For one of the last persons to see Eaton alive all those years ago, Patty Wilkins can now have some peace.
“Well, I’m going to cry. It’s like one of my girls,” said Wilkins. “It’s only been me and her. Now she’s got a family. Isn’t that great? It doesn’t get any better.”
Wilkins believes she saw Eaton alive at her family's truck stop on or around February 2 in 1982. Eaton's body was found just a mile up the road on February 14. Detectives believe she was dead for about two weeks before she was found.
“We’ve got a name and I’m no longer in charge of her,” said Wilkins. “I love you and I’m glad you’re going home.”
“We didn’t want to give you false hope that we were going to make a positive ID,” said Coconino County Sheriff Jim Driscoll, on why his office wouldn’t do an interview with us or give us details several weeks ago when we were working on our investigation. “She had run away in December and she was a troubled kid. She had some issues.”
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