Very little is publicly documented about what happened to Frank Matthews’s wife, Barbara Hinton, after his 1973 disappearance, but a few key facts are known and often repeated.
Known facts
- Barbara Hinton and Frank Matthews were in a common‑law marriage and had three children together, living first in Brooklyn and later in a Staten Island home bought with his drug proceeds.
- After Matthews fled in 1973 with his girlfriend (not Barbara) and an estimated tens of millions in cash, he left Barbara and their children behind in New York.
Life after his disappearance
- Sources state that Barbara raised their three children on her own and did not remarry.
- When approached by investigators over the years, she consistently declined to provide information and has been described as never having cooperated or “never giving a word” about Matthews’s whereabouts.
Legal and public record
- Barbara was herself implicated in Matthews’s drug network and faced federal charges in the 1970s, though appellate records focus mainly on her role then and do not describe her later life in detail.
- Beyond mentions that she operated a modest liquor store at one point and appeared bitter about being abandoned, there are no reliable public records indicating that she left the country, reunited with Matthews, or met with foul play; her later life appears to have been largely private and out of the spotlight.
