After leaving her four-year-old daughter, April, with her mother, Betty Lyall, on the evening of January 15, 1984, twenty-four-year-old Sherry Hart went out for a date. She never returned.

As the days passed into weeks and the weeks into months with still no word from Sherry, rumors swirled through the small town of West Jefferson, North Carolina, that the young woman had abandoned the responsibilities of motherhood and run to parts unknown with a secret lover. Those who believed she had disappeared willingly soon had not an egg but a proverbial omelette on their faces.

Nearly a year after she vanished, Sherry’s remains were found at the bottom of a local cliff. She had not betrayed her young daughter by abandoning her; she had instead been betrayed by a man she trusted.

A stroke of luck led to finding Sherry Hart’s remains, but luck has also seemingly helped her alleged killer remain at large.

 

Sherry Hart

Sherry Hart divorced her husband shortly after becoming a mother. She and April moved in with her parents, Joe and Betty Lyall, in her hometown of West Jefferson, North Carolina, a town of 1,300 people one-hundred-twenty-miles northwest of Charlotte.

Sherry and Daughter April

On the evening of January 15, 1984, Sherry left home to meet a date at a local restaurant but her beau was a no-show. As the evening grew late and Sherry was a no-show at home, Betty reported her missing.

Sherry Disappears

Sherry’s car, a 1977 Ford Grenada, was found at the restaurant.  Everything was in order and the vehicle provided no clues as to what had happened to her.

The man with whom Sherry had the date admitted to standing her up but was cleared of any involvement in her disappearance. Sherry’s former husband was also cleared.

Car Found

But No Sherry

Eleven months later, on December 10, 1984, an unrelated police investigation led to the break in the disappearance of Sherry Hart.

Police received a tip that a safe stolen in the robbery of a neighborhood convenience store had been thrown from a 2,000-foot cliff. Officers found the safe at the bottom of the cliff, but that was not what made headlines in the newspaper.

While retrieving the safe, something in the nearby rubbish caught policeman Chuck Ellege’s eye. A human hand was seen protruding from beneath the rubble. As the investigator un-piled the leaves, he found the remains of a young woman. The body was identified as that of Sherry Hart.

Rappelling To Retrieve Sherry’s Body

Locals referred to the area where Sherry’s body was found as “The Jumpinoff Place.”  Dating back many years, a handful of people had willingly ended their lives by leaping from the cliff near the border of Ashe and Wilkes counties.

Investigators initially thought Sherry Hart would be added to the list.

“The Jumpinoff Place”

Sherry was a young, single mother who was struggling financially; investigators theorized her being stood up was the breaking point.

After talking to Sherry’s friends and family, however, police concluded she was unlikely to have committed suicide.

Suicide Unlikely

An autopsy showed a significant amount of alcohol in Sherry’s system, suggesting that she, in an inebriated state, may have accidentally fallen from the cliff. It seemed odd, however, that she would be at such a remote location on a cold winter evening.

Authorities came to suspect foul play in the death of Sherry Hart. Those suspicions were soon confirmed.

No Accident

After Sherry’s remains were found, an acquaintance told police he had seen her talking to two men at the restaurant where she was to meet her date on the evening she disappeared. He identified the men as locals Richard Bare and Jeffrey Burgess, both twenty-years-old. Sherry knew both of them, and she had dated Bare’s older brother, Bobby, in high school.

Police were also acquainted with Bare and Burgess as both had had several brushes with the law and were known as local troublemakers. At the time of Sherry’s disappearance, Bare was on probation for breaking and entering.

Several more people recalled seeing Sherry, Burgess, and Bare “joy riding” through the countryside in Bare’s car on the evening of January 15. All three were drinking.

Police questioned Bare and Burgess separately. Both said they had dropped Sherry at her car at 9:00 p.m. Multiple people who knew both men and Sherry, however, saw the trio partying after that hour.

Bare was evasive and provided little more information.  Burgess was easier to crack and what he said did not match what little Bare had told them.

                                        Richard Bare     Jeffrey Burgess

Based on eyewitness accounts, as well as what Burgess told police, the death of Sherry Hart was ruled a homicide. Authorities believe they know the manner in which the young mother’s life ended on the chilly evening of January 15, 1984.

Sherry Was Murdered

Burgess told police he and Bare encountered an upset Sherry at the restaurant. They suggested a night of drinking to take her mind off being stood up.

While the three were parading through the rural countryside, Burgess contended, Sherry needed to go to the bathroom. They pulled to the side of the road, approximately a quarter-of-a-mile from the Jumpinoff Place, where she went into the woods to relieve herself.

According to Burgess, he remained in the car as Bare followed Sherry into the woods where he attempted to have sex with her. Bare became irate as Sherry rejected his repeated attempts. When he became violent, Sherry fought him off and, screaming and crying, ran back to the car.

Burgess said Bare followed Sherry and struck her on her head with the back of a handgun, leaving her bleeding and semi-conscious. Bare then shoved Sherry into the car and ordered Burgess to drive along Highway 16 to near the Moonshine Inn bar, approximately a quarter-of-a-mile from the Blue Ridge Parkway. Once there, Bare ordered Burgess to stop the car. Bare then forcibly pulled a bleeding Sherry from the vehicle, dragged her to the Jumpinoff Place and pushed her off the cliff. Burgess said Bare then ordered him to drive away but to return in five minutes.

Burgess contended he was afraid for Sherry and at first refused to leave but that Bare threatened that if he did not do as he ordered, he would kill his wife and son. Burgess said he drove away because he feared Bare would make good on his threats.

Killer Bare

Burgess led police to the area where he said Sherry was initially assaulted, along North Carolina State Highway 16, approximately a mile from where her body was found. Sherry’s checkbook and several personal items were strewn along the ground.

On March 29, 1985, Richard Bare and Jeffrey Burgess were both arrested and charged with the murder of Sherry Hart. Both men were denied bail and were held in the Wilkes County Jail while awaiting trial.

On July 17, deputies found the cell bare of one of the prisoners. Deputy John Sheperd was found to have left Bare’s cell door unlocked during visiting hours. Bare was believed to have escaped while Sheperd was performing other duties.

Bare’s escape was initially thought to be the result of officer neglect until authorities learned that Shepard, with whom Bare had gone to high school, was in a relationship with the escapee’s sister, Linda. Authorities believe she convinced, and perhaps romanced, Sheperd into helping her brother escape.

Deputy John Sheperd was fired from the Wilkes County Sheriff’s Department following Richard Bare’s escape.

Bare On The Loose

After several months passed without Bare’s being located and thus delaying the trial, an arrangement was made in which Jeffrey Burgess was released on bail, pending Bare’s apprehension. That day never came as Bare remains at large.

Jeffrey Burgess was soon returned to jail, serving a four-year sentence after violating his probation on a breaking-and-entering conviction. He was also in and out of the slammer over the course of several years on drug-related offenses.

Burgess died at age forty-seven in 2012, without ever standing trial for the murder of Sherry Hart. It may be difficult to make a case against Bare if he is captured because what Burgess told police might now be considered hearsay.

Some believe Burgess understated his involvement in the crime and that he could have been the one who pushed Sherry off the cliff. It is likely impossible to tell which man did the actual act.

Burgess Dies

Richard Bare remains at large after nearly thirty-nine years. He was nearly captured in Delaware in 1993, but good fortune, unfortunately, was on his side. He left the home of a relative where he had been hiding only hours before FBI agents converged on the residence.

In December 1994, prosecutors asked for the murder charge against Bare to be “dismissed without leave,” meaning they can re-charge him if he is ever located.

In June 2002, Bare was believed to be living under the name Richard Presnell. A man with that name was located and, though he bore a strong resemblance to Bare, was confirmed not to be the fugitive. Bare, however, may have stolen the real Richard Presnell’s identity and lived under the name for several years.

Over approximately the last fifteen-to-twenty years, Bare has been rumored to have returned, incognito, several times to North Carolina to attend the funerals of friends and relatives. Police have also received reports that he may by living similarly to another notorious fugitive, Olympic Park bomber Eric Rudolph, who eluded capture for six-and-a-half years by living in North Carolina’s vast mountainous terrain.

Some sources say Bare is disguising himself by dressing as a woman. If so, it is likely he has shed the beard and moustache. Bare has ties to people in several southeastern states, principally his native North Carolina, as well as South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Delaware, and Florida.

The computer-aged image of Bare below was done in 1996 when he would have been thirty-two-years-old. I have not been able to find any more recent aged-enhanced images.

Computer-Aged Image of Richard Bare

Richard Lynn Bare is wanted on a charge of murder.  At the time of his jail escape in 1985, he was twenty-years-old, stood five-feet-eight-inches tall, and weighed one-hundred-seventy-five pounds. He had green eyes, shoulder-length brown hair, and may have a tattoo of a panther on his right forearm.

Bare hated the smell of smoke and refused to be in the company of people who lit up.

Where Is Richard Bare?

Richard Bare would today be fifty-nine-years-old.

If you have any information on his whereabouts, please contact the Ashe County, North Carolina Sheriff’s Department at 336-846-5633 or the FBI’s Charlotte, North Carolina, Field Office at 704-672-6100.

Bare’s Wanted Poster

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/52072051/sherry-elaine-hart   

SOURCES:

• America’s Most Wanted
• Charlotte Observer
• Unsolved Mysteries
• Wilkes Journal-Patriot, Wilkesboro, North Carolina
• Winston-Salem Journal
• WGHP Fox Channel 8 North Carolina
• WRAL-TV Channel 5, NBC Affiliate. Raleigh, North Carolina