In the summer of 1978, just after her eighteenth birthday, Barbara Jean Monaco traveled from her home in Derby, Connecticut, for a week-long vacation with her older sister in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The two sisters checked into the Aloha Motel on 15th Street on August 20, 1978. In the early morning hours of August 23, Barbara left the motel alone to walk six blocks to a bar called Peabody's, where she had a date to meet a bartender.
She was last seen wearing a long-sleeved yellow shirt, blue jeans, a brown belt, and wooden clogs. Witnesses reported seeing Barbara get into a car on Pacific Avenue with four or five men inside. She never made it to her date and was never heard from again. When her sister attempted to report her missing later that day, the police required a 48-hour waiting period to file a report.
Eight months after Barbara's disappearance, her family offered a $10,000 reward for any information. This led to a man coming forward who claimed to have witnessed her assault and murder. He told investigators that she was abducted while walking on Pacific Avenue, taken to a lakeside cottage near Oceana, Virginia, and that her body was dumped in a lake. Authorities searched the lake and found a cinder block with a rope attached, but Barbara's remains were not recovered. Although the informant reportedly passed a polygraph test, he stopped cooperating when he was denied immunity from prosecution. Over the years, other individuals have been considered persons of interest, but no one has ever been charged in connection with her disappearance.
The investigation into what happened to Barbara Jean Monaco has been hampered by the passage of time and the reluctance of witnesses to come forward. One of the main suspects in her case took his own life in 2001, just hours after speaking with police and providing details only someone present at the time of her disappearance would have known. Police believe a group of local men were involved in her likely abduction and murder, but a lack of concrete evidence and cooperative witnesses has left the case unsolved. The case officially remains a long-term missing person investigation, one of the oldest in Virginia Beach, leaving her family with unanswered questions and a profound sense of loss.Last Seen: Aug 23, 1978
