CA CA - Lancaster, WhtFem 1205UFCA , 30-50, in desert, homemade coffin, Dec'68

[snooptroop88]

In the mid-60's brocade pillows of different shapes and colors were used for home decorations. They were sold at the warehouse in downtown LA, 40 miles away from Pearblossom.
It is likely she was murdered in the summertime. That's why the casket was sealed very carefully with glue and putty so that the smell couldn't spread.
The casket was possibly stored vertically, the crossbars prevented the body from collapsing.
The brown-reddish paint could be used to make a coffin look like a piece of furniture.
To get mummified, the body had to stay in the desert over the summer months (July-September - the hottest weather in this area).
Not sure if one summer would be enough for mummification.
Maybe she was murdered on July 1 1967 - the date on the newspaper.
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That July 1 1967 has to mean something-- but what? Agreed, it seems the newspaper might indicate date of death, but the source I viewed has PMI listed 2-3 mos with discovery in Dec 1968. If date on newspaper is not date of death (and not ruling this possibility out, but putting it aside for the moment), what could it mean? Patricia Weeks had evidently finally gotten her divorce around April 1968. I don't know what the grounds were. I am seeing state of NV ((Patricia's last known location)) added incompatibility as a grounds for divorce at the end of the 54th NV legislative session, believe that's April 1967. In Nevada, I think you could be divorced even back then lightning quick-- unless it was a contested divorce, and since I'm seeing that convicted murderer Robert finally "agreed" to the divorce in one source, I take it that this one was contested. While this note about the state's divorce grounds being altered around this time's interesting, and I'm sure it found its way into the papers, I'm seeing the newspaper with Patricia was actually LA Times. And Lancaster, where the Doe's found-- that's LA county, so this makes one wonder was the Doe living in LA county (and to my knowledge, Patricia wasn't). With that said, though, I think this Doe still could be Patricia. Had been thinking the divorce/changed grounds angle might be interesting, but... why the L.A. newspaper? Robert Weeks ran a limo service out of Vegas (supposedly the first one in Vegas), this is back in the Rat Pack days, I would think he might fairly often find himself in LA in such an industry. Also, when Robert Weeks went "on the lamb" at one point, he resurfaced in Chile, so he definitely turns up in unexpected places. But still, that doesn't explain this newspaper with this particular date, for this particular location, one of the only objects in the coffin. Possibilities, this is complete SPECULATION:

-Robert Weeks apparently used many, many false names. Did he have property up in L.A. county that nobody was aware of, held under an alias? And maybe he wasn't there all that often, the newspaper found its way into the coffin for some reason known only to him and the victim? I'd also wonder if Robert brought Patricia to this hypothetical property, or if she became aware of it somehow.

-Did Patricia perhaps have a reason to visit some property up in the LA county area, maybe one Robert was completely unaware of? Had she already met someone new, or did Robert perhaps just think she had, if he learned of this other location? I tend to strongly doubt Patricia really had met anyone secretly, Robert was vicious, violently abusive, and controlling. However, with that said, it sounds like his businesses might have made it difficult for him to track Patricia's every movement, Lancaster's about three/four hours from Vegas. Maybe she had the good fortune to find some location where she felt she was safe, away from him, even if only for a time. As for the newspaper in this scenario, was there something in the newspaper of sentimental value to her, where she saved it, only to have Robert uncover her hypothetical secret location?

-Robert Weeks used multiple aliases and perhaps was involved in some hypothetical LA area crime and saved the newspaper himself because he was mentioned in the issue (again hypothetically) under an alias. Following through on this theory further, perhaps he felt the crime involved Patricia in some peripheral way; he then discarded the newspaper when he (in theory) murdered Patricia.

-With him owning a limo service, I would be 99% certain that Robert Weeks was often in LA or area in the 60s, and would guess he'd stay overnight at certain locations. Did something happen when he was staying in LA, did he get wind/knowledge of something when he was out of town (LA) on this particular date that made him decide he might "disappear" Patricia in the future if she didn't begin complying more with his "wishes"? And what if he himself met a new romantic interest on the road on that particular date?

Agreed that all of this is just highly speculative. But considering Weeks is a suspect of murdering Carol Ann Riley, who was only just recently IDd after being missing from San Diego in 1987, I wouldn't rule any of this out just yet. San Diego's over 6 hours from where Carol's body was found at Bonelli Landing/Mohave County AZ. Her last location was apparently on a date with Robert Weeks trying to break up with him. Las Vegas, where Patricia Weeks was last known to be, is just shy of four hours from Lancaster. Hmm. Following up on this theory, one might wonder why a perp would be so willing to travel such long distances with a victim's body. Since Robert Weeks actually once worked years back as a mortician, I would wonder if his limo service fleet didn't include at least one hearse. If not, he might at least know how to rent one. Such a vehicle might (in theory) have helped him in facilitating crimes. Looking it up now, privacy drapes around the casket would be used in the 60. And also, because these hearses then were often "combination coaches" (used then as both ambulance & what we know now as traditional hearse) I'd guess it might be more common to see them on highways for that reason, and that seems to be being confirmed by what I'm seeing online. These combination coaches could be converted pretty easily from ambulance with stretcher & oxygen to coach transporting a casket. Again, speculation, and all jmo.

 

[Tamerlan]

Initially hunters who camped in the area on 12/8/1968 spotted something that looked like the brick corner sticking out of the ground, covered with limbs and debris. It is probable that the brick color of the coffin was intended to make it less noticeable near the brick wall where it was stored before the burial.