The Disappearance of Brian Barton
I watched an episode of Disappeared for this case. It’s season 3 episode 4, titled ‘The Last Chord.’ I tried to look up as much information as I could after I watched this episode and there’s very little information on it. A 25 year old man died, and there’s speculation as to whether he was murdered or just walked away to start a new life.
Background
Brian Barton was adopted by J.B. and Maureen Barton, and had a younger brother named Adam. He grew up in Vista, California and at age 21, he moved to Federal Way, Washington with his best friend.
Brian Barton
Brian was in a punk rock band called As Fate Would Have It, he was the lead guitarist. The day before he disappeared, he quit the band unexpectedly. His bandmates were interviewed in this episode, and they said they were upset and thought Brian had picked his relationship with Breanna over them.
Disappearance Timeline
March 10, 2005-
Brian went to work, and had a counseling appointment after work at 4pm.
Brian’s fiancé, Breanna Duvall had set up the appointment for him because he seemed depressed in the last few days before he disappeared.
Breanna tried calling Brian around 5pm, after his appointment and his phone went right to voicemail. When she got home from work, Brian’s truck was in the driveway of their apartment. When she went inside, she noticed that he wasn’t there.
Breanna started looking around the apartment and found Brian’s work clothes, and wallet with over $800 in cash. She also found his keys and phone in his truck.
Breanna called Maureen, Brian’s mom, and told her. Maureen told Breanna to file a missing persons report so that the police could get involved.
March 11, 2005-
Brian’s bandmates searched for him.
March 14- 4 days missing
Darlene Deyo, a police officer, got involved in the search and investigation for Brian.
The first person she interviewed was Breanna. She found it odd that Breanna had reported Brian missing after only a few hours, she said most people don’t report someone missing until 24-48 hours after they last hear from someone.
Detective Deyo also spoke with Brian’s counselor and she said he seemed depressed and said “now I know what I have to do,” before leaving the appointment.
March 21, 2005- 10 days missing
Brian’s brother and dad met Detective Deyo in Federal Way, at Brian and Breanna’s old apartment. Detective Deyo said she got a weird feeling that something had happened to Brian inside the apartment.
They found a screen door that had been bent and taken off the door frame. Aside from that there were no other signs of a struggle.
Detective Deyo also met with the other members of Brian’s band, and they all seemed to accuse one member: Dylan “Tank” Loorem. She also thought they had talked about their stories before hand, and that no one would actually look her in the eyes when she was interviewing them.
May 11, 2005- 1 month missing
Brian’s friend and bandmate named Rusty Reed also quit the band. He said he didn't know who he could trust, and also suspected Dylan of doing something to Brian.
Rusty said a few days after he quit the band, he saw a social media post of Dylan with a handgun, and a comment that said “Rusty ended my band, so I’m going to end him.” Rusty and Dylan, both were interviewed for this episode and Dylan claimed “it was a prank.”
Dylan’s picture on Myspace
May 23, 2005-
Detective Deyo handed over the investigation to the Federal Way Police Department.
Dylan moved to Los Angeles for a new music gig, and said he wanted to get away because people thought he was guilty and were making accusations about him.
June 9, 2005-
Breanna said the police came to her house at 5am, and took her into the police station. She said that she had no idea until then that they were looking at her as a suspect. Dylan and Ryan, another one of Brian’s friend’s were interviewed.
Officer Doug Laird of the Federal Way PD, said all three persons of interest were starting to point the finger at the others. They all seemed to think Dylan was the most capable because of his size.
The police then did a search for Dylan’s grandma’s property, a place where the band would sometimes rehearse. They brought cadaver dogs, and one of the dogs actually hit on a patch of dirt. It ended up being a body of another dog.
The police also searched Brian’s old apartment, and they found a stain in the carpet. The test on the stain ended up coming back as negative. The police were disappointed.
June 28, 2007- 2 years later
Dylan, Breanna and Ryan all took and passed polygraph tests and were cleared.
Brian’s missing poster information
Other
Brian Barton’s skeletal remains were found at a Federal Way church, called Evergreen Bible Chapel. The church was a mile from where Brian was living in 2005.
Dylan Loorem died in 2015.
Theories
Murder- The police detectives seem to think this is the most likely scenario. The police suspected Brian’s bandmates the most.
Suicide- Before Brian’s remains were found, some seemed to think Brian walked away and wanted to commit suicide. His fiancé, Breanna said Brian would talk about seeing an angel that wanted him to join the forces of evil, and that he could only do that if he was dead.
Starting a new life- We can probably guess that isn’t what happened. In the beginning of this episode, Breanna said that Brian wanted her to go with him to Florida, so he could meet his birth mom. However, it’s strange that he wouldn’t have just gone to meet her and not tell anyone. Maureen, Brian’s adopted mom, said she checked the National Registry for Adoption and that he never contacted his birth mom.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I personally think he was murdered. It seems the most likely, if his remains were found. Could he have committed suicide? Yes. My guess is that it’ll take longer to find out what really happened, since his remains were skeletal.
I feel so bad for Brian’s family. His mom was crying at the end of the episode and said they have no answers, and that they don’t have a place to say goodbye to him. This was before his remains were found though, so maybe now they have a peaceful place to lay Brian.
Sources
https://ohhowpeculiar.tumblr.com/post/160958892383/what-happened-to-brian-barton
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/remains-missing-punk-rocker-seattle_n_598381a3e4b08b75dcc5ec1d
https://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/article164873697.html
