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

[oviedo]

I did not get response from Mohave Daily News-Bill McMillen- [email protected]. Maybe if others emailed they would consider writing a story

I did get a response from Zach News - "Hello, I will definitely consider that. Very sad that a year later, no more information or arrest. Thanks for the suggestion and will keep you updated if any new details come up".

Zach's original story for reference.
News Update!!: Essex, CA: Missing hiker Barbara Thomas still not found 4 months later.

Thank you for doing that - I think about her a lot - her and all the other missing moms that haven't been located yet.
JMO

 

[LietKynes]

I’ve driven in this area twice in the past six months. The brush and shrub aren’t tall but I guess it might be hard to find a body. It just seems odd that Barbara would suddenly pass out and not be responsive to her husband calling out. MOO but I don’t think she was ever there.

bbm
Ita.
She may be found in the desert, just not at that location !

Could be anywhere from 20 to 100 miles away.
There are clearly gaps of unexplained time.

Did they ever go and sit for a while inside the fifth wheel ?
And did LE ever look inside it ?
(lunch dishes washed/unwashed, an empty drink container in the trash, etc.)
They should have done this.
Maybe they did , and are not making whatever they discovered available to the public.

Did Barbara or the husband ever change clothes ?
So that Barbara was not wearing a bikini at the time she "vanished" ?

From 10:30am to 3:26 is a long time in that heat.
Were they hiking for most of that time ?
Why has the photo of the rock formation never made public ?

Why was Barbara seemingly not herself or possibly annoyed when dropping off Lexie, her dog ?
The fifth wheel was air conditioned, it would have been acceptable to bring her dog along.
There are many more questions that could be answered... that are not.
MOO

 

[Stripehaven]

I still feel it’s most unlikely she wandered off trail. It seems to me the cholla would have been a real deterrent. She was reportedly out of RT’s sight so briefly that I can’t imagine how she would have deteriorated so quickly as to ignore thorns tearing at her flesh.

 

[LietKynes]

Some of these links were posted a while back in the media thread.

So just bumping : (Let's keep Barbara's case alive and ongoing !)

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

Family members of Barbara Thomas suspect foul play in disappearance

The mysterious disappearance of Barbara Thomas - Abducted, murdered by husband or something else? — StrangeOutdoors.com

UPDATE: Man says police believes he had something to do with wife's disappearance

Search Continues For Arizona Woman Missing In Mojave Desert – CBS Los Angeles


News Update!!: Essex, CA: Missing hiker Barbara Thomas still not found 4 months later. – ZachNews

Arizona woman Barbara Thomas missing in California's Mojave Desert

 

[lonetraveler]

A motor home that is pulled behind a truck.

Not a motor home but an RV travel Trailer with a gooseneck hitch that is connected inside of the bed of a pickup truck.

 

[K9Enzo]

IMO, I question “experienced hiker”. Respectfully, I would not follow RT or BT onto a trail, anywhere. A heat related illness can happen to anyone, make them disoriented. We also don’t know her condition before setting out that day & how hydrated she already was. IMO, that matters as well.

 

[oviedo]

From the beginning I have thought she never made it to the place where she “disappeared” - whatever happened it was after she left her dog at the kennel ...
JMO

 

[LietKynes]

Speculation :
It looks like we can rule out Barbara becoming disoriented and ill.
She was not sick, and was an experienced hiker !
If she became lost -- which I do not believe -- they would have found her in the short distance back to the RV.

How sad for her family to be denied answers and a respectful burial if Barbara is no longer with us.

If out there somewhere in the Mojave, she does not deserved to be left at the mercy of nature and the sun.
IMO.

 

[oviedo]

Speculation :
It looks like we can rule out Barbara becoming disoriented and ill.
She was not sick, and was an experienced hiker !
If she became lost -- which I do not believe -- they would have found her in the short distance back to the RV.

How sad for her family to be denied answers and a respectful burial if Barbara is no longer with us.

If out there somewhere in the Mojave, she does not deserved to be left at the mercy of nature and the sun.
IMO.

I think the most we can do is keep her story alive at least here on WS

 

[Knox]

I think the most we can do is keep her story alive at least here on WS

It seems media, at least MSM (on large scale) is not interested in covering her case. It's all about generated hits sadly.

 

[trujac]

From the beginning I have thought she never made it to the place where she “disappeared” - whatever happened it was after she left her dog at the kennel ...
JMO

I agree, the activity of Barbara having to drop off her dog at the dog kennel, instead of being able to take the dog on their hiking excursion, set the tone for the rest of the events that happened that day leading up to Barbara's eventual disappearance. Her husband's statement that he thought it possible that someone might have picked up Barbara and driven her to Henderson, NV--where they dropped her off, struck me as odd...unless they had been arguing since dropping off the dog, and Barbara decided to just hitchhike out of the area after she made her way back to their motor home.

 

[Lilibet]

Speculation :
It looks like we can rule out Barbara becoming disoriented and ill.
She was not sick, and was an experienced hiker !
If she became lost -- which I do not believe -- they would have found her in the short distance back to the RV.

How sad for her family to be denied answers and a respectful burial if Barbara is no longer with us.

If out there somewhere in the Mojave, she does not deserved to be left at the mercy of nature and the sun.
IMO.

The only innocent explanation I can come up with is that Robert took much, much longer than five minutes to take his photo and that when Barbara found the fifth wheel locked and couldn’t find the key, she went looking for a private spot to pee. If she was annoyed at him or they fought, she could have kept walking just to get away for awhile and maybe worry him a little. She might have ended up outside the search boundaries injured.

I’m not saying I believe this necessarily, but it “could” have happened.

I hope her nephew and family in Hong Kong are doing OK. The political situation right now is scary. I wonder about her brother. It’s all so sad.

 

[Knox]

Good point Lilibet, but didn't S&R search outside the boundaries of her walk back to the trailer?

 

[trujac]

Not a motor home but an RV travel Trailer with a gooseneck hitch that is connected inside of the bed of a pickup truck.

Isn't that called a fifth wheel?

 

[lonetraveler]

Isn't that called a fifth wheel?

That's what I was describing, a fifth wheel. Some confuse them as motorbikes.

 

[Lilibet]

Good point Lilibet, but didn't S&R search outside the boundaries of her walk back to the trailer?

Yes, but I think it’s possible she could have walked far enough to be outside the S&R boundaries. It took several hours for them to arrive and start searching. Even going slowly, she could cover some ground. I remember posting about this on a previous thread, but don’t know if I can find it now.

ETA: I found it.

CA - CA - Barbara Thomas, 69, from Bullhead City AZ, disappeared in Mojave desert, 12 July 2019 #9

 

[Lilibet]

I wonder about her brother.

I just ran across an older post saying that Barb’s brother has died. I had forgotten I knew that.

 

[Cherwell]

The only innocent explanation I can come up with is that Robert took much, much longer than five minutes to take his photo and that when Barbara found the fifth wheel locked and couldn’t find the key, she went looking for a private spot to pee. If she was annoyed at him or they fought, she could have kept walking just to get away for awhile and maybe worry him a little. She might have ended up outside the search boundaries injured.
I’m not saying I believe this necessarily, but it “could” have happened.

I think it's very feasible. It wouldn't surprise me at all if they had had an argument, and if they did it's understandable that he wouldn't want to mention it in the interview. Also that he did linger over his photography. We all tend to minimise this sort of thing when something regrettable has happened. ("But I was only gone for a couple of minutes!")

We must always keep in mind that we have no idea what he has said to the police and the searchers. He may have been more candid with them.

 

[anneg]

I just ran across an older post saying that Barb’s brother has died. I had forgotten I knew that.

Yes, it was sad to hear that he died. She has another brother who is living in the U.S., AFAIK, who may be the youngest of the three siblings IIRC. MOO

 

[Seajay]

Checking in and seeing that there is nothing new on Barb. Where were the fliers, the reward, the news conferences, the searches in different weather. It’s like her husband just came back with “I lost her, I can’t find her, oh well, on with my life.” Like she was nothing. Only she was worth a pretty penny. If she controlled those assets, you can count the reasons someone would want her out of the way. IMO