imamaze
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Deceased/Not Found OH - Patricia 'Patti' Adkins, 29, Marysville, 29 June 2001
- Thread starter LOOKING FOR PATTI
- Start date
Recent article in Dispatch, it's been 9 years since Patti's disappearance: http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2010/09/06/woman-left-work-vanished.html
Odyssey
Verfied Insider Diane Genice Dye
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A little more info here.
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2010/09/06/timeline.html
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2010/09/06/timeline.html
Odyssey
Verfied Insider Diane Genice Dye
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and a little more here as well
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2010/09/06/woman-left-work-vanished.html
Killers Among Us
Woman left work, vanished
Single mother was going on vacation with married man
Monday, September 6, 2010 02:51 AM
By Holly Zachariah
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
MARYSVILLE, Ohio - It's only a single speck of blood, no bigger than if someone had swatted a bug.
But that speck inside a vial on an evidence-room shelf could be all it takes to solve the 9-year-old mystery of what happened to Patricia "Patti" Adkins.
The last thing anyone knows for certain about the 29-year-old single mom, who was a second-shift assembly-line supervisor, is that she punched out at Marysville's Honda of America plant after working her shift on June 29, 2001. It was 19 seconds after midnight.
"Then she walked out into the night and disappeared," said detective Jeff Stiers of the Union County sheriff's office.
Stiers is confident that Patti was killed, although her body has never been found. In 2006, a Union County judge declared her dead, and her family - including her only child, a daughter, now 16 - has tried to hold on to their memories and let go of their anger.
"I have never fully grieved for my sister because the pain is so overwhelming," said Marcia Pitts, one of Patti's four siblings and the one closest to her in age and spirit.
"You can't come to terms with it because your mind wants this to be rational. And it isn't. There is nothing rational about someone just vanishing from this Earth."
Patti had everything going for her when she disappeared. She made good money at Honda in a job she had held for more than a decade. She was in line for a promotion.
She owned a well-kept home in a quiet subdivision. She and her ex-husband got along well for the sake of their daughter, Michaley, who was only 7 back then.
Patti loved the outdoors, shopped a lot and spoiled her golden retriever and her cats. She rarely lost at euchre during breaks at work. She occasionally went out with friends after work and was known to enjoy a Bud Light or two.
Those who knew her best say she was a happy, well-adjusted, independent woman, a devoted mother and sister and a loyal friend.
But she had a secret: She hated to be alone.
Perhaps that explains her long-term, on-again, off-again relationship with a married co-worker.
Her friends and sisters - even her ex-husband, her banker and her hairdresser - knew of the affair. She told those closest to her that she knew it was wrong, but that he was going to leave his wife someday. He swore it. She just had to help him first.
So Patti gave him money - about $90,000 over a couple of years, by the detective's accounting of her retirement account, her savings and her loans - to get his family businesses out of hock.
Then, they would be together. He promised.
Stiers thinks that Patti believed her new life was to start June 29 at midnight when the Honda plant closed for its weeklong Fourth of July shutdown.
Patti had told many people about her vacation plans, mentioning a few possible destinations. A remote cabin in Canada was the most common.
She said that her boyfriend had said she wouldn't be able to call home once they arrived because there was no phone service and that she shouldn't bring anything with her because they would buy whatever they needed when they got there.
She asked Marcia to help care for Michaley while she was gone. She kenneled her pets.
She asked a friend, LaDonna Wolding, to drive her to work so she could leave with her boyfriend after the shift.
But, in Stiers' mind, this was the most bizarre thing of all: Patti told LaDonna that she was going to have to hide in the bed of her boyfriend's pickup truck for a while until they'd dropped a buddy he commuted with at home.
Patti didn't follow every instruction, however. She had to bring something, she told LaDonna. She took a small, teal-colored duffel bag. She said it held something new from Victoria's Secret. She said it was blue, his favorite color.
The bag and the clothes were never found.
After Patti disappeared, the boyfriend was questioned. He has been interrogated time and again. He denies any relationship with Patti. He said she was just a co-worker, that he had even floated her a little lunch money a time or two.
His wife told investigators her husband had had no affair; the friend who rode to work with him that night denies knowing anything at all.
They all told authorities that, although it is tragic, they cannot help solve this mystery.
Not long after Patti was reported missing, the man gave authorities permission to search his home and businesses. They even dug up a recently poured concrete pad.
All proved fruitless - until someone noticed a new tonneau cover in the garage.
He had only just bought it, he said, and had it on his truck bed for just a few days to cover some fishing gear.
Forensic analysts examined it for evidence. They turned up a few cat hairs. Patti's veterinarian confirmed they came from her animals.
And they found a single spot of blood. Investigators think it is Patti's.
But real life isn't like a TV crime show. Results aren't immediate, action isn't always quick. Often, blood and body-fluid samples are tested repeatedly over time as methods to provide more-accurate results develop and advance.
This sample is so small that there will be no second chance, and technology hasn't quite yet caught up.
"We get one shot at this, and we know it," said Union County Prosecutor David Phillips. "One. That's it."
So they wait.
What Stiers really must do is find Patti's body.
He concedes that she could be anywhere. It is as if she clocked out and was simply swallowed by the darkness.
All of Honda's property as well as thousands of acres across three counties were searched on foot and by horseback and four-wheeler, and from cars, trucks, helicopters and airplanes.
Divers have scraped the bottoms of quarries and sunk special cameras deep into ponds. Dogs trained to find dead bodies have run through thickets and woods.
"You name it, we've heard it all," Stiers said. "But we keep looking. If we get a tip that she's behind the oak tree, then we go look behind the oak tree."
He has, of course, considered that his theory could be wrong. What if Patti simply took off, sought a fresh start? What if the boyfriend changed his mind, dumped her out somewhere and, wandering the dark countryside alone, she was hurt?
Over the years, the detective has pored over Patti's records, chased down leads, traced rumors and interviewed potential suspects - former boyfriends, co-workers, even a homeless guy said to have bothered a few local women at that time.
"To keep your eye on just one theory, one person would be a mistake," he said.
So he keeps searching for a body but mostly chasing ghosts.
And Marcia, who teaches math and coaches sports at Marion Harding High School and has helped raise Michaley in her Marion home, searches for peace.
She pauses, just for a second or two, each time she hears a news anchor say a body has been found. She takes comfort whenever it is identified: "Even if I didn't get answers, someone did."
Her heart races whenever her caller ID flashes the sheriff's office phone number. She's grateful the authorities still call to remind her they are working hard, that they care.
And sometimes, every now and then, she still cries. Just last week, more than nine years after she last spoke to Patti, she called her sister's old phone number by mistake.
Time, she says, simply cannot change some things.
hzachariah@dispatch.com
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2010/09/06/woman-left-work-vanished.html
Killers Among Us
Woman left work, vanished
Single mother was going on vacation with married man
Monday, September 6, 2010 02:51 AM
By Holly Zachariah
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
MARYSVILLE, Ohio - It's only a single speck of blood, no bigger than if someone had swatted a bug.
But that speck inside a vial on an evidence-room shelf could be all it takes to solve the 9-year-old mystery of what happened to Patricia "Patti" Adkins.
The last thing anyone knows for certain about the 29-year-old single mom, who was a second-shift assembly-line supervisor, is that she punched out at Marysville's Honda of America plant after working her shift on June 29, 2001. It was 19 seconds after midnight.
"Then she walked out into the night and disappeared," said detective Jeff Stiers of the Union County sheriff's office.
Stiers is confident that Patti was killed, although her body has never been found. In 2006, a Union County judge declared her dead, and her family - including her only child, a daughter, now 16 - has tried to hold on to their memories and let go of their anger.
"I have never fully grieved for my sister because the pain is so overwhelming," said Marcia Pitts, one of Patti's four siblings and the one closest to her in age and spirit.
"You can't come to terms with it because your mind wants this to be rational. And it isn't. There is nothing rational about someone just vanishing from this Earth."
Patti had everything going for her when she disappeared. She made good money at Honda in a job she had held for more than a decade. She was in line for a promotion.
She owned a well-kept home in a quiet subdivision. She and her ex-husband got along well for the sake of their daughter, Michaley, who was only 7 back then.
Patti loved the outdoors, shopped a lot and spoiled her golden retriever and her cats. She rarely lost at euchre during breaks at work. She occasionally went out with friends after work and was known to enjoy a Bud Light or two.
Those who knew her best say she was a happy, well-adjusted, independent woman, a devoted mother and sister and a loyal friend.
But she had a secret: She hated to be alone.
Perhaps that explains her long-term, on-again, off-again relationship with a married co-worker.
Her friends and sisters - even her ex-husband, her banker and her hairdresser - knew of the affair. She told those closest to her that she knew it was wrong, but that he was going to leave his wife someday. He swore it. She just had to help him first.
So Patti gave him money - about $90,000 over a couple of years, by the detective's accounting of her retirement account, her savings and her loans - to get his family businesses out of hock.
Then, they would be together. He promised.
Stiers thinks that Patti believed her new life was to start June 29 at midnight when the Honda plant closed for its weeklong Fourth of July shutdown.
Patti had told many people about her vacation plans, mentioning a few possible destinations. A remote cabin in Canada was the most common.
She said that her boyfriend had said she wouldn't be able to call home once they arrived because there was no phone service and that she shouldn't bring anything with her because they would buy whatever they needed when they got there.
She asked Marcia to help care for Michaley while she was gone. She kenneled her pets.
She asked a friend, LaDonna Wolding, to drive her to work so she could leave with her boyfriend after the shift.
But, in Stiers' mind, this was the most bizarre thing of all: Patti told LaDonna that she was going to have to hide in the bed of her boyfriend's pickup truck for a while until they'd dropped a buddy he commuted with at home.
Patti didn't follow every instruction, however. She had to bring something, she told LaDonna. She took a small, teal-colored duffel bag. She said it held something new from Victoria's Secret. She said it was blue, his favorite color.
The bag and the clothes were never found.
After Patti disappeared, the boyfriend was questioned. He has been interrogated time and again. He denies any relationship with Patti. He said she was just a co-worker, that he had even floated her a little lunch money a time or two.
His wife told investigators her husband had had no affair; the friend who rode to work with him that night denies knowing anything at all.
They all told authorities that, although it is tragic, they cannot help solve this mystery.
Not long after Patti was reported missing, the man gave authorities permission to search his home and businesses. They even dug up a recently poured concrete pad.
All proved fruitless - until someone noticed a new tonneau cover in the garage.
He had only just bought it, he said, and had it on his truck bed for just a few days to cover some fishing gear.
Forensic analysts examined it for evidence. They turned up a few cat hairs. Patti's veterinarian confirmed they came from her animals.
And they found a single spot of blood. Investigators think it is Patti's.
But real life isn't like a TV crime show. Results aren't immediate, action isn't always quick. Often, blood and body-fluid samples are tested repeatedly over time as methods to provide more-accurate results develop and advance.
This sample is so small that there will be no second chance, and technology hasn't quite yet caught up.
"We get one shot at this, and we know it," said Union County Prosecutor David Phillips. "One. That's it."
So they wait.
What Stiers really must do is find Patti's body.
He concedes that she could be anywhere. It is as if she clocked out and was simply swallowed by the darkness.
All of Honda's property as well as thousands of acres across three counties were searched on foot and by horseback and four-wheeler, and from cars, trucks, helicopters and airplanes.
Divers have scraped the bottoms of quarries and sunk special cameras deep into ponds. Dogs trained to find dead bodies have run through thickets and woods.
"You name it, we've heard it all," Stiers said. "But we keep looking. If we get a tip that she's behind the oak tree, then we go look behind the oak tree."
He has, of course, considered that his theory could be wrong. What if Patti simply took off, sought a fresh start? What if the boyfriend changed his mind, dumped her out somewhere and, wandering the dark countryside alone, she was hurt?
Over the years, the detective has pored over Patti's records, chased down leads, traced rumors and interviewed potential suspects - former boyfriends, co-workers, even a homeless guy said to have bothered a few local women at that time.
"To keep your eye on just one theory, one person would be a mistake," he said.
So he keeps searching for a body but mostly chasing ghosts.
And Marcia, who teaches math and coaches sports at Marion Harding High School and has helped raise Michaley in her Marion home, searches for peace.
She pauses, just for a second or two, each time she hears a news anchor say a body has been found. She takes comfort whenever it is identified: "Even if I didn't get answers, someone did."
Her heart races whenever her caller ID flashes the sheriff's office phone number. She's grateful the authorities still call to remind her they are working hard, that they care.
And sometimes, every now and then, she still cries. Just last week, more than nine years after she last spoke to Patti, she called her sister's old phone number by mistake.
Time, she says, simply cannot change some things.
hzachariah@dispatch.com
Odyssey
Verfied Insider Diane Genice Dye
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Timeline of Patricia Adkins' murder
Tuesday, September 7, 2010 09:59 AM
The Columbus Dispatch
Case in brief
Patricia "Patti" Adkins, a 29-year-old single mother from Marysville and supervisor at the Honda of America plant, disappeared at midnight, June 29, 2001, after clocking out from work. She was never seen or heard from again. She has been declared legally dead. Despite exhaustive searches over several years across several counties, her body has never been found.
Keys to the case
Police have a suspect.
Patti had a longtime boyfriend who was married. She had told her closest friends and relatives that she was leaving with him for a weeklong trip to a remote part of Canada and that she wasn't allowed to take anything with her. Detectives have what they believe is forensic evidence that places her in his pickup truck about the time of her disappearance. They are awaiting technological advances to better test it.
Timeline
June 26, 2001:
Patti Adkins' boyfriend orders a new tonneau cover for his pickup truck.
June 29:
10 a.m.: The man picks up the cover, installs it and drives the truck - a vehicle he usually doesn't drive - to work.
Early afternoon: Patti takes her golden retriever and cats to the kennel. She catches a ride to work with a friend. Patti tells her that she is leaving after work with her boyfriend but that she will have to hide in the bed of his pickup truck for awhile until all is clear.
June 30:
19 seconds after midnight: Patti clocks out at Honda. She is never seen nor heard from again.
July 8:
Noon: Patti fails to show up as expected to pick up her daughter.
4 p.m.: Patti's sister, Marcia Pitts, checks Patti's house and finds her Honda Accord in the garage and her personal items undisturbed.
7:15 p.m.: Marcia filed a missing persons report with Marysville police.
July 10:
Police interview the boyfriend for the first time. He denies any relationship or involvement.
July 13:
The boyfriend consents to a search of his property. They discover a spot of blood on the tonneau cover, which he told them he removed from his truck on July 7.
Reward
Crime Stoppers is offering up to $5,000 for information leading to a conviction in this case. Tips can be left anonymously at 614-461-8477 or online at www.stopcrime.org (select the "submit a tip" tab). Information, without promise of the reward, can also be directed to Detective Jeff Stiers of the Union County sheriff's office at 937-645-4101 ext. 4442.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010 09:59 AM
The Columbus Dispatch
Case in brief
Patricia "Patti" Adkins, a 29-year-old single mother from Marysville and supervisor at the Honda of America plant, disappeared at midnight, June 29, 2001, after clocking out from work. She was never seen or heard from again. She has been declared legally dead. Despite exhaustive searches over several years across several counties, her body has never been found.
Keys to the case
Police have a suspect.
Patti had a longtime boyfriend who was married. She had told her closest friends and relatives that she was leaving with him for a weeklong trip to a remote part of Canada and that she wasn't allowed to take anything with her. Detectives have what they believe is forensic evidence that places her in his pickup truck about the time of her disappearance. They are awaiting technological advances to better test it.
Timeline
June 26, 2001:
Patti Adkins' boyfriend orders a new tonneau cover for his pickup truck.
June 29:
10 a.m.: The man picks up the cover, installs it and drives the truck - a vehicle he usually doesn't drive - to work.
Early afternoon: Patti takes her golden retriever and cats to the kennel. She catches a ride to work with a friend. Patti tells her that she is leaving after work with her boyfriend but that she will have to hide in the bed of his pickup truck for awhile until all is clear.
June 30:
19 seconds after midnight: Patti clocks out at Honda. She is never seen nor heard from again.
July 8:
Noon: Patti fails to show up as expected to pick up her daughter.
4 p.m.: Patti's sister, Marcia Pitts, checks Patti's house and finds her Honda Accord in the garage and her personal items undisturbed.
7:15 p.m.: Marcia filed a missing persons report with Marysville police.
July 10:
Police interview the boyfriend for the first time. He denies any relationship or involvement.
July 13:
The boyfriend consents to a search of his property. They discover a spot of blood on the tonneau cover, which he told them he removed from his truck on July 7.
Reward
Crime Stoppers is offering up to $5,000 for information leading to a conviction in this case. Tips can be left anonymously at 614-461-8477 or online at www.stopcrime.org (select the "submit a tip" tab). Information, without promise of the reward, can also be directed to Detective Jeff Stiers of the Union County sheriff's office at 937-645-4101 ext. 4442.
smallaxe27
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I saw the ID Channel show last night.
I hope there soon is a break in the case.
I read on another forum that Brian Flowers is the name of the boyfriend/scam artist. Its incredible that he has gotten away with this so long since she told so many people that she was dating him and was going on a trip with him.
He is damned lucky that she was not my sister or daughter.
I hope there soon is a break in the case.
I read on another forum that Brian Flowers is the name of the boyfriend/scam artist. Its incredible that he has gotten away with this so long since she told so many people that she was dating him and was going on a trip with him.
He is damned lucky that she was not my sister or daughter.
OldSteve
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Saw the ID Disappeared show last night what a frustrating case!
With so much to go on early on, if ONLY more resources where available early on especially forensics to check things such as identifying where a vehicle traveled because to the kind of mud, seed pods, etc . fibers inside the vehicle, etc
Also where the dogs gave indication at the newly poured cement forensically going over that, even breaking the cement apart and scanning it What about phone records, cell phone pings,.
With so much to go on early on, if ONLY more resources where available early on especially forensics to check things such as identifying where a vehicle traveled because to the kind of mud, seed pods, etc . fibers inside the vehicle, etc
Also where the dogs gave indication at the newly poured cement forensically going over that, even breaking the cement apart and scanning it What about phone records, cell phone pings,.
cluciano63
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I don't understand when LE says they are waiting for technology to catch up? I thought they could get DNA from a pinpoint of blood these days.
How horrible that this man has gotten away with this murder all of these years, as I am convinced that he has. And why is his name supposed to be a secret? He is a POI or suspect according to articles I have read. Since when do POI's get protection?
How horrible that this man has gotten away with this murder all of these years, as I am convinced that he has. And why is his name supposed to be a secret? He is a POI or suspect according to articles I have read. Since when do POI's get protection?
OldSteve
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That scares me - if the sample is that small, it seems defense will argue that it could have come from a flea that simply found it's way under the truck cover... If only one or two cat hairs were found under the cover, still not great forensics..
I feel the best evidence is the accounts given separately that each person gave without knowing what the others had said. Also why the truck cover was used for just a short time, and why one would even use a cover considering what the truck was normally used for.
Waiting all this time I think weakens the case... I wonder if I were on a jury if there would be enough evidence... it bothers me that her X knew of what she was doing.... he would have to have an air-tight alibi to rule out jealousy and anger…
I feel the best evidence is the accounts given separately that each person gave without knowing what the others had said. Also why the truck cover was used for just a short time, and why one would even use a cover considering what the truck was normally used for.
Waiting all this time I think weakens the case... I wonder if I were on a jury if there would be enough evidence... it bothers me that her X knew of what she was doing.... he would have to have an air-tight alibi to rule out jealousy and anger…
Missing Budweiser
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This story broke my heart. This woman was apparently very trusting if not naive and gullible. This suspect is a . I agree with "smallaxe27". If she was anyway connected to me, this dude would have a serious problem. And that's just not me typing on a keyboard. What kind of a guy takes money like that from a single mother?
OldSteve
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And considering how naive/gullible she appeared, I wonder why would her POI boyfriend want to end it like he did?
Since there was no record of him receiving any of her money, it seemed he could have simply denied getting some or all of it...
Missouri Mule
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Just saw this tonight. Incredible how she would enter into such an arrangement with this guy. I would think that the wife would be the weak link. I can hardly believe she was ignorant of this unless she was complicit and in it for the money herself. This had to have had some planning in that
none of that money could be traced to him.
From what I gather, the circumstantial case would convict him if that blood could be identified.
I wonder if he could have pulled this off before with any other women.
none of that money could be traced to him.
From what I gather, the circumstantial case would convict him if that blood could be identified.
I wonder if he could have pulled this off before with any other women.
Maybe the wife did it...and not him.
cluciano63
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This case is on Nancy Grace's Missing in America on Thursday March 10th.
I think LE has a great circumstantial case, have seen cases tried with less. It is glaringly obvious the boyfriend killed her, motive was the money and not wanting to divorce his wife or have her find out (but mostly the money.) How sickening he goes about with his life like nothing ever happened.
I think LE has a great circumstantial case, have seen cases tried with less. It is glaringly obvious the boyfriend killed her, motive was the money and not wanting to divorce his wife or have her find out (but mostly the money.) How sickening he goes about with his life like nothing ever happened.
debloree
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Thanks for letting us know about the NG show. I will definitely watch it.
OldSteve
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His wife did not seem that upset about his seeing Patty, to the point I wonder if she was in on it.... Considering how gulible Patty was, and that the money couldn't be traced going to the boyfriend, I'm not sure about money being a motive, as well as the proverbial "why kill the goose that lays the golden egg" .... Now if Patty were PG, that would cast a different light on things... Also, consider she is giving away money that should be saved and used for her future and her child's future... her doing that might have enraged someone else ....
As for the DNA evidence... don't know what LE is waiting for. The longer they wait, the harder it will be to use since it will be claimed that the amount was so little it doesn't mean much. It also doesn't prove that she stayed hidden under the cover...
Having said all this - don't get me wrong, I am no fan of her boyfriend...