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

[Blondie in Spokane]

Hanyuu...I am so sorry to hear that your aunt is missing. Does she have a thread here on WS? I’d like to read up on the case if possible. Thanks!

 

[Tripod]

Hanyuu...I am so sorry to hear that your aunt is missing. Does she have a thread here on WS? I’d like to read up on the case if possible. Thanks![/QUOTE

CA - CA - Lauralyn Palmer, 71, Shasta County, 20 Apr 2018

 

[MsMiniSleuth]

Yes, but I believe that whole subject originated in private messages and not on the open forum. Not all of us have been included in the private messaging.

Surely anything discussed in private messages should not then be brought to the open board. Either put it here for all to see or don't discuss any part of it. This is the result. Some are talking about things that others have no knowledge of, which as I have seen here over last few pages, they start asking who said this and where, and creates discord.

Let's have everything visible, or include everyone in private messages so we are all on the same page.

 

[dbdb11]

“Lexi?” Is how dbdb11 referred to later-dated photos of a tricolor collie

By later dates, I mean more recent

dog in photo by house covered in snow is tory i believe. i met tory several times. new blackish collie is lexie.

 

[dbdb11]

It seems to me there are so many reasonable explanations for why they didn't take the dog that it's impossible to tell whether it is significant or not.
Maybe they just wanted a break from everything at home, including taking care of a dog.

I'm not sure what information the kennel staff could possibly give LE in relation to this case other than one person said she was acting normal and another person said she wasn't acting herself. Since she was in a hurry I doubt she stayed long enough to explain why they weren't taking the dog with them.
I'm not sure how the dog being a frequent boarder or having health problems would be a reason to focus on the kennel staff. Imo

that is the last time Barbara was seen by anyone other than Robert, as far as we know. significant

 

[dbdb11]

I was thinking the same thing about the Church of Scientology and how the leader's wife disappeared it seemed.

i have been kindly requested by website owner to refrain from mentioning cultcorp for fear it will derail converasation and because there is nothing to indicate said company's involvement.

i am happy to comply, and hope others can keep all discussion regarding cultcorp off of the public thread.

many thanks, especially to the team that runs this resource.

 

[oceanstarryeyes]

.

 

[Roselvr]

VI's posts about Barb not herself

personally endeavor to remain objective. it is not easy with all the information on the table in front of me.

your summary is correct, but there is substantial additional information which all 'tips' the scale, imho.

despite all information, i remain hopeful that Barb is alive.

that is an indication, on its own, that my views on this disappearance have a very strong bias.

regarding whether or not robert is innocent, i am also hopeful. all of my speculations have been confined to this medium (websleuths). i am not out to publicly shame Rob or ruin his reputation. yes this is public, no i am not trying to spread it around the internet.

from the first day i learned about barbs disappearance i have been on websleuths sharing what i've learned. my first call to Rob and Barbs house on the night i learned of her disappearance, Roberts family told me their plan is to share any and all information across all media etc, spread wherever there are ears to listen, and since that point i have been sharing what i learned here, mostly unfiltered, and also learning from members with lots of experience here on WS ways that i can be useful to Barb.

the times i began using more discretion were after speaking to Barb's son, and realizing this all could be far more dangerous than a surface examination suggests. my family over here agrees the entire situation feels very wrong, and have asked me to limit my involvement out of concern for MY SAFETY.

i have been in contact with law enforcement in AZ and CA, with robbie, with robbies family, with matt, with independent investigators, with many other relevant persons whose relation to rob and barb mean they should be in direct contact with case detectives. many of the means of contact were provided through ws, from members who are very busy trying to help find my aunt. i have two independent sources who saw Barb on the morning of the 12th, one who expressed she was visibly aggravated and not her normal self.

i have scoured all correspondence between barb and my family trying to get a better idea of what could have happened.

i stopped commenting when it got messy on here, but continued in private chats. i resumed posting publicly because i determined it was more helpful for this group to be more informed and updated, mainly because the resources this group of people active on this ws thread have access to are immense and humbling! we are going to find Barbara.

I included very personal pictures Barb sent to us in the hopes you all get a better feel for who she was. she and rob have always been an inspiration to me, and their house is one of the stops i made on my own backpacking journey through the desert regions, and other national parks up and down the west coast in 2007.

i will be the first to formally apologise for any accusations or hurtful speculations. to deny them or defer them or ignore facts before me would be extremely counter productive, imo.

nothing i have learned has been taken lightly. everything i have shared has been shared after careful consideration that it will help in the search for barbara. the gravity of the situation is not any less than the day i first learned she had disappeared.

at this moment i have no reason to think other than what you have seen me suggest. unfortunately due to TOS, and my instinctual feeling that not all relevant information should be shared publicly, or openly for that matter, i can not ammend your summary of events with what i consider crucial information.

and yes, i still consider details surrounding Barbs disappearance imply the situation could be very dangerous; sinister even.

thank you all for being here and keeping Barb in your thoughts.

just to clarify, one source expressed she was visibly aggravated, and not her usual friendly self. the other expressed nothing unusual or out of the ordinary.

Timeline fits. The kennel is five mins from their house.

 

[bluenoser]

But I mean... if dogs were called in to this remote area where the couple was *known* to have been, and hardly any people had trampled the grounds afterward, and presumably the dogs would have started at that place so wouldn't have been hot or exhausted yet, why wouldn't they have been able to catch BT's scent at least at the point where RT said they were at? I just wondered if there was something about the ground/dirt that would preclude a dog from being able to smell in that area.

It was said earlier that due to dogs only being able to cool themselves by panting, and not being able to smell when their mouths are open, that the heat could have contributed to not picking up a scent.

 

[Hair of the Dog]

I wonder if Barb had a reservation at the kennel for her Hong Kong trip so RT did not have to take care of her dog?

I don't know the cost of leaving your dog at a kennel in BHCity, but in my experience it runs about $50/day, which can add up pretty fast. It sounds like Barb's dog has been frequenting the kennel. MOO

 

[cricket49]

DBM

 

[chihuahua]

And we wait. Barbara where are you?
Chi

 

[155etta]

I’m not sure if we know it’s her dog, it might be their dog.

Good point.

 

[Midwestmom2019]

I do wish LE would use thermal imaging as soon as the alert comes in. I don’t know how it works, but with today’s technology, I would think low flying drones, aircraft would be able to get some “hits”. Sure, animals would show, but a body is bigger than most animals. It’s the non moving thermal images that would be good.

 

[CSIDreamer]

I do wish LE would use thermal imaging as soon as the alert comes in. I don’t know how it works, but with today’s technology, I would think low flying drones, aircraft would be able to get some “hits”. Sure, animals would show, but a body is bigger than most animals. It’s the non moving thermal images that would be good.

I'm wondering if that would have worked in this case. It was so hot I'm not sure any images would show. But I'm not sure.

Definitely in cooler areas!

 

[K9Enzo]

I do wish LE would use thermal imaging as soon as the alert comes in. I don’t know how it works, but with today’s technology, I would think low flying drones, aircraft would be able to get some “hits”. Sure, animals would show, but a body is bigger than most animals. It’s the non moving thermal images that would be good.

I don't believe there was a press release regarding the specifics here. It's totally possible and I think probable, FLIR was used and was being viewed in real time at Incident Command. This can be standard in official SAR operations.

The use of FLIR is not a one size fits all and I'm not a tech geek that can speak to it in detail.

 

[Midwestmom2019]

I'm wondering if that would have worked in this case. It was so hot I'm not sure any images would show. But I'm not sure.

Definitely in cooler areas!

Hadn’t thought of the heat, but still, sets up a possible way to search, may by seeing a moving image. Or if different colors indicate different range of temperature. I suppose like radar weather indicates severity of precipitation. So ok the rocks are 120 degrees, animal bodies would register different temperatures.
We put people on the moon. I never have understood why we can’t build roads that don’t make pot holes, or in this case, SER equipment that senses human beings. I can see my car on Google earth. Can Google earth be focused on a particular area as needed? I suppose it would take a little time to contact Google satellite, all of that, just seems within possibilities of our technology today.
Our military is among the finest in the world. Surely we have the capabilities of tracking troop and armored vehicle movement.

 

[Midwestmom2019]

I don't believe there was a press release regarding the specifics here. It's totally possible and I think probable, FLIR was used and was being viewed in real time at Incident Command. This can be standard in official SAR operations.

The use of FLIR is not a one size fits all and I'm not a tech geek that can speak to it in detail.

Wow. I just read up on FLIR. amazing stuff. Hopefully that technology is available at reasonable costs to LE, SAR teams. But if immediately deployed, and person not immediately spotted, makes for a sad outcome.
Maybe that’s why in many cases the search is called off but appears to be premature. In fact, terrain has been viewed with technological equipment, and LE determined no reason to continue bc nothing of interest seen.
Just hope it’s not the end of a search when there’s still possibility of locating the missing person.
Events like these make me think that countries that have two years required military enlistment makes more sense than the obvious protection against foreign enemies.
Scouting comes to mind, as well.
Crime: be aware of your surroundings. Perhaps police could have more interactive work with the community as to crime prevention, safety measures, what to do and how to act in the face of a criminal.

 

[K9Enzo]

Wow. I just read up on FLIR. amazing stuff. Hopefully that technology is available at reasonable costs to LE, SAR teams. But if immediately deployed, and person not immediately spotted, makes for a sad outcome.
Maybe that’s why in many cases the search is called off but appears to be premature. In fact, terrain has been viewed with technological equipment, and LE determined no reason to continue bc nothing of interest seen.
Just hope it’s not the end of a search when there’s still possibility of locating the missing person.
Events like these make me think that countries that have two years required military enlistment makes more sense than the obvious protection against foreign enemies.
Scouting comes to mind, as well.
Crime: be aware of your surroundings. Perhaps police could have more interactive work with the community as to crime prevention, safety measures, what to do and how to act in the face of a criminal.

I believe the limitations for SAR operations are cost, flight time limitations of batteries & resolution quality depending altitude. I also understand it can be very difficult to spot someone unless there's a huge variation between the person and the surroundings. Imagine a person curled up under tree cover. Yes, there been successful search operations using FLIR.

Now, FLIR that's mounted to police helicopters, that has super high resolution quality, that's probably around 100k, not including the helicopter. SAR just does not have the funds for this, even though they are called out, in most cases, strictly by the Sheriff's office. The capability of the military - well - that's just not going to be an option here. IMO

I think many SAR organizations are of the opinion this technology will be utilized but right now cannot replace actual boots on the ground.

Perhaps someone with more knowledge can chime in.

 

[firstsleuth]

I do wish LE would use thermal imaging as soon as the alert comes in. I don’t know how it works, but with today’s technology, I would think low flying drones, aircraft would be able to get some “hits”. Sure, animals would show, but a body is bigger than most animals. It’s the non moving thermal images that would be good.

I found an informative and fairly quick read regarding thermal imaging and reasons and photo examples of why it may have trouble in desert terrain for those who are interested:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/dronelife.com/2016/06/08/professional-insights-thermal-imaging/amp/

Also, thank you K9Enzo for your thoughts on the topic above