Found Deceased CA - Erika Lloyd, 37, car found vandalized near Twentynine Palms & Joshua Tree NP, 14 June 2020

[tarabull]

There's something hinky with the timeline...fwiw
June 16 the car was towed.
So why is it that....
James Escalanta was on his way to help a woman whose car had gotten stuck on Shelton Road near Twentynine Palms Highway on June 25. He made a cell phone call to his girlfriend, who was also friends with the stuck woman, and said he could not find her. She contacted the woman and told her to honk her horn for Escalanta could find her.
And is his "girlfriend" Erika's friend that had recently moved there???
As per GH JE's gf's name starts with an S???
Another question, does Erika also go by the name "Dee"??? (cuz that just reminds me of Lydia "Dia" Abrams, also missing in California, less than 100 miles from Twentynine Palms, since June 6th 2020!!)

 

[Luckyzmom]

Damn ! Not good at all

 

[kelsie]

Honestly, Erika's behavior in the video Gray Hughes shared, it reminds me of a Kanye rant. She even says Michelle and Barack are a transgender couple which is a big woowoo conspiracy theory for conservatives *MOO etc*. Maybe it was meth, crack cocaine, or a manic break from bipolar disorder (which I think is the most likely). Seems like she is one of many who were mentally pushed over the edge by covid - I bet the pandemic really affected her business, too. Maybe it was all too much for her and she slipped into mania.

This comment further solidified my theory:

For her to have returned to Walnut Creek for a day, then turned around and gone back to JTNP is just strange behavior. Yes. It’s do-able. People just don’t do that though. That’s a lot of driving! Was meth involved here? This sounds like meth behavior. People you don’t know are all of a sudden your close friends. Driving hundreds of miles (apparently to retrieve something) she could have called if she needed to talk to her family. Then returning hundreds of miles to be with the new party friends??? Just a scenario in my head. This is not normal behavior, and her family should recognize that.

 

[Hair of the Dog]

There's something hinky with the timeline...fwiw
June 16 the car was towed.
So why is it that....
James Escalanta was on his way to help a woman whose car had gotten stuck on Shelton Road near Twentynine Palms Highway on June 25. He made a cell phone call to his girlfriend, who was also friends with the stuck woman, and said he could not find her. She contacted the woman and told her to honk her horn for Escalanta could find her.
And is his "girlfriend" Erika's friend that had recently moved there???
As per GH JE's gf's name starts with an S???
Another question, does Erika also go by the name "Dee"??? (cuz that just reminds me of Lydia "Dia" Abrams, also missing in California, less than 100 miles from Twentynine Palms, since June 6th 2020!!)

No, completely unrelated people with no discernable relationship to Erika.

Here is the gist of the story from Gray Hughes' interview with Shari and "Tank". Disclaimer: I need to finish listening to the rest of the interview.

James and Shari resided 3-1/2 miles from the intersection of Shelton Rd and Hwy 62. They have a friend named Dee who likes to collect rocks in the desert. Dee is African American so she is not Erika with an assumed name. She got stuck in some soft sand on Artemetia Lane across 62 and called Shari multiple times looking for help getting out because "Tank" was supposed to help her but he was at work. Shari and James did not have a vehicle available at that time so James got on a bicycle and rode off to see if he could help her. James suffered from scoliosis and moved slowly. He left at 9:00 am and called Shari at 1:15 pm from Hwy 62 saying that he couldn't find Dee. Shari got Dee on a 3-way call and James told her to honk her horn which she did. He said, I've got it and that was the last anyone saw or heard from him. The bicycle he was riding was discovered along with human remains by Doug Billings who was searching for Erika.

MOO

 

[brooks]

Confused on last June. Erika went missing this June, less than 5 months ago.

We are talking about the same June (2020). Ring only announced security for cars in September 2020.

 

[Linear13]

I have been reading about the disappearance of James Escalante here on this thread and found these links which sounds like (as stated above) Doug Billings has probably located the remains of Mr. Escalante but they have yet to be officially identified through DNA (who knows how long this will take as we all know). What struck me as odd is in both links they mention that 2 sets of remains have been located in 2 completely different places. One near Shelton Road and Hwy 62 (red bike and cell also found most likely JE) and another set of remains near Amboy Road and Wilson Road. I have been unable to find any more info, other than these links, on this second set of remains. The missing persons of America link has a very good map done of the locations of the two sets of remains. Is it possible this second set could be Erika? Has is already been discussed and I just missed it (which is entirely possible as I have looked back through the thread but not at every page)?

Addendum : I went to google and searched for ‘remains found at Amboy road and Wilson road’ and a link came up from z1077fm that was dated in late July. This looks like when the Amboy/Wilson Road remains were found. Link posted below.

https://kesq.com/news/news-headlines/2020/10/22/missing-woman-erika-lloyds-case-leads-detectives-to-search-for-another-missing-person/

Man goes missing from Twentynine Palms, two sets of remains found

HUMAN REMAINS FOUND IN WONDER VALLEY | Z107.7 FM

 

[turanna25]

I have been reading about the disappearance of James Escalante here on this thread and found these links which sounds like (as stated above) Doug Billings has probably located the remains of Mr. Escalante but they have yet to be officially identified through DNA (who knows how long this will take as we all know). What struck me as odd is in both links they mention that 2 sets of remains have been located in 2 completely different places. One near Shelton Road and Hwy 62 (red bike and cell also found most likely JE) and another set of remains near Amboy Road and Wilson Road. I have been unable to find any more info, other than these links, on this second set of remains. The missing persons of America link has a very good map done of the locations of the two sets of remains. Is it possible this second set could be Erika? Has is already been discussed and I just missed it (which is entirely possible as I have looked back through the thread but not at every page)?

Addendum : I went to google and searched for ‘remains found at Amboy road and Wilson road’ and a link came up from z1077fm that was dated in late July. This looks like when the Amboy/Wilson Road remains were found. Link posted below.
Missing woman Erika Lloyd's case leads detectives to search for another missing person - KESQ

Man goes missing from Twentynine Palms, two sets of remains found

HUMAN REMAINS FOUND IN WONDER VALLEY | Z107.7 FM

I was under the impression both sets of remains were male. I'm searching for a link and will add when I find it.

updated: Woah. There are a lot of bodies found in this area. I'm having trouble finding the news article I remembered reading..

 

[Hair of the Dog]

I too wonder if the other set of remains found is Erika. The desert is a very unforgiving place. When Gray H. interviewed Shari (James Escalante) she commented that the area where Erika's car was found and presumably James' remains, is "coyote country" and "they will eat everything down to the bone."

Such a sad situation for her family and her young son. I don't know Erika but I don't believe she would intentionally leave her son and family. IMO the months of not being able to work, the home schooling, the political unrest and then the riots and looting so close to home (pretty much unheard of in Walnut Creek), took their toll on her.

IMO she was in the throes of a manic episode possibly compounded by other factors like heat stroke, dehydration, exhaustion, substances, etc. Manic episodes can involve extreme highs, lots of energy and not sleeping much but can also descend into paranoia and delusions, especially if there were other factors at play.

MOO

 

[tarabull]

Erika Ashley Lloyd missing from Walnut Creek, car found in Joshua Tree National Park

So does that mean Erika's car was last seen driving by Luckie Park at 2:45pm going north on Utah Trail on (June 16th) the very same day it was found stuck in the sand on Hwy#62 at Shelton Road???

:thinking:
:what:
:wait:

ETA: ...AND her car was called in within an hour of it getting stuck???

 

[Hair of the Dog]

Erika Ashley Lloyd missing from Walnut Creek, car found in Joshua Tree National Park

So does that mean Erika's car was last seen driving by Luckie Park at 2:45pm going north on Utah Trail on (June 16th) the very same day it was found stuck in the sand on Hwy#62 at Shelton Road???

:thinking:
:what:
:wait:

ETA: ...AND her car was called in within an hour of it getting stuck???

She left the park via Park Blvd, that becomes Utah Trail, crosses 62 then passes Luckie Park on the left and the Morongo Unified SD building on the right. If she turned right on Amboy Road she would have reached the intersection with Shelton turned right. From there it is still 3 miles +/- to the intersection with 62. Her car was found facing south toward 62 and blocking the road but I am not sure it was visible from 62.

The CHP called for a tow truck at 7:00 pm because the car was blocking the roadway. They looked for evidence of an accident on the highway and found none.

Was it called in earlier by someone and that is where Erika's sister in law got the information that the car had gotten there closer to 4 pm? If it was, by whom and what did they see, etc.

I wish I knew if they found or even looked for any footprints leading away from her car and the direction of travel. Also if her purse/backpack (whatever she carried her wallet in) was recovered from her campsite or her vehicle.

IMO the damage to the undercarriage of her car happened after she left the park and probably after the last known sighting of her passing Luckie Park.

All just MOO

 

[Hair of the Dog]

In Gray Hughes Investigates (link at post #380) there were two more things I noted (bolded) that were interesting to me beginning at approximately 1:52

Her friends kept calling her phone and it was eventually answered on 6/20 by a male who said he found it 6/18 "on Cottonwood".

There is a Cottonwood campground at the opposite end of the park from Jumbo Rocks and Indian Cove campgrounds. Did she drive to the park via I-10 and toss her phone out on her way in? Her mother spoke to her on the 15th (time unknown) and said she was talking really fast and it sounded like she was driving.

An expensive Yeti cooler was found at Erika's campsite that she was not known to own.

Could Erika in a state of confusion, have taken that from another campsite thinking it was hers or perhaps thinking it belonged to "James or Christian", who she said were holding her campsite? Could that have precipitated someone vandalizing her car?

The foregoing is MOO, just throwing out some possibilities trying to figure out what could have happened to Erika. I hope they will identify the set of remains found south of the intersection of Amboy and Wilson Roads. If it is not Erika then at least that can be ruled out and hopefully another family can get closure.

 

[SandyToes]

Where is Erika??

 

[10ofRods]

A new podcast came out on Locations Unknown.

It's interesting, because they looked into the case from a completely outside perspective. They try to cover missing persons cases in the national parks.

They tried to use only MSM. But it struck me that so much more is known about this case - and aside from Gray Hughes, no one is covering it.

There's something really wrong out there.

 

[websleuther2020]

Have there been any updates on her, James Escalante or the remains found? I have not come across anything and seems Gray hasn’t posted anything about the cases in quite some time.

 

[turanna25]

Have there been any updates on her, James Escalante or the remains found? I have not come across anything and seems Gray hasn’t posted anything about the cases in quite some time.

Gray and Escalante's family had a falling out right after they were interviewed. But as far as I can tell there haven't been any MSM coverage on either missing persons cases in a while.

 

[scriabina]

Gray and Escalante's family had a falling out right after they were interviewed. But as far as I can tell there haven't been any MSM coverage on either missing persons cases in a while.

A falling out about what? I couldn't find a thread for Escalante on here -- is there one? Also, has anyone interviewed the woman stuck in the sand for whom Escalante was searching? Couldn't the woman have called Triple A or a service rather than having her friend's near-60-yr-old boyfriend with scoliosis ride his bike in sweltering heat for 4 hrs to help her? It's terribly sad and avoidable.

I didn't see if Erika had a history of mental illness. Has that info been released? In any case, she indeed sounds like she was going through some sort of severe mental break which ultimately led to her demise. I guess it is taking so long to ID the two bodies found due to COVID...

 

[eekasaur]

Oh wow, this is such a strange case. I'm hoping for the best, but fearing for the worst. I hope her son is doing ok, considering the circumstances.

 

[tarabull]

In the comments under the video, HP posted 12 hours ago...DNA results from the remains found August 8th confirmed to be JE. And at this time, no evidence of fowl play.

HUMAN REMAINS FOUND EAST OF TWENTYNINE PALMS | News Break

 

[websleuther2020]

In the comments under the video, HP posted 12 hours ago...DNA results from the remains found August 8th confirmed to be JE. And at this time, no evidence of fowl play.

HUMAN REMAINS FOUND EAST OF TWENTYNINE PALMS | News Break

Thank you for the update. I’m surprised there was no evidence of foul play. I guess it could have been a heat stroke but the whole storyline and timeline seemed very suspicious to me.

 

[10ofRods]

JE and girlfriend lived just a few miles from where D. was. She was a rockhound who had gotten stuck before, and knew James liked to help people. It is very unusual that he was just a few minutes away, by bike, from the car (once he heard it) and yet never arrived...turning up dead later, presumably killed soon after he pedaled off to help Dee.

Or, he could have been disoriented and lost from heat (we don't have a cause of death for him, but something about the way it's been handled by LE makes me think it could be foul play - but who knows for sure...) But for a man who lived in the desert, this explanation seems weird to me - especially with Erika going missing in the same general area, and now, apparently a man's body found not far from where James was (as the crow flies anyway).

So...no evidence of gunshot or knifing or anything like that.

He must have been very disoriented to have tried to ride his bike through the sand (and still not getting much closer to where he would have met up with Dee).