Missing
Barbara Lee Elms
Elms, approximately 1993
Date and time person was reported missing : 08/25/1993
Missing location (approx) :
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Missing classification : Endangered Missing
Gender : Female
Ethnicity :
White
DOB : 04/02/1943 (78)
Age at the time of disappearance: 50 years old
Height / Weight : 5'3, 150 pounds
Description, clothing, jewerly and more : White shorts, black hose, a multicolored blouse and high-top sneakers.
Medical conditions : Elms had a history of mental illness and alcohol and prescription drug abuse. She is classified as disabled.
Distinguishing characteristics, birthmarks, tattoos
: Caucasian female. Brown hair, green eyes. Elms often dances when she walks.
Information on the case from local sources, may or may not be correct : Elms resided in the 500 block of southeast 16th Street in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. She was last seen inside her home during the evening hours of August 25, 1993. Elms has never been heard from again.
She became estranged from her husband several years before her disappearance and they lived apart. Elms's husband stated she refused to apply for public assistance of any kind and lived in great poverty. He paid her rent and some of her other expenses, and she also scavenged for subsistence.
Elms's husband filed for divorce shortly before her disappearance; the divorce was finalized in November 1993. He promised her he would continue to support her financially. He stated she frequently went out at night alone, and was assaulted and robbed in a Cedar Rapids park the month before she disappeared.
Elms has a history of leaving without warning, but she was never gone for more than a few days, and she always took her possessions with her. At the time of her August 1993 disappearance, she took no belongings, not even her purse or identification. Soup she had planned to eat later that day was left out to rot, which is uncharacteristic of her.
Elms's loved ones believe she may be deceased or may be living homeless in another part of the country. Her case remains unsolved.
Other information and links : ncy
Cedar Rapids Police Department
319-398-5242
September 2021 updates and sources
Iowa Missing Person Information Clearinghouse
The Cedar Rapids Gazette
October 12, 2004. February 3, 2006; Description, clothing, jewerly and more : : , Distinguishing characteristics, birthmarks, tattoos
: and Information on the case from local sources, may or may not be correct : updated.
Interactive Missing Person Search Map
