The Murder of Carol Ann Barlow (Rhode Island)

Some cases appear straightforward at first glance. A late-night crash on a quiet road, a damaged car, and a victim who doesn’t survive. It is the kind of situation people think they understand, and the kind that often gets explained quickly and filed away just as fast. 

But sometimes, there are details that do not quite fit. They can be easy to overlook in the moment. A position that does not make sense. Damage that does not match the outcome. A version of events that works on paper but feels incomplete when examined more closely.

In 1977, that is exactly what happened in Middletown, Rhode Island. For years, what followed was accepted as a tragic accident…Until it wasn’t.

The Accident

It was around 10 p.m. on June 12th, 1977 and a husband and wife were driving southbound on West Main Road in Middletown, Rhode Island. It was dark, with only the occasional set of headlights coming toward them in the opposite lane.

As they were about to pass the car dealership at 70 West Main, they noticed a vehicle coming toward them in the northbound lane. The car didn’t have its headlights on. That was enough to catch their attention. As it got closer, both of them looked more carefully, trying to get a better sense of what they were seeing. And that’s when it became something harder to explain. 

From where they sat, they couldn’t see anyone behind the wheel. No outline of a driver, no movement, nothing to suggest that someone was actually controlling the vehicle. The driver’s seat looked empty in the darkness.

Then, without any clear reason, the vehicle crossed the center line and drove straight at them. The collision was sudden and jarring, the side of the oncoming car striking the left front fender of their vehicle.

In the seconds after the crash, everything felt disorienting. But what happened next only made it stranger. The car that had just hit them didn’t stop. They watched as it backed up, pulling away from the point of impact. Then it turned, nearly completing a full U-turn, and crossed back over the road and four lanes of traffic. It continued on for roughly 250 feet, into a parking lot near the dealership.

Other people nearby began to notice. Witnesses watched as the vehicle rolled into the southeastern corner of the lot and finally came to a stop, the front end pointed into the corner.

For the couple, the whole sequence didn’t feel like a normal accident. A car with no visible driver had just hit them, then moved again as if someone were still in control. They were shaken. Between the impact and what they believed they had just seen, the situation didn’t feel safe, so they left.

Another witness at the scene reported the accident and when first responders arrived, they found a Ford Torino sitting in the parking lot right where witnesses said they’d find it. Inside, a woman was slumped forward across the front seat, her upper body pushed down into the passenger-side footwell. She was still alive, but barely, gasping for air.

She was transported to Newport Hospital, but despite efforts to save her, she was pronounced dead at 12:45 a.m. on June 13th. Her name was Carol Ann Barlow. She was 29-years old.

Back at the scene, investigators began working through what they thought had happened. Based on marks on the pavement and accident reconstruction along with witness statements, police believed Carol had been traveling northbound when she crossed into the southbound lane and collided with the other car.

There were skid marks that supported part of that sequence, showing the car traveling north before crossing into the opposite lane. After the collision, it appeared to cross back over the roadway and continue into the parking lot where it was found.

At least one witness said the Torino had hit a vehicle they described as a green beach wagon, and that driver had left the scene. According to Gene Gabriel’s reporting for the Newport Mercury and Weekly News, the witness was able to provide a license plate number for the other car.

The case was starting to come together. There was a crash, another vehicle involved, and a driver who fled, but there were details that didn’t fit.

The position Carol was found in didn’t make sense. She was slumped over on the passenger side, her head down in the footwell. That wasn’t where a driver would normally end up after a collision like the one described. Investigators couldn’t even say for certain that she had been behind the wheel as the driver at all.

All investigators knew for certain was that a 29-year-old woman had been found barely alive inside that car, and within a few hours, she was gone.

About Carol Ann Barlow

Carol was born July 10th, 1947, in Newport, Rhode Island. She had graduated from Middletown High School with honors, something her family remembered with pride. By all accounts, she was someone who worked hard and carried a lot of responsibility. Her father, Christopher Silvia, later told Sheryl Stolberg of the Providence Journal that Carol was a good woman who did everything she could to make ends meet.

By 1977, Carol was divorced and raising two young sons. She worked for the Visiting Nurse Service of Newport, caring for elderly patients. It was the kind of job that required patience and consistency. Day in and day out, she was going into people’s homes, helping them through illnesses and the realities of aging. It wasn’t glamorous work, but it was important. It also meant long hours and emotional strain, especially for someone balancing that while being a mom to two kids.

People who knew her described a life that was busy but grounded. She had obligations, routines, and people depending on her. There was nothing in her background that suggested recklessness or anything that would obviously lead to a fatal crash on a quiet road late at night.

Case Closed

Dr. William Q. Sturner, the state medical examiner, performed Carol’s autopsy. He determined that she died from internal hemorrhaging caused by multiple fractures to her chest. She’d suffered fractured ribs, damage to her spine, and extensive internal bleeding.

On its face, the conclusion pointed to trauma consistent with a serious accident. But when Dr. Sturner compared those injuries to the crash as it had been described, they didn’t add up.

The damage to the car didn’t appear severe enough to explain the extent of her injuries. The level of force required to cause that kind of trauma suggested something more than what investigators believed had happened on the road.

Dr. Sturner raised those concerns with Middletown police and urged them to take a closer look at the circumstances.

At the same time, police followed up on the license plate number provided by the witness at the scene. That lead brought them to a vehicle in Middletown. It belonged to a man named Raymond.

When police spoke with him, he admitted he had been at the scene of the crash and that he left afterward.He told investigators about what he had seen. The car without headlights. The lack of any visible driver. The way it continued moving after the collision, backing up and crossing the road before coming to a stop. He said he left because he was afraid. That, and he also had a suspended license at the time.

According to reporting by Tim Murphy for the Providence Journal, Raymond was charged with leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death and driving with an invalid license. He later pleaded guilty to leaving the scene and received a suspended sentence. The accident reconstruction and further investigation did not find any fault on Raymond’s part for Carol’s death.

Despite the unusual account and the concerns raised by the medical examiner, there wasn’t any clear evidence that Carol’s death was anything other than the result of a traffic accident. There was some early speculation that another person might have been involved, possibly even a second person inside and driving the car at the time of the collision, but there was no hard evidence to support that theory. So, the case was closed.

For Carol’s family, especially for her father, that conclusion never felt right. He went to the scene the day after the crash and immediately felt that something was off. He described the situation as “fishy.”

He agreed that the car didn’t appear badly damaged; not in a way that matched the severity of her injuries. And the distance it had traveled didn’t make sense to him. It had come to rest deep inside the parking lot, far from where the collision had supposedly occurred.

He brought his concerns to Middletown police, but he was told there was simply no evidence of foul play. He went to state police as well, hoping for another look at the case, but they told him they couldn’t override the local department’s investigation.

He even spoke with a lawyer, looking for a way to push further. But he was advised not to pursue it, that it would likely be a waste of time and money.

With no support and no clear path forward, he eventually stepped back. That was the end of it. Carol Ann Barlow had died in a car accident. She was laid to rest in St. Columba’s Cemetery, and her family missed her every second of every day, mourning her untimely death for years to come. It was all a terrible, tragic accident, according to the investigative findings.

But what some wrote off as an accident that night in June of 1977 was anything but settled. The truth has a way of surfacing, even years later, and in this case, it would come out over drinks in a bar, when someone finally said too much.

Carol Ann Barlow’s story continues on Dark Downeast. Press play to hear the full episode wherever you get your podcasts.