Richard Randolph Barnette, a White/Caucasian male reported as 63 years old in public missing-person listings, was last seen on January 16, 2023, in Bristol, Virginia. The NamUs case identifies him as Richard Randolph Barnette, missing from Bristol, Virginia, with the date of last contact recorded as January 16, 2023, and the case listed under NamUs number MP109047. Public case summaries describe him as a man with brown hair and brown eyes, standing about 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighing about 180 pounds, with a noted barbed-wire tattoo on his wrist or hand.
According to the reported circumstances, Richard was last seen at his Bristol, Virginia home. Before he disappeared, he told his family that he was going with a friend to West Virginia to do masonry work. That detail became central to the known public timeline: he was expected to be away for work, but the absence that followed became a source of deep concern for those who knew and loved him. Missing-person summaries connected to the case continue to repeat the same core account, suggesting that the publicly available facts remain limited and that the most important known lead is his stated plan to travel for work after leaving home.
The Bristol, Virginia Police Department was identified as the investigating agency in public reports, and local media reported that police were asking for help locating Richard after he was last seen by relatives on January 16, 2023. WCYB reported that the Bristol, Virginia Police Department described Richard Barnette as missing and asked anyone with information about his whereabouts to contact the department. The agency contact number publicly associated with the request for information was 276-645-7400, reflecting that investigators were seeking community assistance in reconstructing where Richard went and who may have seen or spoken with him after he left.
As the case stood in public missing-person records, Richard’s disappearance was not described through a long chain of confirmed sightings, recovered belongings, or detailed travel documentation. Instead, the public record appears sparse: a man left his Bristol home after telling his family he was headed to West Virginia for masonry work, and then concern grew when he could not be located. That quiet lack of detail is part of what makes the case so painful. For a family, uncertainty can be its own burden, leaving loved ones to hold onto a few known facts while hoping that someone, somewhere, remembers a conversation, a vehicle, a job arrangement, or a moment that could help explain what happened after January 16, 2023.
At its center, this is the case of Richard Randolph Barnette, a missing man from Bristol, Virginia, whose last known contact was on January 16, 2023. He was described in public records as male, White/Caucasian, with brown hair and brown eyes, about 5 feet 7 inches tall, around 180 pounds, and with a barbed-wire tattoo on his wrist or hand. He reportedly told his family he was going with a friend to West Virginia to do masonry work, and the Bristol Police Department has been identified as the investigating agency. In overview, Richard’s case remains defined by a brief but important timeline: he was last seen at home in Bristol, he left with the stated purpose of traveling for work, his family and authorities later sought answers, and the public record continues to ask anyone with information to help bring clarity to what happened to him.
Last Seen: Jan 16, 2023
