Barbara Cotton’s 1981 disappearance is one of North Dakota’s most haunting cold cases. Episode 1, Five Blocks from Home, revisits her final walk just five blocks from home and the community’s quick dismissal of her as a “runaway.” Childhood friend Sandee Evanson never accepted that version, sparking a decades-long search for the truth. A Better Search for Barbara is a documentary style true crime series uncovering overlooked leads, missing persons reports, and investigative journalism into an unsolved mystery that continues to haunt the Midwest.

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