Attorney remains missing
 By
Heather Mangold
City Editor
A Benton County
attorney, who was last seen in Lafayette, has been missing for 17 days.
Seventy-three-year-old
John W. Barce of Fowler, Ind., was abducted from the Radisson Inn Lafayette
on Aug. 1. Barce was scheduled to meet at 9 a.m. with a man calling
himself Martin Price, who police have not identified. Barce was last
seen in the hotel restaurant.
The family of the
missing man received a telephone call on the afternoon of Aug. 1, the
caller demanding ransom. The family was instructed to meet the caller
the following evening at Pay Less Supermarket on Sagamore Parkway in
West Lafayette, and to wait for a second phone call on a nearby pay
phone.
The second call
was never made and the family has not heard from the caller since.
Still, police are
hopeful of Barce's return.
"We are still working
under the assumption that we're going to bring him home," said Sgt.
Shana Kennedy of the Indiana State Police.
More than 100 police
officers were involved in an effort to find Barce on the first night
of the case. State police and the FBI are still working to find him.
"We've pulled our
resources," said Kennedy. "The Tippecanoe County and Lafayette police
department have been helping also."
Jim Casey, supervisory
special agent for the FBI Indianapolis, said the bureau is doing everything
it can to help.
Barce was the former
prosecutor for Benton County. He is active in his family law firm and
is a husband and father of two prosecuting attorneys from Benton and
Newton Counties.
Police have considered
that a person in Barce's position could gain enemies as a prosecutor.
However, this theory has not been stated as the reason for Barce's kidnapping,
said Kennedy.
"Everything that
you can think of is being explored," said Kennedy.
Local citizens are
doing everything they can as well.
Kinko's in Lafayette
donated missing posters and 76 volunteers came to distribute them. Kennedy
said one of the volunteers was a retired attorney who often did not
see eye to eye with Barce.
"I think this showed
a lot about the character of the missing person, that this elderly gentleman
would come out in this heat to help," said Kennedy
The health condition
of Barce is another concern for police.
Barce was under
physician's care taking the drug Tiazac for his problems with high blood
pressure, said pharmacist Chad Shedron of West Lafayette's Family Pharmacare.
Shedron said that without his medication, Barce's blood pressure could
elevate.
According to Shedron,
Tiazac takes 25 to 35 hours to leave the body's system. Depending on
how fast Barce's blood pressure elevates without the drug, complications
could occur.
"If blood pressure
goes up quickly, you have risk for a stroke or heart attack, depending
on the stress level of the individual," said Shedron.
Barce is 6'1" and
210 pounds. He has white thinning hair and dark eyebrows. He was last
seen wearing a light colored shirt and a pastel green suit.
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