Recovered/Located NV - Ronnie (found deceased) & Beverly Barker (taken for med care), RV trip, Stagecoach, 27 Mar 2022

[Satchie]

The ECSO said the Barkers may have also visited the Coaldale area on the evening of March 27. Coaldale is a mining town about 40 miles west of Tonopah, Nevada, but a family member posted on social media that this account is unsubstantiated. The drive from Tonopah, Nevada, to Nellis AFB is about 3.5 hours.
Missing Indiana couple was heading to Tucson


Is there anything at all in Coaldale? All I can remember are abandoned buildings.

Altho the link is a recent article, it seems to be referring to older info published by the Sheriff, plus it got mixed up too many times to review.

But the Sheriff's office in Esmeralda county picked up a phone ping at Coaldale, family later put out a post that they could have been within 50 miles of Coaldale. Coaldale is close to Highway 95, maybe they just drove past, or they were around Silver Peak which is within 30 miles of Coaldale...

I hope LE have more/better pings, that may have just been where they started the search from.

JMO

 

[Herat]

Luning Rest Area. What IS this building with a cot and cement walls at this "rest stop?" I found this on google maps but not sure if the pic will come up with this link. Go to google maps, search for Luning Rest Area and check out the photos. I don't care if they aren't there...someone needs to check this small prison-like building out!

There used to be a Carson and Colorado Narrow Gauge Railroad line that took Magnesium from the Gabbs mining area to a region near Hawthorne.

The old station was torn down in 1968. It was on the site of the current rest area and I think that the strange little building is a remnant of a switchman's booth or some other railroad-associated function.

 

[Herat]

As a child I was really excited about seeing a real life ghost town. I had seen ghost towns in Westerns on tv and in cartoons.

The first time I was in Nevada my dad was navigating using an AAA map that had several ghost towns marked. Dad drove to one of them because I was begging to see it, and I was terribly disappointed. Just a bunch of abandoned buildings, trash, and graffiti. Not at all what I was expecting.

Have you ever visited Bodie Historic Ghost Town State Park near Bridgeport?

It's really worth seeing

Bodie SHP

 

[rebeccaeee]

NV native here. I cannot emphasize enough how desolate US95 is. It is well traveled, yes, but absolutely devoid of people and places for long stretches. I know the hinky vibes are big here but I lean more toward an accident off the road or perhaps a "let's pull over here and sleep" and getting stuck. Cell service is spotty away from towns. There is no way they would have made it through Beatty without being picked up on a camera, I think, so I appreciate the air search remaining up north. Fingers crossed for them.

 

[IceIce9]

That is a big rig. Had Ron driven it extensively? Was this his first trip out west? It is quite different driving a big RV here in Indiana, or in the Midwest, as opposed to driving in an area where side roads turn to gravel or disappear completely, and where there is no place to turn around.

 

[Knox]

Have you ever visited Bodie Historic Ghost Town State Park near Bridgeport?

It's really worth seeing

Bodie SHP

Bodie, Calico, and even though not classified as such, Oatman

Peeking quickly to see if any new information came to light today?

 

[Herat]

Has the family told us when the last time they actually spoke to the Barkers or received texts from them was?

( Apologize, but I don't know if they actually specified if it was the day they disappeared or before. Sunday 3/27 would have been quite a long time in driving and I'd be surprised if one of them, possibly Beverly, didn't do some texting or phoning as the drive progressed.)

I guess I'm just asking for the last time that someone who knows them had real-time contact with them, not just a gas mart video.

 

[Planet 9]

Reminds me of another very tragic case from Canada. An elderly couple, Lyle and Marie McCann, were violently attacked by a meth addict after stopping at a rest stop on the side of the road. I imagine they might’ve represented easy prey to someone desperate for cash for a next fix. They were initially reported missing when they didn’t arrive at their destination, then burned out RV was later connected and vehicle that they were towing was eventually found but never the bodies although the suspected culprit was convicted. It was very high profile, I’m certain it made a lot of seniors more wary of travelling due to the risk of crossing paths with nefarious cold-hearted addicts.

Murders of Lyle and Marie McCann - Wikipedia

It reminds me of the retired Oklahoma couple - Gary and Linda Haas - who were abducted in their RV from a New Mexico rest stop in 2010. The escaped Arizona convicts shot them and torched their RV, stealing their truck.

 

[otto]

Regarding discussion about the couple accidentally driving down the wrong road and being unable to turn the RV around, wouldn't they just separate the vehicle from the RV and drive that to get help?

 

[Trailrunner925]

This has me convinced to get a satellite-based personal tracker, like a Spot system.

I've done 8 cross country trips, by myself, with my dogs. I always had a SPOT messenger on with tracking, which sends a signal every 10 minutes and people you share your map with can see precisely where you are. At least if f I went missing, there was a last "known" spot. There is also a 911 function that alerts rescue to come get you.

 

[Trailrunner925]

It reminds me of the retired Oklahoma couple - Gary and Linda Haas - who were abducted in their RV from a New Mexico rest stop in 2010. The escaped Arizona convicts shot them and torched their RV, stealing their truck.

I remember that incident. Made me NEVER stop at a rest area on a highway again unless there were a lot of cars. More often than not, I'd get off at an interchange where there were big truck stops. Highway rest areas can be sketchy places.

 

[Herat]

There are actually 6 NDOT traffic cameras where there rig should have been visible on Sunday March 27, starting with this second segment of their trip ( I'm excluding the section from Mt Shasta to the Stagecoach area.)

1. Intersection of NV 439 and Highway 50 ( they would be heading east toward the alt-Highway 95 intersection
2. Roundabout intersection of Highway 50 and al-Highway 95 at Silver Springs
3. Southbound on alt-Highway 95 at Wabuska, just north of Mason Valley
4. Turning right (southbound ) at alt -Highway 95 and Highway 95 at Shurz
5. Southbound on Highway 95, at the south end of Walker Lake, north end of Hawthorne
6. Southbound on Highway 95, probably just entering Luning

The next camera on their apparent route wouldn't be for another 128 miles, until they reached the junction of Highway 95 and 267 ( Scott's Junction )

 

[Herat]

I remember that incident. Made me NEVER stop at a rest area on a highway again unless there were a lot of cars. More often than not, I'd get off at an interchange where there were big truck stops. Highway rest areas can be sketchy places.

That also reminds me. There is another rest area they didn't reach, at Millers, about 27 miles east of the Coaldale Intersection.

It doesn't appear to have a CCTV nearby. These stories make me think of criminals hanging out in a place like this and then maybe cruising up and down the highways looking precisely for retirees with RV's and toads. Did their KIA have any handicap stickers or other plaques that might alert a perp that this was someone vulnerable.?

 

[Satchie]

That also reminds me. There is another rest area they didn't reach, at Millers, about 27 miles east of the Coaldale Intersection.

It doesn't appear to have a CCTV nearby. These stories make me think of criminals hanging out in a place like this and then maybe cruising up and down the highways looking precisely for retirees with RV's and toads. Did their KIA have any handicap stickers or other plaques that might alert a perp that this was someone vulnerable.?

I'm pretty sure if there'd been previous criminal incidents in the area we'd have heard about them.

JMO

 

[zecats]

Have you ever visited Bodie Historic Ghost Town State Park near Bridgeport?

It's really worth seeing

Bodie SHP

Virginia City for me. Way way up road....Really cool. But having driven all over Nevada/ back and forth across the vast expanse of nothingness, with giant dark mountains looming on the horizon, it's easy for me to imagine the kind of driving and terrain Bev and Ronnie was experiencing. And things in the distance seem to be so much closer than they truly are.

 

[MntnHiker]

So according to the new detailed timeline, the vehicles and Ron were seen on camera in Stagecoach. He spent a few minutes talking to the cashier. This has me pretty confident things were still A-OK in Stagecoach (in terms of no foul play). The only possibilities of someone entering the vehicle here and not getting caught on camera would be:
-If the cameras were showing the drivers side of the RV and someone could enter the passenger side undetected
-The vehicles were shown driving in/out but were not on camera while parked and filling up and someone could have entered at that time.

One other thing of interest from that timeline is that between Walker Lake and Hawthorne, they made a 14 minute/12 mile typical drive in 5 minutes' time. The timeline does state for this to happen, the ping would either have to be on the south side of Walker Lake, the traffic cam on the north side of Hawthorne (which should be able to be verified, right?), they would have to be speeding or all of the above.

All of the other drive times have been right on par or even a bit slower than "typical" times (which makes sense as they're driving a big rig pulling a toad). So why is this one so fast? IF foul play was involved, that makes me wonder if it happened right before Walker Lake, and the perp(s) were speeding and trying to get out of dodge quickly. MOO

 

[samsmom]

Gotta come in and commend all the great sleuths of Websleuths. Welcome to the new folks. I am lighting a candle tonight for all the missing but these 2 people have been heavy on my heart.

 

[Satchie]

So according to the new detailed timeline, the vehicles and Ron were seen on camera in Stagecoach. He spent a few minutes talking to the cashier. This has me pretty confident things were still A-OK in Stagecoach (in terms of no foul play). The only possibilities of someone entering the vehicle here and not getting caught on camera would be:
-If the cameras were showing the drivers side of the RV and someone could enter the passenger side undetected
-The vehicles were shown driving in/out but were not on camera while parked and filling up and someone could have entered at that time.

One other thing of interest from that timeline is that between Walker Lake and Hawthorne, they made a 14 minute/12 mile typical drive in 5 minutes' time. The timeline does state for this to happen, the ping would either have to be on the south side of Walker Lake, the traffic cam on the north side of Hawthorne (which should be able to be verified, right?), they would have to be speeding or all of the above.

All of the other drive times have been right on par or even a bit slower than "typical" times (which makes sense as they're driving a big rig pulling a toad). So why is this one so fast? IF foul play was involved, that makes me wonder if it happened right before Walker Lake, and the perp(s) were speeding and trying to get out of dodge quickly. MOO

Good point about how the distances between visual sightings between Stagecoach and the other stops seem normal.

In particular, IMO an 'incident' might take some time to resolve before the vehicle gets back on the road. I know we have the kidnapping of Naomi Irion in mind, but that's not necessarily what happens with two older people in a very roomy RV.

Also to add, I don't think a cellphone ping means the vehicle was at that precise location, like with a video capture. The cellphone is periodically sending out a signal and connects with the nearest tower, but if you're not actually making a call, it's just a sort of periodic 'checking are you there if I need you' ping, and the phone could be barely in range of the tower.
Phone Pinging Cell Towers: How Often and When? (Vital Facts)

 

[Medstudies]

Some background info:
Search goes on for Indianapolis couple missing in Nevada | 13wmaz.com

INDIANAPOLIS — When they’re not traveling the country by RV, Ronnie and Beverly Barker usually have it parked in the driveway of their west Indianapolis home.

“That’s the one thing Ronnie looked forward to when he retired. He wanted to be able to travel. He liked to travel," said daughter Lynn Bledsoe.

The Barkers left on another cross-country trip last month and were supposed to come home to Indianapolis this week. Instead, their family said they disappeared last Sunday in Nevada and haven’t been seen or heard from since.


It’s like they’ve disappeared off the face of the earth.

“They have vanished, literally, into thin air," said the couple’s daughter, Jennifer Whaley.

Somewhere, last Sunday night, along Highway 95 in the Nevada desert, that’s the last time the Barker’s RV was seen on the highway near a place called Luning.

“It was caught on a home surveillance camera going down 95," explained Whaley.

That was at 6:05 p.m. on March 27. A short time later, cell phone towers picked up the last recorded ping of the couple’s cell phones.

BBM

Interesting that Googlemaps got an image of it parked in their drive at one time

https://www.realtor.com/realestatea...-Pointe-Dr_Indianapolis_IN_46254_M47522-26707

 

[roguelady]

Is it possible to track their stops and starts? For example, if they stopped at a rest area for 20 minutes, would that stop the tracking on the Apple watch? I don't find their speed down through Walker Lake a concern. If nobody is on the road and conditions are good, RV people often drive the speed limit or even higher! It sounds like they were really trying to get as far south as they could and close to their destination - the Nellis AFB Campground. They should have at least made it to Tonopah, where there are businesses and an RV park. I really feel like something happened near the rest area in Luning. When was the last time they spoke on the phone or texted a personal greeting of some kind? When we are on the road, we like to communicate with our adult children at least once a day.