Case of missing hiker continues to baffle
By PERRY BACKUS - Missoulian - 12/23/07
CORVALLIS From his kitchen table, Carl Bolick can look across the Bitterroot Valley to the place his wife vanished off the face of the earth last summer.
Barbara Bolick was only supposed to have been gone a few hours that morning of July 18.
Instead, her hiking partner said the experienced hiker disappeared in less than a minute as he took one last look at the scenic view.
The view was what brought Barbara back time after time to this place.
Carls wife of 14 years was an energetic hostess who loved showing visitors the scenery from Bear Creek Overlook. On this morning, shed volunteered to take Jim Ramaker, a friend of her husbands cousin from California, for the relatively easy hike up to the overlook in the Bitterroot Mountains.
Any time anyone came to visit, shed always take them up there, Carl said, staring out the window toward the cloud-shrouded mountains. The view up there is absolutely spectacular, just breathtaking.
Carls cousin was feeling the effects of one too many frozen drinks the night before and decided not to go that morning. Carl was still sleeping when Barbara came and told him she and Ramaker were going hiking to the overlook.
The last thing he told her was not to worry about dinner. Hed take care of it.
Ill see you a little later, she said softly as she walked out the door.
It was sometime between 8:30 and 9 a.m.
Carl spent the morning working on a carpentry project. When noon rolled around, his cousin started getting a little antsy about the fact Barbara and Jim hadnt returned.
I wasnt concerned a bit, Carl remembered.
His wife was an avid hiker. She kept herself fit by running, riding and taking long walks into the mountains. And, as an added bit of insurance, Carl knew she had the .357 Magnum pistol hed bought her packed away in her daypack.
I always used to kid about packing that gun away, he said. If she met up with a mountain lion or a bear, she wasnt going to have time to dig around and find that pistol. She was only about 5 feet tall and slight in build. She only weighed about 115 pounds.
Still, Carl was sure his wife could take care of herself. Shed never venture far off the trail. And she didnt like heights. He knew shed not get too close to the edge of any precipice.
By 1:30, Carls cousin was getting scared. He told her to calm down. Maybe theyd had a flat tire. An hour later and she was really upset.
She told me I needed to call somebody, Carl said. About that time, the phone rang. It was a Forest Service law enforcement officer. She asked me if my wifes name was Barbara and I instantly thought something terrible had happened.
Barbaras been reported missing, the officer said.
I said to her, No way, he remembered.
Carl told the officer hed meet her at the trailhead.
In the back of his mind as he began the 20-mile drive to the Bear Creek Overlook trailhead, Carl was certain his wife would be there waiting for him.
I just couldnt accept it, he said. I just knew that she was going to show up one way or another, but it didnt happen. It still hasnt happened.
Hes still waiting for her to return.
This whole case challenges our life experience, said Perry Johnson, lead investigator on the Barbara Bolick case for the Ravalli County Sheriffs Department. Whenever we go hiking, we expect that well return to our vehicle with our hiking partners. We think nothing about it. Thats just the way it is.
Only this time it wasnt.
On this morning, the road leading up the trailhead was blocked less than a mile down the hill so a Forest Service crew could replace a culvert.
By the time the crew arrived this day, there was already a pair of vehicles parked at the road closure sign: Ramakers vehicle and a light-colored older SUV that could have been a Chevrolet Blazer with Missoula County license plates.
The Forest Service crew was busy digging up the roadway when a pair of young men in their early 20s came strolling into the work site. One of the men was considerably darker-skinned than the other.
They were well-tanned, average, fit young guys, Johnson said. They walked right through the construction site. They stopped and talked for a bit.
The crew remembered the black collie-like dog with white markings that enjoyed a few moments in the creek. The morning was already turning hot.
The men walked off, seemingly without a care.
Somewhere between 45 minutes and an hour later, Ramaker walked into the site and asked the crew if theyd seen Barbara. One of the road crew walked with him back to the vehicle to see if she was there.
Ramaker walked back up to the overlook one more time.
When he returned about an hour and a half later, he told the crew he needed help. He couldnt find Barbara anywhere.
Ramaker told investigators later that he and Barbara stopped at the overlook and had a snack. Theyd seen the two young men and said something like, How are you doing?
The pair then enjoyed the mountain views for maybe a half-hour or 40 minutes before deciding to head back down the hill. Ramaker said Barbara was only about 20 or 30 feet away when he turned to take one more look at the scenery.
It was a short look, maybe 45 seconds, maybe a minute.
When he turned around, Barbara was gone.
It was the last time he saw her, hed tell investigators later.
This is really a tough one for me, Johnson said. Its outside of my scope of experience. I havent been able to find anyone else whos had a similar experience. Were talking about a minute and then you look back and shes gone.
The area isnt tightly timbered, and there is a lot of loose shale rock around it.
Its hard to creep quietly across that loose shale rock, Johnson said. Youd make some noise. Just the fact that someone simply disappears like that is a cause for concern.
I just dont have that life experience, he said. How could that possibly happen?
Johnson believes the key to the case lies in identifying the two young men who were hiking the trail that day.
He assumes they were local guys because of the Missoula license plates and the fact they were hiking on a Wednesday morning. The family of Barbara Bolick has offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to their identification.
I dont suspect them of doing anything wrong, Johnson said. I dont think they were even in the wrong place at the wrong time.
What the men can do is confirm that Barbara Bolick was there that morning.
Right now, I dont have a witness to confirm or conflict with the information weve gathered so far, he said. These guys are the key to the whole thing.
Johnson is surprised that no one has stepped forward to help identify the pair.
This is the first time that weve had a $10,000 reward offered to help us locate a witness, he said. The person who helps us locate them will get $10,000.
As of now, Barbara Bolicks case remains a mystery.
Right after her disappearance, the sheriffs department deployed search teams, brought in highly trained dogs and even called in high-tech infrared helicopters to scour the area.
Johnson said they never found a thing.
Ramaker has returned to California, but continues to cooperate in the investigation, Johnson said.
Hes been cooperative and returned all of our calls, Johnson said. Hes stayed in contact with us. Until something else happens we find Barbara or find her body I think hes just a witness.
I want to be fair to Jim Ramaker, Johnson said. Theres no evidence he did anything to Barbara.
Meanwhile, Johnson said Barbaras family and friends can only wait and hope.
I think these kinds of cases are just devastating to families, Johnson said. Theres no closure. Every day they are looking for something, some kind of answer.
Its going on five months since Barbara disappeared and the phone calls to Carls home are more infrequent now.
The couple met when Carl was still an Air Force officer working on an air base in New Jersey. They decided later to move to Montana, but Barbara really didnt take to the wind and cold of his hometown in Dillon.
The first time he saw the Bitterroot was with her. She fell in love with the place and they eventually bought some land near Darby. Later they settled on a home near Corvallis.
We used to hike a bit together before I had my heart attack and couldnt go anymore, Carl said. I think she hiked every canyon here. She knew them all pretty well.
Its hard for Carl to fathom that she disappeared on the trail that was her favorite.
There are a lot of theories bandied about, he said.
Some think foul play was involved. Others have wondered if a mountain man spotted in the area might have played a part. Still others have asked Carl if he thought maybe his wife had just walked away.
In his mind, Carl is sure she didnt just leave.
She wouldnt have left without her beloved dog that had adopted her at a gun show. Nor would she leave her cat. All of her childhood keepsakes were still at the house. Her billfold, identification, and passport were all still there.
But mostly, Carl believes she wouldnt have done that to her family and friends.
Over the last five months, no one has heard anything from her, he said. Im not the only one agonizing over this. Her family, my son, my daughter, my mother, our friends. Its been hard on a lot of people.
Barbara was 55 when she disappeared. She would have turned 56 on Aug. 25.
People dont want to talk about it as much.
Its to the point that people dont want to bring it up any more, he said. Its too emotional. ... The only answer that I have right now is that I just dont know. I dont know what happened to her.
None of it makes any sense, he said, staring out the window toward the Bitterroot Mountains. None of it makes any sense. She was only 20 feet away. Thats not that far.
http://www.helenair.com/articles/2007/12/2...01122307_02.txt
Why did she get lost while this Jim guy didn't, since he had no experience? It makes no sense. Also, if they took a lunch break, which is when they supposedly met up with the two men, wouldn't she have gone to the bathroom at that time instead of at the top of the trail? That's impossible to know, but since she barely knew her companion, I'm sure she would have told him if she was going off the trail.