An Indiana woman who was found with her husband on a remote mountain in Nevada 10 days after the couple went missing on a West Coast RV trip has revealed they became lost following their GPS – and that her husband died when they ran out of food and water.
Beverly and Ronnie Barker were found Tuesday just west of an RV camping ground near Silver Peak, 10 days after they were last seen at a Nevada gas station.
Beverly, who turns 70 on Saturday, was airlifted to the hospital where she was treated and then released on Wednesday. Her husband Ronnie, 72, died on Monday, just one day before rescuers found the couple.
In a video call with her family, Beverly shared details of the harrowing nine days on the desolate mountain, revealing they became bogged in mud after getting lost on March 27 because of bad GPS directions.
When they ran out of food and water, Beverly used her N95 mask to scoop up snow for water, which helped to keep her alive.
‘I’m amazed at the strength that woman had up there,’ the couple’s nephew Travis Peters told WTHR. ‘I have no doubt that it was the Lord carrying her to that water – to that snow – to make water that kept her alive.’
Ronnie Barker, 72, and his wife, Beverly, 69, were found Tuesday just west of an RV camping ground in Silver Peak, nine days after they were seen at a gas station. Ronnie had not survived
This map shows the location where the Barkers’ RV was found on Tuesday in the area of Silver Peak, Nevada and where the couple was later found with their Kia SUV about 2 miles away
Satellite image shows the locations of the couple’s RV and mountain where they were found
Peters spoke with his aunt Wednesday on a video call after she was released from the hospital.
‘It was a religious experience on that mountain in so many ways,’ he said.
Peters shared details as told by his aunt, revealing that the couple got lost while following the GPS and then their RV got stuck in the mud.
Peters added that his aunt told them that the ‘highway’ switch was not turned on in the GPS settings so Peters said it’s believed it found the shortest route to their destination and that’s the way they went.
‘It was one of those things where the GPS said, ‘Go this way’ and they went that way. They saw other vehicles and I think she said they saw other campers,’ Peters said.
So the next morning, the couple attempted to drive their Kia SUV, which was being towed by the RV, to find help. But after going through several intersections and taking a wrong turn, the SUV also became stuck.
The couple stayed in the stranded vehicle while Ronnie Barker would tap out SOS signals and honk on the horn.
‘This is so my uncle Ronnie,’ Peters said. ‘He started tapping SOS on the horn every ten minutes. He would pound SOS out.’
But no one heard them and they had no cell service.
‘They didn’t think about bringing food, or water or blankets,’ Peters said. ‘They just made this route, ‘We’ll just go back the same way’ they came.’
Beverly told her nephew that it was cold at night with temps dropping to about 27.
‘She never mentioned hunger as an issue, but thirst was their enemy,’ he added. ‘I’m unsure of when things got to the point that Bev had to begin taking care of my uncle as the dehydration began to pull the life from him.’
Peters said his aunt and uncle snuggled in the backseat of the Kia: ‘trying their best to huddle together and stay warm.’
Peters said his aunt – who used a walker to get around – managed to make her way up a hill to gather snow for water.
‘She had a walker and would make it up the hill and had a couple sacks and put snow in and make it back down,’ Peters said.
But without food, Ronnie’s condition continued to deteriorate.
The couple’s 2015 Forest River Sunseekers Class C motorhome (pictured before trip) was discovered stuck in the mud in the area of Silver Peak, Nevada, at around noon on Tuesday
‘As the days and the nights passed, my uncle Ronnie told her he was dying,’ Peters said. ‘And she said, ‘I know.’ They knew it was dehydration.’
Peters said his aunt read the Bible to her husband, who passed away just after 3 p.m. Monday.
She told her family she took a photo to remember the time he died.
Beverly, now alone, left her husband in the back seat and continued to do the only the she could do, honk the horn, hoping someone would hear.
‘She remembered the SOS that Uncle Ronnie taught her. Beeping that horn is what brought rescuers to her,’ Peters said.
In the meantime, rescuers had found the couple’s RV and were trying to follow the Kia’s tire tracks through the desert when someone heard her honking.
Peters said his aunt did not go into details of how she felt when she saw her rescuers, but said that they asked her what she needed and she instantly said ‘Water!’
The rescuers gave her water and airlifted her off the mountain to a hospital in Reno. She was released from the hospital on Wednesday and told her family her husband was at peace.
‘He told her he loved her. She said he was totally at peace with leaving our earth and going on to Heaven,’ Peters said.
The Indianapolis couple left Albany, Oregon, on March 26 for the 1,300-mile journey to Tucson, Arizona, where they planned to visit friends on March 29.
Their itinerary included planned stops in Fallon, Nevada, and Nellis Air Force Base outside Las Vegas, followed by their arrival in Tucson.
The Barkers’ nephew said the couple was seen fueling up their RV in Stagecoach, Nevada, on the afternoon of March 27.
The Barkers’ RV was last seen on surveillance video in Luning and their cellphones pinged for the last time at 7.16pm that night in the vicinity of Dyer.
There had been no activity on the Barkers’ debit cards in 10 days.
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
The Barkers’ RV was last seen on surveillance video in Luning, Nevada, on March 27
Peters wrote in an earlier Facebook update that around noon on Tuesday, searchers came upon the Barkers’ RV in the Silver Peak area, a small town in the rugged desert landscape east of Red Mountain.
He revealed that the motorhome was ‘stuck in the mud,’ and there was no sign of his relatives, nor their SUV, which they had towed behind the camper.
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.
This remote, arid area is located more than three hours away from Las Vegas
Ronnie Barker, was a 26-year veteran of the U.S. Air Force and a cancer survivor. The Barkers have two grown daughters and lived in Indianapolis
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 nephew wrote late Tuesday night, hours after the rescue, that 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.
The couple’s family said in a statement this week that while they mourn Ron Barker’s passing, they hope his legacy will include changing policies in Nevada to allow for a faster approach to locating missing persons of all ages.
‘We call upon the citizens of Nevada to stand up and demand that changes be made at ALL levels of Public Safety to avoid the hurdles that our family faced as we attempted to bring resources into the search of our loved ones.’
‘Out of Ronnie’s passing, there’s going to be good that comes from it,’ Peters said. ‘There’s going to be changes that the way Nevada handles missing persons, I can assure you of that.’