CA CA - Barbara Thomas, 69, from Bullhead City AZ, disappeared in Mojave desert, 12 July 2019 #3

[dbdb11]

I'm confused. Are you saying you don't think he was ever really a realtor?

never asked him. only realty related conversation i remember him having was related to their henderson house. I don't doubt he was a realtor. i just find it to be a curious profession for him personally.

he always struck me as a lone cowboy type guy. don't see him advertising his face on bus stops, for example, or upselling herbal supplements to strangers.

this is strictly my own opinion. i always liked robbie.

sadly, i dont trust what he has said to my family, and i dont trust what he has said to the media. there was a time where i didn't want to say as much publicly, hell i did not want to doubt him at all, but that time is passed. search is over. case continues.

the fact i do not trust what we have been told by robbie related to this.case should not be viewed as an accusation.

though he has always been a man of few words, part of my early respect for him came from his obvious and worldly intelligence.

few words plus intelligence equalled what i interpreted as wisdom.

my opinion now: i would be wise to keep my distance from robbie.

 

[PaulR]

You're giving statistics that back up your point of view. But in this case, they don't exactly apply. We have a singular account of the last sighting of Barbara given by a person who is "statistically" most likely responsible for her disappearance.

SAR spent 10 days searching and were unable to find her. So she didn't have some sort of medical malady or mishap in a national park. LE has said there is no evidence of an abduction, they don't feel that is a possibility. So realistically what are we left with?

IMO, either Robert disappeared her or she arranged her own. I'll be open to more possibilities if more facts are made known. But it appears LE is using super glue instead of chapstick.

There are many, many cases of SAR not finding someone in ten days, and the body is later found. The Death Valley Germans were found over a decade later. Rachel Nguyen and Joseph Orbeso were found three months after they disappeared. And there are others we still have never found. SAR does a fantastic job, but they are human and do the best they can.

Remember, absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

LE said there is no evidence of an abduction, but that doesn't mean it is not a possibility. It just means they do not have any evidence of abduction at the time. It doesn't seem like they have evidence of murder either, otherwise there would have been an arrest. MOO.

 

[cherrymeg]

My thing is..... if they were finishing a 2 mile hike would she still be carrying a beer?

Good catch.

 

[PaulR]

My thing is..... if they were finishing a 2 mile hike would she still be carrying a beer?

If it were empty, I'd hope she'd carry it with her and throw it away in a recycling bin.

 

[Midwestmom2019]

Yes, I agree. I think pretty much anybody would rationally think she fell/got lost, etc., but the interviews were given after he and LE had been searching for some time with no luck. I think he was reaching for the most plausible answer considering she had not been found in the area where he believed she could have been. I think he was thinking the same as most of us: there's no way she would have wandered far away. MOO. None of it is making sense to any of us.

Ok. I can see your point: days after he’s not thinking any more she got lost, fell ill or disoriented. But if he’s thinking clearly enough for an interview, maybe I’d believe him if he’d have started out by saying I thought she had gotten lost, fell ill in the heat. But skipping all that right to abduction?
My first impression is still with me. His tone of voice, how he looked. I just heard the interview several hours ago but do not recall any specifics of his answers. But I clearly recall his crocodile tears, his overall attitude. How he said it, not what he said.
If my life’s partner disappeared, I’d be so shaken up I don’t know that I’d give an interview explaining they were abducted. I’d be so rattled that I’d be BEGGING for help finding them. Anything. Clues. Sightings. Any little thing that can help find my partner. I’d still be out there, based in the RV, satellite locator on me to be tracked so I didn’t get lost. Walking out further than the SAR grid.
Just moo. He’s given up locating her out there bc LE stopped?
In WY, LE stopped searching but from the last WS posts that I read, her family and others are still searching for her. Treacherous terrain in WY location also.
FYI: I’m 5 feet 9 inches like her. She weigh 130 pounds? I get anywhere under 140 pounds, I’m skin stretched over a skeleton. She’s 4 years older than me. I’m hoping she’s heavier. It would give her a better chance of survival. 10 pounds of fat. But without water, I just hope she’s still found. Alive.
I’m all about safety at 65. I wouldn’t accept a Uber ride from the dealership yesterday in the middle of the day bc of all the perps. Dealership took me home.

 

[SDHELPS]

@dbdb11 What a difficult position to be in and I'm sorry you and your family are having to go through this horrible experience

 

[LaborDayRN]

never asked him. only realty related conversation i remember him having was related to their henderson house. I don't doubt he was a realtor. i just find it to be a curious profession for him personally.

he always struck me as a lone cowboy type guy. don't see him advertising his face on bus stops, for example, or upselling herbal supplements to strangers.

this is strictly my own opinion. i always liked robbie.

sadly, i dont trust what he has said to my family, and i dont trust what he has said to the media. there was a time where i didn't want to say as much publicly, hell i did not want to doubt him at all, but that time is passed. search is over. case continues.

the fact i do not trust what we have been told by robbie related to this.case should not be viewed as an accusation.

though he has always been a man of few words, part of my early respect for him came from his obvious and worldly intelligence.

few words plus intelligence equalled what i interpreted as wisdom.

my opinion now: i would be wise to keep my distance from robbie.

@dbdb11 I'm so very sorry you and your family are going through this nightmare. I may have missed it but can you tell us if their home has been searched? Since no obvious crime scene was found in the desert, I'm wondering if LE would move on to their home.

 

[cherrymeg]

These threads have been moving fast so I may have missed this, but has RT ever had any episodes of forgetfulness or dementia? I'm not trying to be insensitive, just wondering if it's possible that there's a time gap in his memory that he isn't even aware of.

Was he drinking too? That doesn't make him guilty but it could explain memory lapses and an off sense of time.

 

[Midwestmom2019]

We don't know it was homicide at all.

For most missing hikers, the cause of death was misadventure: What's Killing America's Hikers?

At national parks, here are the leading causes of death: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...ple-at-national-parks/?utm_term=.e38dcedcb204

Homicide isn't even in the top 10.

 

[BayouBelle_LA]

by my personal definition, if i am not walking up a mountain it is not a hike. distance is irrelevant.

By that definition, you can’t hike in Louisiana. We just walkin’ below sea level.

 

[MimosaMornings]

Only Barb was coming, and she made a similar solo trip a few months back.

All flights were booked and she had a hotel reservation as well.

She spoke to my father and his wife last Wed and mentioned upcoming camping trip. -from first thread.

MOO-last time July 10th 2019 Barb was heard .

I’m glad she was able to visit her family a few months ago. I rely on my cell phone so much I would be lost without it on a trip like that. (old school printed boarding tickets and maps - a la Mapquest).

 

[MizStery]

he is reportedly a realtor, and has been a herbalife affiliate since i've known him. unless i am missing something, these are sales jobs, and skills in communication would be a major plus.

yes, the real estate license could be used for flipping houses. It is very much safe to say, according to my family, and myself, who have spent time with him, robbie is not a people person.

if you can take my word on this, can anyone see why i keep bringing up the occupational history, as relevant and slightly... curious should be a safe word?

I’m not sure that I’m on the right path but as you a ‘VI’ rightly point out communication skills in ‘sales jobs and good communication skills period would be a major plus’. So I immediately conclude from your post that since we know he is not a ‘talkative glib glad hands salesman type’ perhaps he conveniently uses/fronts behind sales occupations.But theoretically he could have an entirely different perhaps even ‘secretive’ source of income.

MOO

 

[Micheline]

I read the interview a couple of days ago and felt neutral but then actually listened to it just last night. He says he thinks she was taken because “she WAS wearing bikini and carrying a beer.” Like, well of COURSE that would make someone grab her. The emphasis made it “read” differently to me.

I am going to defend Robert here.
She was the love of his life, to him she was beautiful. He still saw her attractiveness, for him it makes sense that someone would want to kidnap this beautiful woman in her bikini.
People can mock this, but it's his feelings.

Unfortunately I think that Robert, who is a victim, is indeed the one who caused her to disappear.

 

[Midwestmom2019]

I read both. If you read closely, it’s about death, injuries etc. they are FOUND. There was no mention that I recall of disappearances and never to be heard from again.
In WY, WS thread, she’s missing. Or was last tine I checked posts she was still missing.
Here, she’s missing. And 69 years old. It appears that the terrain is not completely obscured with vegetation, snow, rocks whatever. So if she was within the two mile grid, or whatever distance SAR mapped out, she would have been located.
That’s why statistics can be so easily manipulated. Change one variable, charts and results are completely different.
This is not good. But the reality is pretty clear. Whether heat, dehydration, animal, human predator, or injury, it’s been a very long search.

 

[MsBetsy]

@dbdb11 , yes I have noticed you bringing up his occupation more than once. Between that and the "breadcrumbs" we followed on thread #1 it comes back to the same source...Herbalife. As I recall, we were asked by the Mods that pursing a unverified posting of 34 years ago we are not stating on track based on current info. Paraphrasing here. MOO

As I understood it, I thought the point being made was that it was an odd job for someone who lacks the required communication skills to be successful in such an occupation.
Usually someone who works in sales requires an outgoing personality, or at least good communication skills.

Someone who is not a "people person" or who is a bit of a loner would not seem to be comfortable in such a position. Imo

 

[Midwestmom2019]

I am going to defend Robert here.
She was the love of his life, to him she was beautiful. He still saw her attractiveness, for him it makes sense that someone would want to kidnap this beautiful woman in her bikini.
People can mock this, but it's his feelings.

Unfortunately I think that Robert, who is a victim, is indeed the one who caused her to disappear.

Ok. He still sees her as beautiful, vibrant. I can understand your comment. And I hope it’s true. But I don’t get how he caused her to disappear. By not watching out for her? Getting separated? What did I miss?

 

[Knox]

There are many, many cases of SAR not finding someone in ten days, and the body is later found. The Death Valley Germans were found over a decade later. Rachel Nguyen and Joseph Orbeso were found three months after they disappeared. And there are others we still have never found. SAR does a fantastic job, but they are human and do the best they can.

Remember, absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

LE said there is no evidence of an abduction, but that doesn't mean it is not a possibility. It just means they do not have any evidence of abduction at the time. It doesn't seem like they have evidence of murder either, otherwise there would have been an arrest. MOO.

I realize SAR can miss a body, I pointed out that very thing with the Elizabeth Shelley case.

But according to Robert, she was right in front of him and they were almost back to the trailer. This isn't a national forest, it's flat desert. If she took a weird wrong turn, she's not going to disappear into an abyss. If she was lost she could literally shout and he likely would have heard her. As another poster likes to point out Occam's Razor is likely to apply here. I really felt an abduction was a real possibility, but now unless it was arranged by her husband I'm not considering it.

 

[cherrymeg]

As I understood it, I thought the point being made was that it was an odd job for someone who lacks the required communication skills to be successful in such an occupation.
Usually someone who works in sales requires an outgoing personality, or at least good communication skills.

Someone who is not a "people person" or who is a bit of a loner would not seem to be comfortable on such a position. Imo

Maybe he exaggerated his profession. MOO

 

[Knox]

By that definition, you can’t hike in Louisiana. We just walkin’ below sea level.

Thanks for the giggle

 

[Micheline]

About Robert's thought process.

He claims he feel she was abducted, hereby trying to get the attention away from the area where she went missing, she is, after all, probably taken to Vegas.

If he harmed her, he would of course never lead police to the area where she could be found, but go to some distant area to claim she disappeared there. In that case he would have everything to win by insisting she must be there, to have every inch searched again and again instead of talking about Vegas.

Unless it was a follow up scenario, knowing she could not be found there, no trace whatsoever, to still be credible toss in the Vegas abduction scenario.

I realisme Robert is a victim.