S2 E9 - Annastasia Runningwolf / Barbara Berry

- 25 year old Annastasia Runningwolf was last heard from in October of 2005. Her body was found in Oklahoma City on November 8th, 2005. At the time of her death, Annastasia was struggling with addiction and working the streets. Her body was found nude, except for a blanket which had been knotted around her entire body, and a black sweater that was inside out and covering her entire head. She had been bound by wire to bend her into a fetal position and she had been killed by blunt force trauma.

- In 1993, 19 year old Barbara Berry went missing from Lawton, Oklahoma. At the time, Barbara was sometimes working at a topless bar in Lawton, but also working the streets in order to support her drug habit. Over a year after she went missing, Barbara would be found, her remains were left in a box in a field in Comanche County.

Episode Transcript

(00:02):
This is a true story, butthe opinions of people interviewed or talk to
you are just that opinions, notfacts unless stated otherwise. Opinions stated by
witnesses are not to be seen asthe opinions of the sweete Anna Project or
anyone working for the podcast, andthe credibility of those opinions is to be
determined by the listener. Everyone haspresumed innocent until proven otherwise in a court

(00:24):
of law. This is the sweeteAnna Project. Welcome back. We took

(00:49):
a little mid season break there topull ourselves back together and we are ready
to go with the rest of thesecases now. In this episode, we
are going to be discussing Anastasia RunningWolf and Barbara Barry. Anastasia Gaale Running
Wolf. She was born November twentyninth, nineteen seventy nine. She was

(01:12):
twenty five years old at the timeof her death. She had a pretty
bad drug habit around the time ofher death. She was a known sex
worker who worked the streets of OklahomaCity and Lawton, Oklahoma. She also
danced in Lawton for a little bitand went by the name Cinnamon while she

(01:33):
was there. In two thousand andfour, Anastasia's grandfather banned her from the
family home when she stole some veryexpensive items from him, and she ended
up selling them so she could feedher drug habit because it had gotten that
bad. He thought by doing thisshe would have no way to get the

(01:55):
drugs and it would almost force herto get clean and then she would have
to return home. Unfortunately, thismade Anastasia turned to sex work to pay
for her drug habit, which wasjust getting worse and worse. And at
this point is when she was pickedup by the Oklahoma City Police department.

(02:19):
While she was incarcerated in the countyjail, her grandfather passed away from leukemia.
She begged the police department to beable to go to his funeral,
and her request was denied. Atthis point, she attempted slitting her wrists
while she was still in jail.Now, when she was finally released on

(02:40):
bail, she slipped out of Oklahomaand she went to Texas and not much
as known there but from a websluice thread that was written by her sister.
She had found a document online.Apparently it was an arrest record or
an article. The link was dead, but she had said that this is

(03:04):
how she knew she had gotten backinto sex work and drugs. In two
thousand and five, she returned toher family home where her sister, grandmother,
mother, and kids were all livingon the family land. And the
family land contained three homes and alsoan apartment. And at this point her

(03:25):
grandmother told her to get clean offdrugs and you'll be allowed to come back
home. But at the same time, her mom and her sister didn't like
her being out on the streets ofOklahoma City, and her sister would give
her food and her mother would alot of times rent hotel rooms for her

(03:50):
and buy cigarettes four and stuff likethat whenever the weather was bad and she
didn't have much money. To thefamily, this was letting them know that
she was at least in a safeplace. It gave them a little bit
a peace of mind, from whatI understand. On some weeks which were
good, Anastasia would call and checkin with her mom to let her know

(04:11):
that everything was okay and to alsocheck on her three children. In mid
October two thousand and five, itwas her oldest daughter's birthday, Anastasia called
her mother's home, only to bedenied the ability to talk to her daughter.
Her mother was scared that if Anastasiaspoke with her daughter that the father

(04:35):
would not want his kids to govisit them anymore. So the grandparents and
the family were wanting to be aroundthe kids and see them, and they
were thinking that if their father knewthat they were talking to their mother,
then they wouldn't be allowed to seehim very often. So this was the

(04:59):
last that they heard from Anastasia.A week went by, nobody heard from
her, nobody saw her, andeveryone kind of assumed that she was giving
the family the silent treatment because shewasn't allowed to talk to her daughter on
her birthday. Now, she waslast seen in October two thousand and five,

(05:30):
and unfortunately, her body was foundon November eighth, two thousand and
five, and because it was investigatedas a homicide, the only information the
family was ever given was that shewas found at twelve forty five PM and
depending on your source, a drainageditch or a ravine. Now, we

(05:53):
also have two separate addresses of wherethe body was found, one of which
is twenty third in South Miller Beloved, which is actually South Avenue, and
the other one is the sixteen hundredblock of South Miller Boulevard, which would
be South Miller Avenue, and thatwas per the Oklahoma Now this was in
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Each oneof these locations, even though they're different,

(06:19):
they are fairly close by each other. They're on opposite sides north and
south of what is called Twin Creek. When she was found, she was
nude except a blanket was knotted aroundher entire body. She had a black

(06:41):
sweatshirt turned inside out, wrapped aroundher head and completely wrapped in wire,
and she was in the fetal position. Based on decomposition, they said that
she had been dead around a week. The cause of death was stated as
blunt force trauma, and because ofher ties to Lawton and the manner in

(07:03):
which she was found, investigators believethat her death is connected to the other
Lawton murders. Now. The familycooperated one hundred percent with the detectives and
officers. Her sister even went onand investigated a long time after the police
had given up. She put upflyers all around Oklahoma City. Nobody responded

(07:30):
to him. I think they saidthere was one person that responded through the
flyer because they thought it was likea date with the girl in the picture.
Obviously that person probably didn't read verywell. And one of the saddest
things that her sister says is thatat one point she overheard one police officers

(07:54):
state that nothing would ever be donebecause they were just happy that another prost
too and drug addict was off thestreets, which a man, I mean,
if that is true, that's prettyappalling to be honest. You know,
it shouldn't matter everybody as a human. So I don't know what to

(08:16):
think about all that. But hersister still calls cold case unit in Oklahoma
City every October and is told thesame thing every year. Unless the person
or persons who did it come inand announced that they murdered Anastasia running Wolf,
the case will never see the lightof day again. And some sources

(08:39):
real fast on this. We haveweb sluice dot com forum a big old
long thread that was written by hersister. We have Facebook dot com Oklahoma
cold Cases. We also have herobituary the Oklahoma and Oklahoma Cold Cases dot
work. Now let's talk about oneof the more well known Lawton victims.

(09:09):
Her name is Barbara Barry. Shewas twenty years old at the time of
her death. She disappeared at anunknown date in nineteen ninety three. She
was found the last week of Novembernineteen ninety four in Comanche County, Oklahoma.
Her remains were found in a packingcrate in a field west of Lawton

(09:33):
by a farmer. She was knownto have a drug problem and also be
a sex worker. She did danceat topless bars as well, and she
knew and worked with Tina Priest,who was another victim that we will be
getting to, and they worked ata bar called Deluxe. Her cause of

(09:54):
death was undetermined. She was toobadly decomposed, no obvious wounds, but
she had a broken bone at herupper right eye socket from a blow to
the head, and her body wasmoved after death. The medical examiner stated
that Barbara was exposed to the elementsbefore being put into the packing crate.

(10:20):
So it almost makes me think thatthey had killed her previously, and she
might have been out there for twothree days something to that extent, or
even a week for that matter,We don't know, And then they probably
went back to the body and putit in that packing crate because of maybe

(10:43):
her body was more out in theopen. They were scared that somebody was
going to find it or something ofthat nature. It was reported that Barbara
was wrapped in plastic and covered inplaster of Paris. She was found inside
the box with two shirts, onesock, and two nails. And one

(11:05):
of the saddest parts is that hermother only had one child and she would
go around to places that Barbara wasknown to hang out at and she would
pass out flyers. And one ofthe shittiest things that I read was that

(11:26):
while she would be handing out flyers, people would be laughing at her and
they wouldn't even take the flyers.So obviously somebody knows something or they just
didn't give a shit about her.A lot of Barbara Berry's friends are in
the Oklahoma Cold Case Group and theydo talk about her there, so that
is a great group to join ifyou want to know more about her.

(11:52):
The official newspaper article said this.Dental records have confirmed that a body found
two weeks ago west of Lawton isthat of a woman missing for more than
a year. Comanche County Sheriff's officialsthis week identified Barbara Berry, who would
be twenty one, as the victimof an apparent homicide. A man found

(12:16):
Barry's body on his property, insidea packing crate and covered with plaster of
Paris. Investigators are awaiting an autopsyreport to determine the cause of death.
The lieutenant on the case did notknow how long Barry's body had been there,
but said it had decomposed. Thelieutenant also did not discuss a motive

(12:37):
for Barry's death. All he saidwas quote, she had a broken bone
in her right upper eye socket,which might indicate a blow to the head.
And that's pure speculation right now.So those are the cases of Anastasia
Running Wolf and Barbara Berry. Sourcesfor Barbara Berry are the Oklahoman, the

(13:01):
Facebook page Who Killed Barbara, andOklahoma coldcases dot Org. So until next
time, stay safe out there,and please get the word out on these
ladies, because it's pretty obvious,you know that not a lot is done.
And I'm sure a lot of lawenforcement did what they could at the

(13:24):
time, but in Anastasia Running Wolf'scase, it does not sound that way.
Unfortunately, I think they just didn'teven care. So that's why,
you know, we all have todo this. You know, we have
to get the word out. Youknow, we can't be forgetting about these ladies