Missing Indiana couple found after man dies in Nevada desert
RENO, Nev. – A single, desperate cry for help went through to family members too late to save a woman’s husband after the Indiana couple had been lost in Nevada’s high-desert wilderness for more than a week.
“37.757753, -117.809568. Help.” It was a delayed text with GPS coordinates from Beverly Barker, 69, who survived the ordeal and was reported in good shape at a Reno hospital Wednesday, the day after rescuers found her and the body of her husband, Ronnie, 72.
Their nephew, Travis Peters, said in a Wednesday Facebook post that he can only assume that as his aunt was being airlifted to the hospital – or perhaps her belongings were being brought down the mountain – her phone came into cell range and the message was sent late Tuesday.
“Now we know it arrived too late,” wrote Peters, who has been highly critical of law enforcement for what he says was too little too late in terms of a search for the Barkers.
The couple was found Tuesday in the mountainous, forested high-desert in the remote Silver Peak area of Esmeralda County about 177 miles northwest of Las Vegas, west of Goldfield and east of the California line.
Both were with the Kia passenger car they had been towing behind a 32-foot (9.8-meter) motor home before the RV got stuck in mud. They apparently decided to try to continue on in the car before it too got stuck.
Because of rough roads in the area, authorities opted to have Beverly Barker airlifted to a Reno hospital to be checked out, Mineral County Undersheriff Bill Ferguson told The Associated Press.
She had melted snow for water and the car provided shelter from temperatures that dipped into the 30s at night, he said Wednesday. “She would get out and go for little walks.”
Family members who reported the Barkers missing have said in numerous social media posts they left on a cross-country trip last month and were expected to return this week to their home in Indianapolis. They said the couple departed Albany, Oregon, on March 27 and planned to meet with friends in Tucson on March 29.
One of four aircraft that had been searching for the couple with the Civilian Air Patrol spotted the RV from the air about midday on Tuesday.
“Due to the remote area where the motorhome was located it took several hours for (search and rescue) teams to reach it,” the Esmeralda County sheriff’s office said in a statement Wednesday.
“After a search of the motorhome, it was determined foul play was not involved,” it said. It said the teams then found tire tracks they were able to follow to the Kia about 2 miles away.
Esmeralda County sheriff’s officials haven’t responded to requests for additional information.