LIFE SKILLS teacher Barbara King Ladd with Campora Family Resource Center is an educator whose passion for young lives has led her to accomplish amazing things.
Ladd has been working in her current position for 1 1/2 years. Before becoming a life skills teacher, she was an independent contractor as the Drug Endangered Children Response Coordinator for the Franklin County school system.
In her position, she worked with various agencies and individuals to create systems and changes to identify and assist drug-endangered children. Ladd said one of her biggest accomplishments in that position was implementing ‘Handle With Care’ (HWC) into the school district. HWC is a collaboration between local law enforcement agencies and the school system.
Ladd said one thing she loves about her current position is working with children.
She said, “I hope I am planting seeds that will help them have the life they want.”
For the bulk of her professional career, she served as the deputy director for the 12th Judicial District Drug Court. She said she loved helping people achieve recovery from trauma and addictions.
Most people who entered the program began making life-altering choices at 11 and 12 years old. Little did they know the substances they experimented with would negatively impact the rest of their lives.
Ladd said, “They all thought it was something they could play with for a little bit, have fun, and put it down whenever they wanted to. Unfortunately, that was not the case.”
Ladd said the young people couldn’t go back in time to alter their decisions, but she is glad she has the opportunity to listen to and help them change their stories.
“I love working with kids and helping them feel inspired and motivated to be intentional about who they become and achieve the future they want.”
Along with her journey in education, Ladd has another new-found passion — solving cases.
On January 29, 2018, Barbara King Ladd, a stay-at-home mom at the time, stumbled upon an article by an investigator for the 12th Judicial District Attorney General’s office, Larry Davis, about a cold case involving Marion County’s “John Doe.” She was immediately intrigued.
Donald Boardman had just moved from Florida to Georgia in 1985. On Saturday, November 16, 1985, Boardman called his parents to notify them that he was visiting them for Thanksgiving and told them he was on his way to a health fair at the Atlanta Convention Center. Little did his parents know that would be the last time they would speak to their son.
That following Tuesday, his new boss called his parents to tell them they had yet to see or hear from Donald and asked them if they knew where he was. At that point, Boardman’s dad filed a missing persons report at the Chamblee Police Department, where Boardman lived.
On November 29, 1985, they found Boardman’s brand new Camaro in possession of three known criminals, along with his credit card and jacket. That was all that Boardman’s family knew.
Meanwhile, on December 16, 1985, an unidentified man was found off Interstate 24 in Marion County. Larry Davis was the investigator for that unidentified body.
“I was intrigued by it because I didn’t realize there was a ‘John Doe’ close to where I lived. Marion County is like 20 or 30 minutes from Sewanee. So I thought, ‘Okay, well, they’re asking the public for help identifying him. Let’s see what I can do.’”
The same day Ladd read Davis’s story, she found Boardman’s missing person profile, contacted the 12th Judicial District Attorney’s office, and gave them all the information she had.
She also contacted the Chamblee Police Department, where Boardman’s father filed the missing person’s report. Criminal analyst Lori Bradburn received the message, and Ladd gave her all the information she had on Boardman, along with Davis’s contact information.
Bradburn pieced the information together and found out Boardman’s sister was still alive and living in Florida. Through his sister, they were able to confirm Boardman’s DNA results.
Ladd credits God for leading her to help solve the case.
“He’s the one that lined everybody up, lined all the pieces up, and finally brought Donald Boardman’s sister closure. He just allowed me to be a part of this really cool thing.”
With a passion for problem-solving, the life skills teacher solved a long-standing case and brought Boardman’s family the closure they sought and deserved. All it took was one spirit-led decision and the faithfulness to follow through.
Ladd has not told any of her classes about her exciting experience solving a case, but her first grade son and Sewanee Elementary student came across an article about his mother and expressed his excitement.
“He just kept telling me he was so proud of me.” GN
