Missing
Barbara Jean Paciotti
Paciotti, approximately 1969
Date and time person was reported missing : 06/14/1969
Missing location (approx) :
Hibbing, Minnesota
Missing classification : Endangered Missing
Gender : Female
Ethnicity :
White
DOB : 03/11/1949 (72)
Age at the time of disappearance: 20 years old
Height / Weight : 4'11, 98 pounds
Description, clothing, jewerly and more : A rust-colored jacket, a red plaid dress, loafers, and rings set with jade and topaz stones.
Distinguishing characteristics, birthmarks, tattoos
: Caucasian female. Dark brown hair, brown eyes. Paciotti's nicknames are Barb and Barbie. She is of Italian and Serbian descent.
Information on the case from local sources, may or may not be correct : Paciotti was a resident of Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1969. She was visiting her parents in Hibbing, Minnesota on June 14, 1969 when she was last seen near Sammy's Pizza downtown, just after midnight.
Paciotti's roommate saw her get into a green 1964 Oldsmobile driven by Jeffrey Dolinich, whom she was dating at the time. The vehicle belonged to Dolinich's father. Paciotti has never been heard from again.
When questioned about Paciotti's case in 1969, Dolinich claimed they had argued in his car and he left the vehicle as a result. When police searched his car, they found Paciotti's purse with her identification inside. One of the purse's straps was detached.
The officers who questioned Dolinich noticed clothing stained with grass and mud lying on the floor of his apartment. They subsequently searched the residence, but Dolinich's muddy shoes and pants had already been taken away by his mother. Investigators recovered the shoes, but not the pants.
Dolinich threatened to commit suicide after Paciotti's disappearance and was hospitalized for observation. He sent a cryptic, remorseful-sounding letter to her parents shortly after she was last seen. In the letter, he stated he had hit Paciotti and later he woke up without her in Mora, Minnesota, and he believed she was deceased.
The investigation in Paciotti's disappearance was reopened in 2005 and Dolinich was named as the only suspect in her case. He was reinterviewed by authorities, hired an attorney refused to cooperate further in the investigation.
Several searches in and around property formerly owned by Dolinich have turned up no evidence in Paciotti's case, and he never faced charges in her disappearance. He is now deceased.
Paciotti's family does not believe she would have left voluntarily. Authorities believe Paciotti met with foul play and is deceased, but there is as yet insufficient evidence to charge anyone in her disappearance. She was employed as a secretary for an investment firm in 1969. Her father and sister died in 1977 and her mother in 2004, but her brother is still alive.
Paciotti's loved ones held a memorial service for her in 2008. Her case remains unsolved.
Other information and links : ncy
Hibbing Police Department
218-263-3601
September 2021 updates and sources
The Doe Network
The Minneapolis Star-Tribune
The Hibbing Daily Tribune
Spotlight on Crime
Fox 21 News
7 October 12, 2004. April 29, 2014; Information on the case from local sources, may or may not be correct : updated.
Interactive Missing Person Search Map
