Katherine Barnum was reported missing by her sister, Bonnie Buckley, originally in 1979. Katherine Barnum resided at in Aurora, Colorado. Randal Francis Arnold (now deceased) was residing with Barnum for approximately two months at the time she went missing. Arnold speculated that Katherine Barnum went to California with an unidentified male and joined the Hare Krishna. A DEA informant provided information that the body of Barnum was in a mineshaft somewhere near Central City, Colorado.