Cold Case Files: Boone County woman \ vanished with beans simmering in a slow pot in her Harrison home

Janice K. Potts

Janice K. Potts, a 40-year-old mother of three from Harrison, vanished with vanished on August 28, 1981, and her case remains unsolved.

Now 84 if alive, her disappearance continues to trouble the community.

Janice was 5'7", 110 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. She was four months pregnant, worked the night shift, and lived with her three teenage sons.

That day, her middle son, then 18, stopped by at noon to pick up football pants she had mended. He saw her in bed and left. When he returned after school, she was gone.

The house was unlocked, a utility light was on, beans simmered in a slow cooker, and an iron was left plugged in with a note for her youngest son saying she went to a department store and would be back when he got home.

That evening, she missed her night shift. Her sons searched and found her car in the mall parking lot with her purse and sweater inside, but her keys and pocketbook were missing. She has not been heard from since. Janice was active in her Pentecostal church, adding to the mystery of her sudden absence.

The Harrison Police Department, contactable at (870) 741-4636 or (870) 741-5463, leads the investigation.