CA CA - Barbara Thomas, 69, from Bullhead City AZ, disappeared in Mojave desert, 12 July 2019 #7

[Curiousobserver]

You can see two other trails (heading to the dry creek bed) leading off the main trail. Early on in this story, one report said that RT was heading to a "dry lake" to take a few more pictures. I think this was in error, but that RT likely headed on one of the two small trails you see heading (to the top of the picture) to the dry creek bed. If Barbara followed him a bit before giving up and going back to the RV, she would have had to make a hard left onto the main trail.

If it was the second spur trail that RT was taking down to the creek (the one closest to the parking), then if Barbara headed back and didn't take that hard left, but instead remembered only that they'd gone a mile or more in a straight direction, she might have continued straight. The other trail heads south (to the right in the picture) and runs parallel to the road for over a mile.

That would be one easy way to get lost. She would have eventually emerged onto the road, some 1.2 miles south of where their RV was and probably been pretty anxious or even panicky not to see the RV.

That's assuming she had enough energy to continue walking for a mile. While RT mentions he was carrying water, he never mentions that she drank any. It would have been so great if he'd given a reporter (preferably a local reporter) a complete story of what happened on that hike. That way, volunteers could more easily go back and do a better search.

And she might have very willingly accepted a ride from someone or as you imply she may be lost very far south from where they expected her to be.

 

[10ofRods]

Google Maps
This is where RT parked in my opinion and they walked that path across the road that has a pole in the middle of it. They walked to the rocks and she would have had to cross the hiway to get back to their 5th wheel.

It is a 360 photo and you can travel down the road to where the SAR trailer was parked with a turn out on the left side right next to rocks ..
jmho

"He described the moment he couldn't find his wife. "I hollered her name and I waved my arms, and I looked around the area and I saw that she wasn’t anywhere around. She didn't respond. I got really panicky," Robert said, "I feel like someone did pick her up because she was wearing a bikini, she had a beer in her hand and she was ahead of me and she had to cross that road," he said."

Yes, and it's not just your opinion - it's the opinion of the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department based on what RT and apparently the photos he took.

As to parking lot seen with the cars, it was probably the Sweeney Granite Mountains Desert Research Center, approximately a half mile south of the trail that begins immediately opposite where the RV was parked at the time LE met up with RT.

 

[LietKynes]

IMHO, I don't believe we have enough info about the 360 photo. IIRC, RT didn't say that the photo was taken off Kelbaker Rd - I think that's an assumption we've been making.

What if that photo was taken 20 miles away?

It seems to me that the importance of the 360 photo, at least to RT, is that he thinks someone from that lot followed them to abduct Barbara.

MOO

BBM
Good post, artsy.

As for the bolded ... RT's assumption is unbelievable.
Imo.

That was a great map @ChuckMaureen created. Even if BT had gotten off the trail leading back to the trailer (but I don't see how that's possible). If she veered right she would encounter the power line access, left she could have followed the wash. IMO it would be virtually impossible to get lost out there. Not even accounting for the noise a car passing would have made. If there was a parking lot full of cars, there was surely traffic on the road. @sroads said there was a car every few minutes when he was out there and you could hear them passing from 1/2 mile in on the trail.

Back to square one, AGAIN. None of the details provided in this case make sense unless it was a straight up alien abduction.

Emph mine


Sadly, I think you're right.
And it wasn't alien abduction.

I'm sure he gave a lot of thought as to how much info he gave the media. He didn't say anything about dropping the dog at the kennel, either, IIRC.

BBM

Ita.
It's what's not being said that's worrisome.
MOO

 

[PommyMommy]

That was a great map @ChuckMaureen created. Even if BT had gotten off the trail leading back to the trailer (but I don't see how that's possible). If she veered right she would encounter the power line access, left she could have followed the wash. IMO it would be virtually impossible to get lost out there. Not even accounting for the noise a car passing would have made. If there was a parking lot full of cars, there was surely traffic on the road. @sroads said there was a car every few minutes when he was out there and you could hear them passing from 1/2 mile in on the trail.

Back to square one, AGAIN. None of the details provided in this case make sense unless it was a straight up alien abduction.

BBM

Yes, it was. And, @DianaElaine also added quite a few images of the area to the media thread. One of them includes a yellow line that extends one mile west of where the RV was parked.

I've added a red dot to both maps which indicate the distance of 1/4 mile from the RV. According to both of these maps, Barbara would have gone past the little jog (bend?) in the trail and would have already past the path which goes south - which, according to one of sroad's posts, was searched, as there were SAR flags found at least a mile south. MOO

Chuck Maureen's map - red dot at 1200 ft / .23 miles from the RV.


Diana Elaine's map - red dot at 1/4 mile from the RV. Yellow line is one mile.

 

[Curiousobserver]

Yes, I have heard so many stories where people have seemingly vanished in these kinds of environments and were later found where people had searched or were never found at all.
Yet so many seemed convinced that they would have found Barbara if she had really gotten lost that fast.
It's a mystery. Imo

I think anyone who has played hide-and-seek as a child will remember how hard it can be to find someone who is trying to obscure themselves. If she was lost then it seems likely she was likely trying to get out of the hot sun, the same thing as hiding.

I am equally amazed at how easy it is to forget that people who have seconds or only a few minutes to decide what to do often don't behave the same way as you would predict when you have hours and hours to ponder what they should have done or said.

I think for now you have to give this man a charitable interpretation of the facts we have.

 

[fiveducks]

Google Maps

"He described the moment he couldn't find his wife. "I hollered her name and I waved my arms, and I looked around the area and I saw that she wasn’t anywhere around.
Why would he wave his arms when the person was already out of sight. They couldn't see the arm waving. That is when you are trying to get the attention of someone who can see you. This statement makes no sense to me.

 

[Stripehaven]

Agree. Honking the horn and yelling would make more sense to me.

 

[MsBetsy]

Agree. Honking the horn and yelling would make more sense to me.

Yet if you could hear other traffic on the road it might just blend in with the noise.
Waving his arms might have caught her attention. If he could not see her, he likely thought she could not see him. People are more likely to notice something moving from a distance than an object that is completely still. Imo

 

[MassGuy]

Him waving his arms, speaks to the geography of the area.

He had a reasonable expectation of her spotting him, because there is a great deal of visibility.

I just watched that Inside Edition Interview, and some of the news coverage again, which gives an idea of the terrain.

This area isn’t like other parts of the region, where someone could remain undiscovered for a long period of time, even if they hadn’t traveled that far.

 

[kkdj]

Him waving his arms, speaks to the geography of the area.

He had a reasonable expectation of her spotting him, because there is a great deal of visibility.

I just watched that Inside Edition Interview, and some of the news coverage again, which gives an idea of the terrain.

This area isn’t like other parts of the region, where someone could remain undiscovered for a long period of time, even if they hadn’t traveled that far.

exactly. Hence the kidnapping theory.

 

[Cherwell]

It's also helpful to look at what he didn't say. MOO

True, but why wouldn't he have included details about that extra stop in his interview?

Maybe he did but it was lost during editing.

Yes. Before reading a lot into what he didn't say, it's important to remember that we only have two media interviews as a source. And they will certainly have been edited to fit the time slot for which they were used. I expect he said a lot more. And he will certainly have said a lot more to the police, to which we are not privy.

True it could have been edited out the video portion, but would a reporter leave that very important detail out of a printed version of the news story?

A reporter might not, but a sub-editor might. It's all about the space they wanted to fill.

 

[MassGuy]

exactly. Hence the kidnapping theory.

Which I put far loss stock in than her being lost, which I put next to no stock in.

 

[PommyMommy]

Him waving his arms, speaks to the geography of the area.

He had a reasonable expectation of her spotting him, because there is a great deal of visibility.

I just watched that Inside Edition Interview, and some of the news coverage again, which gives an idea of the terrain.

This area isn’t like other parts of the region, where someone could remain undiscovered for a long period of time, even if they hadn’t traveled that far.

Not to mention that if she wanted to get out of the hot sun, the nearest place to do so was the RV which was straight ahead of her. MOO

 

[MassGuy]

Not to mention that if she wanted to get out of the hot sun, the nearest place to do so was the RV which was straight ahead of her. MOO

Ha! Exactly.

One does not seek shade under a cactus, when they have an air conditioned RV steps away.

 

[PommyMommy]

Yes. Before reading a lot into what he didn't say, it's important to remember that we only have two media interviews as a source. And they will certainly have been edited to fit the time slot for which they were used. I expect he said a lot more. And he will certainly have said a lot more to the police, to which we are not privy.

A reporter might not, but a sub-editor might. It's all about the space they wanted to fill.

Yes, that's true. For instance, he reportedly said this which was not included in the video.

"That’s the last I ever saw of her," he said.

Husband of Woman Who Vanished During Mojave Desert Hike: 'I Just Want Her Back'

 

[kkdj]

Which I put far loss stock in than her being lost, which I put next to no stock in.

Exactly!

 

[kkdj]

Ha! Exactly.

One does not seek shade under a cactus, when they have an air conditioned RV steps away.

So, something is rotten in Denmark? My mother used to use that saying when she knew a lie was being told. lol

 

[MassGuy]

So, something is rotten in Denmark? My mother used to use that saying when she knew a lie was being told. lol

Good ole William Shakespeare, not to be confused by @GordianKnot ‘s friend William Occam.

 

[deugirtni]

True, but why wouldn't he have included details about that extra stop in his interview?

Maybe he did but it was lost during editing.

I'm sure he gave a lot of thought as to how much info he gave the media. He didn't say anything about dropping the dog at the kennel, either, IIRC.

True it could have been edited out the video portion, but would a reporter leave that very important detail out of a printed version of the news story?

Yes. Before reading a lot into what he didn't say, it's important to remember that we only have two media interviews as a source. And they will certainly have been edited to fit the time slot for which they were used. I expect he said a lot more. And he will certainly have said a lot more to the police, to which we are not privy.

A reporter might not, but a sub-editor might. It's all about the space they wanted to fill.

We also must keep in mind that he gave a detailed description of events to his wife's family, and this additional stop was not amongst that information. I'm not sure how long it took before BT's family was contacted by RT, however I believe it was not right away, so he did have time to think about what to tell them to ensure he left nothing out. I believe BT's niece said it was a long description of events. No reason to keep out the info on the extra stop when he is remembering to mention that BT took the '360 photo', which occurred at that location apparently (unless I have it wrong?).

 

[kkdj]

Good ole William Shakespeare, not to be confused by @GordianKnot ‘s friend William Occam.

So many little sayings come into play as I get older. Lol