Police looking for owner of car with bloody trunk

Police say the trial of a missing Knoxville man, whose car was discovered last week in Williamsburg with bloody stains in its trunk, is cold.
The Whitley County Major Crimes Task Force was activated Friday morning to look into the disappearance of Byron K. Barker, 47, whose 2004 Nissan Altima was recently found parked outside the Super 8 motel in Williamsburg.
Williamsburg Police Detective Wayne Bird, who is the lead investigator in the case, said Tuesday morning that he was preparing a search warrant, and that two detectives from the Knoxville Police Department, and a crime lab technician were expected to examine the vehicle sometime later that day.
Bird said there appears to be blood in the trunk, and what investigators think looks like a bloody imprint of a hand in the truck. Authorities currently don’t know if the substance is blood, and if it is blood, whether it is human blood.
It is difficult to say whether Barker may be missing, or was the victim of foul play, Bird noted.
“Right now we have a real suspicious circumstance. I would be afraid to say either way right now. The only thing we know right now is that he is officially entered into the National Crime Information Computer (NCIC) as a missing person,” Bird said. “We don’t know if there has been a crime committed. If a crime has been committed, then we need to determine if it has happened in Kentucky, or whether it happened in Tennessee.”
Based upon an investigation by Knoxville police, Bird said the last confirmed sighting of Barker was on May 3.
“That is the last time they know of that he was seen alive, other than that they classified him as missing,” Bird said. “They did talk to some friends and some roommates, who gave them a little bit of information as to where he might be, but so far none of that has checked out.”
The motel has no record of Barker checking in under his name, police said.
After the vehicle had been parked at the motel for about 10 days, Super 8 management contacted a local tow truck driver to have the abandoned vehicle moved on May 15, Bird said.
“Under Kentucky’s abandoned vehicle law, the owners of the property have a right to have the vehicle removed at vehicle owners expense,” Bird said.
The wrecker driver had police check the vehicle, which wasn’t listed as stolen.
After no one called about the vehicle, the tow truck driver started looking through the glove box Thursday afternoon trying to find information about the owner.
“He checked the inside of the vehicle, and couldn’t find any documents. He popped the truck, and when he did that he found what we believe to be a blood stain in the trunk,” Bird said. “At that point we removed the vehicle, brought it to a secure location, and notified the authorities in Knoxville.”
After further examining the vehicle Friday morning, task force members called out members of the Williamsburg Rescue Squad, who assisted in a search of the woods behind the Super 8 motel where the car was discovered, but turned up no leads.
“We also went down to the northbound rest area, and looked down there as well,” he added. “We showed his picture to several businesses on the bypass, and to all the employees at the Super 8, but no one recalls seeing him. His picture was shown at the rest area, and no one recalls seeing him down there.”
Barker is a white male, who owns a hair salon business in Knoxville.
Bird said it is difficult to investigate a missing person case where the person has already been gone for nearly two weeks before authorities become involved.
“The more time you have go by, the colder things go. If somebody is missing, and you know it right away, and you get on it right away, then things kind of fall in place a little quicker. The longer something like this has happened, it gets kind of cold, and makes it tough to go back, and retrace, and dig up things,” Bird said.
Officers assisting with the investigation include: Kentucky State Police Detective Colan Harrell, Sheriff Lawrence Hodge, Sheriff’s Detective Chuck Davis, Corbin Police Capt. Tim Helton, and numerous officers with the Williamsburg Police Department and Sheriff’s Department.