[Annie Elise]

All the way to Oregon to stay.

[Elise]

With some other family members. She didn't tell Daniel where she was cause she didn't want him tracking her down.

[Annie Elise]

Now, on the day that Amber went missing, Daniel was at Bonnie's house trying to find Debbie and his daughter. He was also there when Amber called her mom to say that she was about to head home at 5:45pm and when the police first questioned him, he admitted that he was there and he heard this phone call. And then right after that call, he.

[Elise]

Hopped in his car and he drove off.

[Annie Elise]

Pretty suspicious timing, right? Well, according to Daniel, his decision to.

[Elise]

Leave right after that phone call right.

[Annie Elise]

Then and there had absolutely nothing to do with Amber. His main focus was on finding Debbie and finding his daughter. Remember, they had left to go stay with family in Oregon. Now, at that time, he had been at Bonnie's house for long enough to.

[Elise]

Confirm that they were not there.

[Annie Elise]

So he says it was time for him to leave, to look somewhere new and to move on to the next place. But eventually, according to Daniel, he realized that he wasn't going to make any progress that night. He wasn't going to track Debbie down. So to Unwind.

[Elise]

He went to a club and he had a beer.

[Annie Elise]

Then once he had blown off some steam, he said he got a second wind, so he headed out to keep the search going for Debbie, not Amber. The problem is that the police were.

[Elise]

Never able to verify this story. They couldn't find anyone who was willing to come forward and say that they were with Daniel or that they had talked to him around that time or.

[Annie Elise]

Had even seen him at that nightclub. Nobody who could clear him. There was absolutely nobody who could confirm.

[Elise]

That Daniel went to that bar or had a beer there.

[Annie Elise]

And it's not the most damning situation, I will admit.

[Elise]

If you're driving all over town trying.

[Annie Elise]

To find your ex or trying to.

[Elise]

Find out which of your ex's friends they might be staying with, you're probably going to spend a lot of alone.

[Annie Elise]

Time in the car.

[Elise]

You're not going to have a lot of eyewitnesses around to vouch for your whereabouts.

[Annie Elise]

And if you're also at a bar.

[Elise]

Where nobody really knows you or recognizes you, how likely are the people really.

[Annie Elise]

Going to remember your face and be.

[Elise]

Able to tell the police that you were there?

[Annie Elise]

If Daniel's testimony was true, it makes sense that he would have a hard.

[Elise]

Time confirming his alibi.

[Annie Elise]

But now you add in the blue.

[Elise]

Fibers on Amber's clothing, and it just didn't look good. But here is where it gets weird and kind of confusing.

[Annie Elise]

See, Amber's mom, Bonnie, claimed that Daniel.

[Elise]

Wasn'T at the house when Amber first called her.

[Annie Elise]

She said that Daniel left several hours before the phone call. So it's not like he heard her on the phone, and then he hopped into his car and seized that chance to go kidnap and hurt Amber. It didn't even sound like he had any way of knowing that Amber would.

[Elise]

Be out on the street at that time.

[Annie Elise]

But someone else was at the house who also said that Daniel was there when Amber called. His name was Joseph Bishop. Joseph was in his late teens, and he was dating Brandy, another one of Amber's sisters. Anyway, Joseph was at the house, too. And he told the police that Daniel.

[Elise]

Was definitely home when Amber called home.

[Annie Elise]

Not only that, but he was confident that Daniel overheard the phone call. He also said that Daniel left immediately.

[Elise]

After Bonnie hung up.

[Annie Elise]

And according to Joseph, generally, when Daniel left Bonnie's house, he would turn east and head back home. But this time, he went west, the same direction that Amber was coming from, the direction of her friend's house. Joseph was eventually given a polygraph test, and he passed. So the police had Absolutely no reason to believe that he was lying.

[Elise]

But at what point do all of the coincidences here start to add up? And you know the expression where there's smoke, there's fire comes into play because Daniel was going in the same direction of Amber. There were blue fibers that were found on her clothing. He had blue fibers in his car. What about the confusion over whether Daniel.

[Annie Elise]

Was even at the house at the time? I mean, why would Brandy say he wasn't there? But Joseph said he was? And Joseph passed the Polly. Was Bonnie possibly just distraught over her.

[Elise]

Missing daughter not remembering these crucial, critical details of that day? Or is it suspicious that Joseph is pointing fingers now?

[Annie Elise]

As if all of that isn't enough.

[Elise]

Daniel also had a very troubling history.

[Annie Elise]

Just one month before Amber's disappearance, there was a domestic disturbance at the home where he lived with Amber's sister, Debbie. And because the disturbance was so intense, somebody called the police. Debbie told the officers that Daniel had hit her after she refused to have sex with him. Daniel wasn't arrested. However, he was given a citation. Now, if you think that's bad, get this. In 1995, he had been convicted of an attempted kidnapping. So again, I think you can tell from that alone why the police thought.

[Elise]

That those blue strands on Amber's clothing, it was definitely worth taking a closer look at it. Right.

[Annie Elise]

And that's before I even tell you about the details about the attempted second kidnapping of his. Yes, second.

[Annie]

Okay, confession time. I don't have a cat, but I have thought about getting a cat. And my best friend has a cat.

[Elise]

That's why. And I feel like her cat is.

[Annie]

Basically part of the family at this point. And every time that she visits or I visit, this cat literally acts like a celebrity. I mean, demanding attention and of course.

[Annie Elise]

You know, eating only the best food.

[Annie]

And that's why I have to recommend smalls to my best friend. And let me tell you, it has been a total game changer. Smalls cat food is made with protein packed recipes and preservative free ingredients that you'll find in your own fridge. It's delivered right to your door. And even cats.com named it the best overall cat food since switching to smalls. My best friend's cat has like this softer fur, fewer hairballs, way more energy.

[Elise]

Plus their litter box, it's like, way.

[Annie Elise]

Less smelly, if I'm being honest.

[Annie]

And that's kind of why I've actually even considered getting a cat. And her cat's favorite flavor is the turkey recipe. And I swear they actually get excited when they hear the food bag. Now truly small started in 2017 when a couple of guys just home cooked fresh cat food for their friends. And now they have served millions of meals to cats across the us and for good reason. Other cat food brands fill their products with weird preservatives and by products, but Smalls keeps it simple and fresh. Exactly what our little furry family friends deserve. So what are you waiting for?

[Elise]

Give your cat or your family member's.

[Annie]

Cat or your best friend's cat the food they deserve. Head to smalls.com and use promo code AE for 50% off your first order plus free shipping. That's smalls.com with promo code AE. One more time smalls.com, promo code AE for 50% off and free shipping. I'll admit it, the beginning of 2024 was rough when it came to sleep. Most nights I would just lie there tossing and turning, staring at the ceiling, hoping that I would eventually doze off. And then when I finally did, I.

[Elise]

Would wake up feeling like I barely slept at all.

[Annie]

The worst part? It wasn't just about being tired, it was affecting everything. My focus was all over the place, I felt irritable, and honestly, even small tasks just kind of felt like climbing a mountain. That's why I'm so excited to share what changed everything for me. Beams Dream Powder. This stuff is a game changer. It's a science backed, healthy nighttime blend that actually has been clinically shown to improve sleep.

[Elise]

And let me tell you, it works.

[Annie]

Since I started using Dream, my sleep has been incredible. No more restless nights. I fall asleep faster, stay asleep. I wake up feeling refreshed, not groggy like with other sleep aids. It's a total win. I've also gotten like all my family members hooked on it.

[Elise]

My friends, my colleagues at work.

[Annie]

Literally at least at minimum 50 people probably. Now the secret is the ingredients because they have a natural blend of all sorts of different things like magnesium melatonin, L theanine, and it helps you fall asleep, stay asleep and wake up ready to go.

[Annie Elise]

Plus, it is delicious.

[Annie]

My favorite flavor is anything that is.

[Elise]

Like chocolate related because it's like this cozy little treat right before bed and.

[Annie]

It makes me not feel like I.

[Elise]

Need to eat dessert. So it is great.

[Annie]

And now that it's 2025, I am determined to keep this momentum going. Dream has been a staple in my nightly routine and I feel so much.

[Elise]

Better because of it.

[Annie]

So if you've been struggling with sleep, this is your sign to try it right now you can get up to 40% off beam's best selling dream powder.

[Elise]

For a limited time, just go to.

[Annie]

Shop beam.com Annie Elise and use code Annie Elise at checkout. That's shop b e a m.com Annie Elise and use code Annie Elise for.

[Elise]

Up to 40% off.

[Annie]

Sweet dreams.

[Annie Elise]

So Daniel Smith, the shady partner of Amber's older sister Debbie, had been convicted.

[Elise]

Once before of attempted kidnapping.

[Annie Elise]

See, one night, a woman was leaving a club in downtown Oklahoma City. She was walking toward her car when a man jumped out from where he had been hiding.

[Elise]

He crouched over near the driver's side door of her car, just kind of waiting for her to come out.

[Annie Elise]

Well, now, as this woman got closer, the guy attacked her. He was able to get her keys.

[Elise]

Away from her, and then he opened.

[Annie Elise]

The front door of her car. He tried to shove this woman inside and even grabbed her by the throat, choking her. It isn't clear exactly what happened after that, but somehow this woman did get away. She called the police, and they eventually learned that this man who had attacked her blitz attacked her at that was Daniel. So they arrested him. And the woman was positive that Daniel.

[Elise]

Was trying to sexually assault her as well.

[Annie Elise]

But Daniel claimed that he just wanted.

[Elise]

To steal her car.

[Annie Elise]

I mean, not the best defense in.

[Elise]

The world, because car theft is also.

[Annie Elise]

Not a good look.

[Elise]

But I can see how maybe he thought that was a better defense than.

[Annie Elise]

Admitting that he was committing a violent crime. But since he did claim that this was an attempted theft, he was only.

[Elise]

Charged with robbery at first.

[Annie Elise]

Eventually, though, the charge was upgraded to kidnapping. Then at one of Daniel's court hearings, a bouncer from the club testified against him.

[Elise]

But as soon as this guy was done giving his statement, Daniel stood up right there in court in front of.

[Annie Elise]

The judge and jury and everybody else, and he said, as soon as I.

[Elise]

Get out, you're a dead man.

[Annie Elise]

So after that, Daniel was also charged with intimidating a witness, which, honestly, what.

[Elise]

Did he really expect to happen in that moment? I mean, how did he realistically think that this would all play out? For him to literally threaten a witness in front of everyone, including a judge? I mean, not the brightest move.

[Annie Elise]

Now, let's just say Daniel does not.

[Elise]

Sound like the brightest crayon in the box. Okay? But he did do one smart thing. He took a plea bargain, and he.

[Annie Elise]

Pled guilty to attacking this woman. And in exchange, he received a five.

[Elise]

Year deferred prison sentence.

[Annie Elise]

So basically, this meant that if Daniel could be on his best behavior and not commit any more crimes and Followed certain rules that the judge gave him. He could avoid going to prison. So Daniel was sent to this sort of boot camp for only four months. Specifically it was the William S. Key.

[Elise]

Correctional center for Young Adults.

[Annie Elise]

And actually he did well there.

[Elise]

He followed the rules, he did all.

[Annie Elise]

The things he needed to do, all so he could avoid going to prison. In fact, Daniel even went back to school. He had dropped out when he was.

[Elise]

15 years old, so he never got.

[Annie Elise]

His high school diploma. But at the correctional center, he was able to take classes and get his ged. So it really did seem like he.

[Elise]

Was turning things around, like he was back on the right track and living a better life.

[Annie Elise]

And when the judge saw how well.

[Elise]

He was doing, he felt for him, especially given Daniel's background, because apparently he had a very rough and difficult childhood.

[Annie Elise]

He had been in the foster system since he was just six years old. He had also abused drugs and he.

[Elise]

Had a pretty bad drinking problem. But that was all changing now.

[Annie Elise]

Daniel was doing good enough that the.

[Elise]

Judge decided he needed some encouragement.

[Annie Elise]

He needed to see that his good.

[Elise]

Work was paying off.

[Annie Elise]

So that is when the judge decided to drop those witness intimidation charges from the trial. And after that, Daniel was just put on probation. He still had to attend weekly AA meetings and regular counseling sessions.

[Elise]

He also had to find a job. Not necessarily a full time job, but a job at least part time work.

[Annie Elise]

And he was meeting with his parole officer regularly.

[Elise]

But as far as that was concerned.

[Annie Elise]

He was a free man. And of course, like I mentioned before, he was with Debbie. They were common law married, even though.

[Elise]

They had never had a wedding.

[Annie Elise]

So because of that, it should really.

[Elise]

Go without saying that he saw Amber quite a bit.

[Annie Elise]

She was his wife's sister, after all.

[Elise]

I mean, they were a part of each other's lives. Well, as it turned out, Amber didn't like Daniel. And I mean, she really didn't like him.

[Annie Elise]

I mentioned before that Amber could be.

[Elise]

Very shy with people that she didn't know very well. Right. But eventually, more times than not, she would warm up.

[Annie Elise]

But that's not at all what was going on here.

[Elise]

Amber was literally afraid of Daniel.

[Annie Elise]

She was outspoken about it too. And she would tell anyone who would listen that she was afraid of him.

[Elise]

And more than that, afraid of one thing in she was afraid that he.

[Annie Elise]

Would take her away from her home one day. On the day before Amber disappeared, she told her dad, Robert and her brother.

[Elise]

Eddie that she was scared of Daniel.

[Annie Elise]

Apparently not too long ago, he tried to shove her into his car.

[Elise]

So this wasn't some sort of idle fear or paranoia.

[Annie Elise]

She had a reason to be scared of him. She also said that she had managed.

[Elise]

To get away from him and ran inside the house.

[Annie Elise]

But either way, she was very reasonably not comfortable around Daniel. She didn't know if or when he.

[Elise]

Would try something like that with her again.

[Annie Elise]

That same day, she also had a conversation with her mom where she said that she had seen Daniel driving by their house. She thought that he was there to.

[Elise]

Look for her, to keep tabs on.

[Annie]

Her, to get a sense of when.

[Annie Elise]

She was home, what her schedule was.

[Elise]

Like, all of the weird stalkery things that people do, which.

[Annie Elise]

How awful is that?

[Elise]

I mean, first and foremost, for any 10 year old girl to be afraid of somebody in General, but a 10.

[Annie Elise]

Year old innocent girl to be afraid.

[Elise]

Of their sister's boyfriend, husband, somebody who.

[Annie Elise]

Is so personally involved and intertwined in.

[Elise]

Your life, that is extremely terrifying.

[Annie Elise]

And I'm just speculating, but I do have to wonder if this might have been the reason that Amber went to.

[Elise]

Her friend's house in the first place.

[Annie Elise]

I mean, I know that she and her friend hung out a lot, and.

[Elise]

It'S not like she needed, you know, a big solid excuse to go and see her friend.

[Annie Elise]

But I also have to imagine that if she was feeling unsafe in her.

[Elise]

Own home and like, maybe this creep was always watching her, maybe she just.

[Annie Elise]

Wanted to get away from him. She might have wanted to go somewhere.

[Elise]

Where she felt a little more secure and like she had a little bit more privacy.

[Annie Elise]

I even wonder if you could go.

[Elise]

A step further maybe, and speculate that.

[Annie Elise]

It might have been part of the.

[Elise]

Reason that she didn't like sleeping alone. Maybe it wasn't fear of the dark.

[Annie Elise]

Maybe she might have also been worried, rightly as it may have turned out, that if she was alone in her.

[Elise]

Room with nobody watching her, maybe Daniel might come in and do something to her.

[Annie Elise]

So all to say, there were a.

[Elise]

Lot of reasons and past experiences to.

[Annie Elise]

Warrant finding Daniel suspicious. He had all the red flags you.

[Elise]

Could think of, so the police brought.

[Annie Elise]

Him in for an interrogation. They asked him all their questions, but they didn't find a smoking gun. Now, he didn't say anything to let them clear him, but he also didn't break down and confess or say anything to implicate himself either. They asked if he would come back, though, and take a polygraph test with the FBI, and Daniel agreed. But then the day that the lie detector test was scheduled to happen, he.

[Elise]

Just never showed up.

[Annie Elise]

On top of that, he also missed His AA meeting, which. That was a parole violation. So this was now enough for the.

[Elise]

Police to bring Daniel in.

[Annie Elise]

They didn't officially name him a suspect, but they did send some squad cars out and officers to find him, to take him back to the station. The problem was they couldn't find him anywhere.

[Elise]

There was absolutely no trace of where he had gone.

[Annie Elise]

Finally, on the night of Sunday, December.

[Elise]

21, Daniel's car was found.

[Annie Elise]

It was abandoned at a local gas.

[Elise]

Station, but Daniel was nowhere around it. The police searched his car, but they didn't find much.

[Annie Elise]

They did find some brown hair near the passenger side door, which I'll say right there.

[Elise]

The police never publicly confirmed whose hair it was, but given that Amber also had brown hair, it felt like it was another clue, another red flag.

[Annie Elise]

The next morning, on Monday, December 22.

[Elise]

The search for Daniel continued.

[Annie Elise]

A neighborhood watch group was helping the police scan the neighborhood looking for him, too.

[Elise]

And in the early morning hours, they found Daniel.

[Annie Elise]

He was in a park less than one mile from where his car had been found.

[Elise]

The problem was he was dead. And it was clear that it was.

[Annie Elise]

By his own hand, which that also.

[Elise]

Is one more, you know, red flag.

[Annie Elise]

Of suspicion in this whole case.

[Elise]

Right? Was he so guilty and so nervous that he was going to get caught that he just suddenly decided to kill himself?

[Annie Elise]

And unfortunately, that stalled the investigation into finding Amber. Even with the police and the FBI working through Christmas, working through the new.

[Elise]

Year, they weren't able to find anything about what had happened to her.

[Annie Elise]

Like everyone else, Amber's mother, Bonnie, had felt hopeful at first.

[Elise]

When Amber was first declared missing, Bonnie.

[Annie Elise]

Felt confident that Amber would be found, that she would get home, she'd be safe and sound.

[Elise]

She prayed that Amber would just walk.

[Annie Elise]

In the front door at any minute, that she would see all the presents.

[Elise]

Under the tree, that her eyes would.

[Annie Elise]

Light up, and they could celebrate Amber's.

[Elise]

Favorite holiday together, that they would, you know, have a happy Christmas and everything.

[Annie Elise]

Would go back to normal. But instead, Bonnie now had to learn to live with this whole new definition of normal. And it was made much worse by.

[Elise]

Daniel, for him taking his own life.

[Annie Elise]

And taking whatever information he might have known with him. Him.

[Elise]

There were so many unknowns.

[Annie Elise]

The police didn't even name Daniel as.

[Elise]

A suspect, which is very frustrating because I already ran through all of the evidence against him.

[Annie Elise]

The timing of his death also certainly sounds suspicious.

[Elise]

I mean, that's a red flag in on its own, right?

[Annie Elise]

But from the sound of it, even with all those clues, all those leads.

[Elise]

Those, like, weird circumstances and coincidences.

[Annie Elise]

It wasn't quite enough for the police to publicly come out and say that he did it or that he even had something to do with it or.

[Elise]

That the disappearance was solved. I mean, nothing.

[Annie Elise]

Time went on. And every couple of years the authorities would release age progressed photos of Amber.

[Elise]

They would ask if anybody had seen her.

[Annie Elise]

Occasionally, tips would come in here or.

[Elise]

There with people saying that Amber is alive, that she's living in different areas.

[Annie Elise]

In the United States.

[Elise]

You know, all of the tips that we always hear.

[Annie Elise]

But none of those tips panned out.

[Elise]

And unfortunately decades went by.

[Unknown]

Evening. Glad you're with us. It is the face and the case investigators cannot forget. Little Amber Barker would have turned 27 this year.

She disappeared back in 1997 while riding her bicycle home in our northwest Oklahoma City neighborhood. News 9 Crime Tracker Adriana Iwashinsky is digging into this and talked with those closest to the case. Adriana.

Well, Oklahoma City police tell me this is still an active investigation and they have never given up hope of one day answering the question of what happened to Amber. Oklahoma City police confirmed they have been quietly looking into this case for the past four years. Investigators with their crimes against children unit have been going over every piece of evidence with a fresh set of eyes to see if there's something there that was missed. The first time police did recover Amber's bicycle as well as her shoes and a sweater. And on that sweater, police found partial DNA of a man but are yet to make a match.

Investigators believe that somebody out there knows the whole story, or at least enough of the story for us to be able to put the pieces together. And after all these years, we still want to hear from that person. That information is still vital to the case.

And if you have any information, you are urged to call Crime Stoppers at 2357300. There is a reward. Live in the newsroom, Adriana Ivashinsky, News 9.

All right, stay on top of it for us. Both police and the family want to know as to where to locate Amber. And if she is actually deceased, they want to find the body and be able to give her a proper burial.

[Annie Elise]

But that is not the end of the story.

[Elise]

Starting with in 2007, Amber's father, Robert died. And six years later, in 2013, her sister Brandi also passed away. And the circumstances around her death were a little suspicious.

[Annie Elise]

A month before her death, Brandi moved from Oklahoma City to a smaller town.

[Elise]

In Oklahoma to be with her boyfriend. And this guy, I'm sorry to say, was bad news.

[Annie Elise]

Soon After Brandi moved, her boyfriend just left her.

[Elise]

Like she literally had uprooted her whole life.

[Annie Elise]

She went to a place where she had no family, no friends, no job, all for this guy.

[Elise]

And he just like booked it, ghosted.

[Annie Elise]

Her and peaced out. I don't know the full context here.

[Elise]

I mean, maybe the relationship was already.

[Annie Elise]

Rocky and Brandy only moved with him.

[Elise]

As a last ditch effort to save it. Maybe she did something that was a red flag or a deal breaker for.

[Annie Elise]

Him after she moved in with him. I don't know. Or maybe he was just this massive ass.

[Elise]

I don't know the full situation.

[Annie Elise]

There's a lot of possibilities. But what I do know is that Brandi moved to be with this guy and now they were broken up and.

[Elise]

She had nowhere to live.

[Annie Elise]

She also was unemployed and didn't have.

[Elise]

The money to rent her own apartment.

[Annie Elise]

So instead she ended up living in a trailer. The man who owned the trailer and who usually lived there was in the hospital and I'm guessing that she must have gotten a good deal on rent or something.

[Elise]

Maybe it was even free, I don't know.

[Annie Elise]

But the point is, she was staying there rather than letting it sit around empty. Then sometime in the summer of 2013, a bunch of huge storms, which included.

[Elise]

Tornadoes, hit the area where Brandi was living.

[Annie Elise]

And then one morning, Brandi was found.

[Elise]

In a ditch 20ft from her trailer. Her clothes were also all scattered all around her on the ground.

[Annie Elise]

The ditch was full of water and the police ruled that Brandi must have gotten caught in one of those storms and then she had drowned because of it.

[Elise]

But a lot of people did not agree with their findings.

[Annie]

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[Elise]

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[Annie]

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[Annie Elise]

Apparently, according to the gossip, there wasn't.

[Elise]

Even a storm the night when Brandi died. On top of that, her body had a really bad head injury. And it didn't seem like the sort of injury that you would get from.

[Annie Elise]

Hitting a piece of, you know, flying.

[Elise]

Deb that was being blown around in the wind. It seemed much more serious.

[Annie Elise]

Now, that didn't automatically mean that Brandi.

[Elise]

Died due to foul play, because apparently.

[Annie Elise]

She also had a history of drug use. So one theory is that she got.

[Elise]

High, that she wandered out of her.

[Annie Elise]

Trailer, and then she passed out, hit.

[Elise]

Her head, and either overdosed or drowned in that ditch that was filled with water.

[Annie Elise]

If that's the case, maybe the police were trying to protect her reputation when they say that she died in a storm. You know, it was a polite lie so that they wouldn't be speaking ill of the dead.

[Elise]

Debbie, her sister, has said that she believed that theory.

[Annie Elise]

But even as she was saying that.

[Elise]

You know, going to reporters and saying that she thought it was an overdose.

[Annie Elise]

She also made a point of saying.

[Elise]

That Brandi's ex was really bad news.

[Annie Elise]

Apparently, about a month before her death, this ex had attacked Brandi. He allegedly had beaten her up and.

[Elise]

He had cut her throat.

[Annie Elise]

So this led some people to think.

[Elise]

That maybe he or somebody else murdered.

[Annie Elise]

Brandi and then got away with it.

[Elise]

Because of her past history with drug.

[Annie Elise]

Use and the fact that she lived.

[Elise]

In this tornado county and all of these, you know, coincidences that could explain it away.

[Annie Elise]

And sadly, the tragedies don't stop there. A year after Brandi died, Bonnie also passed away. That's Amber's mother. She died from natural causes. She died without any concrete answers about the real cause of death for both Brandi or Amber. But up until her death, Bonnie always.

[Elise]

Maintained that Daniel did something to Amber.

[Annie Elise]

Specifically, Bonnie thought that Daniel killed her. Although it was hard for Bonnie to admit that, because in one interview, she said that she never wanted to give up hope. She never wanted to let go of the possibility that maybe someday Amber would.

[Elise]

Come back home, you know, come in the door, and she would be fine.

[Annie Elise]

But as the years went by, that looked less and less likely. Even Bonnie had to admit that if.

[Elise]

Amber was alive out there somewhere, that.

[Annie Elise]

She would have found a way to.

[Elise]

Get in touch with her by now.

[Annie Elise]

She would have gotten in touch with the family eventually. Even if she was being held hostage.

[Elise]

Or something horrible like that, she believes that she could have figured out a way to either get out or get the message out.

[Annie Elise]

And the fact that she didn't seemed like confirmation that Amber, sadly was deceased. But not everybody agrees with Bonnie's take, because you'll remember that Daniel was common.

[Elise]

Law married to Amber's sister, Debbie, and.

[Annie Elise]

That the two of them had a daughter together. Well, almost any time that Debbie gave any kind of interview, she would say that she believed that Daniel was innocent, that he had nothing to do with Amber's disappearance. Debbie also claims that she knows who did it and that she's told the police that, but she has never come out with a name. All she'll say is that the real kidnapper got away with it and that.

[Elise]

The real kidnapper is still alive today.

[Annie Elise]

Now, as for the suspicious timing around.

[Elise]

Daniel's death by suicide, well, according to.

[Annie Elise]

Debbie, he didn't actually die at his own hand. He didn't take his own life.

[Elise]

According to Debbie, the person who hurt Amber also murdered Daniel.

[Annie Elise]

And this person had staged his death to make it look like he had killed himself, which.

[Annie]

Okay, if it goes really deep.

[Annie Elise]

Let me just put my tinfoil hat.

[Elise]

On and get conspiracy theory here for a minute. I could see that maybe happening. Maybe in a Lifetime movie, not really real life possible. I don't know.

[Annie Elise]

But there also is kind of this weird.

[Elise]

And I'm just going to be very clear here.

[Annie Elise]

This is just speculation.

[Elise]

There is absolutely no reason to believe that this is true. But there also is some weird undercurrent here of, like, what's their names?

[Annie Elise]

Carla Homolka Vibes.

[Elise]

You remember the couple in Canada, and.

[Annie Elise]

She allowed her boyfriend to, like, rape her younger sister and then they murdered her.

[Elise]

It was like this whole thing, and he went on to, like, have this killing spree. I'm not saying that her sister is involved, but there are a Lot of people out there, as I was going into this deep, dark hole on this case that feel like there's some sort of weird cover up happening here and that she's a little too stand by her man. Maybe she's doing that because he's innocent. Maybe he didn't really take his own life. But there's something, you know, that doesn't sit right with a lot of people with this.

[Annie Elise]

And there have also been a few.

[Elise]

More recent developments here, and they're worth touching on.

[Annie Elise]

In 2015, the police announced that they were collecting DNA from an Oklahoma county inmate. He went by a few different names, but most of my sources call him Forrest Rice.

[Elise]

So that's the name I'm going to be using.

[Annie Elise]

Well, as it turns out, Forrest was.

[Elise]

Best friends with Daniel.

[Annie Elise]

And Daniel was with him on the day that he died, the day that he killed himself. You know, unless you believe Debbie's claim.

[Elise]

That actually Daniel was murdered, allegedly, Forrest.

[Annie Elise]

And Daniel were also hanging out on.

[Elise]

The evening when Amber disappeared.

[Annie Elise]

And the following day, which I do find interesting because the police said that nobody could verify Daniel's alibi.

[Elise]

And make of this what you will, but Forrest's story also contradicts Daniel's alibi.

[Annie Elise]

Daniel said he was looking for Debbie.

[Elise]

All over town, and then he stopped for a beer. Right.

[Annie Elise]

But he didn't say that he was.

[Elise]

At Forrest's house all night. Now, maybe there's a way to reconcile all of that. Like, Daniel went to Forrest's house while he was looking for Debbie, and then.

[Annie Elise]

It was late enough for him to.

[Elise]

Stop searching and just stay there.

[Annie Elise]

Maybe Forrest was with him looking for Debbie.

[Elise]

Maybe there was time for Daniel to hurt Amber, then go to Forrest's house afterward.

[Annie Elise]

Or maybe Forrest is lying.

[Elise]

I mean, there are a lot of possibilities, but here's where things get complicated.

[Annie Elise]

The police have always been very clear, very firm that they don't believe that Forrest took Amber or that he killed her. They don't even consider him a suspect. In an interview, one spokesperson for the police department said that they just wanted to question Forrest because they thought that.

[Elise]

He might have some sort of information.

[Annie Elise]

Which, reading between the lines, and this.

[Elise]

Is just speculation, but I wonder if.

[Annie Elise]

The detectives think that Daniel did it, but they can't prove it. And with Daniel dead, it's not like they can just pull him into an.

[Elise]

Interrogation room and try to get a confession out of him.

[Annie Elise]

So instead, maybe they're trying to go for the next best thing. Talking to Daniel's best friends, try to see if any of Them know more than what they've been saying. And in fact, the police spokesperson implied.

[Elise]

That pretty strongly in their interview.

[Annie Elise]

They definitely made it sound like the police were only even looking at Forrest because of what he maybe knew about.

[Elise]

The real guilty parties. Except if that was true, if that.

[Annie Elise]

Was really what they had in mind, then why do the DNA testing on Forrest? Well, there are two things that are.

[Elise]

Worth keeping in mind here.

[Annie Elise]

The first is that even though the.

[Elise]

Police didn't have the technology to get.

[Annie Elise]

DNA from what was possibly semen back.

[Elise]

In 1997, technology has come a long way since then.

[Annie Elise]

By 2015, the police had recovered partial.

[Elise]

DNA from that material they found inside her vomit.

[Annie Elise]

There wasn't enough of it to identify.

[Elise]

Any one single individual, though, but there.

[Annie Elise]

Was enough for them to at least start ruling people out.

[Elise]

If someone had a sample that was close to that partial DNA, they could be a suspect. If they weren't close, they could be ruled out.

[Annie Elise]

So I could see the police officers.

[Elise]

Maybe doing these kinds of, you know, DNA comparisons as a matter of, like.

[Annie Elise]

Due diligence and staying course with the investigation. Anyone they talked to, even if they weren't a major suspect, they might give a sample just to be safe. But to me, the more compelling reason that the police would need Forest's DNA was if they thought that there was a chance that that might put him at the scene of a crime. It doesn't seem like they would spend the money and the laboratory's time and.

[Elise]

Resources after so many years unless they.

[Annie Elise]

Really thought that there was. Would be a chance that there was a match here. So then you throw that into it, and it doesn't really fit the whole.

[Elise]

You know, we just think that he knows something narrative that the police were putting out there.

[Annie Elise]

Who knows?

[Elise]

I mean, there probably is more to the story, but nobody's talking, nobody's really saying what is going on here either way.

[Annie Elise]

The investigators compared Forrest's DNA to the.

[Elise]

Semen that was found on Amber's sweater and also to the blood that was on her shoe.

[Annie Elise]

But to this day, they haven't confirmed whether or not it was a match. They also haven't publicly cleared him or named him as a suspect.

[Elise]

So make of that what you will.

[Annie Elise]

I will say, though, that, like, Daniel.

[Elise]

Forrest wasn't really a great guy.

[Annie Elise]

He had many charges against him, including.

[Elise]

Things like assault, battery, and even cooking meth.

[Unknown]

Well, the investigation now points here to this community corrections center where Forrest Jay Rice is being held. Now, according to this search warrant, police want Rice's DNA. They believe it May be the key to finding out what happened to Amber Barker.

I just want to tell Amber if you're out there, I love you.

They're pleas from past interviews. Amber Barker's family wishing for her safe return.

Amber, we're with you. And mommy's gonna come and get you, honey. I really love you.

That was Amber mother. Days after the nine year old Oklahoma City girl went missing in 1997, she never returned home after leaving her friend's house. Her blue bike was found in Denison Park a mile from her home. The next day, her sweater, shoes and a sock were found on Northwest 12th near Drexel. Police now want to retest that sweater for DNA evidence. On it they found vomit. New court documents reveal there was possible ejaculate in the vomit. Investigators want to see if it's a match with Forrest Rice, who at the time was a close family friend of the Barkers. He's said to have known Amber's brother in law who was wanted for questioning at the time but committed suicide. Investigators believe he may hold the key to finding Amber barker. Dave Detling, KOCO 5 News.

[Elise]

Now there's one last person who I want to touch on here, Joseph, because.

[Annie Elise]

You'Ll remember he was dating brandi back in 1997 and he was at Bonnie's.

[Elise]

House for some reason the day that Amber went.

[Annie Elise]

He's the one who said that Daniel was there for that phone call from Amber to Bonnie. And then he said that Daniel left.

[Elise]

The house right after Bonnie was done with the phone call.

[Annie Elise]

Even though remember Bonnie had remembered it.

[Elise]

Differently and she said that Daniel hadn't been there for that phone call. And I think that this is pretty interesting because in the years after Amber's.

[Annie Elise]

Disappearance and after Daniel's death, the police treated Joseph like a person of interest.

[Elise]

I don't really know why.

[Annie Elise]

I don't know if there was some sort of evidence that maybe made him look guilty or what or if it really just does come down to the.

[Elise]

Tim phone call and the fact that Joseph overheard it.

[Annie Elise]

But they did treat him like a person of interest. It's possible that there's some other information.

[Elise]

That hasn't been made public, something that maybe makes Joseph look guilty.

[Annie Elise]

But what I do know is that the police have definitely been treating him.

[Elise]

Suspicious and keeping an eye out on him.

[Annie Elise]

For his part, Joseph makes it sound.

[Elise]

Like he doesn't even know why they are suspicious of him at all.

[Annie Elise]

According to him, he's innocent.

[Elise]

There's absolutely no reason for him to be treated this way.

[Unknown]

We talked to Bishop today by phone.

The whole family was questioning. Everybody was questioning. Taken down in police station and polygraphed and all that.

Did you undergo a polygraph?

Yes, I did.

Bishop, who lives in Dallas now, says he does not know what happened to Amber Barker that day.

No, I have no idea.

Bishop was dating Amber Barker's older sister, Brandy at the time and admits they had a rocky relationship. He says what happened to Amber most likely was taken to the grave with Daniel Smith. Smith was Amber's brother in law and committed suicide just days after police questioned him about her disappearance.

Then they let him go and three days later they found him hanging dead in the park.

Bishop says he, like Amber's family, wants to know what happened and says it is possible someone still knows something but just hasn't come forward.

I hope someday they get all the answers they're looking for.

[Annie Elise]

Now, of course, different reporters and different people in the media have asked the.

[Elise]

Police why they were even talking to.

[Annie Elise]

Joseph, what kind of statement they wanted to make. And the investigators said basically the same.

[Elise]

Thing about Joseph that they had said about Forrest earlier.

[Annie Elise]

He wasn't a suspect, but maybe he knew something and the police wanted to know what he knew. Like I mentioned before when we were.

[Elise]

Talking about the police questioning Forrest, it.

[Annie Elise]

Does sound to me like there is.

[Elise]

More to it than that.

[Annie Elise]

So I'm not sure how much we.

[Elise]

Can take the police for at face value here.

[Annie Elise]

They might be keeping some of the parts of the investigation quiet and saying.

[Elise]

Things that aren't totally true. That does happen because they don't want to ruin the integrity of the investigation.

[Annie Elise]

But the point is that's kind of.

[Elise]

Where we're at with this case.

[Annie Elise]

And that's why so many people are.

[Elise]

Outraged on Tick Tock and why I was like tagged in literally a third.

[Annie Elise]

This video a thousand times. Because to this day, Amber has never been found. Not alive, not dead, nothing. The police also have never publicly named a suspect. However, the police have always been very, very careful to say that the case is not closed and that it's not cold. They're still investigating and they're still digging. Every few years, a new team will come on board.

[Elise]

They will review everything, you know, hoping that maybe a fresh set of eyes.

[Annie Elise]

Can find something that all of those earlier investigations missed. But so far, nothing has come out of those reviews. No huge breaks, or at least no breaks that they have announced to the public anyway. It is possible that there are new directions and avenues of the investigation behind the scenes, maybe ones that we don't know about. And I really do hope that that's.

[Elise]

The case because I hope that Amber.

[Annie Elise]

Can get justice soon and her surviving.

[Elise]

Family members, those who have survived. If Amber is alive today, that would mean she's 37 years old now. For the people watching on YouTube, I'm putting her age progression photo up now.

[Annie Elise]

And if you have seen her, please do call in and say what you know. It might seem hopeless given how many.

[Elise]

Years have gone by, but Amber's body.

[Annie Elise]

Has never been found.

[Elise]

There's also no proof out there that.

[Annie Elise]

She is in fact dead. So just in case, keep your eyes open.

[Elise]

If you see something, say something, and even when it feels unlikely, let's just altogether have a little bit of hope that maybe, maybe this story might have some sort of closure for Amber's surviving family.

[Annie Elise]

I think that's why it's going so viral online too.

[Elise]

Everybody wants answers, so please do your.

[Annie Elise]

Part in that too. Share a link to this episode Share a link to this video.

[Elise]

Put it in your group chat, on your social media, on TikTok, wherever you want to put it. I don't copyright strike.

[Annie Elise]

Don't worry.

[Elise]

I just want these cases spread so that awareness is made and like, hopefully.

[Annie Elise]

Some tips come in and answers can.

[Elise]

Be found and people can figure out.

[Annie Elise]

What really happened to Amber. And what do you think happened, Amber?

[Elise]

Let me know if you're on watching.

[Annie Elise]

On YouTube, let me know in the comment section, but if you're listening to.

[Elise]

The podcast version, let me know either.

[Annie Elise]

In the Q and A section on.

[Elise]

Spotify or in the Apple review section. But what do you think happened? Do you think it was clear cut that it was Daniel, that he attacked Amber as some sort of retaliation against Debbie since she fled with their child? Do you think that it was Joseph.

[Annie Elise]

Who was the other kid, the older teenage boy that was in the house.

[Elise]

And that he was pointing the finger at Daniel because he's the one who's responsible? Could it have been a stranger? I mean, the blue fibers, you know, most seats, I don't remember in 1997 if it was mostly leather or cloth. But like, it feels like that's kind of a big tell, right? Blue fibers, Blue fibers. I don't know. What do you guys think?

[Annie Elise]

In any event, thank you guys so.

[Elise]

Much for hearing Amber's story today. And I think we're a far cry from where we were in 1997. I used to be able to ride my. I would actually be the. Amber would be the same age as me. I was born in 87 as well, which is a very scary thought.

[Annie Elise]

To think about.

[Elise]

But I remember I used to be able to just like, ride my bike and go play with the neighbor kids until the street lights came on. And unfortunately, it feels like we live in a day and age now where you just. Just can't do that anymore. There's not that same sense of innocence or freedom. So please, just be careful with your.

[Annie Elise]

Kids, your loved ones.

[Elise]

If you're young yourself, be extra cautious.

[Annie Elise]

Even if you're not young, hell, be.

[Elise]

Extra cautious because there are so many predators out there.

[Annie Elise]

Some of them live closer than you think too.

[Elise]

Some of them are closer than you think. So please, just always watch your back. All right, guys, thank you so much for tuning into another episode episode. Until the next one, stay safe, be nice, don't kill people, don't join any cults, and just always watch your back.

[Annie]

All right, Bye.