The 1981 disappearance of Barbara Louise Cotton is one of North Dakota’s longest-running cold cases. Episode 16, Open Records, explains the role of public records in advancing true crime investigations and how they matter in unsolved murder cases like Barbara’s. This update also introduces a new Facebook group — Find Barb Cotton (https://www.facebook.com/FindBarbCotton) — dedicated to sharing information and keeping her case alive. A Better Search for Barbara continues to blend investigative journalism with real crime investigations into one of the Midwest’s most enduring unsolved mysteries.

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