Thomas William Barkfelt was a 56-year-old white male who was last seen on October 12, 2015, in Pineville, Missouri, a quiet community in McDonald County where the last known chapter of his public timeline began. At the time, Thomas was living in Fairland, Oklahoma, but his case quickly crossed state lines because the circumstances connected Pineville, Missouri, with areas of northeastern Oklahoma.
Public missing-person records describe him as about 5 feet 10 inches tall and between 165 and 175 pounds, with graying brown hair and blue eyes. He was possibly wearing a baseball cap, and he had distinctive scars on his head and face from brain surgeries, a scar on his left forearm where a tattoo had been partially removed, and tattoos on both upper arms.
In the months before Thomas disappeared, his family and loved ones had already been living with worry. He had undergone surgery to remove a brain tumor in February 2015, and after that procedure, his behavior reportedly changed. Sources say he needed medication, suffered from seizures, and may have been confused or delusional. Those details give the case a deeply human and urgent dimension: Thomas was not simply away from home without explanation; he was a man whose medical condition could have made him vulnerable, disoriented, or unable to safely care for himself. Texas EquuSearch also noted that he had recent brain surgery, visible scars, seizures, and a serious need for medication, while The Charley Project reported that his loved ones believed he may have been in a delusional state.
Before he vanished, Thomas had reportedly been telling people that he had gotten a home in McDonald County, Missouri, and was moving there. According to the case summaries, that claim was not true. This detail has remained one of the central clues in the story because it suggests that Thomas may have been acting under a mistaken belief at the time he was last seen. After October 12, 2015, he was not heard from again, leaving his loved ones and investigators with only fragments: a vulnerable medical condition, an apparent belief about moving to Missouri, and the uncertainty of where he went after Pineville.
The next major development came nearly two weeks later. On October 24, 2015, Thomas’s light blue Ford Ranger pickup truck was found abandoned and towed from the Spavinaw Hills State Game Refuge, southwest of Eucha Lake Dam in Delaware County, Oklahoma. Investigators learned that the truck had already been there since October 15, three days after Thomas was last seen. The vehicle was unlocked, and inside were his wallet, cellular phone, and car keys, but Thomas himself was nowhere to be found. Oklahoma Cold Cases also notes that shoes were found in Delaware County on October 24, 2015, adding another troubling piece to the sparse public record.
The location of the truck deepened the concern. The area west and south of Eucha Lake Dam is a wildlife management or refuge area, and Oklahoma State Game Wardens initially towed the vehicle believing it was abandoned. The vehicle was only later discovered to belong to Thomas, and Uncovered reports that searches were conducted for him but that he had not been located. The distance between the place where Thomas was last reported seen and the place where his truck was recovered created a case that involved both Missouri and Oklahoma authorities, including the McDonald County Sheriff’s Office, the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office, the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office, and the Fairland Police Department.
Thomas’s disappearance remains a painful story built from a small number of known facts and many unanswered questions. He was a medically vulnerable 56-year-old man last seen in Pineville, Missouri, on October 12, 2015; he had undergone brain surgery earlier that year, reportedly needed medication, and may have been confused or delusional; he had spoken of moving to a home in McDonald County that sources say did not exist; and days later, his light blue Ford Ranger was found abandoned in Delaware County, Oklahoma, with important personal belongings still inside. The overview of the case is that Thomas William Barkfelt disappeared under concerning medical and behavioral circumstances, his vehicle was recovered in a remote Oklahoma area, searches followed, and the public record still centers on the same unresolved question that has burdened his loved ones from the beginning: what happened to Thomas after he was last seen.Last Seen: Oct 12, 2015
