CA CA - Barbara Thomas, 69, from Bullhead City AZ, disappeared in Mojave desert, 12 July 2019 #10

[MsMiniSleuth]

So he was quite y0ung when he died.

I think I read the father was only in his 40s.

 

[firstsleuth]

I can’t seem to find the interview where @oceanstarryeyes says the son states he and his mother communicated via email, just the article @PommyMommy pointed out where the son says he spoke on the phone with his mom. Anyone find the interview? Did he use the word “email”, or did he maybe use the word “computer”?

In any case, why I was wondering is because I had a thought that could maybe-sorta-kinda reconcile the two means of communication (email, phone). If he actually said via computer, maybe it was through something like Skype, in video calls? Seems that would be ideal way for her to see him and his kids since they lived far apart and perhaps unable to visit. MOO

But, I know we’ve been under the impression she was not a tech-y person, so maybe not...(I’ve never used Skype, myself, and I’m definitely not tech-y )

@slowpoke Here is a link to the Lafayette, Indiana news interview:

Lafayette man's mother still missing after hiking in the Mojave Desert with husband

ETA: Matt does not mention how they communicated in this interview, but Chelsea Curtis from AZCentral quoted Matt in her written article: "My mother and I were close. ... (We) spoke on the phone often (and) she loved my children, Christopher,13, and Natalie, 11. ... I wish my children and I lived out there. (Her disappearance) would not have happened," he added.

ETA: @slowpoke I’m sorry these still don’t resolve the email/phone question. But Skype would have been an ideal way for them to communicate!

 

[10ofRods]

Do LE know of this? I suppose they must have gone through things like that. I think this fact does add a new complexion to the case. I never thought this was a random disappearance or abduction. Always seemed planned, to me anyhow.

Can you say more about why you thought it wasn’t a random disappearance or abduction (even before the money stuff was mentioned)? I understand that maybe it can’t be discussed due to TOS. I have talked/messaged with others who believe the same, I’m just trying to get a handle on why (and I am open to all the theories). <modsnip - asking for PM>

 

[firstsleuth]

Snipped by me for focus

...He wouldn't even say how they were communicating.

Imo

“He” refers to Matt S in this post (I’m pretty sure)

@MsBetsy I guess I missed this? I’m wondering if you could please provide a link that Matt is refusing to divulge the way he communicated with his mom? Is it that he refused; or is it that we just do not know?

ETA: Thanks for any help you can provide for me @MsBetsy !

 

[Cherwell]

VI has confirmed that he's unreliable, so I would treat anything MS says with caution.

 

[ChuckMaureen]

Not only a random abduction, but by an abductor who apparently is excellent at leaving no clues and in concealing a person/body.

Has RT done any interviews / pleas for tips from people who were traveling in the area and calls for suspicious activity / the abductor to be identified and captured since doing the interview in which he revealed LE believes he was being deceptive?

Is RT resigned to the assumption that there is no hope... while he daily and silently confesses his love to BT in an empty house?

Is RT's action simply an act of practicality; there is no hope so why waste the time and energy or.... is it something else?

Unless someone confesses or an empty beer container is found lying next to a red and white cap in a field somewhere in the U.S. then LE has nothing.

As I commented in a much earlier post: a perfect crime.

In five years, RT may collect.

 

[MsBetsy]

Snipped by me for focus


“He” refers to Matt S in this post (I’m pretty sure)

@MsBetsy I guess I missed this? I’m wondering if you could please provide a link that Matt is refusing to divulge the way he communicated with his mom? Is it that he refused; or is it that we just do not know?

ETA: Thanks for any help you can provide for me @MsBetsy !

Well, the problem was that Matt did not tell the VI how they were communicating, and it seems like he was trying to get an answer for a long time. We don't know why he wouldn't say.

If you do a search of his posts you can find it, but I can't remember the post number.

I believe it was in response to another post which indicated that Matt said he communicated with his mom by e-mail. (although in another interview he said it was by phone.)

DBDB1 replied, Thank you, I "never could" get an answer from Matt as to how they were communicating.

So if you scan for some of those words you will probably find it easier.

It probably still won't help, however, since the VI has said that Matt has proven to be an unreliable source of information and has become a liability to LE! I'm not sure why. He claimed to be working closely with LE on the investigation, so maybe he became more if a hindrance than a help.

It's probably better if he distances himself from Matt from now on so LE will start giving him some information.

At least that's what I would do.

IMO

 

[ChuckMaureen]

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 [get to?] 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."

The story, down pat.

 

[Seattle1]

Lafayette man's mother still missing after hiking in the Mojave Desert with husband

Aug 7, 2019

[...]

Pages of notes fill his desk and he is adamant his mother's husband of 14 years played a role in her disappearance.

"It's just none of it adds up," said Schellinkhout. "It's angering and frustrating. I hope he just tells the truth. The truth about what happened."

The truth is temperatures were brutal the day Barbara went missing and it continues to be like that.

"It's been triple-digit heat especially in that part of the desert," said Allison.

Deputies believe Barbara was last seen about 20 miles north of the I-40 freeway east of Kelbaker Road.

We reached out to Robert to ask him what happened, but he directed us to his lawyer.

"Still frantically working on a way to get information to bring her [Barbara] home," said Robert's attorney, Eric Anderson out of California. bbm

Call the anonymous We-Tip hotline if you have information about Barbara Thomas' disappearance. That number is 1-800-78-CRIME.

ETA: OK, I finally see reference to RT's attorney, and understand why no further statements, reward, etc.

 

[ChuckMaureen]

It is possible to drive a vehicle on the path that leads to the rock formations.

...wondering if LE/SAR also searched for 'fresh' vehicle tracks along that path and if tracks veered off-path.

Just... wondering.

 

[ChuckMaureen]

Missing Person in Mojave Desert

 

[ChuckMaureen]

One wonders if BT has a LWAT....

 

[LietKynes]

The story, down pat.

Thank you so much for this, @ChuckMaureen !

Here it is --- RT did say that LE told him the poly revealed deception; but the LE said they didn't tell him that.
So why is he pushing that narrative ?
Makes no sense and it makes him look bad; among other words/inaction.

 

[LietKynes]

Lafayette man's mother still missing after hiking in the Mojave Desert with husband

Aug 7, 2019



"Still frantically working on a way to get information to bring her [Barbara] home," said Robert's attorney, Eric Anderson out of California. bbm

Call the anonymous We-Tip hotline if you have information about Barbara Thomas' disappearance. That number is 1-800-78-CRIME.

ETA: OK, I finally see reference to RT's attorney, and understand why no further statements, reward, etc.

Snipped for focus.

The VI said this atty. is no longer representing RT ??
Afaik.

 

[Seattle1]

Many questions posted on thread are answered in this recent news article by azcentral.

Family suspects foul play in disappearance of Bullhead City woman

Sept 10, 2019

Family members suspect foul play and are seeking answers.

Barbara Thomas was last seen July 12 while hiking with her husband, Robert Thomas, in the Mojave Desert approximately 20 miles north of Interstate 40, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department.

The 69-year-old woman was wearing a black bikini, a red baseball cap and tan hiking boots with black socks when she and her husband were separated during the hike, officials said. She did not have any supplies or a cellphone at the time, they added.

Matthew Schellinkhout, Thomas' only child who lives in Lafayette, Indiana, said his mom was great at cheering people up. He added that his two children called her "Grandma Barbie," and that she was given the nickname because of her beauty....."My mother and I were close. ... (We) spoke on the phone often (and) she loved my children, ...

[...]

The Sheriff's Department declined The Arizona Republic's request for public records, including an initial police report and 911 recording, stating that they are considered investigatory documents and are exempt from disclosure under California law.

Robert Thomas declined to comment to The Republic. On July 15, he told KTNV-TV, a Las Vegas TV station, that he believes his wife was abducted after rounding a corner during their hike while he stopped to a take a photo. He believes she may have been taken to Las Vegas.

[...]

A few days after the interview, Robert Thomas told Insider authorities considered him the prime suspect in their investigation after he failed a polygraph test.

[...]

In a statement written by several members of Barbara Thomas' family based in Hong Kong, she is described as an avid and regular desert explorer along with her husband, Robert.

"The chances she became lost or disoriented in the five minutes between her husband reporting last seeing her, and him (realizing) she was missing, are highly improbable," the family said in the statement shared with The Republic.

[...]

"Barbara does not have a history of any illness that we know of. We have no reason to believe Barbara would walk away from her husband, or disappear in the manner she has. Especially not so near to a trip to Hong Kong to visit her younger brother in (the) hospital," the family's statement reads.

[...]

Searches for Thomas were conducted from July 12 to July 22, according to Bachman.

Initial search efforts were conducted in the area east of Kelbaker and Hidden Hill roads — where officials say she was last seen — with numerous search and rescue members, deputies, K9s, park rangers, a sheriff's helicopter and off-road vehicles, according to the agency's Nixle webpage.

bbm

 

[Seattle1]

Snipped for focus.

The VI said this atty. is no longer representing RT ??
Afaik.

Seems RT took his former attorney's advice to remain silent, including 9/10 news article. Not a peep...

 

[ChuckMaureen]

Snipped for focus.

The VI said this atty. is no longer representing RT ??
Afaik.

I believe you are correct.

As an aside...

Representing a Client the Lawyer Thinks Is Guilty

No matter what the defendant has done, he is not legally guilty until a prosecutor offers enough evidence to persuade a judge or jury to convict. However, the defense lawyer may not lie to the judge or jury by specifically stating that the defendant did not do something the lawyer knows the defendant did do.

What's a lawyer to do...

 

[Reasonable & Just]

"My mother and I were close. ... (We) spoke on the phone often (and) she loved my children, Christopher,13, and Natalie, 11. ... I wish my children and I lived out there. (Her disappearance) would not have happened," he added.

Family suspects foul play in disappearance of Bullhead City woman

IMO another aspect of victim-friendly would be to take her son at his word on this (for now), since it doesn't appear that he was with her that day, and has not declared himself the prime suspect. There's not much reason to lie about this particular point, so I would assume he's telling the truth until I heard otherwise.

Also, our VI also stated that Matthew knew things that only Barbara would have told him. I doubt he was stalking his mom, so I'm assuming they were in contact. RT may just not have known.

 

[firstsleuth]

Well, the problem was that Matt did not tell the VI how they were communicating, and it seems like he was trying to get an answer for a long time. We don't know why he wouldn't say.

If you do a search of his posts you can find it, but I can't remember the post number.

I believe it was in response to another post which indicated that Matt said he communicated with his mom by e-mail. (although in another interview he said it was by phone.)

DBDB1 replied, Thank you, I "never could" get an answer from Matt as to how they were communicating.

So if you scan for some of those words you will probably find it easier.

It probably still won't help, however, since the VI has said that Matt has proven to be an unreliable source of information and has become a liability to LE! I'm not sure why. He claimed to be working closely with LE on the investigation, so maybe he became more if a hindrance than a help.

It's probably better if he distances himself from Matt from now on so LE will start giving him some information.

At least that's what I would do.

IMO

Thank you for that @MsBetsy Your post jogged my memory of this post you remembered from dbdb11: “Thank you, I “never could” get an answer from Matt as to how they were communicating.”

just spent awhile looking through our VI’s posts; I could not find it. Perhaps it was one that was deleted before his verification. I scrolled through from the start... such a tragedy beyond imagining ...surreal; bizarre; awful. My heart is with Barbara and her family

 

[christinac1969]

Channel 13 news in Las Vegas did a segment on Barbara tonight