Ep. 15: Silent Shale

Hello and welcome to Crime on the Clarkfork, the true crime podcast that covers cases that happened in areas with populations of 15,000 or less. In this week's episode, Mackenzie is telling you about the mysterious disappearance of Barbara Bollick from Victor, MT in 2007.

Transcript

Hi and welcome back to Crime on the Clarkfork, the true crime podcast where I tell you about big crimes that happen in small places with each case having occurred in areas with populations of 15,000 or less. My name is Mackenzie Spence and I am your host. If you listen on Spotify, can you do me a huge favor and turn on automatic downloads? This will help the algorithm recommend the show to others! If you want to be notified every time an episode goes live, you are also able to click the little bell button on the shows page and it will send you a notification! 

The sources for this episode are: US Census Bureau, NBC Montana, India Times, the Missoulian, Ravalli County News, Websleuths, Unilad, HubPages, Reddit, the Charly Project, All Trails, The Doe Network, Deep Lore

Victor, MT. 2007. Population: 774.

It was July 18th, 2007 when 55 year old Barbara Bolick disappeared while hiking in Montana’s Bitterroot valley. Barbara was no stranger to the Montana wilderness they were traversing that day, which makes her disappearance even more peculiar. That morning at around 8:30 or 9:00am, Carl, Barbara’s husband, spoke with Barbara and she told him that she was going on a hike with Jim Ramaker, Carl’s cousin, Donna’s, boyfriend. Donna and Jim were visiting the couple from California. Carl’s cousin was also supposed to go, but he had too many drinks the night before and decided to not go after all. This hike did not surprise or worry Carl because Barbara was an avid and strong hiker and was always prepared for anything that may come up in the woods while hiking. She also brought everyone that came to visit to the overlook as it was a generally easy hike with incredible scenery. Carl told Barbara that she didn’t have to worry about dinner and he would take care of it and she told him she would see him a little later before walking out the door. Shortly after this conversation, Barbara and Jim headed to the wilderness to start their trek. 

Bear Creek Overlook is an out-and-back hike that is nearly 5 miles with over 1,000 feet of elevation gain. It is a pretty popular trail, but can also be quiet depending on the day and time that you decide to go. Jim and Barbara made their way to the overlook which is the turn-around point of the trail. The two decided to stay at the overlook to enjoy the view and have a snack before heading back down. While Jim and Barbara were taking their break at the overlook, they ran into two men also on the trail and chatted for a while before the two men walked away, heading down the trail. Overall, Jim and Barbara rested at the overlook for 30 - 40 minutes before starting their journey back down the mountain. At around 11:30am, Jim stopped for a minute to take in the breathtaking views one last time. When he paused, Barbara was 20 or 30 feet away from him down the trail, but when he turned to continue the journey, less than a minute later, there was no sign of Barbara and he was alone in the Montana wilderness. He immediately searched the area for Barbara while calling out her name, but he was met with silence and no sign of Barbara or her things she was carrying with her. 

At around noon, Carl was working on a carpentry project and his cousin began to worry that Jim and Barbara hadn’t returned to the house. Carl, on the other hand, wasn’t concerned at all since Barbara was such an avid hiker, knew the area, and had a .357 Magnum pistol with her in her daypack. He knew she would take care of herself as she rarely went too far off the established trail and was afraid of heights, so she wouldn’t get close to any edges where she could fall. By 1:30pm, Carl’s cousin was even more concerned. Carl told her to calm down and there was a possibility that Jim and Barbara had gotten a flat tire or they had just lost track of time. That comforted her for about a half an hour, but then she told Carl that he needed to call someone about Jim and Barbara not returning to the house yet. At around that time, the phone rang. 

It was 2pm when Carl received a phone call from a Forest Service law enforcement officer. He knew something was wrong immediately. The officer asked him if his wife’s name was Barbara. When he said yes, the officer informed him that she had been reported missing. He quickly headed to the Bear Creek Outlook to search for his wife. While he drove the 20 miles to the trailhead, he thought that this was a mistake and Barbara would be waiting for him when he got there. Unfortunately, the only person who was waiting for him at the trailhead was the Forest Service officer. Carl stayed there at the trailhead and overlook searching until at least midnight, which is when the others on the search team told him to go home and get some rest before returning in the morning. He agreed and headed home, but returned early the next morning with friends and neighbors to continue searching for Barbara. 

It isn’t uncommon for people who are comfortable in the wilderness to go off-trail, whether to go to the bathroom, pick berries, or look at a cool rock. With that in mind, authorities meticulously searched the area Jim and Barbara were hiking for any signs of her. They even included the use of scent dogs, but even they were unable to track her. On top of the authorities searching, volunteer organizations and special search and rescue teams were also deployed as well as aircrafts using infrared and thermal imaging, but Barbara and her belongings were never found and it was as if she disappeared into thin air and didn’t exist at all. The other weird thing is that the area that Jim and Barbara were hiking had a lot of loose shale rock and wasn’t incredibly dense with trees. If you aren’t familiar with shale, when you walk on it, it is rather noisy, so the chance of someone creeping on it or running without making any noise is very unlikely. If someone had grabbed her, it is incredibly unlikely that Jim wouldn’t have heard what was going on.

The morning of her disappearance, the road to the trailhead was blocked off about a mile down the hill because the Forest Service was replacing a culvert in the road. When the crew arrived that morning, there were already two cars parked at the closure sign, Jim’s car and a light-colored SUV that was on the older side, possibly a Chevy Blazer, with Missoula County license plates. Once the crew began their work for the day, two younger men with a black collie with white markings walked through the construction site. Both were tan and fit and stopped to talk to the crew for a little bit before heading back to their car to leave. After chatting for a bit, the two young men took off on their way. 

Approximately 45 minutes after speaking with the two young men, Jim walked onto the construction site, asking the crew if they had seen Barbara. They told him that they hadn’t, but would walk him back to the car to see if she was there waiting for him. When they saw that she wasn’t there, Jim hiked back to the overlook. About an hour later, Jim returned again, without Barbara, and told the crew that he needed help and couldn’t find her anywhere. 

Authorities attempted to locate the two men that Jim and Barbara had stopped and talked to before she disappeared, but they were unable to locate them and no one came forward admitting to being them. There was even a $10,000 reward for information about them stating that they weren’t in trouble and could have even come forward themselves to collect the money. Authorities believed that the men were from the Missoula area based on their license plates and the fact they were hiking on a Wednesday morning. They were hoping to speak to the men to confirm that Barbara was there that morning because the only things authorities have to go off of are from Jim. To this day, the men have not come forward, which could be due to the fact that Barbara’s disappearance was not widely broadcast in the media or the men may have not been from Montana at all. Maybe they were, or still are, unaware that they are being looked for or that the woman they spoke to on the trail that day was never seen again. On top of this, Jim states that he stopped to look around 11:30am, but in reality, the window of time that Barbara could have disappeared varied based on Jim’s accounts of events and she could have disappeared any time between 11:30am and 1:00pm, which is a rather large timeframe.

Many people sent in tips about Barbara’s disappearance, but none of them were helpful in solving the case. One tip was that Barbara was abducted by a “ghostly mountain man.”

Jim eventually went back to California, but was cooperative and returned all of the calls from authorities. He even offered to take a lie-detector test, but authorities didn’t think it was necessary, so it was never done. The police ultimately cleared Jim of any suspicion in the case. 

Carl and Barbara met when Carl was an Air Force officer and stationed in New Jersey. It was 2001 when Barbara moved to Montana with her husband, Carl Bolick. Carl had just retired from 17 long years working for JP Morgan as an assistant director of worldwide security operations.  Carl had also grown up in Dillon, Montana, so it was a simple move for him and Barbara was enamoured by the beauty of the state and the outdoor lifestyle and hobbies that were just out her back door. The couple moved to Dillon, but Barbara didn’t like the wind and cold of Carl’s hometown. At one point, the two traveled to the bitterroot valley and Barbara immediately fell in love, which caused them to eventually purchase some land in Darby, MT in 2001 before settling into a house that was located in Darby. Even before moving to Montana, Barbara was an avid hiker and was rather athletic. She very quickly adapted to the Montana lifestyle that was available to her just outside of her new home in Corvallis, MT. At the time of her disappearance, Barbara was taking pilot lessons and was really excited to get her pilot’s license. She was also learning how to ski. She often hiked in the Bitterroot valley and would run every day. Carl would hike with Barbara, but he had a heart attack which caused him to not be able to go with her anymore. This didn’t stop Barbara from hiking every canyon in the valley and would often hike Bear Creek Overlook, which was her favorite. Carl passed away in 2021. He was 80 years old. He never got to see his wife after that day in 2007, but he never gave up hope that she would one day turn up.

There are a few theories that have come out about Barbara and her disappearance. The first is that she disappeared on purpose. She was an avid hiker and knew the area well. It wouldn’t be hard to hide in the wilderness and get away, especially if you are hiking with a person who is unfamiliar with the area. With this, it is a lot harder than some people may think to disappear and remake a new life. When looking at a map of the area, it is rather rough, but there are logging roads in the area. On top of that, the area that she went missing in is very forested and if you headed west, the only thing you would be able to do would be to go to the top of the mountain for the views, or continue further into the wilderness because there are no towns out there. Carl is also adamant that Barbara would never just up and leave. He says that she never would have left her dog, cat, wallet, ID, and passport behind and he knows she would have never done something like this to her friends and family. She was also looking forward to a trip to Mexico that her and Carl were going on a few short months after her disappearance. 

Another theory is that Barbara was attacked by an animal, but to me, this doesn’t seem plausible. While mountain lions, which are common in Montana, are quiet, the likelihood of there being no drag marks or blood doesn’t sit right with me. Mountain lions are also most active at dawn or dusk, so one attacking a human in the middle of the day would also be odd. There would have been at least a bit of evidence of this and Jim would have heard this if it did happen, not to mention the scent dogs would have picked up her scent in this scenario. There is also the theory that Barbara fell or tripped into a crevice or cave and didn’t have time to call out for help. But again, Barbara had a fear of heights, so the likelihood of her getting close and being careless around a crevice or cave is slim. And again, none of her things were found, but if she had fallen, you would think they would be able to find at least some evidence of her belongings during the extensive search they did.

A theory that I, as well as many others, have is that Barbara never made it to the trailhead, let alone to the Bear Creek Overlook. This would explain why there were never any signs of her or her belongings on the mountain after thousands of hours of searching. It would also explain why scent dogs were unable to pick up any scent of her on the trail. Also, with there being so much shale on the trail, her walking away or getting taken without making any noise seems too suspicious to me. People don’t just disappear in 45 seconds. Not to mention, the area she disappeared wasn’t heavily wooded, so even if she did move from where she was standing, the likelihood of her getting to a hiding spot in that amount of time is also improbable, in my opinion. Now, I am not saying that I 100% think Jim killed her, but I do think there is something else going on. Or, maybe Jim did kill her before they made it to the trailhead, but he needed an alibi, so he still went on a hike to Bear Creek Overlook. It makes me wonder if he even spoke to the two men that day or if he heard about them when speaking with the Forest Service construction crew that was working on the culvert. The only thing that doesn’t quite fit with this theory is that you would think Jim would have made up a better story than what he did.

In 2023, authorities put out a new call for anyone who may have any information around Barbara’s disappearance, but unfortunately, nothing has come from it and not a single piece of evidence has been discovered in regard to Barbara Bolick’s mysterious disappearance. Barbara would be 73 years old today. She is 5 feet tall and at the time of her disappearance, she weighed 115 pounds. She is caucasian with brown eyes, pierced ears, and red or auburn hair. She was last seen wearing a pastel-colored shirt, tan shorts, and a black backpack. 

And that is the end of this case. As always, please give me 5-stars on Spotify and Apple Podcasts as well as a review on Apple Podcasts. I am always looking for cases to cover, so if you have a case suggestion, please visit the link in the show’s instagram page, @CrimeontheClarkfork. I also post pictures from the cases I cover on my instagram page, so go give that a quick follow and let me know what your thoughts are on the case in the comments on instagram. What do you think happened to Barbara Bolick? I hope you enjoyed this episode and I will catch you next time with more big crime in small places.