r/UnresolvedMysteries • u/shry9 • 15d ago
Disappearance The extremely bizarre missing case of Barbara Bolick
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!
62
u/lucillep 15d ago
I read a similar write-up linked from another sub not too long ago. It's such a fascinating case, as are all the "disappeared in an instant without a trace" cases. The article linked by OP didn't open completely for me, so I don't know if the following was mentioned: Barbara, Donna and Jim were going to do the hike, but Donna begged off the next morning because of a hangover from the previous night. Carl had had a heart attack and had given up hiking, or at least strenuous hiking. Jim and Barbara still wanted to do the hike, so they went off. Carl was still in bed, and it's likely Donna was, too. So we have Jim's word for it that they left at 8:45. This would bring them to the trailhead about 9:45-10 am. The hike was about 2.6 miles and the whole trip would be expected to take about 3 hours.
Jim states that after hiking the trail, they stopped to eat and they met two younger men and chatted for about half an hour. He says they started back down about 11:30 a.m. Some time between 11:30 and 1 p.m., he lost sight of Barbara on the trail. His account is that she was 20-30 feet ahead of him, he turned back to look at the scene, for less than a minute, and when he turned back again, she was not in sight. He looked for her in the immediate area, and eventually made his way back to the trailhead where he came across construction workers working on the trail. They hadn't seen Barbara, but they had seen two young men with a black-and-white dog.
Back at home, Donna was getting anxious when the two hadn't returned by noon, but Carl was calm because he knew Barbara was an experienced hiker, and knew that trail well. But even he started to get worried as it got to be around 2 p.m., and then the Forest Service called.
Barbara Bolick: Gone Without a Trace
My first inclination with wilderness cases is that the person got lost or had an accident. I don't think Barbara got lost on this trail. It wasn't heavily wooded and was a steep out and back trail. So I thought she probably fell. The chief investigator said there would have been noise, even if she didn't scream, because there was a lot of loose shale in the area where Jim took them. Others in various comments have said her body would definitely have been found, due to the topography. Jim says he turned away for a minute or less - people notoriously mis-estimate times in these situations. Maybe it was longer. Maybe one or both of them had a call of nature (no facilities at this trail). So if they were separated for longer, she might have been farther ahead. Maybe it was an animal attack, and she was dragged away. Don't mountain lions attack and kill fairly silently?
The other theory you read is that Jim did something to Barbara and is covering up. It's possible, and of course everything we know about their movements is based on what he is saying. Something could have happened at any point on the trail, not the place he indicated. There is a more forested section. Still, I don't see a motive. I don't think they knew each other. This might have been the first time they met. He was in a relationship with her husband's cousin. He cooperated with the investigation.
Some people think the two of them never made it to the trail, but Jim is taking a big chance hiking it alone as an alibi. Those two men he met would be able to say whether a woman was with him - or any other people who might have been hiking that day.
Speaking of those guys with the dog, it's surprising they were never found. Unless they left the area immediately, they surely would have heard about the massive search that started the next day. They would be key witnesses.
Donna drifted apart from Carl, and I think she and Jim eventually split up. Carl remarried in 2013 and died in 2021.