CA CA - Barbara Thomas, 69, Bullhead City, hiking wearing bikini in Mojave desert, 12 July 2019

[missingm]

Hidden Hill Road is where I thought that Barbara and her husband were camping, but that location is only about 7 miles north of I-40. The article you just quoted said they were 20 miles north of I-40. The town of Kelso is 22 miles north of I-40. Maybe they were camping just somewhere off the road a ways, just south of Kelso, instead of in a campground?


ETA: Google Maps

View attachment 193628

They almost have to be referring to Kelbaker Rd as a "highway". I can't imagine they were doing a 40+ mile roundtrip hike.

 

[j_in_c]

Woman missing from Mojave Desert

Husband thinks she was taken

Has anyone seen what "highway" she would have had to cross to return to their camp? Unless she stopped to wait for a car because she needed assistance, the area around Kelso doesn't seem like it would have a lot of thru traffic.

I think the more likely scenario is disorientation in the hot desert.

 

[ClaireNC]

Has anyone seen what "highway" she would have had to cross to return to their camp? Unless she stopped to wait for a car because she needed assistance, the area around Kelso doesn't seem like it would have a lot of thru traffic.

I think the more likely scenario is disorientation in the hot desert.

I think they are calling Kelbaker Road a highway. It is a paved road, with 1 lane in each direction. Did I hear him say she was in a bikini and had a beer in her hand? At the 1.20 point in this video. Woman missing from Mojave Desert

 

[MimosaMornings]

Yes, he said a beer in her hand.
I hope they find her soon!

 

[zecats]

Yes, he said a beer in her hand.
I hope they find her soon!

Oh boy. Alcohol and hot weather. I know how would affect me, not even in a desert in a bikini. I'm thinking maybe she wandered off, maybe passed out on the way back to the trailer, and so her husband missed seeing her on his way back. Wouldn't searches from the air be able to spot her though? A black bikini agains the desert colors? I don't have much hope for her at this point. It's been so long. still a glimmer maybe.

 

[j_in_c]

Oh boy. Alcohol and hot weather. I know how would affect me, not even in a desert in a bikini. I'm thinking maybe she wandered off, maybe passed out on the way back to the trailer, and so her husband missed seeing her on his way back. Wouldn't searches from the air be able to spot her though? A black bikini agains the desert colors? I don't have much hope for her at this point. It's been so long. still a glimmer maybe.

Agreed on the alcohol + heat + hiking = major dehydration. I wonder if from the point where she went ahead you could see all the way to the road and their trailer. I suspect not since he didn't realize anything was wrong until he himself got all the way to their campsite. Hopefully search and rescue is looking at every wrong turn she could have taken on that return path. If she was picked up on the highway, I would think there would be some sign of struggle - at least perhaps dropped keys or the beer can.

I am hoping she is found soon, but losing hope that it will be a rescue vs a recovery.

 

[bradfordsleuth]

Woman missing from Mojave Desert

Husband thinks she was taken

I am not ruling this out.....we know how quickly it can happen, as evidenced in the case of recently found hiker S.P. who ran away from a knife weilding stranger and got lost for 4 days.

 

[MimosaMornings]

Were they following a path? When we camped in a desert area, it was flat with very little brush and rocky - but with no hills or mountains do we could easily see the camper from a distance. Would the road they are calling the highway on a higher raised elevation?
What if she didn’t have a key to the camper to get in?

 

[fictionisbetter]

Sheryl Powell, another missing hiker in California, has been found. I haven't been following Sheryl Powell's story, but wonder if the stories could be related. Is anyone familiar enough with California to know how far away from each other the distances of the disappearances were?

It looks like about a 300 mile difference between where SP was found and BT went missing.

 

[j_in_c]

Were they following a path? When we camped in a desert area, it was flat with very little brush and rocky - but with no hills or mountains do we could easily see the camper from a distance. Would the road they are calling the highway on a higher raised elevation?
What if she didn’t have a key to the camper to get in?

I looked at google maps for the area around Kelso Depot. I drove through here once a long time ago and it was very remote feeling and the surroundings were similar to joshua tree national park - lots of joshua trees and scrub and piles of boulders around. The high desert has become even more popular as of late, so there may have been more traffic - I would hope LE and SAR looked for any possible video that the visitors center in Kelso may have had from the day she went missing. (I kind of doubt it exists, but perhaps).
The state highway/road is not elevated but the asphalt is obvious from a distance - if she was able to see the road, it seems less likely she got disoriented or lost. Perhaps she got to the road, but at the wrong spot and looked for a ride? I would think other motorists would have potentially seen her.

 

[MimosaMornings]

So she had to cross the road to get to their camper? What was the name of the campsite where the camper was parked? Or had they just pulled over off the side of the road?
So the camper would have been clearly visible?

 

[Herat]

The SP disappearance in the White Mountains at 8,600 ft elevation and the disappearance of Barbara Thomas in the Kelso / Kelbacher area of the Mojave at ~ 2000 ft elevation are completely different terrains and issues.

SP was in a rocky, gravely area with pinyon pines and scrub, with a rare tiny spring around. She would have had nighttime temps in the high 40's.

Barbara Thomas is in 110 degree heat that cools down to the high 80's at night and there is no shade cover in that sparse, mesquite / bitterbrush desert. Her need for water would be substantially higher than SP's. The story that she was hiking with a beer in hand makes it seem like she was not really hiking anywhere, just walking from one place to another. But she has not made it to her destination, which her husband claims was within a sight line ( I believe). It's extremely bothersome that no trace of her has been found.

 

[Herat]

Sheryl Powell, another missing hiker in California, has been found. I haven't been following Sheryl Powell's story, but wonder if the stories could be related. Is anyone familiar enough with California to know how far away from each other the distances of the disappearances were?

As already mentioned, these two incidents are about 300 miles apart and in completely different types of terrain.

They are not at all related

 

[Creole]

Husband Makes Tearful Plea

Search for woman, 69, missing in Mojave Desert after separated from husband while hiking in bikini | Daily Mail Online

 

[MimosaMornings]

Could they have been at the Kelso Dunes Trail? I don’t know anything about the area and just trying to figure out where the camper could have been parked.

 

[fictionisbetter]

So she had to cross the road to get to their camper? What was the name of the campsite where the camper was parked? Or had they just pulled over off the side of the road?
So the camper would have been clearly visible?

My interpretation of the articles I've read is that they just pulled the camper to the side of the road (I could easily be wrong, but haven't seen anything as specific as a campsite listed...always just references to the camper parked on a road). IMO someone passing by could have seen the the empty camper, stopped, and already been waiting there if/when BT returned.

 

[oviedo]

It looks like they are still searching for her.
Bikini-clad woman, 69, reported missing after hiking in Mojave Desert in California amid heatwave

 

[zecats]

The SP disappearance in the White Mountains at 8,600 ft elevation and the disappearance of Barbara Thomas in the Kelso / Kelbacher area of the Mojave at ~ 2000 ft elevation are completely different terrains and issues.

SP was in a rocky, gravely area with pinyon pines and scrub, with a rare tiny spring around. She would have had nighttime temps in the high 40's.

Barbara Thomas is in 110 degree heat that cools down to the high 80's at night and there is no shade cover in that sparse, mesquite / bitterbrush desert. Her need for water would be substantially higher than SP's. The story that she was hiking with a beer in hand makes it seem like she was not really hiking anywhere, just walking from one place to another. But she has not made it to her destination, which her husband claims was within a sight line ( I believe). It's extremely bothersome that no trace of her has been found.

Barbara is definitely in a much more deadly area to be missing. I agree with you about the beer. I don't think they were hiking so much as just staying there in a trailer for a bit and taking walks, perhaps to take photographs. The only hiking trails I could find were near some of the campgrounds in the area - Hole in The Wall and Mohave Preserve. If they were staying at one of these spots, then they may have been on a trail.

I posted a link upthread to these campgrounds and trails.

 

[zecats]

Barbara is definitely in a much more deadly area to be missing. I agree with you about the beer. I don't think they were hiking so much as just staying there in a trailer for a bit and taking walks, perhaps to take photographs. The only hiking trails I could find were near some of the campgrounds in the area - Hole in The Wall and Mohave Preserve. If they were staying at one of these spots, then they may have been on a trail.

I posted a link upthread to these campgrounds and trails.

Here again is the link
campgrounds in mojave desert

 

[dbdb11]

Thank you to everyone on here hoping, helping and sharing info.

I am Barbara's nephew, and though i don't have much to add to what you guys have gathered i can share that Barb and Robbie were regular and avid campers. besides the rv they also regularly camp on their day boat on the Colorado river. They are both outdoorsy people, and regularly traversed the desert. she collected rocks for their rock garden and was fond of gnarly wood pieces. they both also liked bottle hunting and finding leftover prospector knickknacks, flints etc. lots of interesting items they'd found and collected from their desert walks...

i went on the river with them once, and they also took our family out in the desert when we were kids, maybe fifteen years back. I can confirm they're from Bullhead, though they often spend summers in Canada, where I believe Robbie's family live. They were all about the desert, and I'm not sure they would have even been in an actual campground or official campsite. They spent time outdoors like that all the time. And bikini, beer and hiking boots is accurate. That's her style.

I'm shocked Robbie would have let her get ahead of him, but just indicates to me how well they both must have known the area. I heard from my father (Barbara's brother) that after failing to find her at the RV Rob began searching the area, including a nearby cave they both knew about, incase she'd gone there to escape the heat. So this is a place they camped and explored regularly... All my info is coming second and even third hand, or from the same news sources you guys are seeing. I've actually just learned about this today, as I'm travelling at the moment.

My father's health is failing and Barbara was literally flying to visit us in Hong Kong next week. I'm not sure if this is relevant, but understandably my father was not immediately notified of the severity of the situation, as his own situation is dire. When Robbie finally contacted my family in HK to share this devastating news, my father's wife and my sister report the story he told was almost unbelievable. Robbie also reported he'd been detained for most of a day as a suspect.

Just last week I received voice messages from Barb concerning my father's condition and whether or not she should push her trip forward. I've had trouble contacting her, but this was no surprise to us as her and Robbie are often comfortably beyond cellphone service. I am not the most easy to reach either, so our calls kept missing...

I am grateful this community has jumped on this, and frankly am still in shock. Feeling a bit helpless and can only hope and pray.

I've not been a very active part of Barb or Robbies lives these past decades, or I would have more details to share, but I can say these two were no strangers to the rocky hills around Arizona/Nevada. They were seasoned enough to feel casual in the hills and the heat, and the news reports I've read aren't making it sound that way.

Thank you all again for your concern and your efforts to dig into this.