It was reported by a classmate that Barnes was walking to school in her hometown of Steubenville, Ohio when she was abducted on December 7, 1995. After she failed to return home, an investigation began, including statewide searches.[4] On February 22, 1996, her remains were discovered by surveyors in a riverbed and the cause of death was determined by examiners to have been by strangulation and she had also been raped.[2][5]