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

[deugirtni]

"The identity of a person who may have died near Joshua Tree National Park remained a mystery Tuesday, Jan. 21, after a portion of their skeleton was located last week.
....
Officials did not find any obvious signs of foul play or personal belongings nearby, SBCSD spokeswoman Jodi Miller said. There were no active searches for missing persons in the area at the time of the discovery. Investigators were uncertain how long ago the person had died or how long they had been at that location.

The partial skeleton was found just outside of federal land in the Desert View Conservation Area, which is near the town of Joshua Tree and north of Quail Springs Road, Joshua Tree National Park Superintendent David Smith said.
....
“If you go 20 or 30 feet off of a beaten path out there you can get yourself into trouble,” he said.
.... "

There is a map on the link if anyone is better at establishing where this area is, in relation to where BT 'disappeared'...

Partial skeletal human remains found near Joshua Tree National Park – Daily Bulletin

 

[deugirtni]

Considering it's also SBCSD investigating this discovery, surely they would know by know if it was BT?

 

[deugirtni]

This article says the same stuff, but adds:

"Jodi Miller, a San Bernardino County Sheriff's spokeswoman, declined to say where exactly in the park the remains were found. However, she described it as a remote place and said it would have been a treacherous hike to get to the location."

Human remains found in Joshua Tree; San Bernardino sheriff investigation underway

 

[10ofRods]

There are two other people missing near JT who are more likely to be the found body. It's probably not Bill Ewasko, sadly (he was lost out there years ago, but to get to this remote location, he'd have had to cross a main road). Maybe someone named Miller.

 

[Twistinginthewind]

It's sad that remains found in Topock, AZ could potentially be so many different missing people.
Human remains found near Topock
Holding out hope that Barbara is found soon.

 

[Twistinginthewind]

From what I recall reading on early threads here, according to the VI (Barbara's family member), Barbara inherited quite a bit of money from her grandmother (possibly over a million $), and they both could have access to it if in a joint account.

Hence, having life insurance policies on eachother would not be the only financial cushion available to them, and declaring Barbara deceased may not be urgent to have access to their "shared assets" while she is still missing. MOO

 

[Seajay]

This article says the same stuff, but adds:

"Jodi Miller, a San Bernardino County Sheriff's spokeswoman, declined to say where exactly in the park the remains were found. However, she described it as a remote place and said it would have been a treacherous hike to get to the location."

Human remains found in Joshua Tree; San Bernardino sheriff investigation underway

Never mind. I was about to say something stupid and thought better of it. Lol

 

[GordianKnot]

From what I recall reading on early threads here, according to the VI (Barbara's family member), Barbara inherited quite a bit of money from her grandmother (possibly over a million $), and they both could have access to it if in a joint account.

Hence, having life insurance policies on eachother would not be the only financial cushion available to them, and declaring Barbara deceased may not be urgent to have access to their "shared assets" while she is still missing. MOO

I do think money lies at the root of BT's disappearance.

My thoughts are tracking very much along the same lines as yours...there may in fact be strong financial motivation NOT to have BT declared legally deceased.

JMO.

 

[deugirtni]

There are two other people missing near JT who are more likely to be the found body. It's probably not Bill Ewasko, sadly (he was lost out there years ago, but to get to this remote location, he'd have had to cross a main road). Maybe someone named Miller.

By 'Miller', do you mean 'Paul Miller'? If so, his body was located in December.

 

[Jo in Calif]

From what I recall reading on early threads here, according to the VI (Barbara's family member), Barbara inherited quite a bit of money from her grandmother (possibly over a million $), and they both could have access to it if in a joint account.

Hence, having life insurance policies on eachother would not be the only financial cushion available to them, and declaring Barbara deceased may not be urgent to have access to their "shared assets" while she is still missing. MOO

I want to tweak this just a little.
Barb supposedly inherited from her mother, the VI's grandmother.

 

[Twistinginthewind]

I want to tweak this just a little.
Barb supposedly inherited from her mother, the VI's grandmother.

That's right, thanks for correcting. I remembered the reference to a grandmother, but not whose grandmother. So Barbara inherited all her mother's money when her mother passed. According to the VI and AFAIK from reading posts here.
ETA: I also read that Barbara and her mother were close, and lived together in CA when she was raising her son after her first marriage ended, IIRC.

 

[GordianKnot]

That's right, thanks for correcting. I remembered the reference to a grandmother, but not whose grandmother. So Barbara inherited all her mother's money when her mother passed. According to the VI and AFAIK from reading posts here.
ETA: I also read that Barbara and her mother were close, and lived together in CA when she was raising her son after her first marriage ended, IIRC.

I wonder if BT had either a will or living trust.
Did our VI ever say anything about that?

Another thought that keeps swirling around in the nether regions of my brain is that it's not uncommon for wills/trusts to stipulate that in the event of a legatee's death, any remaining inheritance is to go to the legatee's child(ren) vs. their spouse. It's a way of ensuring inheritances are passed down to blood relatives.

Of course, if the primary beneficiary/legatee is never declared dead, it's a moot point.

JMO.

 

[Kapua]

This article says the same stuff, but adds:

"Jodi Miller, a San Bernardino County Sheriff's spokeswoman, declined to say where exactly in the park the remains were found. However, she described it as a remote place and said it would have been a treacherous hike to get to the location."

Human remains found in Joshua Tree; San Bernardino sheriff investigation underway

Given the bolded information, I don't think it's BT. MOO

 

[deugirtni]

Given the bolded information, I don't think it's BT. MOO

Agreed, in addition to that they should've been able to identify BT by now if it had been her that was found. imo.

 

[Seajay]

Agreed, in addition to that they should've been able to identify BT by now if it had been her that was found. imo.

True. At this point, I’m just wondering who it is and if we have a thread here for them. A family could get some answers finally. IMO

 

[deugirtni]

True. At this point, I’m just wondering who it is and if we have a thread here for them. A family could get some answers finally. IMO

One would think that if it was a known reported missing person, LE would've been able to identify the remains by now? It's been several days now since they recovered the 'parts'. I'm not sure what the process is for 'matching'.. do they have to have a specific suspected missing person to compare with the DNA of the 'parts', or can they just enter the DNA into a database and it pops up with a match out of already (known) missing people?

 

[Seajay]

One would think that if it was a known reported missing person, LE would've been able to identify the remains by now? It's been several days now since they recovered the 'parts'. I'm not sure what the process is for 'matching'.. do they have to have a specific suspected missing person to compare with the DNA of the 'parts', or can they just enter the DNA into a database and it pops up with a match out of already (known) missing people?

Would the missing persons DNA be in a database? Maybe they are getting dental records for a comparison. There would have a list of known missing persons in that area. I would think, anyway. MOO

 

[10ofRods]

By 'Miller', do you mean 'Paul Miller'? If so, his body was located in December.

Yes, you're right - I misquoted. We're down to just Ewasko (and boy would it be weird if it's him).

In Barbara's case, I do not think dental records or DNA are on file (per the State DoJ file).

The only way that they'll get a match via DNA is if all the missing persons have DNA on file (which many do not). This is something we discussed quite a bit in the early days of Barbara going missing. Her file is incomplete and unless her husband submits something with DNA to the Sheriff, her DNA is not going to be in the file. At this point, we have no idea if any viable source of Barbara's DNA is still around.

 

[10ofRods]

Agreed, in addition to that they should've been able to identify BT by now if it had been her that was found. imo.

If there's enough to sex and age the skeleton, it should be very suggestive. Can't tell from the report though, as it seems the body is very fragmented (hair or no hair?) If it were Barbara's body as described right before she went missing, unless someone removed her boots, those should be with the body (but none are mentioned; so far news says "partial skeleton" and no mention of personal effects). I do think they'd know if it were Barbara (unless she was stripped of identifying clothing and perhaps certain parts are missing from this partial skeleton).

 

[K9Enzo]

I wonder if BT's son was asked to provide a DNA sample for later identification if she's believed to be recovered?

Would LE have organized that without him having to leave his state of residence?