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

[Blondie in Spokane]

bizarre. as i thought it was only a stop off. why go to the bother of setting up the awning? hmmm....

And why set up chairs? That seems ridiculous when it’s over 100 degrees out there.

 

[Blondie in Spokane]

It could be bigger then we think and LE could be dealing with various levels of LE and a case is being built. Nothing will happen until they believe they have an airtight case.

One person I searched for was "Nita Mayo" ... That case still haunts me. We never found her.
We had her car, her keys to the car, her wallet. It all took place at a public rest stop with a view on a very well traveled public highway. Prior too, She stopped at a store and we had her on video. We searched for weeks and ... Nothing.
How could that happen?

Thanks for posting about Nita’s case caz, and thank u for searching for her. I found the link for her thread if anyone wants to take a look. So sorry she is still missing. Off to read up. Three posts in a row......I’ll shut up now lol.

NV - NV - Nita Mayo, 64, Hawthorne, 8 August 2005

 

[Deleted member 39678]

bizarre. as i thought it was only a stop off. why go to the bother of setting up the awning? hmmm....

If the RV has an automatic power awning it's no big deal. Just push a button.

 

[PommyMommy]

The keys were said to be hidden under a rock. But we've also been told they had the awning set up with chairs outside.

The awning was an assumption. MOO

They had chairs set up in the shade of the camper, I assume an awning. That is where Robbie expected to see her when he returned.

So, I imagine the intended destination was some kind of camping/RV parking spot. They decided to stop alongside the road and go for a short, 2-mile hike. he intended destination was some kind of camping spot. Otherwise, they woudn't have brought the camper.

The above and the herbal life connection are neither speculation nor rumour.

 

[dbdb11]

@dbdb11 Check out the quoted post.

thanks canteloupe! dm'ed you.

 

[10ofRods]

The keys were said to be hidden under a rock. But we've also been told they had the awning set up with chairs outside.

Do you remember where that was said? Was it our VI? Because I can't find it. If true, it is even more like "ordinary day for desert enthusiasts" because only desert RVers do this and then walk away from their RV at an intersectional pull-out. It sort of stakes a claim to that particular pull-out. If others do pull up, I think the original party is wary, because it's sort of like people joining you uninvited in your back yard.

The lack of horn honking has also bothered me. Now that I'm thinking about it, he also doesn't say that he would yell, then pause and listen.

Of course, that particular pull-out was a trailhead. So if people did pull up, the expectation would be that they too would get on the trail, not lurk around the RV.

edited to say Thank you once again Pommy Mommy - it was Dbdb!

So, looks like normal RVing behavior for a couple. And she would have had someplace to sit and wait if she couldn't find the key. Also, she could have shouted for him if she was feeling really over-heated (it was only about 104 at that time, which isn't too bad in the shade). She probably needed water (I wonder how easy it was to get to it in his pack and whether she thought she'd just go get some cold water from the RV...)

 

[deugirtni]

If the RV has an automatic power awning it's no big deal. Just push a button.

If so simple, then why not wait until needed... when they returned... if wanted.

 

[MsBetsy]

bizarre. as i thought it was only a stop off. why go to the bother of setting up the awning? hmmm....

I thought the awning was not set up and just the chairs were out?
I wonder if they sat down and ate first or had a beer before they went walking. Imo

 

[10ofRods]

It could be bigger then we think and LE could be dealing with various levels of LE and a case is being built. Nothing will happen until they believe they have an airtight case.

One person I searched for was "Nita Mayo" ... That case still haunts me. We never found her.
We had her car, her keys to the car, her wallet. It all took place at a public rest stop with a view on a very well traveled public highway. Prior too, She stopped at a store and we had her on video. We searched for weeks and ... Nothing.
How could that happen?

I think both Nita and the other person (or is it 2 more?) missing at that same viewpoint had a dramatic misadventure while taking what they thought would be a short walk. After the first day or two, it's possible that wild animals interfered with the remains (and wasn't Nita's car not found until several days after she went missing?)

Okay, so Nita was missing for 48 hours before her car was located, and it was longer than that before a full scale search began. And I was wrong above - it's 4 other people missing at that same view point. It's not super clear where the short trail ends, and I have seen people I thought should not do it climb down the rocks at that spot (and other spots in the region, as well). It can be pretty slippery.

 

[Cherwell]

RT yelled and waved his arms but never once mentioned honking the horn on the truck? It just seems like that is a sound that would carry much further than someone yelling and you could probably use the sound like an SOS with long and short blasts. He could have periodically and repeatedly honked the horn to get her attention in case she was in hearing range without ever leaving the turn out.

I have said it before and I will say it again, I think it is odd that he didn't flag down passing cars in both directions to ask if they had seen Barb. Nothing but time on his hands waiting for LE.

Maybe he did honk the horn
Maybe he did flag down passing cars.

All we know is that no mention of it was included in the two interviews that were shown on TV.

 

[10ofRods]

Just my opinion, but to me the waving of the arms is odd. When you go looking for someone in a crowd, far away or a distance from you, you don't start waving your arms until you see the person and try to get their attention with your movements. Otherwise, you just call their name or look until you see them. That's when you throw your hands or arms up! I have no opinion about RT but I find some of his comments "off". He could have some early dementia going on which makes his comment odd to us also.

Well, the first thing we would do is honk the horn. Husband and I are, I guess, pretty experienced hikers as we actually have plans for things like this. We have to. We're both rock enthusiasts (especially him), we're both time challenged (boy does time fly when you're having fun), I tend to believe I'm impervious to heat, he is more cautious. Anyway, not only would we honk, but we actually carry a small airhorn device if we're going to be in a desolate area or off trail (we do quite a bit of off trail hiking, but in forests, not deserts).

I agree that I wouldn't wave my arms until I saw the person. Expends energy and is pointless. I would, however, quickly get my backpack down to just water and a few essentials (I would leave my stuff in a pile or throw it in the 5th wheel - I'd leave the 5th wheel unlocked, property would not be my main concern). And I'd be moving as quickly as I could back to the junction where I last saw my spouse - and I'd take a different route at that junction, as obviously they were not on the section of trail in between the RV and that junction. If I knew for sure how long the person was gone (I now wear a watch and clock such things), I'd know approximately how far to walk (still shouting) on each trail branch. IOW, use the methods you'd use to look for a lost kid, because you don't know the mental state of the lost person.

I would also assume that my spouse might have walked eastward for a potty break (neither of us likes to pee near a road, the road there is pretty high off the desert floor and people all drive trucks). I'm sure many people have peed near the road in that place, though. I wonder if the sniffer dogs had a hard time picking out one scent to follow and I don't see how dogs could detect one person's pee from among the rest without being primed with an article of clothing. I wish I knew more about sniffer dogs.

 

[MsBetsy]

Actually I think that's a reasonable thing for him to have done.

It seemed odd at first but I think that's because we're reading about it with 20/20 hindsight of knowing that she hasn't been found and wasn't probably in sight of him when he did that.

If I were in RT's supposed situation and I got back to the RV and the person who had gone on ahead wasn't there, I might reasonably think that one option was that (after using the potty, gotten water, whatever their reason had been for going ahead) they might have gone back out on the trail to rejoin me.

And in that case, I want them to know that I'm now down here at the RV. Even though I haven't spotted them, I would be thinking they could possibly be eyeballing the RV every now and then to see if I'm there yet.

So him waving his arms isn't to say "here is the RV/safety" but rather to say "I'm back at the RV already, don't want you to think I'm still on the trail"

Just a theory MOO IMO

Yes, I had thought of that too.
Just because she could see the RV (and we don't know if she could) doesn't mean that she could see him waiting there.
I guess some people think its unusual and others think it's the normal thing to do.
My dad and Aunt have done it many times (maybe it's a weird family thing) and I have to say when I was a teenager it always embarrassed me when I saw my dad do it. Imo

 

[Deleted member 39678]

If so simple, then why not wait until needed... when they returned... if wanted.

It doesn't make any difference to me when would be the best time to deploy the awning because it doesn't help me understand what happened to BT. JMO

 

[Sprockett7701]

Ugggh...Thread 9?

Where are you beautiful lady?

Thoughts are with @dbdb11 and family, hoping for answers soon.

 

[broadviewren]

bizarre. as i thought it was only a stop off. why go to the bother of setting up the awning? hmmm....

Often, 5th-wheel awnings can be extended with the push of a button. Just takes a moment to do that and unfold a couple of chairs.

Edited to say: sorry, I didn't see the earlier reply with video before I posted this.

 

[broadviewren]

If so simple, then why not wait until needed... when they returned... if wanted.

To create some shade/a cooler spot that will be waiting upon their return.

 

[kay74]

Waving Arms?

Hello again, @kay74.
So you think you would do what RT said he did to try to find BT.
If your husband was there within earshot and eyesight, it just might work. jmo
{{{ETA: OTOH, if he was not within earshot or eyesight, well who knows????

Per @slowpoke, a few posts up, from Inside Edition.
“When he reached the corner and didn’t see her, he assumed he’d find her sitting outside their camper, he said. But when he got to the vehicle, the door was locked.
"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..." he said.”
Husband of Woman Who Vanished During Mojave Desert Hike: 'I Just Want Her Back'}}}

My husband wasn't I eyesight when I was scouring the parking lot. It wasn't until I saw arms going up and waving that I caught sight of him.

 

[kay74]

IMO, I think he held off calling LE because he thought she would show up and be embarrassed about that. Same with passerbys being flagged down to help. I don't think initially he thought she was even lost.

 

[Yvettea]

Apparently there was only a brief period of time when RT may have thought BT was missing. He soon reached the conclusion she had been abducted. It is not clear to me exactly when he reached that conclusion.

 

[LietKynes]

IMO, I think he held off calling LE because he thought she would show up and be embarrassed about that. Same with passerbys being flagged down to help. I don't think initially he thought she was even lost.

Although RT did think she was abducted... because she was wearing a bikini and carrying a beer...so there's that.