An Indianapolis man who vanished 10 day ago during a west coast RV trip has been found dead on a mountain in Nevada, where his wife was discovered alive.
The couple’s nephew, Travis Peters, said that Ron Barker, 72, and Beverly Barker, 69, were found on Tuesday evening west of Silver Peak, Nevada – a remote area located more than three hours northwest of Las Vegas.
The husband was deceased, while the wife was said to being ‘doing ok,’ according to Peters. The woman was airlifted to a hospital in Reno for treatment.
Travis wrote late on Tuesday night, hours after the rescue, Ron and Beverly’s daughters received a text message from one of their parents’ phones, which read: ‘Help.’
‘That text message was trying to send out and I can only assume that as Bev was airlifted to the hospital, or perhaps their belongings were brought down the mountain that message finally came through….. but now we know it arrived too late,’ the nephew wrote.
It was not immediately known how or when Ron Barker died, or how the elderly couple had ended up on the remote Nevada mountain where they were discovered.
Ron Barker, 72, was found dead on a mountain in Nevada on Tuesday, while his wife, Beverly Barker, 69, was found alive, 10 days after the couple vanished during an RV trip
The couple’s 2015 Forest River Sunseekers Class C motorhome was discovered stuck in the mud in the area of Silver Peak, Nevada, at around noon on Tuesday
Peters wrote in an earlier Facebook update that around noon on Tuesday, searchers came upon the Barkers’ RV in the Silver Peak area. He revealed that the motorhome was ‘stuck in the mud,’ and there was no sign of his relatives, nor their SUV.
Peters who has been acting as the spokesperson for the family, accused local law enforcement of dragging their feet in the first days after the couple’s disappearance.
‘If a search had been initiated in a more timely manner (not 3+ days after we reported them missing) than maybe Ronnie would still be here,’ Peters wrote.
The nephew went on to claim that in his last conversation with Esmeralda County Sheriff Kenneth Elgan prior to the discovery of his relatives, he told Peters that his searchers did not know where else to look for the missing couple because they have already ‘looked everywhere in the county.’
‘Well Sheriff Elgan, no…. no you didn’t look everywhere did you?’ Peters remarked sarcastically in the hours after the grim find. ‘The amount if [sic] incompetence that I’ve witnessed over the past 5 days is mind boggling.’
The Barkers, from Indianapolis, set out in their motorhome on a 1,300-mile road trip from Albany, Oregon, to Tucson, Arizona, on March 26.
They were last seen fueling up their vehicle in Stagecoach, Nevada, on the afternoon of March 27, and their phones last pinged in the area of Dyer, Nevada, that evening.
There has been no activity on the Barkers’ debit cards in 10 days.
‘They have vanished, literally, into thin air,’ the couple’s daughter Jennifer Whaley told WTHR before her parents were found.
The Barkers, from Indianapolis, had set out on a 1,300-mile road trip from Oregon to Arizona, but they vanished in Nevada 10 days ago
This map shows the Barker couple’s movements between March 26-27, when they vanished in the Nevada desert
The Barkers’ RV was last seen on surveillance video in Luning, Nevada, on March 27
On Monday, the Nevada State Police issued a Silver Alert for the missing couple. The Silver Alert public notification system is used to communicate information about a vulnerable senior citizen who is reported missing and endangered.
Peters, the couple’s nephew, previously told 8NewsNow his aunt and uncle were traveling to the west coast with two of their best friends from Indianapolis, but at some point the group split up, with the Barkers continuing on the trip alone.
The couple were driving a 2015 Forest River Sunseekers Class C motorhome and towing their 2020 Kia Soul XL, both with Indiana license plates.
The couple left Albany, Oregon, on March 26. Their plan was to reach Tucson, Arizona, to visit friends on March 29, but they never made it there.
Their itinerary included planned stops in Fallon, Nevada, and Nellis Air Force Base outside Las Vegas, followed by their arrival in Tucson.
The Barkers never made it to Tucson on March 29 as planned, and there has been no activity on their debit cards since March 27
Both Ron and Beverly Barker have diabetes, and the husband was a cancer survivor. The Barkers have two grown daughters
The Barkers’ nephew said the couple were seen pumping gas at Stagecoach Market in Stagecoach, Nevada at 3.48pm on March 27.
A traffic camera spotted their RV in Hawthorne, Nevada, less than two hours later, followed by a cellular ping in that area.
The Barkers’ RV was last seen on surveillance video in Luning, Nevada, and their cellphones pinged for the last time at 7.16pm that night in the vicinity of Dyer, Nevada.
Authorities said both the husband and wife have medical conditions. According to family members, Ron was a cancer survivor, and both he and Beverly suffer from diabetes.
Esmeralda County Sheriff Elgan said his deputies and other agencies in the area were actively searching for the Barkers.
‘The county north of us has a helicopter up flying today,’ he said. ‘The county south of us has search and rescue teams out in some of their rural areas. We had a helicopter fly Saturday that pretty much covered the majority of our county.’
The Barkers’ family, including their two daughters, said it was unlike their parents to be out of reach, and they do not understand how the couple could have disappeared in a flat desert landscape.
‘They’re out in the middle of the desert,’ Whaley said. ‘You can see for miles and a 32-foot RV, towing a car, literally vanishes into thin air. Where did they go?’