CA CA - Patricia Tolhurst, 46, Tuolumne City, 18 April 2014

[nikb]

Tiny bit more info here:

http://www.uniondemocrat.com/News/Local-News/Search-on-for-missing-Sonora-woman and here: http://www.examiner.com/article/another-mother-lode-resident-missing-remote-area

I'm trying to sketch out a timeline. So far from what I've seen it looks like:

- Friday in Sonora - ran out of food, so closed the restaurant early and went to go grocery shopping (wonder if she did? can they check bank records?)

- Friday evening at a friend's house in Tuolumne. Since that initial report AnjL posted showed 16:30 as time last seen I'm wondering if they really meant "evening" or if it was more like late afternoon. Said she was going hiking near Donnell lake and would be returning in "a day or two."

- Sometime between late Saturday and Monday, sent a letter to friends saying she was going hiking. Postmarked Monday, but I was thinking it should be a wider possible range since if she dropped them in a mailbox after hours Saturday, they wouldn't get postmarked until Monday.

-Tuesday reported missing by a friend.

- Wednesday vehicle found abandoned at Donnell Vista. Purse locked in the vehicle, keys not in it, sunroof open and it had been rained on.

... sometime in here, not sure when, she recorded two "rambling audiotapes" of her life's story and mailed them to friends.

Does this look close based on what we've heard so far?

 

[AnjL]

That is about how I sum up the timeline. It's hard because different news agencies are reporting different times as fact :/ I was not a real close friend with her, more of acquaintances. I do have a friend who is really close to her and I have a feeling he is the one who last saw her in Tuolumne on Friday. As soon as I can get ahold of him I will confirm more. I'll try to get him to log in here too


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[AnjL]

BTW her original restaurant in Columbia was no where near as nice as the place she moved to. It was a step up as far as I'm concerned


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[Slapmyknee]

Omg, been trying to put together some maps of the area. 4 quads intersect that general area. The location she said she was going is dif then the location where they found her vehicle. The vista IMO is not good. As a former Hotshot, we used to do repel training off the rocks in that area.

 

[nikb]

That is about how I sum up the timeline. It's hard because different news agencies are reporting different times as fact :/ I was not a real close friend with her, more of acquaintances. I do have a friend who is really close to her and I have a feeling he is the one who last saw her in Tuolumne on Friday. As soon as I can get ahold of him I will confirm more. I'll try to get him to log in here too


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Thanks AnjL! I know what you mean, I was trying to piece it together from the times that seemed to be reported most. I'm still mystified by the audio tape thing. Is that what they're referring to as the "letters" or did she do both the tapes and the letters? Kind of confusing. That's great if you can get in touch with your friend and if he can offer any details that might help us help find her, if we can help somehow.

Re: the restaurant yes I saw pictures of both and the new location looked much nicer! I wondered if she lost some of her customers due to losing the people from the airport, but the new one looked more likely to attract business from locals and tourists passing through. I wonder if the rim fire hurt business. It seems like a good place, and a really great fit for the area.

 

[Slapmyknee]

I hope this attached. If so you can see the country she may have gotten herself into.

 

[AnjL]

I hope this attached. If so you can see the country she may have gotten herself into.

Pix is blurry but I'm on iPad. I'm also very familiar with the area, which is what really scares me. She may have just gone for a day hike to clear her head a little but could easily have fallen, gotten hurt or encountered mountain lion. Someone up thread said there would be remains found if mountain lion, but that hasn't been my experience this year. The 200 lb+ cat that they put down carried off a 120 lb boar goat. Carried it! No drag marks. They did find the goat remains, but only because they found the cats den. Den was easier to find because it was in a more populated area. But up near Kennedy Meadows it's not populated. I just really hope that she's in a cabin up there waiting for the storm to pass.


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[AnjL]

My list of questions I'd like clarified:

1) who saw her last?
2) where are her kids?
3) did she ever make it to the store?
4) does her cell phone ping? And can they trace where she went prior to Donnell Vista based on cell pings?
5) did she mail written letters or videos or both?
6) someone on fb said they saw her that Saturday. Has this been verified?

Can you think of any other questions?


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[AnjL]

Here's a map showing terrain and distance between Donnell Vista and Kennedy Meadows. It's only 12 mins by car but there are hiking trails all over that area. "Kennedy Meadows" could have been referred to as the "area" she was going to and not the place. She could have possibly headed towards Kennedy Meadows and pulled over at Donnell. That wouldn't be too out of character for people in this area. The fact that her sun roof was left open tells me that she either wasn't planning to stay long, or she just wasn't thinking clearly when she got out of the car. Since it's been reported that she was under a lot of stress, I'm thinking it was the latter.

I personally have been at a point in my life where I said 'forget it, I'm outta here!' Got in my car and drove....until I came upon a snow storm, slid and then realized I had a great job, a great life, and great kids. I can relate to wanting to run due to stress, but I really don't think Patty is suicidal in any way. I think if anything she ran knowing she'd be coming back and maybe something happened before she could get back.


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[nikb]

My list of questions I'd like clarified:

1) who saw her last?
2) where are her kids?
3) did she ever make it to the store?
4) does her cell phone ping? And can they trace where she went prior to Donnell Vista based on cell pings?
5) did she mail written letters or videos or both?
6) someone on fb said they saw her that Saturday. Has this been verified?

Can you think of any other questions?

I think this is a very good list! #1-#4 are huge in my mind. Unless she paid cash for everything it seems like #3 should be easy to verify. I think the other questions are very important too, just might be harder to track down answers.

#6 I saw that in one news report too that a friend saw her Saturday, but I couldn't for the life of me find it again so I was assuming they updated the story. Maybe it was on FB somewhere and I didn't see it again.

#5 are there videos too? I've seen letters and audio tapes mentioned but hadn't seen videos mentioned. I would think videos especially might be able to be dated, if there are any.

I'd love answers to all of these questions... anything to help head in the right direction.

 

[nikb]

<snipped for space>
I personally have been at a point in my life where I said 'forget it, I'm outta here!' Got in my car and drove....until I came upon a snow storm, slid and then realized I had a great job, a great life, and great kids. I can relate to wanting to run due to stress, but I really don't think Patty is suicidal in any way. I think if anything she ran knowing she'd be coming back and maybe something happened before she could get back.

Same here. In my case I told people I was leaving but not where, or even for how long (because I didn't know, I just started driving), and told them I may or may not have cell service but I promised I wasn't planning anything 'bad' (i.e. suicide). I took off thinking I'd go so far, ended up finding a beautiful peaceful place that turned out to be less than 2 hours from home and spent almost a week there - couldn't believe it turned out to be so close to home until I drove back. My family semi-jokingly calls it my "sanity tour." I keep hoping that's what's going on with Patricia too. Maybe time got away from her, or maybe she is needing more time than she thought. Thinking of the best case scenario I imagine even if she's ready to come home it would be hugely overwhelming to feel like you had to explain everything. I think everyone would be so happy to see her and so ready to help ease her stress that it'd all work out, but I can also see how it'd feel like immense pressure or maybe failure to her. (I don't think it IS failure by any stretch of the imagination, but I can see how she might feel that way)

 

[Slapmyknee]

Hello web sleuths! Where are you? Please this lady is missing! Help us find her.

 

[nycgrl]

Okay, maybe it's just me, but I find it kind of odd that she wrote letters to friends telling them she was going hiking.

Why not call, text, email, etc?

Was this normal for Patty or no?

 

[AnjL]

Okay, maybe it's just me, but I find it kind of odd that she wrote letters to friends telling them she was going hiking.



Why not call, text, email, etc?



Was this normal for Patty or no?

This would be normal especially for anyone hiking alone in this area. Also, up in the mountains here not everyone has cell phones or telephones. Cell service is very spotty where I am (just above Sonora) and land lines are only at some of the resorts up on the pass. So snail mail up there would be a guaranteed way of getting word to friends that she's headed up there. It's my understanding (from articles written) that she sent mail to someone up near Kennedy meadows telling them she was headed up their way. So maybe a friend is working at the resort for the summer? That's the impression I got. She told someone in Tuolumne/Sonora that she was going hiking (I think-again only deciphering from MSM) I wish I could get the whole REAL story from someone! Grr!


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[AnjL]

Just heard from a friend who was up there searching today. They will search on horseback tomorrow. I don't ride, so won't be heading up until they do another walking/hiking search. Still praying that she's in a backpacking cabin up there somewhere! Most of the SAR know her personally from her restaurant so they have a personal interest in finding her.


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[AnjL]

Reading crime bulletin logs http://tcsd.crimegraphics.com/2013/default.aspx?InitialTab=2
They are reviewing video tapes at Black Oak casino because someone reported seeing her there sometime after she went missing. also a caller reported seeing a car at Donnell vista between 9:30-11:00am on 4/20

At least word is getting out there and people are starting to call in.


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[nikb]

Just heard from a friend who was up there searching today. They will search on horseback tomorrow. I don't ride, so won't be heading up until they do another walking/hiking search. Still praying that she's in a backpacking cabin up there somewhere! Most of the SAR know her personally from her restaurant so they have a personal interest in finding her.

That's great news! I was hoping they'd send people out on horseback soon. That can't be easy walking terrain. I keep thinking a lot of "summer" cabins are probably vacant right now, plus she also probably knows people who have "camping" type cabins up there... I hope she's at one of those.

 

[TomVang]

Photo loaded blurry so trying it again


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Did you notice the report at 15:21 of a blonde woman being assaulted by a male while sitting in a silver boxy type car parked along Hunts Road/Twain Harte Drive? The report states that the vehicle was gone by the time LE showed up. Perhaps the woman was Patty?

 

[AnjL]

Did you notice the report at 15:21 of a blonde woman being assaulted by a male while sitting in a silver boxy type car parked along Hunts Road/Twain Harte Drive? The report states that the vehicle was gone by the time LE showed up. Perhaps the woman was Patty?

Yes but wasn't her car already found at Donnell by then?


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[AnjL]

If this is true then it is GOOD news because this would have been the day after her car was found. Means she would still be alive and somewhere here in town instead of in the wilderness. Hoping and praying!
Edited to add: I'll walk over to Eds bar tomorrow and see if they have cameras. I doubt it....it's a dive bar but it's worth a shot! No other businesses that I know of in Twain Harte have video surveillance. I'll check with 7-11...they should have it!

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