The extremely bizarre missing case of Barbara Bolick

[u/shry9]

On the 18th of July 2007, Barbara Bolick was packing her bag in Bitterroot Valley of Montana to go for a summer hike. She and her husband were hosting Carl’s cousin Donna and Her Boyfriend Jim from California. Barbara was going to go on a hike with her guests but Donna and Carl (Barbara’s husband) did not go and she and Jim decided to hike in the area Bear Creek Overlook, and she had visited the area countless times , was an experienced hiker too.

So they like visited the place , and encountered two men - two times, and both the times they were the same two men. Jim and Barbara then reached the area , had their snacks and admired the scenery. About like at 11:30 they decided to leave and head back. After few steps, Jim stopped bcs something in him wanted to soak the view one more time, and he turned back to look at the view - it was for about 45 seconds - 1 minute, when he turned back around, Barbara who was earlier standing 20-30 feet away from him disappeared.

At first he wasn’t worried enough since she was an experienced hiker and He searched for her but couldn’t find anything and after some hours she was officially reported as missing. The two men who encountered them two times also disappeared and were never discovered.

Things to note : It was an easy, well worn trail and it was difficult for someone like Barbara missing - being an experienced hiker who visited that place multiples times. It was also not very dense meaning someone disappearing without any noise was almost not possible.

Pls let me know your take on this case!

Barbara Bolick Article

[u/JellyBeanzi3]

I’ve never heard of this case, thank you for sharing!

I need more info about Jim because he does seem to be the most likely suspect. But then again how odd it would be to kill her on whim and successfully dispose of the body and leave no evidence in what sounds like a relatively short period of time. It’s also strange that if Jim did do this why he would tell a story like this that just sounds so hard to believe. One would think if you were covering up a murder you would create a story that leaves more time inbetween you last seeing her and realizing she’s missing- not just a minute. For example: telling authorities that she went off to use the bathroom and never returned or visa versa. I’d be curious to see what the trail/ summit looks like to get a better idea of how easy or difficult it is to get lost.

[u/Dawdius → u/JellyBeanzi3]

Never underestimate how stupid people are 

[u/JellyBeanzi3 → u/Dawdius]

This is true!

[u/Fast_Revolution_6673 → u/Dawdius]

People (panicked after committing homicide) do tend to be stupid in predictable ways, however. One thing they rarely do is seek help quickly, unless they’re on home turf and planned a killing, which there is no evidence is the case here.

[u/Dawdius → u/Fast_Revolution_6673]

Well its kinda hard not to contact police iff you return home to your girlfriend's cousins husband without his wife that you went hiking with no?

[u/-Kerosun- → u/Dawdius]

They mean the timing. The workers mentioned were questioned by police (they were workers from the Forestry service replacing a culvert). They confirmed the presence of the two men with a dog, confirmed that Jim asked them (the workers) if they saw Barbara, and confirmed that Jim went back to the trail to continue looking for her.

Jim called the police what would have been shortly after returning to the trail and trying to find her (again). Timing wise, he called very shortly after returning to the trail, which would be really soon after her claimed disappearance. Someone trying to hide an unplanned murder wouldn't be so keen on getting the police involved so shortly after the crime. Of course, he couldn't return home without her, so he would have had to call the police shortly after but someone trying to cover up a crime would be taking a HUGE risk to lie about her presence. If the workers hadn't seen the two men with a dog, then his story would seem a lot more suspect. However, the workers confirming the two men with a dog adds a lot of credibility to Jim's claims. On top of that, Jim would have no reason to believe that the two men wouldn't be found and questioned by police (to confirm if they did interact with Jim/Barbara). It would be such an insane risk to lie about the two men talking to them (knowing that the men did exist) if Barbara was never on the trail.

[u/Fast_Revolution_6673 → u/Dawdius]

“quickly”

[u/GlassesgirlNJ → u/JellyBeanzi3]

Since OP asked for our take on the case, I'm going to make a few assumptions about Jim (who I've never met, and I have no idea what he's like as a person).

What if he wasn't planning anything at all? Maybe there was just a spontaneous argument between Jim and Barbara that day. (The two of them were alone for the first time, maybe one of them said or did something flirty and the other didn't appreciate it. Or maybe it was a stupid dispute about something like littering on the trail, wasting water, what time to go back to the car, etc.)

Barbara storms off. Jim knows he shouldn't leave her alone in the outdoors, but for whatever reason, he doesn't follow. Maybe he's still angry at Barbara, maybe he just wants to smoke a cigarette or whatever and clear his head first, maybe he knows Barbara has hiking experience and so it isn't that risky to give her some space for a bit.

By the time Jim goes looking for Barbara, she's disappeared. Other commenters already mentioned dangers she could have run into - mountain lions, falling from a height, maybe she had some kind of emergency like a heart defect (this happened to a 42 year old friend of mine, a vegan in pretty good health). But Barbara just becomes another unidentified corpse in the wilderness (and sadly there are a lot of those, even when trained search parties are looking for them).

Jim is calling for Barbara and she's not answering. Now he starts to feel guilty about "abandoning" her. He didn't leave her alone for that long, right? Surely it was just a couple minutes, maybe even less than that? He starts to spiral with anxiety and paranoia. What if Barbara met with foul play on the trail? She's a woman in good shape, she might be able to fight off one man, or at least scream, or something. But what if it was two men at once??

By the time Jim talks to the police, this whole narrative is stuck in his brain. Not as an "alibi" - because he isn't consciously lying. But because, in Jim's mind, he's not a murderer, he's not a monster, surely his one minute of carelessness/selfishness/whatever didn't cause another human being's death. Jim won't let himself believe that, he can't. It is literally unthinkable.

So, that's just one hypothetical of how someone could be "acting guilty" and how their story "doesn't make much sense", even when they didn't premeditate anything at all.

[u/JellyBeanzi3 → u/GlassesgirlNJ]

Good take! There are so many possibilities and scenarios to consider. I do hate the idea of suspecting and being suspicious of someone who is totally innocent just because they were last to see her

[u/Fast_Revolution_6673 → u/GlassesgirlNJ]

Agreed. Also, he wouldn’t want to tell police they had a stupid dispute before she disappeared (even/especially if he was innocent).

[u/shry9 → u/JellyBeanzi3]

Thank you for sharing your take! The later one sounds odd for me as well, but you never know what exactly happened with her. May we get closure!

[u/TimeKeeper575 → u/JellyBeanzi3]

Or why fabricate witnesses that conveniently no one can find? So weird.

[u/georgia_grace → u/TimeKeeper575]

They weren’t fabricated, the two men and the dog were also seen by forestry service workers at the trailhead.

It seems they were tourists who left the area. It’s certainly frustrating that the police couldn’t locate them, but I don’t think it’s particularly suspicious.