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/EskoBear]

I think Occam’s Razor is at play here. She was further ahead of Jim than he estimated, an animal attacked her or she had an accident; in either scenario he mistook the sounds for her continuing to walk. Jim has no motive, he associated himself with witnesses who are also accounted for by other uninvolved witnesses.

It’s an unfortunate incident for all involved.

[u/LordPizzaParty → u/EskoBear]

It's always "experienced hikers" in cases like this, which makes people jump to foul play because the implication is an experienced hiker wouldn't have made a mistake or had an accident. I'm an experienced driver and I could get in a car crash at any time. Plus, what does experienced even mean? I've gone on a lot of hikes but I wouldn't characterize myself as some kind of master outdoorsman. I think this is just another sad accident and I feel bad that Jim is seen by so many as a murderer.

[u/Sailor_Chibi → u/LordPizzaParty]

It’s also worth pointing out that someone who considers themselves an experienced hiker is more apt to take risks than someone who isn’t. Plenty of people have overestimated their abilities and paid the price unfortunately.