CA CA - Barbara Thomas, 69, from Bullhead City AZ, disappeared in Mojave desert, 12 July 2019 #10

[GordianKnot]

The casino could have given him some relief. JMO

BBM:

That is possible.

My concern about that, if it's true, is that finding emotional relief/release in gambling points to a person having a problem with gambling.

And I already have concerns about financial considerations being a major contributing factor in BT's disappearance.

So, if RT's in the casinos b/c gambling is his emotional crutch, that only ups my concerns r/t financial matters being involved in BT's disappearance.

JMO.

 

[al66pine]

Who Can Deploy/Activate SAR Team for Wilderness Searches for MisPers?

....I'd ... be loudly pestering LE and the media to listen to me and do something if I couldn't myself , or were unable to get SAR to help in other areas not previously searched....

@LietKynes rbm Thanks for your post which led me to think about the ^ question. @LietKynes did you mean to suggest RT could call SAR directly for help?

Does anyone know of any trained SAR teams that a private citizen can call directly for assistance? @K9Enzo ? or @LAhiker ? Or ? AFAIK, calling SAR team to start mission involving lost or stranded persons is (generally) within purview of the county sheriff or other designated LE officer. I could be wrong. These teams may also be called to action for natural disasters, such as wildfires, flooding & earthquakes.

See San B. Co Sheriff's webpage re applying to be a SAR volunteer & referring to the 'academy' the first yr member must complete. Search and Rescue – San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department

@K9Enzo ? or @LAhiker ? mentioned SAR poss. injuries & insurance. This info is from a different county, not SanB. "All SAR members are registered with the San Diego County Office of Disaster Preparedness as Disaster Service Workers. This registration enables the members to qualify for State Worker’s Compensation benefits in the event of personal injury or death while on duty."
More at: San Diego County Sheriff's Department (San Diego, not San B)
jmo.

 

[PommyMommy]

The casino could have given him some relief. JMO

Well, if he's suffering from the loss of his wife I'd think it would be more of a relief to go find her than sitting at a blackjack table (or whatever he does there - I have no idea). Gambling isn't going to bring her back, I don't think. MOO

 

[LietKynes]

Who Can Deploy/Activate SAR Team for Wilderness Searches for MisPers?
@LietKynes rbm Thanks for your post which led me to think about the ^ question. @LietKynes did you mean to suggest RT could call SAR directly for help?

Does anyone know of any trained SAR teams that a private citizen can call directly for assistance? @K9Enzo ? or @LAhiker ? Or ? AFAIK, calling SAR team to start mission involving lost or stranded persons is (generally) within purview of the county sheriff or other designated LE officer. I could be wrong. These teams may also be called to action for natural disasters, such as wildfires, flooding & earthquakes.

See San B. Co Sheriff's webpage re applying to be a SAR volunteer & referring to the 'academy' the first yr member must complete. Search and Rescue – San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department

@K9Enzo ? or @LAhiker ? mentioned SAR poss. injuries & insurance. This info is from a different county, not SanB. "All SAR members are registered with the San Diego County Office of Disaster Preparedness as Disaster Service Workers. This registration enables the members to qualify for State Worker’s Compensation benefits in the event of personal injury or death while on duty."
More at: San Diego County Sheriff's Department (San Diego, not San B)
jmo.

LBM

Re. the lavender bolded : Actually, no. I should have clarified.

RT could get in touch with those who would be able to request further searches.
Since he has a plane and a boat, not to mention a fifth wheel he is capable of driving/towing --- I am of the opinion that he's a competent person himself despite his advanced age.

So he could galvanize a push to locate her if she is indeed out there somewhere in that desert.
Let people help him and in so doing help himself .
I don't know the man personally but if he's sensing public opinion is against him-- he alone can effect a change.
People are more sympathetic than not. They would want to assist !
I firmly believe that.

More than anyone else in her family ;mainly b/c he's the sole person to have seen her last.
I think this is 'solveable', but needs more media contact and searches.
If she's deceased out in the Mojave.

 

[rosesfromangels]

Well, if he's suffering from the loss of his wife I'd think it would be more of a relief to go find her than sitting at a blackjack table (or whatever he does there - I have no idea). Gambling isn't going to bring her back, I don't think. MOO

Perhaps the Casino was/is a social outlet for RT. This is probably where he eats, sees his cronies, and gets emotional support. If the Casino is a bit of a "home base" for him, it probably gives a little sense of normalcy in very unfamiliar territory. I see many men his age absolutely fall apart if their spouse passes. They seem to either wither away or conversely get remarried right away. They can't stand being alone, especially if their wife doted on them. It seems like BT was the type of gal who would have doted on RT.

I took a breather from the thread for awhile. Has the verified insider been around to give any updates lately?

Amateur opinion and speculation

 

[PommyMommy]

Perhaps the Casino was/is a social outlet for RT. This is probably where he eats, sees his cronies, and gets emotional support. If the Casino is a bit of a "home base" for him, it probably gives a little sense of normalcy in very unfamiliar territory. I see many men his age absolutely fall apart if their spouse passes. They seem to either wither away or conversely get remarried right away. They can't stand being alone, especially if their wife doted on them. It seems like BT was the type of gal who would have doted on RT.

I took a breather from the thread for awhile. Has the verified insider been around to give any updates lately?

Amateur opinion and speculation

Yes, he was here this morning. No news, unfortunately. MOO

 

[K9Enzo]

@al66pine

Just a thought...

SPECIAL REPORT: Red Rock Search and Rescue works to heat up Las Vegas' cold cases

 

[al66pine]

From my ^ post:
"Who Can Deploy/Activate SAR Team for Wilderness Searches for MisPers?
@LietKynes rbm Thanks for your post which led me to think about the ^ question...." @LietKynes did you mean to suggest RT could call SAR directly for help?

LBM
Re. the lavender bolded : Actually, no. I should have clarified.
(1) RT could get in touch with those who would be able to request further searches.
(2) Since he has a plane and a boat, not to mention a fifth wheel he is capable of driving/towing --- I am of the opinion that he's a competent person himself despite his advanced age.....

(3) So he could galvanize a push to locate her if she is indeed out there somewhere in that desert....

@LietKynes Thx again. Me in red ^ again.
(1) But RT has already had benefit of SBCSD's SAR team extennnnsive searches until sheriff called them off. Whether RT himself asks or other ppl ask the SBCSD, sheriff is the decision maker re further searches by 'his' SAR team(s),IIUC. Without new evd, why would sheriff change his mind, decide to re-deploy, based on who asks him/the office for more SAR searches?
(2) AFAIK nothing much bars RT from conducting his own searches w his own truck, RV, plane (boat may be of limited use), w whoever is willing to go, I believe entire search area is/was in public land, could be wrong.
(3) And he could galvanize a push to locate her even if she is not out there somewhere in that desert.
all jmo

 

[GordianKnot]

Perhaps the Casino was/is a social outlet for RT. This is probably where he eats, sees his cronies, and gets emotional support. If the Casino is a bit of a "home base" for him, it probably gives a little sense of normalcy in very unfamiliar territory. I see many men his age absolutely fall apart if their spouse passes. They seem to either wither away or conversely get remarried right away. They can't stand being alone, especially if their wife doted on them. It seems like BT was the type of gal who would have doted on RT.

I took a breather from the thread for awhile. Has the verified insider been around to give any updates lately?

Amateur opinion and speculation

BBM:

Well, one suggestion would be that if RT is into euchre, or poker, or Bingo or stuff along those lines, he and his friends/family could organize a community fundraising event, i.e., a euchre or poker tourney, Bingo night, etc., to help raise money for a reward, a private investigator, S&R efforts or anything else related to finding Barb.

Just holding that type of an event would probably generate some much-needed publicity.

JMO.

 

[10ofRods]

..

But the conditions have precluded further searching. People here with experience of searching in that sort of climate have agreed that recovery searches needed to wait until autumn/winter. Perhaps he already has help lined up without the need to "shriek".

Not entirely. Roadsides have been searchable. Searches take time to organize and one month ago would have been the time (because there are things volunteers could do in small groups; there are also volunteer drone groups).

It is, btw, now autumn. It truly is, it's colder even near the coast, the winds are blowing from the desert, it's that brief period when searching would be optimal. But there is no call for volunteers. That would take talking to the media again.

 

[rosesfromangels]

BBM:

Well, one suggestion would be that if RT is into euchre, or poker, or Bingo or stuff along those lines, he and his friends/family could organize a community fundraising event, i.e., a euchre or poker tourney, Bingo night, etc., to help raise money for a reward, a private investigator, S&R efforts or anything else related to finding Barb.

Just holding that type of an event would probably generate some much-needed publicity.

JMO.

That is a fantastic idea!

 

[MassGuy]

BBM:

Well, one suggestion would be that if RT is into euchre, or poker, or Bingo or stuff along those lines, he and his friends/family could organize a community fundraising event, i.e., a euchre or poker tourney, Bingo night, etc., to help raise money for a reward, a private investigator, S&R efforts or anything else related to finding Barb.

Just holding that type of an event would probably generate some much-needed publicity.

JMO.

As far as I know, he hasn’t even put a poster up, so I wouldn’t hold my breath.

As long as he’s taking care of numero uno though, I think that’s the most important thing here.

I’d like to imagine him watching that roulette wheel spin, and as the little ball finally settles on red or black, he has fond memories of Barb, and what she was wearing that last day.

Barb may never be found, but atleast he seems to be doing well.

 

[10ofRods]

So there is no theory then?

Paulides has a series of hypotheses which are testable. All of them have been tested statistically, using available real world (empirical) data.

Here is one of his hypotheses:

1. People who go missing in the wilderness are more likely to be male.

Here are some more:

2. People who go missing in the wilderness are more likely to be in "vulnerable" populations (elderly, very young, not feeling well)

3. It is very hard to find out what happens to people who go missing in the wildernesses; their chances of being found are small (not sure he is clear on his comparative data there). His point is that since nearly all wilderness is federal land, and federal land has notoriously underfunded investigative/LE units, it's hard to find out what happened.

4. Sometimes either a body or a piece of clothing turns up much later in an area already searched. (Longer, more intense searches are his specialty in terms of collecting data).


He tries to test these hypotheses against known data (reports and findings of MP cases).

It would be a bad idea for any critically thinking investigator to have a theory first; and I'm sure Paulides has a few more hypotheses. Hypotheses first, theories later.

 

[GordianKnot]

As far as I know, he hasn’t even put a poster up, so I wouldn’t hold my breath.

As long as he’s taking care of numero uno though, I think that’s the most important thing here.

I’d like to imagine him watching that roulette wheel spin, and as the little ball finally settles on red or black, he has fond memories of Barb, and what she was wearing that last day.

Barb may never be found, but atleast he seems to be doing well.

BBM:

Even if he's playing cards in the casino, the cards are red and black.
Red cards are the diamond and heart suits, and black are the clubs and spades.
So, it's quite possible that both cards and the roulette table elicit memories of BT in her black bikini and red hat for RT.

Hopefully, those are positive memories.

JMO.

 

[CSIDreamer]

Paulides has a series of hypotheses which are testable. All of them have been tested statistically, using available real world (empirical) data.

Here is one of his hypotheses:

1. People who go missing in the wilderness are more likely to be male.

Here are some more:

2. People who go missing in the wilderness are more likely to be in "vulnerable" populations (elderly, very young, not feeling well)

3. It is very hard to find out what happens to people who go missing in the wildernesses; their chances of being found are small (not sure he is clear on his comparative data there). His point is that since nearly all wilderness is federal land, and federal land has notoriously underfunded investigative/LE units, it's hard to find out what happened.

4. Sometimes either a body or a piece of clothing turns up much later in an area already searched. (Longer, more intense searches are his specialty in terms of collecting data).


He tries to test these hypotheses against known data (reports and findings of MP cases).

It would be a bad idea for any critically thinking investigator to have a theory first; and I'm sure Paulides has a few more hypotheses. Hypotheses first, theories later.

3. Of course it's hard to find people that go missing in the wilderness. It isn't exactly populated.

I'm probably oversimplifying his arguments lol.

 

[Stripehaven]

Maybe, maybe not. We have absolutely NO clue what he thinks, but we do know he thought this at one time because that came directly from his mouth. Doing anything at this point is better than doing nothing. JMO.

We know he SAID he thought this...

 

[Cherwell]

Do you really, really, really think he ever thought that?

Maybe, maybe not. We have absolutely NO clue what he thinks, but we do know he thought this at one time because that came directly from his mouth. Doing anything at this point is better than doing nothing. JMO.

Well, this point has been made over and over again, but I'll say it once more.
Once the initial searching failed to find her, and the chances of her survival had faded, it would be natural to look for an explanation that allowed for her to be alive, however unlikely that scenario might be.
So no, I don't think he ever really believed it deep down, but it was a straw to clutch at the time.

 

[Cherwell]

..
Not entirely. Roadsides have been searchable. Searches take time to organize and one month ago would have been the time (because there are things volunteers could do in small groups; there are also volunteer drone groups).
It is, btw, now autumn. It truly is, it's colder even near the coast, the winds are blowing from the desert, it's that brief period when searching would be optimal. But there is no call for volunteers. That would take talking to the media again.

OK, but I thought someone had recently posted that there had been other adverse weather conditions - monsoon rains and flooding?
It's autumn where I am too, but again I seem to remember someone saying that in the Mojave November would be the time to search?

 

[10ofRods]

Of course we have "zero proof", why should we? I said "perhaps" - it was speculation, no more.
As for searching, it would only be for recovery. As I said a short time ago:

And for justice and knowledge about how she disappeared.

"Only" recovery is a very big thing if someone you love is missing.

 

[10ofRods]

3. Of course it's hard to find people that go missing in the wilderness. It isn't exactly populated.

I'm probably oversimplifying his arguments lol.

No, I don't think you are. However, many of the world's greatest theories are made up of very simple hypotheses.

Darwin, for example, started with the very controversial hypothesis that "something is inherited." Of course, he knew nothing about genes and a lot of people were claiming that only the male of the species contributed anything to offspring...but he was right. Something is inherited. Offspring tend to resembled their parents.

He stirred real interest in the future science of genetics.