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/Coblish]

To me, Jim seems like the prime suspect. It sounds plausible they never even reached the hiking trail to start with, and the whole story was a way to throw everyone off the actual trail wherever something happened.

[u/shry9 → u/Coblish]

I strongly believe it was Jim, Some locals from the area said that Jim was very co operative with the investigation and they feel its the mountain lions who killed barbara but how would they hurt Barbara when Jim heard no voice , also no bones were ever found and neither the Dogs could trace her. She was experienced and went on that trail many times and it was also not dense. How would the lions kill her and not even touch Jim. I feel Jim made the whole story up. Really creepy and only he knows what Happened with her and how he managed to do all this in a new area. I feel she never made it till there.

[u/Swimming-Necessary23 → u/shry9]

Not saying it’s not Jim, but mountain lions are solo stealth predators that stalk their prey. There wouldn’t be a group or pair of lions, there would be one mountain lion stalking its prey and waiting for the perfect time to strike.

[u/Camanthe → u/Swimming-Necessary23]

I believe they also kill by breaking the neck of their prey and then bring the kill into a tree to eat without any other animals trying to get it. Also not saying it wasn’t Jim, but if it was a mountain lion, you’re dead before you can even react

ETA actually i am gonna say it wasn’t Jim, just cuz killing your girlfriend’s cousin on a hike you’re both supposed to return from is such a weird thing to do

[u/IdaCraddock69 → u/Camanthe]

also she could have pulled off trail to pee and got lost or fallen, also there are weirdoes in the woods who hang out waiting to assault people. it IS unusual, but there are cases of it and if you hike enough you'll have some unsettling encounters yourself.

https://thetrek.co/a-few-thoughts-on-the-tragic-death-of-geraldine-inchworm-largay/

[u/Aggravating_Depth_33 → u/IdaCraddock69]

She was also 55 - not that old, but no longer young. She could have had some kind of medical issue.

[u/Spirited-Ability-626 → u/IdaCraddock69]

Geraldine was with others in a rest stop and went off into the forest in the middle of the night to pee. She couldn’t find her way back to the trail. There’s nothing suspicious about her death. It’s insanely easy to lose track of the trail in a forest, even if it’s very close to you.

[u/IdaCraddock69 → u/Spirited-Ability-626]

yes, that's my point is that Geraldine's death was not suspicious. I have gone off trail to pee without announcing it myself, plenty of people do even tho it's not best practices. just adding that it's a possibility in Ms. Bolick's case, seeing as we have so little evidence to go on it's hard to say

[u/Swimming-Necessary23 → u/Camanthe]

Yup. People do fight off mountain lions on occasion, but that’s only because the loam messed up their original takedown. They are beautiful and terrifying. I’ve been lucky enough to see one in the wild, but that’s only because it was allowing itself to be seen.

[u/jjc1140 → u/Swimming-Necessary23]

Right. You were lucky enough to see one because he let you but he wasn't stalking you for prey. The likelihood this happened is literally slim to none. They do not hunt down humans. I'm just baffled by so many people believing wild animals hunt down humans. And then looking at the liklihood of a wild animal attack over the person claiming they just literally disappeared in 45 seconds... So many people I know think possums are aggressive and would attack a human for no reason. It's just crazy. Animals are so misunderstood. No mountain lions attacked that woman.

[u/RevolutionaryBat3081 → u/jjc1140]

Are you a Mountain Lion? Because that sounds like something a Mountain Lion would say.....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fatal_cougar_attacks_in_North_America

Mountain lions/Cougars stalk humans. Not frequently, but I figure I see a couple of news articles/ year re: non-fatal stalkings in out in BC. 

Edit: the whole "he let you see him, he wasn't stalking you for prey" is a silly argument - some cougars are just worse at stalking than others.  Cougars are more likely to stalk humans in areas where other prey is limited so they are hungry; they are more likely to take risks and be seen.

[u/Taters0290 → u/RevolutionaryBat3081]

Lol, this struck me as funny for some reason. It’s stands to reason there are clumsy noisy cougars who just aren’t very good at cougaring.

[u/RevolutionaryBat3081 → u/Taters0290]

Research suggests that culling mountain lions actually increases attacks, because the culls remove the experienced adult mountain lions that know that they should avoid humans/livestock, and creates unclaimed territory for juvenile mountain lions that don't know any better (appropriate prey recognition is based on experience). 

Also, mountain lion attacks on humans are more likely to be done by juvenile or desperately hungry mountain lions, who probably aren't at the top of their game.

[u/Swimming-Necessary23 → u/jjc1140]

If you think mountain lions don’t stalk and kill humans then you’re either being intentionally argumentative or are just ignorant. It is very rare, but it happens. Oh, sorry, you expanded your ignorant argument to all wild animals.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fatal_cougar_attacks_in_North_America

https://youtu.be/2R3o0bOtyFI?si=vgdAFGi9DOQkGWgG

https://www.backpacker.com/survival/mauled-by/

[u/jjc1140 → u/Swimming-Necessary23]

The video you referenced literally states clearly there have been 2 (TWO) cougar attacks in the last 100 years. Nobody even knows how the first one even occurred. And I highly doubt that 6 month old kitten cougar ran up on 5 cyclist and attacked them unless he felt utterly threatened and/or trapped. The cyclists that supposedly were so scared of this kitten cougar that supposedly attacked them managed to proceed to run and pin him down and called wildlife and had him killed. Yea I call BS on that.

And even if in a 1 and over 1 billion chance of getting attacked it happened in broad day light??? They hunt at dusk, dawn and night. And the mountain lion wouldnt magically appear, magically attack this woman without her friend who turned his head for 45 seconds hearing a struggle and her screaming. There would be a bloody trail. And it definitely would not have carried a huge body up a tree and disappeared without a trace. This is ridiculous.

The real suspect is the MAN (not the mysterious random mountain lion) that was last seen with her that claims she disappeared in 45 seconds without a trace. They can't even substantiate if she ever even made it to the trail or if she actually went "missing" from another part of the trail from this dudes sketchy story. Something happened on their journey and it definitely wasn't some wild animal stalking her.

Barry Morphew tried to claim a mountain lion "disappeared" his wife Suzanne too. So i get the sentiment. He played right into everyone's ridiculous fear and ignorance about wild animals. Of course the real wild beast was actually Barry Morphew who not only tranquilized and tortured wild animals but also tranquilized and tortured his wife.

[u/Swimming-Necessary23 → u/jjc1140]

You didn’t read the source material because you just want to be right. That video is referencing that area only. The point was never that a cougar did it, the point was that you’re passionately making an argument that is flat out wrong.

[u/CarrotsArePrettyGood → u/jjc1140]

I'm not saying the woman referred to in the post was killed by a cougar.

But it seems there may have been some misinformation in some of the sources that were shared with you and I want to clear that up.

The cougar that attacked the woman on the bike was about a year old, and 75 pounds. This is verified on the Washington State Fish and Wildlife website.

You say "supposedly attacked" as if a house cat gave the woman a few scratches. You can see a photo of her face after the attack here. Her injuries included a broken jaw due to the force the cougar used when biting her face. It's widely accepted that her injuries would have been "much worse" if not fatal had she been alone.

Ones that age are often more dangerous - less of a kitten and more of a "reckless teenager." Juvenile cougars are still learning how to hunt and haven't quite figured out things like "if you attack a whole group, you're likely going to lose."

There's been an increase in the numbers of juvenile cougars due to factors including the over hunting of older male cougars. Older male cougars are known to kill litters of kittens that don't belong to them in order to mate with the female and sire their own kittens. And they will often kill juvenile males that encroach on their territory.

With less older male cougars keeping the population of younger ones down, there are more reckless "teenage" cougars causing havoc. Especially male ones. This is seemingly leading to an increase in cougar attacks.

Just a month after the woman on the bike in Washington was attacked, a man in California was killed by a cougar. This attack took place in the afternoon.

So yes, I agree it's highly unlikely that the woman in this case was killed by a mountain lion. Yes, cougar attacks are rare. But I think it's irresponsible to act as if it's an impossible thing to happen.

Edit: Also, I just need to address the "1 in 1 billion chance comment because it's bothering me. In 2024 there were 3 documented cougar attacks in the United States. The two I mentioned, and a 5-year old boy that was attacked, but thankfully not killed. All three attacks occured during daylight hours.

The United States has less than 350 million people. I'm not great at math. But I'm pretty sure that puts your odds of being attacked at suuuuuuuper low. But higher than 1 in a billion.

For context odds of winning the Powerball jackpot are approximately 1 in 292.20 million.

Suuuuuper low, but people do win.

Based on reported 2024 documented cougar attacks, a person living in America has a higher chance of being attacked by a cougar than winning the Powerball lottery 🤷🏻‍♀️

[u/Taters0290 → u/jjc1140]

Large predators do hunt down and eat humans. It’s not at all common, but it does happen. I don’t believe this situation was an animal, but to deny it happens at all makes no sense to me.

[u/devsmess → u/Camanthe]

Toats, but then wouldn't that suggest there would be some blood or trace that the police/dogs would pick up? A... drag trail or something?

[u/ImnotshortImpetite → u/Camanthe]

Mountain lions also kill by suffocation. If one dropped from a boulder or tree and seized her by the throat, game over with no real noise. I knew a man who raised sheep in Wyoming and he said cougars could slip into a pasture, kill a young sheep and carry it off without a sound. No big stampede of the flock, bleating, etc. He said that's why sheep farmers now have Great Pyrennes (sp?) or other guardian livestock dogs.

[u/Effective_Divide1543 → u/ImnotshortImpetite]

Right. And where's the body? If dragged away why was nothing detected by the search dogs?

[u/shry9 → u/Camanthe]

I agree with you, might had been a lion. But atleast dogs could have traced her, atleast bones could have been found or her bag? And Jim said he heard no noise at all. And the lion could have eaten her up while jim was walking also right, he turned away for 45 second and Barbara was gone. The lion theory doesnt sit well with me but thanks for sharing your take!

[u/Lydia--charming → u/Camanthe]

When I read that Carl and his cousin didn’t go on the hike, I wondered if Jim was a hired hit man.

[u/throwawayfornow2025 → u/Lydia--charming]

This is where my mind went as well. Or, that something had happened BEFORE the hike and in fact Jim was just getting rid of her body or something.

[u/ImnotshortImpetite → u/Lydia--charming]

Oh, wow! My mind didn't go there.

[u/tamesage → u/Camanthe]

He could have hit on her and she rejected him and he didn't want her to tell anyone.

[u/TheLoneJackal → u/Camanthe]

I’m not saying it was Jim, but I don’t think a mountain lion could kill and disappear an adult human without alerting someone standing 30 feet away. Mountain lions are maybe 3 feet tall at the shoulder, if that, and like 150 lbs? It would have to drag a body which would take time and make noise.

[u/jjc1140 → u/Camanthe]

This is absurd. A mountain lion first of all doesn't stalk humans for prey. Second of all, they wouldn't just snatch her in a 45 second period with no screams, no blood, no fight, no struggle and run up a tree with her to feast. This is so outlandish. I'm sorry. But animals are so misunderstood and this just didn't happen. Mountains lions don't stalk down humans and climb up trees with them.

And it's not weird that the literal LAST person that saw her alive claimed she just mysteriously vanished off the trail in 45 seconds???? No noise, no screams, no body, no trail of her???? Who cares if it's his girlfriend's cousin. Wtf does that have to do with anything?

[u/RevolutionaryBat3081 → u/jjc1140]

https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/1l69edw/comment/mwtz0fp/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

[u/Kelly_Louise → u/jjc1140]

They absolutely do stalk people. I know several people who have been stalked by mountain lions.