No, she's the one who was trying to backpack around Thailand after getting out of counseling for depression.
While I presume that given her age, she really is dead, you raise an important point - that people in this social circle will often consider faking their death so they can ride off into the sunset. Case in point: Barbara's friend Ken Lay, the Enron CEO, who I guarantee you is alive and well (sudden death, closed casket funeral, faked death certificate…). Where is Ken today? If anybody can find out, it's the frog army!