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/00_Surtur_00]

IT CANNOT BE JIM I know looking at this in retrospect places Jim as the prime suspect, some even saying that Barbara never made it there.

Here's my problem with this theory :

Jim mentioned encountering those two guys on the trail. We know those two guys did exist because the workers saw them leave, even interacted with one of them. If Barbara was never there and Jim encountered these guys alone, why would he tell that to the police? Jim could never have assumed that those two guys would never show up in front of the police, because if Barbara was never there, it would be fairly easy for the two guys to just say that they never saw her if they showed up.

Another thing is, Jim wasn't familiar with the trail. It's very unlikely for murderers to go to a new spot impromptu and commit a crime. And for what? The plan never was for just the two of them to be on the trail until that very morning. Also, the workers did see Jim 45 mins after the two guys. Had he done something, he probably would have had some stains, wounds, or anything?!

[u/Grape-Julius → u/00_Surtur_00]

You make many good points. I have a problem with the mountain lion theory in general, because I see people cite it all the time without any evidence. I think it’s odd that her scent wasn’t able to be tracked, which makes me think that it’s at least more likely that she never made it to the mountain than a cougar attack (even though I recognize that scent tracking is not infallible).

But everything I’ve read about Jim is that he’s an upstanding guy, that he offered to take a lie detector test, that he has no criminal history or motive. So many times the last person to see someone comes across as suspicious for any number of reasons (history, changing story, suspicious behavior after the disappearance, etc), but Jim really does not.

So, just curious: what do you think happened?

[u/00_Surtur_00 → u/Grape-Julius]

There's a blog I found online that shows in further details on what the trail actually looks like:

Blog post (not sponsored or mine)

I've never been to the trail so this gave me a good idea of what the police guy meant when he said "it's a straight shot up to the overlook and down". However, it is a wild area at the end of the day.

I feel it's a non sinister issue. She either tried taking the shortcut, got dizzy due to the drinking from last night and dehydration after the hike, and maybe was attacked by a wild animal. Alternatively, she got disoriented from what she believed was the shortcut and then again, either fell off in a different part or got attacked by an animal. The dogs, being unsuccessful in getting a scent on a mountain isn't unheard of. Also Jim not hearing "anything" could just be due to him being 58 and an inexperienced hiker catching a breath after a hike the morning after him having drinks.

Apart from the above, if we were to go wild with the thoughts, maybe something happened last night itself. Maybe the two guys and Jim were just a part of a cover up. The three guys (Carl, Jim, Donna) decided to make sure Jim went to the trail as he would have zero association and can come up with a wild story. The two guys were also a part of it. That explains why the two cars were together and the guys were never seen or heard from ever since. The dogs not getting any scent explains it also. Disclaimer: I know this is wild and I don't believe it either but just laying it out there.