NM NM - Patty Pritz, 14, & Mattie Restine, 13, Carlsbad, 11 Aug 1961 - #1

[Pecos45]

Anne, please, please don't let anything I've said or suggested pressure you in your decision about which way to go with this case. We may be largely at our wits end with the investigation aspect of these murders...what we can and can't do. But my "public option" idea is fraught with peril and pitfalls as well. I hope you will put all of this out of your mind as much as possible for the next few weeks and just enjoy friends and loved ones before you try to make any decisions. If possible, give your mind and heart a rest.

Regardless who or how the story of Mattie and Patty is told, there can't be any conviction or resolution in the traditional sense. There are many legal minefields to avoid in telling this story and the ending of any book or TV show will be, "So who do you think did it?" Everyone will have their choice. But the story within the story is the story of your family and how this tragedy forever changed their lives. That much CAN be told with exacting detail and no audience or reader spared knowing the terrible cost for the living.

This, I suspect, may be as good as it gets. But no one could have done more than you.

Now forget us until next year and best wishes for all this season.

Jim

 

[Sunshine 1950]

You are such an inspiration, Anne. You know I'll be one of the first in line for an autographed copy of the book!

Thanks...I just hope my book will tell the story of Mattie and Patty's beautiful short lives. Both of these girls were loved by their families and are still missed everyday. And I hope I can tell the story the way it needs to be told.
I hope to have this book out soon...so pray that I get everything done and published.

 

[Sunshine 1950]

Anne, please, please don't let anything I've said or suggested pressure you in your decision about which way to go with this case. We may be largely at our wits end with the investigation aspect of these murders...what we can and can't do. But my "public option" idea is fraught with peril and pitfalls as well. I hope you will put all of this out of your mind as much as possible for the next few weeks and just enjoy friends and loved ones before you try to make any decisions. If possible, give your mind and heart a rest.

Regardless who or how the story of Mattie and Patty is told, there can't be any conviction or resolution in the traditional sense. There are many legal minefields to avoid in telling this story and the ending of any book or TV show will be, "So who do you think did it?" Everyone will have their choice. But the story within the story is the story of your family and how this tragedy forever changed their lives. That much CAN be told with exacting detail and no audience or reader spared knowing the terrible cost for the living.

This, I suspect, may be as good as it gets. But no one could have done more than you.

Now forget us until next year and best wishes for all this season.

Jim

Thank You Jim. I plan on taking time off with my family and friends...so please know that I'm in no way feeling pressure from anyone!
And I do know that the Justice that should have happen many years ago will never happen now. So I have (hopefully) accepted that as well. It is still very hard to let that part of this terrible crime go. Everyone wants someone to pay for what happened to Mattie and Patty. But realistically I know what I have is what I have...and I have to accept that. I will say this the people on this forum have helped me deal with some of that pressure and the emotional aspect of this case.

I have finally come to a place in this mess where I can say "I've done all I can do." And writing a book about my sister and her short life has helped me get to that place as well. I know she didn't do anything to cause her death. And I know our own family couldn't have done anything different to prevent her being killed. Other than locking her up and throwing away the key.
I have accepted that the Lord gives us a certain amount of time in this world and when he is ready for you to come to his eternal home...you go. You may not like the way things happen to take you out of this world...but we have to accept it. And you all have helped me with that as well.

So that being said...hope all of you have a great Christmas and New Year. Please don't stop posting...I really enjoy reading and emailing back and forth with my new friends.

Sincerely, Anne

 

[justthinkin]

Sadly, I am not very organized. If someone can point me to Nichols obit., I will write to the LE offices of all those towns to see if they have any child abductions or stranger molestations before 1962. I just fired off an email to Big Spring, TX.

 

[Sunshine 1950]

Sadly, I am not very organized. If someone can point me to Nichols obit., I will write to the LE offices of all those towns to see if they have any child abductions or stranger molestations before 1962. I just fired off an email to Big Spring, TX.

Page 24...post # 598

 

[justthinkin]

I wanted to bump us back up to the top page, and also to post a link to a post about the teacher who was found murdered in the Roswell area in 1960 which appeared on another forum. Scroll down to the red print. That's where the story begins. Appears to be an article someone copied from a newspaper.
Torso Murders 1959-1964 TX, FL, NM & GA - Cold Case Investigations


Case update. I have this morning rec'd. a response from Big Spring. They checked to see if Nichols had an arrest record there which he did not. Also, I was told they have nothing on their books that dates back to the time period in question which is pre 1962.

 

[Sunshine 1950]

I wanted to bump us back up to the top page, and also to post a link to a post about the teacher who was found murdered in the Roswell area in 1960 which appeared on another forum. Scroll down to the red print. That's where the story begins. Appears to be an article someone copied from a newspaper.
Torso Murders 1959-1964 TX, FL, NM & GA - Cold Case Investigations


Case update. I have this morning rec'd. a response from Big Spring. They checked to see if Nichols had an arrest record there which he did not. Also, I was told they have nothing on their books that dates back to the time period in question which is pre 1962.

In 2002 I talked to a Detective Mike Hill of the Carlsbad City Police Department. He was answering my letter that I wrote to that dept. when I was trying to find out informatiion about my sister's unsolved murder case. He informed me that they didn't have anything on file nor had they worked on the case! I told him he was wrong about the department not working on the case ...I asked him would he like the names of the cops that worked on the case. He said sure...but he still didn't have anything in the file. That didn't surprise me at all. The Current-Argus newspaper cleaned out some of their old archives and I'm sure that is where the old newspaper articles went when I asked them about those. I made copies of my stuff and sent it t o the ECSO, the Current-Argus and to the Carlsbad City Police...Mike Hill. Needless to say I never heard from this detective again.
I guess what I'm trying to say is...I'm sure all of the law enforcement offices get rid of the old cases....they just don't want to work them. At least that is what the Eddy County Sheriff's Office has implied to me.

 

[fish1966]

hey , are you here,SS?

 

[Sunshine 1950]

hey , are you here,SS?

I'm here now! :woohoo: Sorry I missed you.

 

[Sunshine 1950]

MERRY CHRISTMAS WEBSLEUTH PEOPLE!
Stay warm and be safe during the NEW YEAR!

 

[Sunshine 1950]

Why would anyone not come in and tell what they know about this unsolved case? Why are you afraid to come in and talk to the Eddy County Sheriff's Investigators? Are you afraid of something? Someone? Please if anyone knows anything...please go in and talk with the Investigator...Investigator Richard Sillas.

 

[Sunshine 1950]

Today I talked with one of the girls that WDB molested when they were 10 & 11 yrs. old. She said she was also violated by DB as well. She talked with Investigator Sillas about two years ago and he didn't think what she told him was any good. I can't believe this lead didn't go further in the investigation. This lady is willing to talk to the law enforcement but she also says they weren't interested. Her sister was the other girl that was molested by WDB...she has since died. Again a dead end ....I believe that is what ECSO is waiting for...for everyone to die and then they can say...we did all we could do....now everyone is dead....I can't believe these law enforcement officers can go to sleep at night!

 

[Bobbi]

This is absolutely outrageous!!! I am so mad I could spit nails! Sillas should be reported to the highest authority, the State Attorney General. After all these years the lady gathered the courage to finally report the assault and this is what she gets?? Unbelievable! But then again, nothing should surprise me anymore concerning the ECSO!

 

[Sunshine 1950]

This is absolutely outrageous!!! I am so mad I could spit nails! Sillas should be reported to the highest authority, the State Attorney General. After all these years the lady gathered the courage to finally report the assault and this is what she gets?? Unbelievable! But then again, nothing should surprise me anymore concerning the ECSO!

Your right about that Bobbi. I've known about this incident for several years. But when I talked to this lady again this week. It made me mad all over again. Not only did she tell me the story again...but she said that her father was arrested for trying to beat the crap out of this man...he spent several days in jail over this. She said the judge said that they were to young to know what "rape" was. Now if the girls described the incident to the judge the way she described it to me...it was diffently "molestation." WHY are these people being protected? Not only back then ....but NOW?

 

[Legacy]

Well it is a brand new year and a brand new decade. I'm wishing 2010 is a year beyond compare in your quest for justice, Sunshine. I'm believing great things will happen...

Over the holidays, I saw a segment that MSNBC put together on a decades old homicide of a thirteen year old girl. As I watched it, my mind definitely was on you and your family, Sunshine. I shed more than one tear as I watched this family who also never gave up hope. Cindy was always shown as "missing," until the case was solved through the assistance of one hero detective and a volunteer. You can follow the transcript word for word by googling "Disappearance at the Dairy Queen."

I wanted to point out was that it was only when the hero detective started back from square one that he was able to determine what happened to Cindy. The remarkable thing is that, just like probably would be found in your case, the police had the information they needed all along, they just didn't put two and two together. Two of her girlfriends had reported when she first went missing that she was going to the Dairy Queen to meet the stepfather of a boy she had a crush on. He had told her he was going to give her a ride to a surprise birthday party for the boy. It was only in the subsequent investigation that it was determined that the boy's birthday was months away from the supposed party. Cindy never returned home. Decades later, the pedophile stepfather was convicted and finally led police to where her body could be recovered and properly laid to rest.

Oh, how I wish this could happen in your case - resolution that is. I couldn't help but thinking about how Linda Roberts or one of the other girls pointed out seeing a vehicle cruising through the neighborhood and saying he was the same man who was seen in the parking lot of the beach that night - just sitting in his car and watching the girls.

If there is any way you can talk to these girls again, you might find more information. Sometimes things are left out of reports because someone doesn't feel like it is relevant, or so little importance is placed on what is said that the report almost becomes invisible to those who follow.

Yet another thing that this family did which I thought was a great idea and is hopefully something you would pursue, Sunshine. They took out an ad in the local newspaper asking for information from the public. You might attach photos of Mattie and Patty and title it something catchy like "Remember Mattie and Patty?" You might even direct them to the Websleuths site.

This would serve to educate the entire Carlsbad community about what is going on, or rather not going on, in this case. I'm sure there would be community-wide outrage and possibly a little positive persuasion of the police department by various ones in the community.

 

[Sunshine 1950]

Legacy I just read this interesting cold case...it's it wonderful this family has finally found out what happen to there "Cindy" My heart goes out to this family.
It is also wonderful that the cold case squad was developed in this area to finally solve 22 old cases. That is trully a mircle.
It is also amazing to me that so many law enforcement people had the heart and fortitude to finally get these cases solved.
I continue to pray that this will happen in Mattie and Patty's unsolved murder case. I hope someday someone will be interested enough to work on the case and hopefully get it solved.
Thank you for bringing this case to our attention. It does give one hope!
I will take everything you said about our case into consideration and hopefully come up with some ideas. Like contacting the three young girls that talked to the policemen back in 1961...maybe they could talk to someone that might be able to pull more information from these girls.
Again thanks, have a great evening.

 

[Sunshine 1950]

I'm looking for a Clifford Eugene Norris...can anyone help me out with this one. He was one of DB closets friends. He lived in Carlsbad, NM....was probably in his 20's when the girls were killed. Thanks

 

[Pecos45]

I'm looking for a Clifford Eugene Norris...can anyone help me out with this one. He was one of DB closets friends. He lived in Carlsbad, NM....was probably in his 20's when the girls were killed. Thanks

There is a Clifford WAYNE Norris, age 66, living in Santa Fe.

 

[Sunshine 1950]

There is a Clifford WAYNE Norris, age 66, living in Santa Fe.

Thanks Pecos. I'll look that up. About the right age.

 

[Sunshine 1950]

Does anyone in the Carlsbad area know where Margaret Warble is? She was one of Patty Pritz's best friends. I would really like to talk to her. Any help will be appreciated. Would like to add another young lady that was one of Patty's friends as well...but more importantly she was the person that saw a man driving up and down Church St. the night the girls were abducted and killed....her name was Linda Roberts....If Margaret Warble and Linda Roberts would contact me I would really appreciate it.