Naman Shrestha
Looking forward to going on a trip, Patti Adkins’ excitement was cut short when she went missing after leaving work in 2001, on the day she was to leave for Canada. With detectives swarming around the case, they connected some dots as disturbing truths about it emerged. The 2nd episode of season 3 of Investigation Discovery’s ‘Disappeared’ titled ‘Secret Rendezvous’ profiles the mysterious case as family, friends, and investigators turned every stone possible in search of the 29-year-old single mother. It also includes interviews with loved ones and experts who were involved in the case.
Patti Adkins Was Looking Forward to Her Canada Trip When She Went Missing
Born in the early 1970s, Patti Adkins hailed from Marysville, Ohio, and was a mother to a seven-year-old girl named Michaley. Known to be a loving and caring mother, she was also close to her friends. At the time of her sudden disappearance, she worked as a supervisor at a Honda factory in Marysville. Leading to July 4, 2001, the factory was going to stay closed for the week, something that worked in Patti’s favor as she had plans to go on vacation to Canada with one of her co-workers — her married boyfriend from work. He claimed that he would leave his wife to be with Patti.
A day before the trip to Canada, Patti left her daughter in the care of her sister Marcia Pitts, ensuring that she would pick her up after she returned from the trip on July 8. On the day of the trip, June 29, 2001, it was evident that she was excited and in a rush to leave work that night. Around midnight, she left work in her white Honda of America uniform and headed towards the parking lot. Since she and her lover wanted to keep their relationship hidden from their mutual coworkers, they planned that she would stay in the bed of his truck that night until he dropped off another co-worker. When Patti did not come to pick her daughter up on July 8, Marcia got worried and got in touch with Patti’s boyfriend.
The anonymous boyfriend shrugged off Marcia and acted strange like he only knew about Patti as a co-worker. Then, she went to the police and informed them about the entire situation. An extensive search and investigation was launched on July 10, 2001. It took the authorities just a couple of days to track down Patti’s co-worker/boyfriend’s residence, after which they interrogated him thoroughly. Upon searching his property, they came across a few possessions that somewhat proved his relationship with Patti, including a phone and a t-shirt that she gifted to him.
Besides that, they also discovered an intimate letter by Patti wherein she expressed her desire to be with him. Once they were done scouring through the house, they searched the boyfriend’s truck but there was no DNA belonging to Patti found in the bed of the truck. However, on August 3, 2001, the investigators found blood and cat hair in the bed of the truck, where Patti supposedly was meant to stay for a while that fateful night. After the cat hair was sent for testing, they learned that it belonged to her cats.
As for the test results of the small portion of the blood sample, they came out to be inconclusive because there wasn’t much of it. Moreover, leading up to the day of her disappearance, Patty reportedly gave her boyfriend nearly $90,000, as confirmed by a banker. It was allegedly to buy out some portion of his side business so that his wife could not claim it once they got divorced. The detectives’ search even led them to Patti’s residence where they couldn’t find anything linked to her disappearance.
Patti Adkins Was Officially Declared Dead After Missing For Five Years
Ever since June 29, 2001, Patti had not been seen by anyone and she did not make any contact whatsoever with any of her loved ones, including her family and friends. Moreover, her financial and personal records displayed no activities since that day. So, after about five years of incessant searching, Patti Atkins was officially declared deceased in 2006. However, the family of Patti Adkins did not stop looking for justice. Although there doesn’t seem to be enough incriminating evidence to make an arrest, her boyfriend remains at the top of the suspects list when it comes to her disappearance.
In June 2016, Patti’s sister Marcia talked about her views on her sister’s disappearance with NBC station WCMH. She was practical enough to know that she should not have any hope that Patti could be alive and well. Marcia elaborated further, saying, “I knew when she didn’t return that she was not alive, but I have hope that justice will happen, that someone will be held accountable for her death.” After a year or so, in June 2017, a Union County press release released a statement. It said, “To date, no one, including her daughter or other family members, has heard from her and all financial and personal records have shown no activity since her disappearance.”
The statement also mentioned that they believed some kind of foul play was at play that led to her disappearance.” On the 22nd anniversary of Patti’s vanishing, on June 29, 2023, the Union County Sheriff’s Office took to Facebook to post about the case. As of then, the officials were still hoping that someone would come forward with the information that could finally put the case of her disappearance to bed. There has also been a cash reward for any concrete information that might lead to the recovery of Patti Adkins. There is a Facebook group called Where Is Patti Adkins that remains active to this day and gives out information regarding the case, clinging on to hope that someday justice could be served.
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