Missing Palm Springs Man May Be Hiker Found Dead
PALM SPRINGS – Leo Cardini waits by the phone. He’s waiting for a call from his partner of 34 years. Bill Carroll, 65, has been missing for more than a week. Bill was last seen on the morning of July 14 at the Comfort Inn near Indian and Baristo.
Carroll went to the hotel after an argument with Cardini, who says his partner Carroll was never the same after suffering a concussion a few months ago.
“Then I noticed not only was he getting hostile and argumentative but also paranoid about things, like ‘they’ are after me,” said Cardini.
Carroll sounded fine in his last phone message.
“I’ll probably be out by the poolside or something. I’ll be somewhere on the grounds, let’s put it that way. You can just [unintelligible] I’ll talk to you later. Bye.”
Missing person posters went up around Palm Springs days after his disappearance. Palm Springs Search and Rescue found a body Sunday near the Lykken Trail. While it’s not yet confirmed if the body is Carroll’s, police suspect it could be him.
The Coroner’s Office called Monday while Sheriff’s investigators called Cardini Wednesday.
“They wanted characteristics of Bill’s build and all that. They also wanted his teeth x-rays, so I informed our doctor in New York City, our dentist who we went to for years,” recalls Cardini.
Bill Carroll grew a short beard and has a thinner face since his picture was taken.
Sources close to the investigation tell News Channel 3 the body found on the trail matches some of Bill Carroll’s characteristics. Carroll was not a hiker, but the body was found near the trailhead after a very hot day.
