Recovered/Located NV - Ronnie (found deceased) & Beverly Barker (taken for med care), RV trip, Stagecoach, 27 Mar 2022

[otto]

Has LE flown the area between Coaldale & Vegas, both routes?
Google Maps

Unless the vehicles have been modified, I think they must be closer to Tonopah.

 

[ReadySet]

I just started following this case so excuse me if I'm missing information.

The last case I followed here where a large rig went missing was the case of the semi truck driver who was driving from Portland, Ore., to Nyssa on the other side of the state. He was supposed to get to LaGrande? by a certain time, but didn't show up. The GPS on the truck, as monitored by the trucking company, showed he left the freeway and turned onto another road. Eventually, no more GPS or phone pings.

How could a rig that big disappear, I wondered. The prevailing opinion on WS was that he was hijacked or ended up in the river.

He was missing for five days.

It turned out that he had put the wrong address in his GPS, that's why he got off his route. He realized it, and put it in the right address, but the GPS took him on a remote Forest Service Road, then he was stuck. Apparently the forest was so dense the planes coudln't see the truck. He ended up walking out.

ANYWAY, could something like that have happened here? Bad GPS, ended up in the woods someplace (which I see from a map is a drivable distance) out of gas? Stuck? Medical event(s)? Dead phones?

 

[otto]

There seems to be conflicting opinion, the Sheriff's office refers to a ping near Coaldale on the morning of the 28th, Log in or sign up to view, that is contradicted by a family member.

I would personally go with police info until they correct it.

Possibly they headed to Dyer area to camp, if pings did indeed come from there on the night of 27th.

Dyer and Tonopah can't both be right, because they're in opposite directions. Police said just West of Tonopah. Can they? They drove West from Tonopah towards Dyer, but why were they in the Tonopah area in the first place?

 

[Herat]

Their vehicle is listed as having a 48 gallon gas tank and claims a 440 mile range, but they were pulling a toad ( a Kia vehicle ) behind them ( don't think it was separately trailered).

The distance from Stagecoach to Nellis AFB by their presumed route is described at 409 miles, so one tankful is really cutting it too close.

Hawthorne is really too soon to have filled up, and they had probably planned for gas up in Tonopah or Beatty, both are typical gas up places on that route.

 

[otto]

Coaldale NV is an abandoned motel and gas station at the intersection of Highway 95 ( north-south main highway to Las Vega) and Highway 6 ( west-east highway from California across Nevada to Utah). That intersection is about 40 miles west of Tonopah, perhaps 46 miles west of the Tonopah Airport. There are no services at Coaldale, just abandoned and vandalized old buildings.

I've got East and West backwards - let me alter those maps! Thank you.

 

[Herat]

Dyer and Tonopah can't both be right, because they're in opposite directions. Police said just West of Tonopah.

View attachment 339008

Coaldale intersection and Dyer are both west of Tonopah

 

[Herat]

This is what I get from Google:

6 hr 27 min (408.4 miles via Highway 95)

 

[Satchie]

From what I've read, they were not boondock-type camper types and were intending to overnight with friends who lived near Nellis AFB in Las Vegas. That would have been another 4 hours via Highway 95. From the family and APB postings, they sound experienced, cautious, and prepared with multiple cell type backups (phones, Apple watches, computers). Dyer isn't really a place to camp as it's a small rural farming community. There is a hot springs in the area, Fish Lake Hot Spring,but it's on a gravel road and it would have taken them away from Highway 95. I'd also think they would have alerted friends if there was such a significant change in plans for that night.

Good to know.

It is the family (daughter's) missing poster that refers to a phone ping around Dyer at 10:16 pm on the 27th. See bottom of poster...

Some people are then mixing it up with the reported morning ping in Coaldale, to become a ping in Coaldale at 10:16 pm.

JMO

 

[otto]

Their vehicle is listed as having a 48 gallon gas tank and claims a 440 mile range, but they were pulling a toad ( a Kia vehicle ) behind them ( don't think it was separately trailered).

The distance from Stagecoach to Nellis AFB by their presumed route is described at 409 miles, so one tankful is really cutting it too close.

Hawthorne is really too soon to have filled up, and they had probably planned for gas up in Tonopah or Beatty, both are typical gas up places on that route.

Maybe that's what they did - drove into Tonopah to get gas, then drove back towards Coaldale Junction and headed to Dyer. Police have their last ping a few miles West of Tonopah. Family has a ping near Dyer?

 

[Herat]

Good to know.

It is the family (daughter's) missing poster that refers to a phone ping around Dyer at 10:16 pm on the 27th. See bottom of poster...

View attachment 339009

Some people are then mixing it up with the reported morning ping in Coaldale, to become a ping in Coaldale at 10:16 pm.

JMO

Oh, thanks Satchie, I didn't see the Dyer ping before. (Duh)

YES, I see it now. There isn't a "Nivlock" road in Dyer, there is something like N1Block ?

There is an Esmeralda RV Park there that comes up:

Google Maps

I don't see them needing to drive nearly 50 miles to Tonopah and then nearly 50 miles back to gas up just to stay at the Esmerelda RV Park in Dyer. If they were in Dyer, they might have just taken the 360 bypass and not gone through Coaldale intersection that evening . They'd have enough gas still to get to Tonopah to gas up the next day.

There is no information that they were in Tonopah at all. Unfortunately no CCTV, and no reports of use of cards to pay for gas in Tonopah, no LE reports of them being seen on a gas station CCTV.

Now I think I need to take a break and think about this some more. This opens up a new line of inquiry, methinks.

 

[Look4theHelpers]

It occurs to me mixing up time zones might account for the 4+ hour gap in the last apparent sighting at ~ 6:05 and the phone ping that was initially reported as 10 pm. It might actually be 7 pm if you correct for time zones.

This has been nagging on my brain trying to figure out why there's such a huge gap of time from the 6:05 sighting in Luning to the 10pm ping in Coaldale for such a short distance. I didn't give the time zone difference a thought, but makes complete sense.
However, could they have been anywhere within the 50 mile radius of Coaldale tower before the ping? But even if this was the case, I don't think that would explain the 4 hour difference.

 

[zecats]

Good to know.

It is the family (daughter's) missing poster that refers to a phone ping around Dyer at 10:16 pm on the 27th. See bottom of poster...

View attachment 339009

Some people are then mixing it up with the reported morning ping in Coaldale, to become a ping in Coaldale at 10:16 pm.

JMO

Flyer stated as outdated. Here's more recent.

 

[otto]

Good to know.

It is the family (daughter's) missing poster that refers to a phone ping around Dyer at 10:16 pm on the 27th. See bottom of poster...

View attachment 339009

Some people are then mixing it up with the reported morning ping in Coaldale, to become a ping in Coaldale at 10:16 pm.

JMO

Do these dates and locations make sense? I'm trying to understand the last timeline

"Their phone last pinged the morning of Monday, March 28, in the Coaldale area, a few miles west of Tonopah, the sheriff's office said in a social media post."
​

Indiana couple reported missing in central Nevada

 

[Knox]

This has been nagging on my brain trying to figure out why there's such a huge gap of time from the 6:05 sighting in Luning to the 10pm ping in Coaldale for such a short distance. I didn't give the time zone difference a thought, but makes complete sense.
However, could they have been anywhere within the 50 mile radius of Coaldale tower before the ping? But even if this was the case, I don't think that would explain the 4 hour difference.

What time difference are we talking about? Aren't OR, and NV in the same time zone? It's only AZ that doesn't observe DST?

 

[Herat]

What time difference are we talking about? Aren't OR, and NV in the same time zone? It's only AZ that doesn't observe DST?

Maybe Central Standard time and Pacific Time zones are getting mixed up .

OR, NV, and AZ are all currently on the same time zone.

Perhaps Esmeralda County Sheriff's Office is in a different zone altogether. There are only 729 people that live in the entire county. ECSO seems to have trouble keeping track of them.

Now I need a refreshment.

 

[otto]

What time difference are we talking about? Aren't OR, and NV in the same time zone? It's only AZ that doesn't observe DST?

Four hours to drive for about 2 hours. Did they stop for supper?

Where did they last buy gas?

 

[zecats]

Maybe that's what they did - drove into Tonopah to get gas, then drove back towards Coaldale Junction and headed to Dyer. Police have their last ping a few miles West of Tonopah. Family has a ping near Dyer?

I can't believe they would have gassed up anywhere else without leaving a sighting or a debit/credit card use. Last use of card was for gas (and snacks) in Stagecoach NV before they headed south.

 

[Look4theHelpers]

What time difference are we talking about? Aren't OR, and NV in the same time zone? It's only AZ that doesn't observe DST?

@Herat had mentioned that someone may have mixed up the time zones when saying what time the ping happened. I was agreeing that maybe that could've been the reason and explained the 4 hour gap.

 

[zecats]

Silver Alert now flashing on Nevada highways.

 

[Satchie]

Flyer stated as outdated. Here's more recent.

Ah, okay.

So that is where it is stated there was a last phone ping that night around Coaldale.

Whether there was a ping the next morning, also around Coaldale, as originally stated by Sheriff...?

It still indicates they may have pulled off I-95 south of Luring and spent several hours off the main highway somewhere, before a last ping being picked up around Coaldale.

JMO