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Barbara McClure vanished from Lake Forest Park in 1978 and has yet to be found

A young mother vanished in 1978. Her daughter, family, friends and detectives are trying to uncover what happened to her.

SEATTLE — A young mom vanished from Lake Forest Park in North Seattle over 40 years ago.

Barbara Annette McClure was 24 years old when she went missing. She has yet to be found. 

Her 2-year-old daughter grew up without a mom and now, dozens of years later, she is on a mission to figure out what happened on that November night.

On Nov. 2, 1978, Barbara went out with some friends to the Sirloin. There was a discotheque located inside called the Fandango. 

According to detectives, there was an argument that took place between Barbara and one of her friends, then Barbara decided to walk home. That was the last time anybody saw her.

Credit: KING 5
This is where Barbara McClure was last seen after a night out with her friends.

"When I look at her stuff, I feel sad. I don’t feel connected to her and who she was," Jamie Stupey, McClure's daughter said.

Stupey has kept cases and cases of her mother's photographs, cards and other keepsakes. She believes they could contain valuable information for the case.

Stupey was only two years old when her mother disappeared, so she mainly knows her mother through family stories and faded memories.

"I hear she was very strong and beautiful and liked to run her own show and confident and loving and caring," Stupey said. "And very willing to speak up for what she believed was right and wrong."

One memory does stick out to her.

"My only memory is being at my aunt’s house a few weeks after and asking when I was going to see my mom," she said.

Detective John Free works with the King County Sheriff’s Office and is assigned to McClure's case.

"Some of her friends got into a vehicle and they drove after her, tried to convince her to get into the car so they could drive her home. She declined and said that she wanted to keep walking," Free said.

Several days later on Nov. 8, road crews found her driver's license at the intersection of I-5 and I-405, north of Bothell.

Credit: KING 5
Barbara McClure's driver's license was found here

Free has many questions surrounding the dropped, or purposefully placed driver's license.

"How did it end up there? Why did it end up there? Was a dropped by her? Was it dropped by somebody else? That's obviously a major question regarding this investigation," he said.

McClure's family is also very interested in the recovered license.

"I do think it was put there by somebody," said Karleen Klopp, McClure's niece. "It was intentionally left."

Klopp was 7 years old when her aunt Barbara went missing.

"We weren’t allowed to talk about her, we weren’t allowed to ask questions. We waited around at Christmas time, no one prayed for her. She was just gone. To me, that makes no sense," Klopp said. "You can’t just erase people. They disappear and people shrug their shoulders."

Klopp remembers that her family told her she went away, but would be coming back.

McClure's friend from high school, Marvalee Smith, said "she felt from day one" she wouldn't just vanish.

"She had a twinkle in her eye and she was very matter-of-fact," Smith said.

Smith said the last time she talked to McClure was when she and her husband offered to babysit Stupey. But McClure told her she'd be at her dad's house for the weekend. That was the weekend she vanished.

'I don't know what I believe anymore'

"I will say that my entire life I have never felt like she was dead and certainly not out of that being the best scenario for me, because the idea of saying she left would be harder," Stupey said.

Stupey says she believes there are many ways that November night could have gone.

"I don’t know that I know what I believe anymore, she said. "I don’t know how I can emotionally find a place for that to be okay now. But with everything that we have been talking and looking at, recently, I feel like there are a lot of other possibilities."

Free remains optimistic about the likelihood of solving this case.

"I think that this is an investigation that can be solved by talking to the right people. I think somebody who knows her has information about her disappearance," Free said. "And even if they don't, we still want to hear from people that knew her.

"There are people that are here right now that know exactly what happened that night and I believe that," Stupey said.

McClure's daughter shares brand-new information about the case

Stupey decided to tell the Unsolved Northwest team new information never shared before in hopes of gathering new leads.

"There was someone following my mom around, most likely a hired person. I’d like to know who that person was," Stupey said. "Whoever that person is, that person has answers to things we need, I think. I think it would tell a lot."

Detective Free says he has no information about her being followed by anyone.

"You can’t escape the truth," Klopp said. "Somebody knows the truth so that’s what I’m hoping for."

Anyone who knows anything about the disappearance of Barbara Ann McClure is urged to contact the King County Sheriff’s Office Major Crimes Unit.

Do you want to hear more about Unsolved Northwest? Text the word UNSOLVED to (206) 448-4545 to get messages from the team about the latest cases and updates on past stories, or to send them your questions.

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