In 2004, Angela Barrentine, a 27-year-old mother from Vicksburg, Mississippi, left to pick up cigarettes the evening before Thanksgiving. She never made it back home alive, and her cause of death remains a mystery to this day.
Angela spent her whole life in Vicksburg, graduating from St. Aloysius Vicksburg High School before enrolling at Hinds Community College. She also had a daughter named Ginger Lewis, who was only 9 years old when she went missing.
“We used to take fishing trips together. We used to remake country music songs together. She would teach me to cook and all the motherly daughter things. And I really kind of got that cut short for me, taken from me,” Ginger explained.
Just three weeks before she vanished, Angela had tied the knot with her husband, Daniel Barrentine. She also worked two jobs, one at Shoney’s restaurant and another at Morgan’s Bestway.
Yet, in November 2004, everything changed for Angela and her family. The evening prior to Thanksgiving, she saw her grandparents, who visited her home to check that she’d be attending the holiday dinner at their house the following day.
Angela confirmed she’d be there, and later, at about 6:30 p.m., she decided to get cigarettes at the store. She went alone; meanwhile, Daniel stayed with Ginger at home.
The 27-year-old never made it back that night and didn’t show up for Thanksgiving dinner. This immediately worried her grandparents, who reported her missing.
In the wake of her missing person report, it was determined that Angela was last seen with two men around 12:00 p.m. on November 25, 2004, near the roads of Belknap and Military in the town of Edwards.
Angela had reportedly struggled with drug use since she was a teen. This led some to speculate that she’d possibly visited Edwards to get drugs.
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“Even if she did do wrong, she’s still my daughter, and you don’t stop loving your child just because she did something bad,” her mother, Deborah Cummins, explained.
However, witnesses who spotted Angela on November 25 claimed she’d said that she was heading home after helping some friends move materials with her truck. There were no signs that she’d want to run away or end her life.
Investigators ultimately cleared her husband, Daniel, of any involvement. And Angela’s sister, Stacy Hartley, kept pushing for progress in the investigation.
Stacy was insistent that the police needed to search Big Black River, located south of Highway 80, close to the Kansas City Southern Railroad Bridge, for signs of Angela. Nine months later, her hunch was finally confirmed.
On August 2, 2005, the river’s water level dropped low enough for authorities to see a vehicle sticking out of the water.
That car was Angela’s green and purple 1997 Ford F-150 pickup truck, which was upside down. Angela’s skeletal remains were found inside as well.
Authorities stated that Angela’s truck potentially entered the river by the Warriors Trail roadway, which was half a mile upstream. The vehicle was in a remote location.
Angela’s remains were positively identified after they were sent to the Rankin County Morgue in Pearl, Mississippi, on August 3, 2005. Even with this breakthrough in her case, though, her case of death remains undetermined.
The condition her body was found in has prevented investigators from determining whether her death was a homicide or an accident, according to Private Investigator Cory Seale.
Ginger, who hired Cory, continues to search for answers regarding her mother’s death.
“I feel like a part of me is still a little girl who lost her mom and doesn’t understand why. I’ve spent the last 18 years wondering and hoping for answers that I still have not been able to get. It’s been very hard,” she detailed.
Back in 2004, the Vicksburg Post reported that Deborah said, “Somebody here knows something, and we want somebody to tell us. We would like some answers. We want closure.”
According to Ginger, she hasn’t received information about evidence that was supposedly sent for testing at the Mississippi Crime Lab.
Additionally, a Change.org petition entitled “Justice for Angela Barrentine” says that investigators suspect foul play, and they have kept her case open and active. Yet Angela’s loved ones have suspicions as to why.
“There seems to be a reason for that. Are they protecting someone or multiple people? Why has the case been open for almost 20 years when there have been no leads that we know of, no investigator assigned to her case that we know of, it’s unsolved, and Angela’s cause of death is undetermined,” the petition reads.
“They won’t allow anyone to help them and will not let anyone have the case files. What’s really going on?”
The petition concludes by asking community members for their help by signing the petition, directed toward Mississippi decision makers, to get justice for Angela and her family.
In 2022, Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace confirmed the investigation into Angela’s case was still open.
Angela was five feet tall, weighed 85 pounds, and had black hair and green eyes. Anyone with information regarding her case is urged to contact the Warren County Sheriff’s Department at (601) 636-1761.