CA CA - Barbara Thomas, 69, from Bullhead City AZ, disappeared in Mojave desert, 12 July 2019 #5

[Kapua]

investigators are all over this case. they have so many leads theyvjave not even followed up on the info i provided them.

to all of robbies family members, please stay vigilant and most importantly stay safe. praying no one else disappears surrounding this case.

if anyone here regulars the riverside casino, or the losers lounge, please keep an eye out for POI

Fascinating. Thanks for checking in. I hope you will have some answers soon.

 

[PommyMommy]

Amazing post, Pommy! This post should be stickied in the forum as things family can do when a loved one goes missing.

ETA: Maybe it can go in the resource forum? Families of the Missing-Resources, helps, tips

MOO

Thank you, Gardener, good idea. I'll take out all the references to Barbara, make it more generic, and find a spot for it there. MOO

ETA: If anyone here is following a case in which the family can use this information, please, by all means, feel free to share it with them!

 

[PommyMommy]

Where is this casino and Losers Lounge? Are they near where they live? Obviously a LOT going on behind the scenes.

About 4 miles from the home. Google Maps

Dance 'til dawn in the world famous LOSERS' LOUNGE, Riverside Resort

 

[moonriverfarm]

What POI?

 

[CSIDreamer]

What POI?

Person Of Interest

 

[GordianKnot]

What POI?

LE hasn't labelled anyone a POI in this case.

Our VI used the term, probably to avoid naming names, but that's his terminology, not LE's.

LE hasn't named any POI publicly.

LE hasn't said much of anything publicly.

Sometimes, it's important to listen to what people aren't saying.

LE's silence speaks volumes.

Heck, it doesn't just speak: it positively screams.

JMO.

 

[CSIDreamer]

Person Of Interest

I completely added some words to your post . . . in my brain. Sorry.

 

[Leney]

What has been omitted is this particular casino has 740 full hookup sites. The casino itself has tribute bands ie Carpenters, Elton John, a bowling alley, theater, just celebrated over 50 years.

FB link
Don Laughlin's Riverside Resort Hotel & Casino

 

[MsBetsy]

Just as a curiosity matter, I keep seeing RT referred to as a 'victim'. This is not, as far as I am aware, terminology we would appropriate in the UK. Is it American terminology in such cases, or just WS? BT would be a victim - unless she disappeared intentionally, which seems highly unlikely - but nothing has happened to RT, per se.

Not sure til this case I have seen the word used for a family member or other in such a way, so am a bit mystified! Help me out.

Yes, it's not uncommon for family members to be looked at as victims, too.
In the recent mass shooting, the mother of the shooter and her daughter who was killed was referred to as a victim by LE and in the media. She lost both of her children. So it's not just here. Imo

 

[K9Enzo]

Perhaps the poor guy is visiting a casino to get his mind off of what's happening. Some people don't get out of bed, drink too much, over eat, do busy work, over exercise, stare at the wall all day, spend time at their church, the list really goes on and on.

Maybe he's there because he truly believes his kidnapping theory and he's watching out, doing his own investigation. Who really knows.

 

[MsBetsy]

If they suspected foul play or did not believe the husband then they would be looking at surveillance footaImo​

​

[/QUOTE]
Yes, exactly. I'm sure they have already done that, but sometimes it takes a long time to spot something.
In the Mollie Tibbetts case it was a residence with a security camera that they found what they needed to find the killer.
But in that case they asked for the public's help in viewing all their footage. Imo

 

[PommyMommy]

If they suspected foul play or did not believe the husband then they would be looking at surveillance footaImo​

Welcome to Websleuths, Nilesil! ​

 

[PommyMommy]

RT's statements transcribed from both videos:

RT Interview #1
KTNV Channel 13 Las Vegas
July 15, 2019

:38 "By the time I took the picture, she was continuing on because she wanted to use the RV, and she rounded the corner, and I lost sight of her."

:51 "They had the, the, uh fire trucks out there, the ambulance, paramedics; they had the, the, they actually brought a dog team out later, they had the helicopter that was comin' in."

1:13 "My feeling is that she was picked up because she had to cross the highway. She was wearing a bikini and she had a beer in her hand."

1:28 "I just want my wife back. And, if somebody out there has her, which I feel somebody does, please, uh, drop her off in a safe place where uh, she can contact us. And, that's it."

1:52 "And, we always tell each other before we go to bed at night how much we love each other. So whoever has her, please release her. No questions asked."

RT Interview #2
July 17, 2019
Inside Edition

:20 "I would just beg that they would, uh, release her no questions asked. I just want her..." (doesn't finish his sentence)

:51 "I hollered her name and I waved my arms and I looked around the area and I saw that she wasn’t anywhere around. She didn't respond. then I got very panicky.”

1:12 "I feel that, uh, somebody picked her up, uh, because she was wearing a bikini, she had a beer in her hand, and she was ahead of me and she had to cross that road."

1:32 "The police consider me the prime suspect because it was just the two of us."

1:38 "Yes, I took a polygraph test. They told me that I was being deceptive. Now, I know that polygraphs aren't 100 percent, and I had not had any sleep."

1:53 "Absolutely not." (In response to being asked if he had anything to do with his wife's disappearance.)

2:00 "She is the love of my life. Come home, we're missing her."

Link to videos: AZ - AZ - Barbara Thomas, 69, Timeline, Media, Maps, *NO DISCUSSION*

 

[MsBetsy]

Perhaps the poor guy is visiting a casino to get his mind off of what's happening. Some people don't get out of bed, drink too much, over eat, do busy work, over exercise, stare at the wall all day, spend time at their church, the list really goes on and on.

Maybe he's there because he truly believes his kidnapping theory and he's watching out, doing his own investigation. Who really knows.

Yes, we don't really know if it's even he who LE is watching, if they are watching anybody at all.
LE would not share any information about the investigation with the family. At least that's been true in every other case. Many times the family does not even know there is a suspect or that strong evidence has been found indicating a victim is deceased until minutes before a Press Conference. Imo

 

[10ofRods]

So here's an off the wall thought. I don't know how expensive it is, but maybe worth a shot.

Lidar is the latest technology, that works sort of like sonar - so you can see things maybe you can't with the naked eye. (I was just reading how lidar helped find hidden graves in Mexico.)

Apparently you can hire people who have the equipment to do searches for you. Like I said, I don't know what kind of costs it would entail (RT - pony up, big boy), but it might be worth hiring someone to fly a lidar drone over the desert.

Just trying to think outside of the box here. MOO

ETA: Not about looking for a grave, mind you. They can strip foliage off results so we could see if Barbara is under the brush and missed by the searchers.

I've got an email in to a colleague about LIDAR (whether it strips off foliage). I know it works by giving a computer data to assess minute changes in a landscape (particular changes in elevation, which is how the graves are found, but it can assess minute changes in distances between any two points). I do know that it works by making multiple assessments over time and can control for such things as blowing sand or leaf debris, but not sure if it can actually strip foliage.

Let me put it another way, it probably can work to strip foliage, but AFAIK, has never been programmed/used for that purpose. Each section of land has to be photographed initially by repeated pass overs with a drone or helicopter. So it's an intensive, expensive process. In Barbara's case, the area to be searched would be fairly large (larger than the area surveyed for those Mayan ruin discoveries). It can't really "see" under things, it can just account for changing conditions, especially changes in elevation (which is relevant to finding a body out there, I just don't think the specific algorithms needed to find human bodies have been programmed into any use of LIDAR). But if any portion of a body were visible to the drone, LIDAR should give data regarding changes in that body (decomposition) over time. Nearby plants and their growth could definitely be calculated into the analysis, but it would take a very specialized forensic archaeologist/anthropologist/criminologist to do this (IOW, a team).

If there were funds, it would be worth it for drones to be hired for detailed photography (and so much the better if with LIDAR, as then, perhaps some forensic team would use this as an experimental case for this fairly new technology; technology of drones and LIDAR itself are fairly cheap, it's the professional investment and computing that's more expensive).

Here's to hoping something breaks this week and the whereabouts of the Thomases on that Friday lead to a real understanding of what happened. I wish we did have a lawyer on this thread to walk us through finding search warrant documents in Arizona.

 

[GordianKnot]

Perhaps the poor guy is visiting a casino to get his mind off of what's happening.

Maybe he's there because he truly believes his kidnapping theory and he's watching out, doing his own investigation. Who really knows.

RSABBM:

Sure, that's possible.

I mean, we all remember how OJ was hitting the links looking for Nicole's killer out on the golf course.

So, I guess looking for BT in casinos would be reasonable given RT'S abduction theory, the fact that LE has publicly pooh-poohed his abduction theory, withstanding.

JMO.

 

[Leney]

RSABBM:

Sure, that's possible.

I mean, we all remember how OJ was hitting the links looking for Nicole's killer out on the golf course.

So, I guess looking for BT in casinos would be reasonable given RT'S abduction theory, the fact that LE has publicly pooh-poohed his abduction theory, withstanding.

JMO.

I would be more inclined to believe that this is a place they both frequented together to:

Meet friends (740 fully serviced RV Park on the Colorado River, part of the Camping Road Trip);
See movies (Terminology used by RT is old school);
See tribute bands;
Eat (There are numerous specials).

One can find something nefarious in everything. To do so often requires a great deal of mental gymnastics.

This is a casino that has a Kid's Kastle, Laser Tag, Antique Auto Show et al. See link for more.

Entertainment, Fun for the whole family, Riverside Resort Hotel and Casino

 

[topockaz]

is it a bar? Nightcub?

I would say its a nightclub. It has a bar, dance floor and on the weekends it has live bands. I go to the Riverside Casino twice a week, but haven't been in the Losers Lounge in years. Bullhead City and Needles Ca. do not have a bowling ally or movie theater. If you want to see a movie and go bowling the only place to go is Laughlin Nv. My grandkids like the Riverside Casino because it has a bowling ally, a movie theater and a pool.

 

[K9Enzo]

RSABBM:

Sure, that's possible.

I mean, we all remember how OJ was hitting the links looking for Nicole's killer out on the golf course.

So, I guess looking for BT in casinos would be reasonable given RT'S abduction theory, the fact that LE has publicly pooh-poohed his abduction theory, withstanding.

JMO.

To be fair - RT never said that's what he was doing, looking for his wife's killer. *I* made a statement but didn't even imply that.

I'm sure RT would be shocked, maybe even appalled that his specific whereabouts are being discussed here.

 

[MsBetsy]

Good point.

RT's probably at the casino playing in the Kids Kastle or enjoying a game of Laser Tag or something.

No mental gymnastics required to embrace that explanation for him hanging out in the casino at all.

JMO.

Well, maybe not him (although you never know) but maybe they take their grandchildren there.