CA CA - Barbara Thomas, 69, from Bullhead City AZ, disappeared in Mojave desert, 12 July 2019 #2

[TGIRecovered]

He likes to keep a clean machine

So did Ted Bundy!

 

[artsy1]

ill give him benefit of doubt about the clean rig.

my hubby would channel himself into things like spit and polishing cars and tyres in a crisis for sure. just to keep busy. some people need to find some kind of normalness to cope.

could also be stripping vital evidence who knows.

MOO I think LE already examined his truck and camper while RT was being examined by photographer. I don't believe they wouldn't have searched it for evidence, especially when they were looking for clues to her disappearance.

ETA: Should be polygrapher. Dumb autocorrect.

 

[Herat]

Why would the tires and rims be dirty from driving on paved roads in the desert?

From my experience there's nothing out there to get them dirty. Blowing sand would tend to clean things IMO.

Maybe I'm missing something.

Because according to his statements, they were not driving on paved road.

It's extremely difficult to get light sand and bits of gravel out of tire treads, especially the kinds of tires a dually would have had.

You'd almost have to clean the tire treads with a WaterPik

 

[Micheline]

How can Robert be in possession of both his car and his trailer?
Should those not be in hands of the investigators looking for evidence?

 

[Deleted member 39678]

If they know the area well I suppose he already had lots of pics of wherever he wanted to take a picture of.

They allegedly stopped because he wanted to make a picture of something, yet when she was on the way back to the trailer she was around a corner, so how could he have seen the spot he wanted to make a picture of while on the road I wonder.

Maybe the lighting was different on this trip so that made them feel a new photo would be nice.

What if after stopping to take that picture they decided to go on the hike. JMO

 

[wary]

If they know the area well I suppose he already had lots of pics of wherever he wanted to take a picture of.

They allegedly stopped because he wanted to make a picture of something, yet when she was on the way back to the trailer she was around a corner, so how could he have seen the spot he wanted to make a picture of while on the road I wonder.

I think that’s a distortion of what’s been said. They allegedly stopped to take a walk. While on the walk he allegedly saw something he wanted to photograph, and while he was photographing it she allegedly went on ahead.

I don’t think you will find anywhere where he said that he stopped and pulled the trailer off the road because he saw something he wanted to photograph.

And ‘knowing the area well’ does not at all mean that you’ve already seen, let alone photographed, everything.

All this MOO

 

[PommyMommy]

ill give him benefit of doubt about the clean rig.

my hubby would channel himself into things like spit and polishing cars and tyres in a crisis for sure. just to keep busy. some people need to find some kind of normalness to cope.

could also be stripping vital evidence who knows.

Mine tends to be that way too but I'm relatively certain he'd inform my son I was missing before detailing the vehicles. The priority seems a tad bit off. MOO

 

[Micheline]

Maybe the lighting was different on this trip so that made them feel a new photo would be nice.

It does not seem Barbara was really interested in it.

What if after stopping to take that picture they decided to go on the hike. JMO

From what I read she walked around the corner while he was making the picture.

It's a vague story.

 

[mickey2942]

This time of year, most folks are not camping out in the flats of Mojave. Too much chance of flash floods in the Monsoon season. Aside from the heat.

 

[Micheline]

I think that’s a distortion of what’s been said. They allegedly stopped to take a walk. While on the walk he allegedly saw something he wanted to photograph, and while he was photographing it she allegedly went on ahead.

I don’t think you will find anywhere where he said that he stopped and pulled the trailer off the road because he saw something he wanted to photograph.

And ‘knowing the area well’ does not at all mean that you’ve already seen, let alone photographed, everything.

All this MOO

Allright.
I will listen to Robert's story once more.

Why do you think he mentions the beer?

 

[Sillybilly]

ADMIN NOTE:

This post lands at random.

We are always fortunate to have a Verified Insider join us in any thread to help with the case discussion.

Posts have been removed. Nobody wants to be responsible for a VI leaving the discussion. Any disrespect about or toward a VI is taken very seriously at Websleuths and can result in temporary or permanent loss of posting privileges. Just don't do it.

 

[Deleted member 39678]

How can Robert be in possession of both his car and his trailer?
Should those not be in hands of the investigators looking for evidence?

The police could have searched the RV and truck and then released them to RT at a later time. JMO

 

[Joe Friday]

If LE suspected foul play, I doubt they would STILL have 80 members out searching the desert on the 8th day.

For that many searchers to be dedicated after this amount of time makes me think that LE believes she is still there.

JMO

 

[PommyMommy]

It does not seem Barbara was really interested in it.

From what I read she walked around the corner while he was making the picture.

It's a vague story.

I think he was finished taking the photo when she rounded the corner. MOO

Husband of Woman Who Vanished During Mojave Desert Hike: 'I Just Want Her Back'
They were on their way back to the camper when Bob said his wife started pulling ahead. He told her he wanted to take a picture of a rock formation and as he put his camera away, he saw her rounding a corner.

Woman Goes Missing Without Supplies in Mojave Desert Amid High Temperatures
“By the time I took the picture she was continuing on because she wanted to get to the RV,” he said. “And she rounded the corner and I lost sight of her.”

 

[wary]

Allright.
I will listen to Robert's story once more.

Why do you think he mentions the beer?

If he’s innocent of anything, I’d think that he’s talking without a filter, and just mentions the beer because she did have a beer with her. I believe that he told our VI, @dbdb11, that it was in a travel mug, so the fact that it was a beer isn’t even any good as an identifier.

If he’s guilty of something, I’d think that the mention of a beer is a poorly done attempt to create an image of someone who would run off to Las Vegas with strangers, in a bikini, with a beer.

Why do you think he mentions the beer?

 

[Joe Friday]

Unless someone likes warm (hot) beer I can't imagine anyone drinking beer out of the can, in the desert in 100 degree weather while walking/hiking.

If she was drinking the beer out of the can, that beer would have been so hot by the time it took them to walk/hike 2 miles it would have been disgusting and I would think she would have dumped it out long before getting almost back to the camper and given the can to RT to put in the pack. Which makes one wonder if she maybe drank more than one beer while out on their walk.

Curious to know if they had beer packed in ice with them. Even a beer in a travel mug or Koozie would be getting pretty warm by that amount of time, in that heat. Maybe a Yetti mug or similar would keep beer cooler that long.

Point is no way was she was still drinking the same beer that she left the camper with if she was drinking the beer out of the can.

JMO

 

[Deleted member 39678]

<modsnip: quoted post was removed>

Sometimes victims don't have the opportunity to run away or scream. They are assaulted and taken away to be raped and murdered like what happened to Suzanne Eaton. JMO

 

[Deleted member 39678]

How can Robert be in possession of both his car and his trailer?
Should those not be in hands of the investigators looking for evidence?

The police could have searched the RV and truck and then released them to RT at a later time. JMO

I would like to add that either LE had probable cause to search the RV and truck or they could have searched with the consent of RT.

I'm guessing that LE asked RT for permission to search the vehicles. For one because it's the easiest way to legally search the vehicles and secondly if RT refused to give a consent to search he would be putting the cross-hairs right on himself. JMO

 

[IceIce9]

Does anyone else get a strange feeling when RT is asked by Inside Edition if he did anything to his wife and he looked straight at the camera with cold, angry eyes (IMO) and said “Absolutely not.”? For some reason, it gave me the creeps. That kind of denial never seems truthful to me. Again, just my own feelings and I DON’T want to think he did anything to Barbara.

I really try to withhold judgement.

However, I could list dozens of cases where my initial feeling has proven to be correct. A feeling, a hunch, a sense that something is just off.

Hoping for the best, fearing the worst.

 

[NotmadNomad]

Unless someone likes warm (hot) beer I can't imagine anyone drinking beer out of the can, in the desert in 100 degree weather while walking/hiking.

If she was drinking the beer out of the can, that beer would have been so hot by the time it took them to walk/hike 2 miles it would have been disgusting and I would think she would have dumped it out long before getting almost back to the camper and given the can to RT to put in the pack. Which makes one wonder if she maybe drank more than one beer while out on their walk.

Curious to know if they had beer packed in ice with them. Even a beer in a travel mug or Koozie would be getting pretty warm by that amount of time, in that heat. Maybe a Yetti mug or similar would keep beer cooler that long.

Point is no way was she was still drinking the same beer that she left the camper with if she was drinking the beer out of the can.

JMO

 

[NotmadNomad]

I thought they took a "six pack" and 1 gal of water. I agree about yuck warm beer! Wonder if they had drank before they went on hike? Too many Unknowns.