I guess that I'm not as prepared to do the right thing as you are during a crisis. JMO.
Being prepared for a desert emergency is supposed to be part of "experience" in the desert and hiking. I wouldn't expect someone who was just casually visiting the Mojave for the first time to know to do any or much of the right thing in an emergency. That's why I tell new visitors to California that maybe they should not go there. No services in an emergency (no one will arrive for a couple of hours) etc.
But someone who goes out there often should be discussing what to do in an emergency in the area where they're at. It's a really good idea to do this if going to any national park or preserve, they are all areas where people go missing or die from misadventure. People who don't go often, though, rarely are as prepared as those who go frequently (this was not RT and Barbara's first RV, apparently, and of course, they lived in the desert).
Hopefully, one of the big benefits of WS is that we all learn more about what to do in a missing person emergency. We were traveling this summer and my husband dropped something into a grate in a big city. It was *not* his phone, but for a second there, I thought it was and was so glad we were right next to each other.
Thank you so much for joining this thread. What an asset to have you here. RT is a little difficult to read. Than you!
Thank you! I'm going to go over the RT material with a group of student linguists, one of whom has some experience in body language analysis (that's where we usually start) and we'll look at the research on microexpressions. I'm interested in what they have to say, knowing nothing about the case, compared to what I might say. I've already shown part of the driveway interview (where he first comes walking out) to people who don't know the topic at all. They say he looks "like a new RV owner" who is "proud and happy with his rig" and "wants people to look at it." This is because he seems to cast a kind of casual warm glance at his rig and (normal) people always notice gaze direction. I would say he's just very relaxed and casual, walking past his new rig. It's pretty obvious that it looks new (kept in top condition if not) but it's true that his walk and his demeanor at that point absolutely doesn't look unhappy, anxious, tense, worried or anything. Most people would be a little nervous just about being interviewed, much less with the subject matter at hand.
Maybe he's just trying not to look toward the camera, maybe it calms him to look at the RV. He is very calm in the interview.
It's possible that RT constantly has a relaxed, calm demeanor and doesn't actually feel particularly tense or anxious. In folk language, that's called being cool; if the same person becomes a criminal, it's called "cold-blooded," an excess of cool, a lack of anxiety that underpins our feelings of caring and responsibility.
I just learned that it's okay under WS TOS to comment on any MSM appearances or utterances of non-suspects. I was feeling a bit anxious about posting about it. Most of us do feel some anxiety when we break rules - or even
might break an important or meaningful rule.
In other pictures of RT, his face is very expressive. So, it's odd that even when showing the love notes, he is still fairly unexpressive. It's possible he's taking mild sedation. The interview at the Sheriff's Office is equally calm, but he doesn't appear otherwise sedated to me (I believe that's where the indoor interview is, but I don't have proof of it; I'm thinking my best bet is to contact Lisa P, the reporter and ask).
After all, he drove that RV from the Mojave back to his house, it's unlikely he was sedating himself at the time. And he had to drive to get to the polygraph. And he says he stayed up all night a couple of nights (wouldn't do that with even a bit of xanax, I'd think). So, I'm going to go with he's tired, but not sedated.
