Bailey Kristin Barnett was 22 when her badly burned remains turned up under Interstate 580 near Hollis Street. The spot sits right on the border of Oakland and Emeryville in Alameda County. A California Highway Patrol officer came across them on July 27 during a routine check after an encampment got cleared out a few days before.
She had been staying at a transitional home in Oakland. Her last known contact with anyone happened on July 22. That left a five-day gap with no clear word on where she went or who she saw.
The burns were so bad that DNA tests were the only way to confirm it was her. Police are treating the case as a homicide. They think she was killed first, then left under the freeway and set on fire. No official cause of death has come out yet.
Investigators pulled texts from her phone from the day of that last contact. One message came from a man who seemed to have just met her. It said, “How are you its the guy from yesterday.” They are looking into that lead among others.
No one has been named as a suspect. No arrests have been made. The California Highway Patrol is not talking much, saying the probe is still open.
Anyone who saw Barnett around those days or knows something about the scene under the freeway can call the CHP investigations line at 707-917-4491. Detectives keep working to fill in the missing pieces of those five days.
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