Found Deceased MT - Rebekah Barsotti 33, & dog (fnd deceased), Town Pump, Superior, Mineral Co, 20 Jul 2021 *Reward

[laurawlms]

I found a piece about the water search, with an embedded video of it. https://www.krtv.com/news/montana-and-regional-news/mother-of-montana- woman-reported-missing-asks-for-help

This was Rebakah's moms first interview. July 29. I believe this is the first coverage of her missing status. 9 days after she went missing. How does that happen? We (family and volunteers) have had to work full time trying to get what little coverage we have.

 

[Bit of hope]

Things are simply not adding up.

The Mineral County Sheriff’s Office base their river drowning theory on the fact Rebekah’s vehicle was parked /deserted at the rest area somebody else could have left it there, staging

and some personal belongings were found scattered on the east side of the climbing rock’s riverbank. Were they wet, dry, Torn? Washed ashore?

Rebekah's mom has said she gets told different items being found on the riverbank depending on who she talks to. My first day in MT after Rebekah went missing, the first deputy on the scene (from Mineral County Sheriff Office) met me and Rebekah's mom at the scene where he said the items were found on the riverbank. From my memory of what he said was found on the riverbank, the leash was an item found along with Rebekah's cell phone, e-collar remote, a shirt, and a hat. Thinking....if she fell from the rock into the water below.....she would have had some personal items on her body, right? Logical things: a phone, a leach, a e-remote? What made that these things been found scattered on a river bank. IMO she would have "taken them with her" still on her body when going into the water. A hat still kind of logic...but a shirt? How would that work? Seeing the perfectly shallow and wonderful water.....ask yourself what would sink, what could wash up. I'm not an expert but I would think a phone would sink f.i. a remote? probably. I already asked this earlier, were the items found the so called personal things from the marital house the caretaker gave her?

* they weren't the same. So this stuff was still (in a bag I guess) found in the car. I'm not sure a caretaker's role would extend to handing stuff over to an ex.....but that's me. Is it possible the caretaker became a bit more then just that?

There was later found a video of Rebekah training her dog on Rebekah’s phone recorded at this location. Was is dated on the day she supposedly had drowned? Or was it another day and she liked to bring her dog up there for training?

Many nonprofit SAR groups have offered to help but law enforcement will not invite them to search. Is this absolutely necessary? Can't family ask for intervention from this groups themselves if LE doesn't want to work together? Maybe doing a crowd funding for the costs.

Mineral County Sheriff Office and Missoula County Sheriff office refuse to investigate as a domestic violence issue and say the husband is not a suspect and he never will be despite the allegations of domestic violence, he supposedly has an alibi. Interesting. Who provided the alibi? Is there actual proof of it, CCTV footage f.i. a doctor's appointment or was there somebody who stepped up and said "he was with me at the time" ? Why can't rightful family members be informed about the alibi if they are so sure of it?

Finally, looking at the very steep rock....I simply can't see she took her dog up there....maybe I'm wrong...but it sounds completely illogical to me.

 

[Bit of hope]

This was Rebakah's moms first interview. July 29. I believe this is the first coverage of her missing status. 9 days after she went missing. How does that happen? We (family and volunteers) have had to work full time trying to get what little coverage we have.

So sorry....In this case it feels things went wrong from the get go and will jeopardize everything in the future. The drowning theory lies heavy on my mind. Sure it still could have been, but things just don't feel right. My intention with posting this was to show (video) more about the surroundings (and the search) we are talking about.

 

[laurawlms]

I found a piece about the water search, with an embedded video of it. https://www.krtv.com/news/montana-and-regional-news/mother-of-montana- woman-reported-missing-asks-for-help

This was Rebakah's moms first interview. July 29. I believe this is the first coverage of her missing status. 9 days after she went missing. How does that happen? We (family and volunteers) have had to work full time trying to get what little coverage we have.

This is a truly terrible situation. I hate that anyone has to go through it.

What I'm wondering is, if her dog was found on the water or on the bank? If it was the bank, his body must have washed up and been there a while, poor boy

But if it was, and if this was an accident, logic would suggest that RB would've probably gone into the water in the same instance, right after the dog did. It seems likely, at least to me, that she would be recovered somewhere nearby if that was the case. It's strange that it's been so long and there's been no trace of her, yet the dog was found after only six days. I'm sure there's some science here that I don't know about weight and buoyancy, but I do know rivers and if someone goes in a river, they're inevitably found somewhere downriver. There are always rocks, logs, shallow pools, etc that make it nearly impossible for someone to completely disappear, like they would in a large, deep lake. The current + physical obstacles and changing directions always catch whatever large object might have gone in.

 

[laurawlms]

Things are simply not adding up.

The Mineral County Sheriff’s Office base their river drowning theory on the fact Rebekah’s vehicle was parked /deserted at the rest area somebody else could have left it there, staging

and some personal belongings were found scattered on the east side of the climbing rock’s riverbank. Were they wet, dry, Torn? Washed ashore?

Rebekah's mom has said she gets told different items being found on the riverbank depending on who she talks to. My first day in MT after Rebekah went missing, the first deputy on the scene (from Mineral County Sheriff Office) met me and Rebekah's mom at the scene where he said the items were found on the riverbank. From my memory of what he said was found on the riverbank, the leash was an item found along with Rebekah's cell phone, e-collar remote, a shirt, and a hat. Thinking....if she fell from the rock into the water below.....she would have had some personal items on her body, right? Logical things: a phone, a leach, a e-remote? What made that these things been found scattered on a river bank. IMO she would have "taken them with her" still on her body when going into the water. A hat still kind of logic...but a shirt? How would that work? Seeing the perfectly shallow and wonderful water.....ask yourself what would sink, what could wash up. I'm not an expert but I would think a phone would sink f.i. a remote? probably. I already asked this earlier, were the items found the so called personal things from the marital house the caretaker gave her?

* they weren't the same. So this stuff was still (in a bag I guess) found in the car. I'm not sure a caretaker's role would extend to handing stuff over to an ex.....but that's me. Is it possible the caretaker became a bit more then just that?

There was later found a video of Rebekah training her dog on Rebekah’s phone recorded at this location. Was is dated on the day she supposedly had drowned? Or was it another day and she liked to bring her dog up there for training?

Many nonprofit SAR groups have offered to help but law enforcement will not invite them to search. Is this absolutely necessary? Can't family ask for intervention from this groups themselves if LE doesn't want to work together? Maybe doing a crowd funding for the costs.

Mineral County Sheriff Office and Missoula County Sheriff office refuse to investigate as a domestic violence issue and say the husband is not a suspect and he never will be despite the allegations of domestic violence, he supposedly has an alibi. Interesting. Who provided the alibi? Is there actual proof of it, CCTV footage f.i. a doctor's appointment or was there somebody who stepped up and said "he was with me at the time" ? Why can't rightful family members be informed about the alibi if they are so sure of it?

Finally, looking at the very steep rock....I simply can't see she took her dog up there....maybe I'm wrong...but it sounds completely illogical to me.

The personal belongings found on the riverbank (as far as I know) were dry.

I want to point out, I said the items were scattered but I read in Rebekah's moms interview with Dateline they were neatly placed. It could be symantics but I want to keep things transparent. She also lists different items being found than what I wrote in my initial post. Like I have said there has always been confusion about what was found on the riverbank. However, NamUS shows a selfie Rebekah took on her phone the day she went missing. In the picture she is wearing a ballcap. I don't recall a ballcap or hat being listed as an item Rebekah's mom said was recovered from the riverbank. So, if Rebekah drowned her ball cap should be floating in the river somewhere?? The family definitely needs a copy of an evidence report or custody report to prevent confusion.

I also thought transfer of property would be out of the realm of a CNA or caregiver. I don't think there is romantic involvement with this particular caretaker she referred to her wife in a comment on one of the Law Enforcement facebook posts. However in other comments on facebook posts, the other caretaker appeared to maybe have more involvement than caretaker and several other commenters made comment about that.

As far as I know law enforcement deemed the video as proof Rebekah was there that day. I can only assume it was dated that day. I believe Rebekah's mom viewed the video once. I have asked her how it ended and she hasn't answered. She may not remember.

As far as an alibi, I have no other information on that. Neither Mineral or Missoula will entertain questions about the estranged husband. He is not a suspect period.

 

[Bit of hope]

The personal belongings found on the riverbank (as far as I know) were dry.

I want to point out, I said the items were scattered but I read in Rebekah's moms interview with Dateline they were neatly placed. It could be symantics but I want to keep things transparent. She also lists different items being found than what I wrote in my initial post. Like I have said there has always been confusion about what was found on the riverbank. However, NamUS shows a selfie Rebekah took on her phone the day she went missing. In the picture she is wearing a ballcap. I don't recall a ballcap or hat being listed as an item Rebekah's mom said was recovered from the riverbank. So, if Rebekah drowned her ball cap should be floating in the river somewhere?? The family definitely needs a copy of an evidence report or custody report to prevent confusion.

I also thought transfer of property would be out of the realm of a CNA or caregiver. I don't think there is romantic involvement with this particular caretaker she referred to her wife in a comment on one of the Law Enforcement facebook posts. However in other comments on facebook posts, the other caretaker appeared to maybe have more involvement than caretaker and several other commenters made comment about that.

As far as I know law enforcement deemed the video as proof Rebekah was there that day. I can only assume it was dated that day. I believe Rebekah's mom viewed the video once. I have asked her how it ended and she hasn't answered. She may not remember.

As far as an alibi, I have no other information on that. Neither Mineral or Missoula will entertain questions about the estranged husband. He is not a suspect period.

First reaction; there is a big lack in very important information, to get, as an outsider, a clear view. Is a mother in America not entitled to see and here all of it. We have a very "nice" word for that in Dutch "bevreemdend" (strange, astonishing).

Sorry to say this case is not unique in itself. So many families don't accept the view of LE, for many good reasons, a critical look is always in place. Lot's of them don't think LE did enough, letting them down. Sometimes they are totally right and it will show further on, sometimes they are not ready to take in the reality and the loss. Totally understandable. When something like this would happen to me and my (only) child was missing I would turn the world around to get to the truth of what happened and find him. And I would want LE helping me in any way they could, not shutting down.

Sorry for asking. Would suicide be an option?

 

[laurawlms]

First reaction; there is a big lack in very important information, to get, as an outsider, a clear view. Is a mother in America not entitled to see and here all of it. We have a very "nice" word for that in Dutch "bevreemdend" (strange, astonishing).

Sorry to say this case is not unique in itself. So many families don't accept the view of LE, for many good reasons, a critical look is always in place. Lot's of them don't think LE did enough, letting them down. Sometimes they are totally right and it will show further on, sometimes they are not ready to take in the reality and the loss. Totally understandable. When something like this would happen to me and my (only) child was missing I would turn the world around to get to the truth of what happened and find him. And I would want LE helping me in any way they could, not shutting down.

Sorry for asking. Would suicide be an option?

I agree very important information is lacking. I'm not sure if that is because Rebekah was still married, separated from and estranged husband, but still married and her mother is not considered NOK because of that. In the beginning LE was feeding the estranged husband all the information. If he was involved in Rebekah's disappearance at all, this was helping him in many ways. I believe since the investigation has been moved from Mineral to Missoula this may have improved more in my sister's favor. I understand the family of the missing may think LE didn't do enough. As far as the search for Rebekah in the water both Sheriff's departments did and exemplary job. But there were many missteps in the case itself...the scene should have been preserved in case anything changed the focus meaning from a drowning to a possible criminal case. I think someone up above in another comment pointed out that any chance for a criminal case has been hindered because of the lack of preservation in the beginning. I might not be saying it exactly as they said it but that is how I took it and that is how we have felt all along. So in that regard LE did not do enough. I had someone that volunteers in searching for the missing tell me when it comes to missing people LE becomes lazy basically because they will get paid the same amount no matter how much or how little they put into the case. Whether that is true or not, I can't say.

Rebekah loved life. She loved her dog. She was not a quitter. Initially my thought was maybe she got tired of fighting the battle with her estranged husband...division of property, pressing felony charges against him, watching her back for the rest of her life....and she just said "f" it and walked away...let him have it all...she could always restart her life somewhere else...until they found her dog. Then I knew that wasn't even a possibility. Suicide wasn't either but I do understand why you ask.

 

[Bit of hope]

Thank you for your sincere answers. I agree they should have taken a better look, especially at the stuff found on the beach. I think it could be very telling, what items were found, how it was placed and in what state these items were.

Just pondering....let's say she was climbing the rock, lost grip and fell from the rock. Would there have been a big splash, her directly entering the water. When I look at pictures of the rock it looks like it leans backwards. Or does it become a overhanging rock when you climb higher. Wouldn't she have landed on the foot of the rock when she fell, so on the rocks below and not in the water? Trying to make some kind of picture in my head.

It would be nice to get some pro's in climbing on here, maybe there is someone on here who even knows climbing this particular rock. Would she had to use climbing equipment? Did she have any?

Weren't there other people that day enjoying the beach or fishing? Did the police asked for possible witnesses to come forward?

As Rebekah's body still hasn't surfaced and I think this is very strange, I got more and more doubts she is in the water at all. Some things running through my mind; Is there wildlife, bears and such? I guess so. When is hunting season?

Missoula, Mineral counties scale back searches for missing woman

Search efforts continue to find missing woman in Mineral Co.

 

[laurawlms]

Thank you for your sincere answers. I agree they should have taken a better look, especially at the stuff found on the beach. I think it could be very telling, what items were found, how it was placed and in what state these items were.

Just pondering....let's say she was climbing the rock, lost grip and fell from the rock. Would there have been a big splash, her directly entering the water. When I look at pictures of the rock it looks like it leans backwards. Or does it become a overhanging rock when you climb higher. Wouldn't she have landed on the foot of the rock when she fell, so on the rocks below and not in the water? Trying to make some kind of picture in my head.

It would be nice to get some pro's in climbing on here, maybe there is someone on here who even knows climbing this particular rock. Would she had to use climbing equipment? Did she have any?

Weren't there other people that day enjoying the beach or fishing? Did the police asked for possible witnesses to come forward?

As Rebekah's body still hasn't surfaced and I think this is very strange, I got more and more doubts she is in the water at all. Some things running through my mind; Is there wildlife, bears and such? I guess so. When is hunting season?

Missoula, Mineral counties scale back searches for missing woman

Search efforts continue to find missing woman in Mineral Co.

I personally don't think Rebekah was climbing the rock with her dog. I haven't heard anyone suggest that. That is just my opinion.

On some facebook posts that I have seen many suggest this is a busy recreational area. When I went to this area, there were a lot of people at the boat launch area. Missoula Sheriff's Office did post a facebook post asking people to come forward if they were there that day.

I'm sure there is wildlife there including bears. I believe they have just opened bow season.

We don't believe Rebekah is in the water either.

 

[laurawlms]

How do we enlist more media coverage??? There are several of us that have worked many hours notifying major media outlets, detective shows, etc...we can't get the necessary media coverage. We hope if we can get more coverage we might be able to get more search help. Believe me, I feel bad for the family of another missing person but what causes one to get more coverage than the other? I feel so defeated.

 

[Bit of hope]

How do we enlist more media coverage??? There are several of us that have worked many hours notifying major media outlets, detective shows, etc...we can't get the necessary media coverage. We hope if we can get more coverage we might be able to get more search help. Believe me, I feel bad for the family of another missing person but what causes one to get more coverage than the other? I feel so defeated.

Please keep having hope. I don't know what make one case go "high" and other's don't. The presentation of the case has been, so far, very integer/modest, no sensational headers, drama, etc. People tend to go for that. It sounds strange but some cases have the X-factor.

I'm not even sure a lot of coverage will take this case further. There is a wall and this case feels like fighting "the system". It looks like you need political pressure and more resources to get LE change their minds about the fact this is purely a drowning accident. Maybe more coverage will help with that, but how many people will stick out their neck to support you, fight with you? For real? Maybe move to a federal level or even ask help from the governor? Just trying to comfort you. Wishing the whole family lot's of love and strength.

How "convenient" for the ex that Rebekah went missing before he had to go to court. It's almost classic.

 

[samsmom]

Tricia had nice chat with Rebekah’s parents on her live today, Sunday (!) 9/19/21

 

[Bit of hope]

Tricia had nice chat with Rebekah’s parents on her live today, Sunday (!) 9/19/21

Thanks. Good to hear. Is it possible to hear it back?

 

[laurawlms]

Please keep having hope. I don't know what make one case go "high" and other's don't. The presentation of the case has been, so far, very integer/modest, no sensational headers, drama, etc. People tend to go for that. It sounds strange but some cases have the X-factor.

I'm not even sure a lot of coverage will take this case further. There is a wall and this case feels like fighting "the system". It looks like you need political pressure and more resources to get LE change their minds about the fact this is purely a drowning accident. Maybe more coverage will help with that, but how many people will stick out their neck to support you, fight with you? For real? Maybe move to a federal level or even ask help from the governor? Just trying to comfort you. Wishing the whole family lot's of love and strength.

How "convenient" for the ex that Rebekah went missing before he had to go to court. It's almost classic.

Thank you for your kind words of encouragement. I agree with the convenience factor. I believe my sister has called DCI, FBI, a State Representative, and either a Senator or the Governor of MT. Everyone seems to defer her back to Missoula Sheriff's Dept.

Don't get me wrong both Sheriff's departments did and exemplary job searching the river. I'm not sure if they are still searching but I know they searched the river longer than they do where I live when someone goes missing in the water. It's the lack of open mindedness towards any other scenario that frustrates me.

 

[laurawlms]

Tricia had nice chat with Rebekah’s parents on her live today, Sunday (!) 9/19/21

Is there a link to watch this?

 

[Lorenathered]

This is the link, it was a great interview. Unfortunately it clashed with the timing of locating Gabby.

As I said in the chat that day, this family deserves answers and we will keep the discussion going and help all we can.

 

[everybodhi]

Thank you for your kind words of encouragement. I agree with the convenience factor. I believe my sister has called DCI, FBI, a State Representative, and either a Senator or the Governor of MT. Everyone seems to defer her back to Missoula Sheriff's Dept.

Don't get me wrong both Sheriff's departments did and exemplary job searching the river. I'm not sure if they are still searching but I know they searched the river longer than they do where I live when someone goes missing in the water. It's the lack of open mindedness towards any other scenario that frustrates me.

Perhaps one of the many podcasts focusing on missing people, like "The Vanished", may be interested in investigating.
Sometimes bringing public awareness through a podcast can influence how law enforcement proceeds with a case.
It couldn't hurt to contact a few podcasters to see if you can drum up interest in creating a program about her disappearance.

 

[Bit of hope]

It's on 1.12.12 of the video.

I think it's clearing up some aspects of this case, very good. Thank you @Tricia for taking the time to interview this lovely couple. I hope with you sweet mom and dad of Rebekah, this case is not ending up in a box on a shelf.

I feel so very sad...almost 500 people left the live chat from @Tricia. Tell me why!! Isn't she just that important to be found. Told you some cases have the X factor.....wonderful but at the same time sad.

 

[investikater]

I feel so very sad...almost 500 people left the live chat from @Tricia. Tell me why!! Isn't she just that important to be found. Told you some cases have the X factor.....wonderful but at the same time sad.

Could we generate some X factor interest with the poor doggy somehow?...

Fairly unique element to the story.

And people get passionate about animals. and about animal abusers.

 

[Gardenkeep]

I was introduced to this case when I was watching websleuths on yt last night.

First, my deepest sympathies go out to Rebekah's family. I can't imagine the heartbreak of not knowing where she is, and the sense of helplessness it must create.

It appears that LE is going to scale back or stop looking for Rebekah, and that is just not okay at all, IMO.

Has the family considered contacting Equusearch? Their website: texasequusearch.org has a place where you can ask for their help. They are a nonprofit organization, and very committed to finding missing loved ones. They are very good, with a vast amount of experience both on land and in water.