BATH, N.Y. (WETM) – Law enforcement is continuing its search for a woman who went missing from the Village of Bath late one night almost 50 years ago.

Barbara Jean Aleksivich went missing on October 3, 1973, while walking home from the Bath Elks Club at 10:45 p.m., according to the FBI. The information on her disappearance says that Aleksivich, who was 24 at the time, lived only two blocks away, but her husband reported her missing after she never arrived at home.

At the time she went missing, Aleksivich was 5’6″ tall, 140 pounds, with shoulder-length brown hair. She was last seen wearing a white blouse, a blue and white plaid skirt, a green pullover, and brown loafers, according to the Village of Bath Police Department.

The FBI suspects foul play in her disappearance, and the Bath Police Department said the case is a presumed homicide. According to the United States Social Security Handbook, a missing person is presumed dead if they haven’t been heard from for seven years.

In 2020, the Bath Police reopened the case into Aleksivich after a new suspect surfaced who was also tied to a child murder and sexual assault case in Montana. The Missoula County cold case unit in Montana contacted Bath PD to notify the department of a DNA match for a Richard W. Davis who allegedly kidnapped, physically and sexually assaulted, and then murdered 5-year-old Siobhan McGuinness.

Richard William Davis (1973 photo)

Davis was born in 1941 and died in the early 2010s and had lived in Bath in the 1960s and 1970s. He had been arrested multiple times in the Village for various crimes. In 1973, Davis tried coercing an 8-year-old girl into truck while she was walking in the Village, Bath PD said. in 1976, he was arrested for Child Endangerment and fined $25.

Bath PD said Davis—who worked at Polly-O Dairy and lived on Mail Route Road—was allegedly involved in picking up runaway teens and taking them to his house.

After reopening the case, Bath Police said the original suspect in Aleksivich’s disappearance, Frederick Bush, is now not believed to have been involved.

Aleksivich’s dental records and family’s DNA have been uploaded to the FBI’s Violent Crime Apprehension Program (ViCAP). Bath Police said that any bodies or remains can be cross-referenced to the records.

Anyone with information into Barbara’s disappearance is asked to call Bath Police at 607-776-2175 or email Chief Colin Taft at CTaft@villageofbath.org. You can also contact FBI ViCAP at 800-634-4097 or by email at vicap@fbi.gov.