Barbara Lealyn Lenz

Missing Person
Missing From: Logan/Woodbine, IA
Harrison County
Case # 8903215
Age at Report: 31 YOA
DOB: August 30, 1957
Weight: 130 lbs.
Height: 5' 07"
Hair Color: Brown
Eye Color: Blue
Classification: Endangered Missing
Missing Since: May 6, 1989

Case summary by Jody Ewing

Barbara Lenz was last seen by her boyfriend who dropped her off at her apartment on May 6, 1989. Barbara advised that she was going to visit an old boyfriend in Omaha that afternoon, but she never arrived. On May 17, 1989, the victim's family called the Woodbine Police Department and reported they had not had contact with her since May 3, 1989.

(The IA Missing Persons Clearinghouse also states that Lenz was reported missing to the Harrison County Sheriff's Office in Logan, Iowa.) Lenz lived about 17 miles northeast of Missouri Valley in Woodbine.

At the time of Lenz's disappearance, her mother was hospitalized in Missouri Valley with pneumonia and Lenz visited her every day. When she did not visit her mother for two days in a row, her mother sent relatives to check Lenz's residence. Inside the home they found Lenz's coffee pot half-full and switched on, her laundry half-folded, and Lenz's keys and purse left there.

Lenz, who left behind a three-year-old daughter, has never been heard from again and investigators believe she was taken against her will.

In May 2006, mushroom hunters in Council Bluffs, Iowa, found a 55-gallon barrel with a woman's skeletal remains inside, but dental records concluded the woman was not Lenz.

Lenz has a purple-colored scar two inches below her left elbow. Her case remains unsolved.

If you have any information regarding the disappearance of this individual, please contact the Harrison County Sheriff's Office at 712-644-2244 or send your information to the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.

Sources and References:

Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation
IDPS Missing Persons Clearinghouse
Project Jason
The Charley Project
KETV, Remains Found In Barrel Near Council Bluffs - May 12, 2006
KETV, One Woman Thinks Remains May Be Her Sister-In-Law - May 16, 2006

Page last updated: December 2, 2009