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

[MsBetsy]

Sorry, haven't quite grocked how to do the reply thing yet. The second half of the about post is mine...
Not discounting scenarios of heat stroke, getting lost, etc., the time discrepancy remains between when they presumably arrived at the site of their walk (around 10:15, 10:30), walked about 2 miles, and RT's 911 call in the dispatch log. Another possible scenario: they stop, they walk, RT takes Barb's photo to prove she was there, then they drive further and stop for yet another short walk.... and RT drives back to the first location and makes his 911 call. That completely throws off the radius of the search party.

Hi Desertdreamer and welcome!

LE had Robert's cell phone so they may have been able to verify his movements to confirm his story.

The purpose of their walk was to take pictures and look at the rock formations. As far as we know there is no evidence that they went anywhere else after that, but they may have stopped somewhere on the way since apparently Barbara had taken a picture that morning with a view of a parking lot. That's the parking lot that RT said he was upset that LE had not investigated the cars in.
I'm not sure how far away that was but I think others have mentioned that it is not the same location.
I don't know if that location was in the search area or not, but LE said they conducted the search based on the last place RT saw her.

Imo

 

[cazador]

SkyVector: Flight Planning / Aeronautical Charts

Aeronautical maps show features that can be seen and or items needed to be avoided "Like Towers" while flying..
Look for the Granite Mountains and next to them is Kelbaker rd "not named" at hwy40 .. Then on that road is a pumping station as noted when you zoom in.. That is located past hidden hills rd "not named" that RT stopped at so he and his wife could go for their hike.
I believe that pumping station is the parking lot RT was referring to.
Employee parking ?

Also this type of map shows all the airports, Including all the vacant airstrips used by anyone who can land on them for fun or emergency landings.

 

[anneg]

SkyVector: Flight Planning / Aeronautical Charts

Aeronautical maps show features that can be seen and or items needed to be avoided "Like Towers" while flying..
Look for the Granite Mountains and next to them is Kelbaker rd "not named" at hwy40 .. Then on that road is a pumping station as noted when you zoom in.. That is located past hidden hills rd "not named" that RT stopped at so he and his wife could go for their hike.
I believe that pumping station is the parking lot RT was referring to.
Employee parking ?

Also this type of map shows all the airports, Including all the vacant airstrips used by anyone who can land on them for fun or emergency landings.

Cazador, IMO a more likely candidate for the parking lot that RT referred to was discussed in this helpful post by @sroad (Sept. 2, thread #8):
CA - CA - Barbara Thomas, 69, from Bullhead City AZ, disappeared in Mojave desert, 12 July 2019 #8

Check out the Google link and attachments in sroad's post. There is a paved parking lot at Granite Pass not far from where the Thomases had parked their truck and RV. It is used as a scenic overlook for the Granite Mountains.

I think sroad is correct that this is most likely the parking lot with cars the Thomases saw when BT took her 360 photo. But it's not clear what "hill" she took the photo from.

(In another post, sroad provided these map coordinates:
Staging area: 34°47'36.79"N 115°36'35.44"W [area where the Thomas's truck and RV were parked when BT went missing]
Main rock formation: 34°47'44.18"N 115°37'1.96"W
Scenic overlook paved parking lot: 34°48'12.84"N 115°36'43.60"W)

 

[cazador]

Thank You so much anneg

 

[Seajay]

She went from fit, sharp, active, ticket to visit family soon, irritatedly dropping off her dog....to GONE.
Logic tells me a ton of things would of had to of lined up for RT’s abduction theory.
No dog (the abductor surely would not take her approx 30 lb dog along) no phone, no key, no supplies, no protective clothing, no sunscreen, no water, no one saw her (when he got ice he mentioned her to the clerk), not much clothing - bikini, boots, socks, cap, carrying a beer, she wanted to return to RV (alone) turned corner (was out of sight) had to cross the road to get to RV ...key was still under the rock. ..she was not within range to hear RT yell,see RT wave arms, see RT searching (before he called 911).
Search teams failed to find any sign of her.

This beautiful woman needs to be found.
I think it’s tragic for her family that the only given information is not helpful.
All MOO.



The French don’t say “I miss you” .
They say “Tu me Marques”
Which means “You are missing from me”

Yup, the perfect storm has to line up for all that to be true. Which leads to the idea it didn’t all line up as said. It’s just too much, too much that is not natural or usual.

 

[cazador]

Hmm

 

[cazador]

34°48'12.84 N 115°36'43.60 W
Help me ..
I do not see a parking lot??? Just a dirt turn out

 

[anneg]

34°48'12.84 N 115°36'43.60 W
Help me ..
I do not see a parking lot??? Just a dirt turn out

Yes, if you go to Google maps you see a dirt turnout, which apparently it used to be. But if you look at the Google photo linked in sroad's post, it shows that the turnout is now a paved parking lot. And there are other photos on Google that show the parking lot. I'll see if I can paste his link here. Sorry, should have done that in my previous post!
Google Maps

ETA: I'm going on the link pasted above provided by @sroad in his post. But there are other photo spheres showing the paved lot. (I believe photo spheres are the same as 360 photos).

 

[anneg]

I also found this: American Travel Journal: Granite Pass Scenic Vista - Mojave National Preserve

This page has a lot of excellent photos taken from the vicinity of the paved parking lot. There is no photo of the parking lot itself, but the text refers to it (colored text by me): "We concluded our March 2018 visit to Mojave National Preserve with a stop at the scenic vista point ¾ mile south side of Granite Pass on Kelbaker Road. This is also 15.1 miles south of Kelso or 7.2 miles north of I-40. An off-road, paved parking area has been constructed to allow visitors to stop and enjoy the rock formations along this ridge of the Granite Mountains."

The Google street view of the parking area is old (2008).

 

[cazador]

Thank You so much anneg
Very nice 360 degree image
I see it now.

 

[MsBetsy]

I also found this: American Travel Journal: Granite Pass Scenic Vista - Mojave National Preserve

This page has a lot of excellent photos taken from the vicinity of the paved parking lot. There is no photo of the parking lot itself, but the text refers to it (colored text by me): "We concluded our March 2018 visit to Mojave National Preserve with a stop at the scenic vista point ¾ mile south side of Granite Pass on Kelbaker Road. This is also 15.1 miles south of Kelso or 7.2 miles north of I-40. An off-road, paved parking area has been constructed to allow visitors to stop and enjoy the rock formations along this ridge of the Granite Mountains."

The Google street view of the parking area is old (2008).

So would it have been possible to capture the parking lot in a picture from on top of the hill where the rock formations are or would they have had to have stopped and maybe parked in the parking lot themselves?
Maybe they parked, took a short walk up the hill, and took a picture from up there before they went on the walk to see the rocks.
That would account for some of the time between when they arrived and when she went missing and RT called 911.

 

[anneg]

So would it have been possible to capture the parking lot in a picture from on top of the hill where the rock formations are or would they have had to have stopped and maybe parked in the parking lot themselves?
Maybe they parked, took a short walk up the hill, and took a picture from up there before they went on the walk to see the rocks.
That would account for some of the time between when they arrived and when she went missing and RT called 911.

IMO, either seems possible. Without seeing the 360 photo, we just don't have a way to guess where it was taken from.

1. They could have parked only once, at the pullout at the intersection with Hidden Hill Road, which makes the most sense to me (MOO). It would have been an easy place to park, and the wide trail leading to the main boulder pile is right across the road.

2. It's certainly possible, however, that they initially drove on past that pullout to the paved parking lot at Granite Pass first, and then drove back to the pullout at Hidden Hill Road because they had seen that it was a better place to walk to the boulder piles. This seems less likely to me but I wouldn't rule it out. It could account for some extra time, as you suggest.

Based on a July 31 post by @dbdb11 (see link below), I got the impression that when they got on Kelbaker Road from I-40, they drove north and parked in the pullout at Hidden Hill Road. They could see the nearby piles of boulders and the entrance to the trail right across the road from where they parked. Then they crossed the road and did their 2.2 mile walk-around to see the rocks and take pictures.
CA - CA - Barbara Thomas, 69, from Bullhead City AZ, disappeared in Mojave desert, 12 July 2019 #4

Here's an excerpt from that post with added blue and ellipses showing where I've skipped parts of his post, for focus:
"... They parked the camper on the pull off, just speculating here of course, hid truck/RV key under a rock they both would be able to find quite easily, they crossed over Kelbaker road ... once on the other side of the road they proceeded to walk (NOT HIKE) approx 2 miles (exactly 2.2 miles according to Robbie's correspondence with us) towards a hill that could be seen from the parking area just ahead of where they pulled off the road.

Once on this hill Barb decided to take a panorama photo of their surroundings ... Robbie claims the 360/panorama photo Barb took from this hill includes cars in the parking lot below, potentially even license plate numbers? and was very upset police were not looking into the owners of these cars as potential suspects (and were instead suspecting him, and seemingly ignoring his statements on the day she went missing)...."

I really doubt that anyone in the paved parking lot abducted Barbara, and of course LE doesn't think an abduction happened. But I can understand why RT was trying to find something to explain what happened to her.

I still believe she is out there but could have walked out of the search zone, or is in the search zone but was missed despite what seems to have been an exhaustive search.

 

[crhedBngr]

Following.

 

[cazador]

خرائط ‪Google‬‏‏

Green=Primitive campsite
Red= Pumping station
Yellow= Paved Parking
All land features are highly visible. You can zoom in on the primitive camping area and see vehicles parked there.
I wonder if there were any campers at the primitive camp site when BT went missing.

 

[Twistinginthewind]

There are so many possibilities and there is so little information to go on from LE in understanding or solving Barbara's disappearance. It's very sad, IMO, that LE has made no statements about their investigation into her disappearance at all in several months.

My personal opinion, following Barbara's case from the beginning (for over 3 months) [paraphrasing from statements published by LE and her family that are posted in the Media Thread and on several previous threads of Barbara's MP case above]:

(1) I am in agreement with her family's published statement in MSM that they do not believe she could have gotten lost on her own so close to the road that there was no evidence of her after SAR efforts.

(2) I am in agreement with the LE spokesperson quoted in MSM that they do not believe she was abducted by a random passerby due to the very remote location.

I too hold out hope that one of these scenarios could have happened, but they are not believable, IMO, nor do her family and/or LE think they are believable, as stated above and in MSM.

I wonder what other scenarios LE Special Investigations unit is working on under these circumstances.

It's been way too long since Barbara disappeared with no word at all from LE.

I wish they would issue an updated statement to the public so efforts to help find her could be more focused.

My opinion only (MOO).

Bumping for you, Barbara!!!!

 

[Lilibet]

I wonder what other scenarios LE Special Investigations unit is working on under these circumstances.

It's been way too long since Barbara disappeared with no word at all from LE.

I wish they would issue an updated statement to the public so efforts to help find her could be more focused.

I’ve observed on various threads here that when LE is silent longer than we’d like them to be, they are quietly and tenaciously following leads, often leading to an arrest. Some cases take longer than others to develop.

A recent example is the Chloe Weigand case...the toddler who fell out a window of a cruise ship in July. It seemed that it was going to be chalked up to an accident, but her grandfather was just arrested for negligent homicide.

It’s only been four months. SBSD took a year to arrest Chase Merritt for the McStay family Murders. This may or may not be foul play, but I have confidence that LE is working hard on Barbara’s behalf. Have faith and hang in there.

IN - Grandfather charged in cruise ship death of toddler Chloe Wiegand

 

[anneg]

خرائط ‪Google‬‏‏

Green=Primitive campsite
Red= Pumping station
Yellow= Paved Parking
All land features are highly visible. You can zoom in on the primitive camping area and see vehicles parked there.
I wonder if there were any campers at the primitive camp site when BT went missing.

I see the primitive campsite in green but no red or yellow on the map...

 

[cazador]

I see the primitive campsite in green but no red or yellow on the map...

Interesting .. When I click on it even with your response, I get all 3

 

[anneg]

Interesting .. When I click on it even with your response, I get all 3

Strange! I looked again and still don't see anything red or yellow.

 

[Snoopster]

It's been a while since I checked in. But I'm still thinking of Barb.
Where are you Barb? We're not giving up looking for you.