INDIANAPOLIS — Months after Ronnie Barker died after waiting for help for more than a week on a Nevada mountain, his death has brought about change to that state's Silver Alert protocol.
Barker was with his wife, Beverly, driving their RV through Nevada in late March when they became lost. Family members filed a missing persons report for the couple, but were told they couldn't issue a Silver Alert because the Barkers weren't residents of the state.
Ronnie Barker died eight days after he and his wife were last seen, six days after the missing persons report was filed.
The Barkers' family used their tragedy to push Nevada officials to change the state's requirements for issuing a Silver Alert regardless of where a missing person was from.
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Now, the residency requirement has been removed from Nevada's Silver Alert protocol.
"I'm overjoyed that they finally realized that the residence rule was unnecessary and was a hurdle in the search for a missing person," the Barkers' nephew, Travis Peters, said. "I will always believe that had officials issued a Silver Alert sooner, the mobilization of resources as well as help from the public would have made a difference in my aunt and uncle's situation."
The Barkers were driving from Oregon to Arizona in their RV, towing their SUV, when GPS directed them off a main road. They were last seen at a gas station in Stagecoach on March 27 and their cell phones last pinged a tower in Coaldale later that day.
That was also the day their RV got stuck off a mountain road. They tried to drive for help in the SUV, but that vehicle also got stuck on the mountain.
Two days after Ronnie and Beverly were last seen, the missing persons report was filed, but it wasn't for four more days, on April 2, that the search for the couple began. On April 4, Ronnie died in the SUV with his wife by his side.
The next day, with Beverly sending out an "SOS" signal using the SUV's horn, rescuers found the Barkers. Beverly was flown to a Reno hospital for treatment before she returned to Indiana, where she "is doing just fine," Peters said.