Sheriff: 3 Missing Women Met Same Man Online

Robert Carnochan was that man, officials say
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jun 26, 2016 4:04 PM CDT
Sheriff: 3 Missing Women Met Same Man Online
This photo provided by Denise Bragg, shows Nancy Rae Hartz, of Kingman, Ariz., is seen in this undated photo. Hartz's daughter reported her missing in July 2015.   (Denise Bragg)

With her Arizona home sold and most of her belongings packed up, Nancy Rae Hartz was ready to spend her golden years on the road. Divorced and widowed, she had recently found love again through a dating website, and the happy couple was going to travel in an RV. The 72-year-old left Kingman, Arizona, the morning of June 2, 2015, and her daughter hasn't heard from her since, the AP reports. "She said, 'Don't worry, baby. We'll keep in touch,'" daughter Denise Baggs recalls. Now authorities say Hartz's disappearance echoes that of two other women who lived within a roughly 100-mile radius. Verna Clayton, who would be 73 now, was last seen in June 2008 in the small town of Dolan Springs, Arizona. Neva Jane Lindley, who would be 77 now, was last seen in November 2011 in Las Vegas.

Both cashed out their financial assets just before they disappeared. Both had begun a relationship with a man they met online. Mohave County sheriff's detectives say 69-year-old Robert Lawson Carnochan was that man. They found him living in Yucca with another woman, several aliases, and firearms. A search of his home turned up evidence that makes him a person of interest in the disappearances of all three women, police say. Today, Carnochan sits in a Kingman jail on unrelated charges, including identity theft and weapons violations, while police continue to investigate the disappearances. "Until we can come up with some more evidence, we're just going to keep doing everything we possibly can to find these women and find out any information we can about that and Mr. Carnochan," says a sheriff's deputy. (More missing person stories.)

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