CA CA - Barbara Thomas, 69, Bullhead City, hiking wearing bikini in Mojave desert, 12 July 2019

[oceanstarryeyes]

If I planned on hiking in the scary desert I would wear a Fitbit with GPS activated.

 

[GordianKnot]

just realized some posts of mine have been deleted.

submitted verification info.

Thank you so much for going through the verification process here, db!!

Your input and insights as a family member of BT are absolutely invaluable to the group here.

Realizing that becoming verified does require you to jump through some hoops, I really appreciate your willingness to take both the time and effort to go through the verification process.

Thanks again for your participation in BT's forum here on WS.
Look forward to seeing your "VI" (Verified Insider) status update soon!

JMO.

 

[Lisa Dee]

Question - depending on how you look at his statement, I can see two different meanings.

Hubby said when he got back to trailer and lifted the rock up and saw the key was still there, he knew there was trouble. Not verbatim.

At first read, this statement makes absolute sense, nothing wrong with it.

After going back over all that we have been told, why would he go to get the key if Barbara returned ahead of him? She should have already gotten the key and been in the trailer!

Was Barbara even in the area?

That is pretty smart! I would have never thought of that....hmmmmm

 

[Snoopster]

On the inside edition video the camper is sitting very close to the road. Cross the road and go about 50 feet and there it sits.

Road East and West trailer north and south so very visible from both sides.I
I think she was in a very vulnerable position from the moment she left her husband's side.

She's a beautiful woman. Attracts the crazies out in the middle of nowhere!

I must be blind. Where was their camper shown on the video (other than back at home in their driveway)? There was one brief clip of the reporter standing by a road and the camera scans across the road as he mentions it, but I'm not sure that is the exact spot and there is no trailer in view (nor any LE/SAR vehicles) and no certainty that that is "the" spot. Is there more than one Inside Edition video?

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[Knox]

I'm just thinking. If Barbara had no problem with the heat then she probably would not prefer the ac in the camper.

So she might have been sitting there in plain sight to anybody passing by.

No power out there, so to run the AC you'd have to power up the generator or risk draining your batteries pretty quick.

 

[Knox]

I must be blind. Where was their camper shown on the video (other than back at home in their driveway)? There was one brief clip of the reporter standing by a road and the camera scans across the road as he mentions it, but I'm not sure that is the exact spot and there is no trailer in view (nor any LE/SAR vehicles) and no certainty that that is "the" spot. Is there more than one Inside Edition video?

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Is the picture of Barbara from the day she vanished?

 

[Eli9]

Is the picture of Barbara from the day she vanished?

I wish we knew that information.

 

[PommyMommy]

Silver Linings.

Click-bait nature of that headline will draw much more attention to this case.

A spotlight being shone on this case increases the likelihood that LE will need to make some type of public statement.

We could use a little light being shed...right now, we're fumbling our way in the dark.

Facts are our friends.

Facts coming from LE would be our very bestest friends.

JMO.

I hate to tell you this, but IMO, SBCSO is about as tight-lipped as they come. In another case (Duke Flores), the only real details we heard were from family and neighbors and that's because they talked to the media. What we heard from SBCSO was something like the following for THREE MONTHS. Recently, we heard details after the suspects appeared in court, but still nothing from SBCSO.

An arrest has been made...
Investigators are searching a landfill...
The search continues...
We are still investigating...
The search continues...
The investigation is still active...
The search continues...
We have completed our search...

That's it. MOO

 

[wary]

I think the Vegas thing is strange. Why would he think someone took her to Vegas?
Why not just say that maybe someone kidnapped her?

Has he been repeating it over and over? If not, I favor the suggestion a poster here made earlier—that a reporter put words in his mouth,

 

[Razz]

I hope they have checked area hospitals. Could be she passed out, a driver came by and took her to the nearest hospital. It doesn't sound like she had any form of ID on her and perhaps she was unable to speak.

 

[BayouBelle_LA]

Since he is the prime suspect, I wonder which part/s of the polygraph he showed deception. Was it the part where they say ‘did you harm your wife’?

 

[oviedo]

Thank you so much for going through the verification process here, db!!

Your input and insights as a family member of BT are absolutely invaluable to the group here.

Realizing that becoming verified does require you to jump through some hoops, I really appreciate your willingness to take both the time and effort to go through the verification process.

Thanks again for your participation in BT's forum here on WS.
Look forward to seeing your "VI" (Verified Insider) status update soon!

JMO.

Yes, thank you ! Especially since you may not even be in the US?

 

[Stripehaven]

So, after rereading Robbie’s quote, it sounds to me like he’s saying he thinks she was taken because she had to cross a highway. Then he adds she was wearing a bikini top and carrying a beer (which I also read was in a travel cup, so wouldn’t have caught anyone’s eye). This is a lot different from this initial impression I had, that he thought she caught someone’s eye due to bikini and beer

 

[PaulR]

So, after rereading Robbie’s quote, it sounds to me like he’s saying he thinks she was taken because she had to cross a highway. Then he adds she was wearing a bikini top and carrying a beer (which I also read was in a travel cup, so wouldn’t have caught anyone’s eye). This is a lot different from this initial impression I had, that he thought she caught someone’s eye due to bikini and beer

With missing person cases it's always valuable to know what they were wearing last, and even if they were holding or carrying something. Anything could trigger someone's memory.

 

[Stripehaven]

With missing person cases it's always valuable to know what they were wearing last, and even if they were holding or carrying something. Anything could trigger someone's memory.

Very true. It’s just that my initial impression was that she had a beer can or bottle in her hand, but that wasn’t accurate. And there also seemed to be an implication that the beer had caught the eye of an abductor, which made me go Hmmm. But now I think I misjudged what Robbie said, and that he was simply providing a description.

 

[PommyMommy]

So, after rereading Robbie’s quote, it sounds to me like he’s saying he thinks she was taken because she had to cross a highway. Then he adds she was wearing a bikini top and carrying a beer (which I also read was in a travel cup, so wouldn’t have caught anyone’s eye). This is a lot different from this initial impression I had, that he thought she caught someone’s eye due to bikini and beer

But, that is just one interview. Have you listened to both?

At about 1:13 (first interview):
"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."

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At about 1:12 (second interview)
"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."

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[Betty P]

just realized some posts of mine have been deleted.

submitted verification info.

Yes, thank you for submitting info. You've been a big help here and we're all very sorry for the worry and sadness your family is experiencing.

 

[Mercedes]

With missing person cases it's always valuable to know what they were wearing last, and even if they were holding or carrying something. Anything could trigger someone's memory.

I would have been looking for a discarded beer can.

 

[Herat]

I would have been looking for a discarded beer can.

There are probably a lot of discarded beer cans out there in the desert, especially if there appears to be a point of interest in the region, like the hills or the dunes.

 

[Kapua]

BBM:

^Great post right here.

I'm reminded of that Rousseau case recently out of NC where the wife and daughter went missing.
The husband/dad gave a press conference where he came across as being very "quirky."
He made several comments that struck a lot of us as being extremely odd/suspicious-sounding, and like RT here in this case, he, too, voiced his belief that they had been abducted.
Turns out, they had gone voluntarily missing.

That case serves as a cautionary tale that it's wise not to reach conclusions based upon public appearances by private individuals unaccustomed to being in the spotlight.

It's hard not to view these cases through a jaundiced eye, but here's the thing:

Appearances can be deceiving.
The guilty can appear innocent.
The innocent can appear guilty.

Short of alien abduction, anything is possible here, including but not limited to:

• Voluntarily Missing
• Lost/Disoriented
• Accident/Major Medical Event
• Animal Attack
• Stranger Abduction
• Foul Play at the hands of someone she knows

While all of these scenarios are possible, they're not all equally probable.

My main man, William of Occam, is a great one to consult in situations like this.

JMO.

I'm a big fan of William of Occam, myself. He puts Stranger Abduction and Voluntarily Missing at the bottom of the list in this particular case. He also thinks she knew that area well enough not to get lost, and seemed to know the way back to where their RV was parked. He needs to do more research regarding animals native to the desert, but finds an animal attack less likely than his two strongest candidates: Major Medical Event, and Foul Play at the hands of a person she knows well. IMHO and Occam's.