Patti Adkins

Summary

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True Crime All The Time Unsolved

Episode 476: The Disappearance of Patti Adkins

Release Date: August 3, 2026
Hosts: Mike Ferguson & Mike Gibson

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Episode Overview

This episode explores the unsolved disappearance of Patti Adkins, a devoted mother and Honda employee who vanished in the early hours of June 29, 2001, from Marysville, Ohio. Patti had big plans to go on a secret trip with her married co-worker boyfriend. Despite the passing of 25 years, her body has never been found, and foul play is strongly suspected. Ferguson and Gibson meticulously review Patti’s life, the final days leading up to her disappearance, the investigation, evidence, and the enduring suspicion surrounding her boyfriend.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Patti Adkins: Background & Relationship

• Patti was 29, a single mother to a 7-year-old daughter, living in Marysville, Ohio.
• Worked almost 10 years at Honda of America and was anticipating a promotion. (06:20)
• Close family ties: "The sisters talked almost daily." (05:01)
• Relationship: Patti was in a long, on-and-off affair with a married co-worker. He allegedly promised to leave his wife for her—a promise her family and friends were skeptical about.
  • "There's a lot of people, men and women, when they're having an affair, will tell the other person that they plan on leaving their spouse... But do they ever leave them?" — Mike Gibson (07:42)
  • Patti confided in family and friends about both the relationship and impending trip.

The Disappearance

Plans for a Secret Trip

• The Honda plant was approaching its annual shutdown week over July 4th—a time when most employees, including Patti, looked forward to vacation. (09:36)
• Patti planned a trip to a remote part of Canada with her boyfriend; she made arrangements for her pets and her daughter (boarding pets, sister babysitting). Told family she’d be back July 8. (10:30)
• Notable oddities:
  • Patti told her friend she was not supposed to pack anything for the trip—they’d "just buy what they needed."
    • "If it’s that remote, are you going to be able to buy everything you need?" — Mike Ferguson (15:23)
  • She packed a small duffel bag anyway, mentioning a new blue item from Victoria's Secret.
• Patti reportedly left behind all identification, clothing, bank cards—taking almost nothing with her. (16:06)
  • Patti’s friend dropped her off at work so she wouldn’t have to leave her car at the plant; she left in her uniform after midnight. (16:53)

The Night of June 29, 2001

• Patti finished her shift and was to leave hidden under a truck bed tarp in her boyfriend’s pickup, as another co-worker would also be riding along (so the affair would remain secret). (17:29)
• This plan, while secretive, was strange and highly uncomfortable:
  • "You have to really love somebody to get in a truck bed underneath a tarp and lay there for 45 minutes as you go up and down the highway." — Mike Gibson (18:58)

The Investigation

Immediate Aftermath

• Patti didn’t return for her daughter as planned on July 8. Her family found her home undisturbed. Missing persons report filed. (19:08)
• When contacted, the boyfriend "played it off like he didn’t even know who Patti was," denying any relationship or trip plans.
  • "Wow, what a dick." — Mike Gibson (19:37)
• This contrasted starkly with the accounts of Patti’s friends and family, who all knew about the trip and relationship.

Law Enforcement Findings

• Boyfriend claimed he merely drove a co-worker home after the shift, stopped for Burger King (claimed a 45-minute wait), and was home by 2:30am, as usual. (26:52)
• His wife corroborated his presence at 2:30am and denied knowing about the affair.
• Investigation found inconsistencies:
  • Burger King staff denied any such long wait was plausible at that time of night. (31:45)
  • Cell phone records confirmed frequent communication between Patti and her boyfriend, contradicting his “barely knew her” claim. (33:54)

Physical Evidence

• Police searched the boyfriend’s home and found freshly poured concrete; nothing surfaced beneath it. (28:42)
• At the boyfriend’s house, items were found confirming the relationship (gifts from Patti, a love letter). (29:31)
• Bed cover for the truck (recently installed) contained a small blood sample—DNA indicated a mix of the boyfriend’s and another person’s (unknown if male or female). (30:54)
• Cat hairs matching Patti’s cat were found in the truck bed. (31:26)
• Oddly, Patti’s DNA was not found in the truck bed, though this doesn’t rule out her presence.
• The duffel bag Patti supposedly took on the trip has never been found. (35:08)

Financial Motive

• Investigators discovered that in the months before vanishing, Patti had given the boyfriend $90,000, drawn from her retirement and savings, to supposedly help him buy out a business ahead of his planned divorce. (35:33)
• As pressure to repay began, the Canada trip was proposed.
• "I've got her $90,000. I don't want to pay it back. And if I don't, she might go tell my wife." — Mike Gibson (47:06)

Other Developments

• Boyfriend took a polygraph; results "showed deception." (36:48)
• After Patti’s disappearance, he abruptly quit Honda and never returned—a rare move given the job’s security and good pay. (37:00)
• Despite all this, police have not gathered enough evidence to arrest or prosecute.

Ongoing Efforts and Family Perspective

• Law enforcement continues to consider the boyfriend a primary person of interest but lacks evidence "beyond a reasonable doubt" for arrest. (52:17)
• “We could arrest him, but we need something beyond a reasonable doubt to get a conviction.” — Mike Gibson (52:17)
• In 2011, Patti was declared legally dead to allow for estate and guardianship proceedings.
• The case was profiled by America’s Most Wanted in 2009, raising national awareness.
• In 2025, a full-time investigator was assigned to the case—an uncommon step for a cold case. (53:00)
• Authorities and Patti’s daughter, Michaela (now grown), continue to plea for closure and information.
  • "We want closure. I hope someone will let us know what happened." — Michaela Adkins (51:39)
• The family consistently expressed faith in law enforcement’s efforts.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "There is so much smoke that, for me, it's hard to believe there’s not some fire there, that he didn't have something to do with Patty's disappearance. I would be shocked, to be honest with you."
  — Mike Ferguson (56:50)

• "Money might be the motive behind Patty’s disappearance."
  — Marsha Pitt, Patti’s sister (46:58)

• "It’s a little strange for me... If it's that remote, are you going to be able to buy everything you need?"
  — Mike Ferguson on the suspect's story (15:23)

• "That is a boatload of money. I barely know her, but yet she gave me $90,000!"
  — Mike Ferguson (35:34)

• "She did what she had to to get ready to go. And then something bad happened."
  — Mike Gibson, on the timeline (11:55)

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Key Timestamps

• 03:59 – Case introduction: who was Patti Adkins, her family, and the planned trip
• 09:36 – Honda shutdown week, and how it framed the vacation plans
• 16:53 – Patti’s last sighting and the plan for her to hide in the truck bed
• 19:08 – Patti fails to return, and the immediate suspicious reaction of the boyfriend
• 26:52 – Boyfriend’s alibi, wife’s corroboration, and investigation of fast food pit-stop
• 28:42 – Search for physical evidence at boyfriend’s house; concrete slab
• 30:54 – Discovery of blood/DNA and cat hairs in the truck bed
• 35:33 – Revelation of the $90,000 financial transfer
• 46:58 – Family belief in financial motive behind disappearance
• 52:17 – Law enforcement confirms boyfriend is “primary suspect” but lacks arrest evidence
• 53:00 – Appointment of full-time investigator to the cold case
• 55:14 – 25-year anniversary update and active requests for tips

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Conclusion & Ongoing Appeal

The episode closes with a call to action for listeners who may know anything—even seemingly minor details—to contact the Union County Sheriff's Office, Crime Stoppers, or submit an anonymous tip. Despite strong suspicion and a massive paper trail implicating Patti’s boyfriend, the lack of a body and direct evidence continue to block prosecution.

“As we wrap this up... this is very different from a lot of unsolved cases. We know this boyfriend... There is so much smoke that, for me, it's hard to believe there's not some fire there... It's going to probably take some big piece of breaking evidence or someone with knowledge coming forward.”
— Mike Ferguson (56:50, 59:33)

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Contact Information for Tips:

• Union County Sheriff's Office: 937-645-4110
• Crime Stoppers: 614-461-TIPS
• stopcrime.org

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For those seeking closure for Patti, her daughter, and her family, even the smallest piece of information could break the case.

Transcript

[Mike Ferguson]

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[Mike Gibson]

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[Mike Ferguson]

Did the scratcher come to your house and hand you a check?

[Caller John]

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[Mike Ferguson]

How many scratchers did you hit to get that? I hit a button on Carvana.com once.

[Mike Gibson]

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[Mike Ferguson]

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[Mike Ferguson]

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[Mike Gibson]

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[Mike Ferguson]

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[Mike Gibson]

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[Mike Ferguson]

Progressive makes it easy. Just drop in some details about yourself and see if you're eligible to save money. When you bundle your home and auto policies. The process only takes minutes and it could mean hundreds more in your pocket. Visit progressive.com after this episode to see if you could save Progressive Casualty Insurance company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states. The moment a body is found, the clock starts ticking. 48 hours before the trail goes cold. From A E and crime House. This is the official podcast from the famous true crime series 1-1-48. I'm Carter Roy. Every Thursday I revisit a landmark homicide investigation in depth with long form storytelling built for your ears. Listen to and follow the First 48 on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or wherever you listen to podcasts. Hello everyone and welcome to episode 476 of the true crime all the Time Unsolved podcast. I'm Mike Ferguson and with me, as always, is my partner in true crime, Mike Gibson. Gibby, how are you?

[Mike Gibson]

Good, man, and you?

[Mike Ferguson]

I'm doing excellent.

[Mike Gibson]

Excellento.

[Mike Ferguson]

We've been recording all night. Yeah, this is our very last one. We always save unsolved for last do. Or normally we do typically. Let's go ahead and give our Patreon shout outs. We had Matt James.

[Mike Gibson]

Thanks. M.J. tierney. What's going on, Tierney?

[Mike Ferguson]

Nicole Banning.

[Mike Gibson]

Ah, Banning. I like that.

[Mike Ferguson]

Amanda Mattingly.

[Mike Gibson]

What's going on, Amanda?

[Mike Ferguson]

Cat Johnson jumped out at her highest level.

[Mike Gibson]

Hey, thank you, Cat.

[Mike Ferguson]

Michelle Wald Billig.

[Mike Gibson]

Well, thank you, Michelle.

[Mike Ferguson]

And last but not least, Kathy B. From either Ray O or Ray Ohio. I'm not sure, but jumped out our highest level.

[Mike Gibson]

Ray, Ohio. Man, it's a beautiful place, man.

[Mike Ferguson]

I got you then. If we go back into the vault. This week we selected Linda. Fred.

[Mike Gibson]

Hey, Linda.

[Mike Ferguson]

So we appreciate the new support, the continued support. We have an episode out right now. On True crime all the time where we're talking about Ben Renick. He was this very well known snake breeder who was found dead at his reptile farm in 2017. At first authorities thought he was killed by one of his massive snakes because like a 600 pound anaconda was apparently running loose.

[Mike Gibson]

That's a big, big ass snake.

[Mike Ferguson]

But investigators pretty quickly realized that he was murdered and there is a lot to this case. It's a very fascinating.

[Mike Gibson]

Going to make you upset.

[Mike Ferguson]

So check it out.

[Mike Gibson]

All right buddy.

[Mike Ferguson]

Are you ready to get into this episode of True crime All the Time unsolved?

[Mike Gibson]

I am ready.

[Mike Ferguson]

We're talking about the disappearance and death of Patty Adkins. In the early morning hours of June 29, 2001, Patty Adkins clocked out of work and was looking forward to going on a trip with her boyfriend, a married co worker who worked at the same plant she did 25 years later. No one has seen or heard from Patty who has since been declared legally dead. But authorities do suspect foul play in her disappearance. 29 year old Patricia Patty Adkins was a devoted mother to a seven year old daughter. Patty was divorced and had a parenting agreement with her ex husband. She and her daughter lived in Marysville, Ohio.

[Mike Gibson]

We know where that's at.

[Mike Ferguson]

Yeah, not too far north from where we are. In a 2000 interview with Nancy Grace, Patty's sister Marsha Pitt said she was a devoted mother and a very family oriented person. The sisters talked almost daily.

[Mike Gibson]

Shocking. Sisters talking almost daily.

[Mike Ferguson]

Sisters and sisters, mothers and daughters. We got a lot of that in my household.

[Mike Gibson]

I still to this day don't understand what you all can talk about so often.

[Mike Ferguson]

Yeah, if I talk to somebody once a week, I'm pretty well caught up every day. I don't even know what we would talk about.

[Mike Gibson]

I mean I, I know they like to talk about the, the tea, the tea, the spilled tea or whatever. Like the gossip or whatever they call it, you know. But how much gossip is there out there?

[Mike Ferguson]

Spilled tea is a slang term for gossip. I did not know that.

[Mike Gibson]

Yes. Gotta, gotta spill the tea.

[Mike Ferguson]

Okay. Learn something every day.

[Caller John]

Yeah.

[Mike Ferguson]

Or sometimes I do. Sometimes you're full of it. So it's hard to know when you're right, when you're wrong.

[Mike Gibson]

I'm just trying to figure out what kind of gossip we could. I could call you up and be like yay, you won't believe this.

[Mike Ferguson]

And I would be like who is this? And hang up. Patty worked second shift at the Honda of America automotive plant in Marysville. She had worked at the plant for almost 10 years and was a supervisor at the assembly line. She was anticipating a promotion at the time of her disappearance.

[Mike Gibson]

And they're big up there. I remember when I worked for ups, I used to deliver up there to them sometimes.

[Mike Ferguson]

It's a huge employer right in Marysville. It's a big plant. But let's talk about this anticipation of a promotion because I think you have to keep that in mind. When someone disappears, all of the things going on in their life factor in to whether they left willingly or didn't. Most people, if they think they're about ready to get a promotion, well, that's a good thing. We also mentioned that she had a seven year old daughter. She was very devoted to her daughter. She loved her family. Doesn't seem like the type of person who would just up and vanish.

[Mike Gibson]

No, doesn't make sense at all.

[Mike Ferguson]

Patty was in a long term on again, off again relationship with her married co worker whom some sources described as her boyfriend. In her interview with Nancy Grace, Patty's sister Marsha said the relationship lasted about two years. The man's identity was not disclosed in the sources used for this episode. Patty told family and close friends about the relationship. He allegedly told Patty he was going to leave his wife for her.

[Mike Gibson]

Well, a few things here. Right. I mean it's an on and off again relationship obviously, probably because he is married. And I think there's a lot of people, men and women, when they're having an affair, will tell the other person that they plan on leaving their spouse at some point. But do they ever leave them? You know, it's not as simple as that.

[Mike Ferguson]

I'm sure sometimes they do. But it also, I think can be used as kind of a ploy to keep someone on the hook.

[Mike Gibson]

Absolutely.

[Mike Ferguson]

Like you don't want to wreck your marriage, but you also don't want to lose this other person with whom you're having an affair. So you kind of maybe dangle this piece of information for some period of time to keep it going.

[Mike Gibson]

Sometimes I think people get, I think their intention is or was to leave, but then they get cold feet and then are scared and then they end up staying and not moving forward with what they said they were going to

[Mike Ferguson]

do or they find out how much a divorce is going to cost them

[Mike Gibson]

and yep, a lot of money.

[Mike Ferguson]

According to Lt. Jeff Steers of the Union County Sheriff's office, speaking with Nancy Grace, co workers had seen Patty and him talking to each other at the plant and. And the police had reports that they Were together after work a few times as well. Patty Atkins was last seen on June 29, 2001, at the Honda of America plant. The Honda plant was preparing for shutdown week. The employees were going to have a week off for vacation over the fourth of July holiday, which was an annual tradition. And I know, you know, a lot of big, like, automotive plants do that.

[Mike Gibson]

Right.

[Mike Ferguson]

My father in law used to work at the GM plant here when it was in Dayton. And they did something very similar. I think they all. They shut down for a week.

[Mike Gibson]

They always shut down in the summertime. And they shut down for a week or two.

[Mike Ferguson]

Or maybe it was two weeks. Yeah. Or multiple weeks. It was almost like, here's your time off. Instead of having people take random time off. Or maybe they could also do that as well. I don't know. The employees were said to have been looking forward to their plans for the week, including Patty. Well, who doesn't look forward to a week off?

[Mike Gibson]

Most everybody. There's always those few weird people that

[Mike Ferguson]

they're like, I just rather come in and work.

[Mike Gibson]

Yeah, can I. Can I work on my time away? You know, which.

[Mike Ferguson]

Which sounds dumb, but you and I have both had people say that to us.

[Mike Gibson]

We have, yeah.

[Mike Ferguson]

And I'm always like, what are you talking about? Take the week off?

[Mike Gibson]

Do you not like being at home with your family? I don't understand.

[Mike Ferguson]

Patty had been planning to go to Canada with her boyfriend during the shutdown week. They were going to leave together in his truck after work on Friday the 29th. Patty prepared for the trip by boarding her pets and arranging for her sister to watch her daughter. She told Marsha she would be back on July 8th. So, you know, if you go back to my kind of analysis.

[Caller John]

Right.

[Mike Ferguson]

On whether Patty would have just up and voluntarily left, I think here's even some more things that kind of fly in the face of that. Yeah, she's got this trip planned.

[Caller John]

Right.

[Mike Ferguson]

She's boarding her dogs. Everybody knows she's going away. Her family does. She's supposed to be back on the eighth. It just doesn't seem, with everything that we talked about that, number one, she was the type of person who would have just left her daughter and her family behind. And then, number two, that this would have been the time to do it. Right. You're going to just voluntarily disappear while you're on this vacation to Canada. If that was the case, would the boyfriend also disappear with you? And that's something we'll have to talk about as we move forward.

[Mike Gibson]

I think she just was Excited to go on vacation, she did what she had to to get ready to go. And then something bad happened.

[Mike Ferguson]

According to the Marysville Journal Tribune, Patty said she was going to an unknown location, but it was most likely a remote part of Canada. It was an area that didn't have cell service, so she wouldn't be able to call anyone during the week she was gone. Marsha recalled to NBC4 that she was uncomfortable with the fact that she wouldn't be able to get in touch with Patty because the sisters talked often. We said. Right. They talked pretty much every day. And, you know, let's face it, there are quite a few remote parts of Kent.

[Mike Gibson]

There really is. I mean, look, they're. There's a lot of beautiful places to go up there that, as you just mentioned, are remote and probably don't have the best, if any, cell phone service.

[Mike Ferguson]

But it's also a little scary. It is to go somewhere where you can't call for help. What if somebody gets hurt? I don't like to be out of touch. I also don't like to be in touch that much. But I want to have the option.

[Mike Gibson]

Sure.

[Mike Ferguson]

It's not that I really want to talk to people. I just want to have the option of talking to people if I need to.

[Mike Gibson]

I mean, you might build a Yoda or Yodo. What's that?

[Mike Ferguson]

Did you just say Yoda?

[Mike Gibson]

I did.

[Mike Ferguson]

Are you talking about Yodel?

[Mike Gibson]

Yodel.

[Mike Ferguson]

Okay.

[Mike Gibson]

Yeah.

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[Mike Gibson]

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[Mike Ferguson]

Here I come to save the day Now I forget what we were talking about, because you said Yoda. You might be able to. Yoda.

[Mike Gibson]

You were just talking about how you would not be comfortable.

[Mike Ferguson]

Oh, yeah. I wouldn't at all. And then when you look at a scenario where we know Patty goes missing.

[Mike Gibson]

Yeah.

[Mike Ferguson]

Okay. Is going to a place that doesn't have cell service part of some diabolical plan? I think you have to ask that question.

[Mike Gibson]

Yeah.

[Mike Ferguson]

Patty had her friend driver to work that day so she wouldn't have to leave her car at the plant while she was away. And that makes sense, Right? If they're leaving in his truck, she doesn't want to leave her car and might not be allowed to leave her car Right. At the plant for that entire week. When talking to her friend, Patty mentioned the remote location of the trip, she also mentioned that she was told not to pack anything because they would just buy what they needed once they arrived. She decided to pack a small duffel bag Anyway, she told her friend it contained something blue that she bought at Victoria's Secret. Patty's friend recalled that she was excited about the trip and seemed happy. And you know, in these types of investigations, all of this is relevant. It's important, you know, what was the person's state of mind before they disappeared? We're not seeing anything out of the ordinary coming from friends, family, people who interacted with Patty before she left on this trip.

[Mike Gibson]

Yeah.

[Mike Ferguson]

Now you know this remote location, no cell service. Now you find out that she was told not to pack anything because they would just buy what they needed.

[Mike Gibson]

It's a little strange for me.

[Mike Ferguson]

Very strange. If it's that remote, are you going to be able to buy everything you need? I don't know how remote we're talking here. Are we talking? You got a bobsled in on to this place or what? Iditarod. Or what are we talking?

[Mike Gibson]

But why pay money for stuff that you might have at home that you can go ahead and throw in a bag and take with you?

[Mike Ferguson]

It's not like they're driving a Yaris. They're driving a truck. I'm assuming they got a little bit of room if it's just the two of them. It does seem very strange. Patty reportedly didn't take any identification, clothing or bank cards with her, per the Marysville Journal Tribune.

[Mike Gibson]

Now that's even more strange, right? I mean, back at that time, you didn't need a passport to get across the border, but I would think you had to have something. But I can't remember what you needed back then. Driver's license or just you just said, hey, I'm coming over.

[Caller John]

Hey.

[Mike Ferguson]

I don't remember either because in the late 90s, I lived up in Detroit. We used to go over into Windsor a lot, but I don't remember what you had to show, if anything. They probably just waved you on through and probably it's like, hey, take off, eh?

[Mike Gibson]

Take off, eh? But it's to me, I think it's weird that you don't take any identification and you don't take a bank card just in case. Right.

[Mike Ferguson]

All of this is very strange to me.

[Caller John]

Yeah.

[Mike Ferguson]

Patty clocked out of work 19 seconds after midnight on June 29, 2001. She was seen leaving the plant in her white Honda of America uniform. Lieutenant Jeff Steers of the Union County Sheriff's Office told NBC when she left Honda that night, the plan was for her to get under the tarp cover in the bed of her boyfriend's truck because another co worker was Going to be in the car. And the boyfriend didn't want other people to know he and Patty were seeing each other.

[Mike Gibson]

Okay. Again, I mean, it's a little strange.

[Mike Ferguson]

There's nothing that hasn't been strange in this story so far. I, I get it. You're married, right? You're having an affair with someone you work with. You don't want other people to know. Maybe you don't take another coworker home that night.

[Mike Gibson]

Yeah. Maybe you find different arrangements for that person. That way you can just do your thing with her without having her having to go underneath a tarp in your truck.

[Mike Ferguson]

Patty's close friends later told Steers this and adding that it was a 35 minute drive from the plant to the boyfriend's residence. Okay, so that's the 35 minute drive. some point, I'm assuming they had to drop off this other co worker. So she spent what, 40, 45 minutes maybe in the back of this. Now maybe at some point he let her out and let her into the truck. I don't know.

[Mike Gibson]

I'm hoping. Cause I'm thinking, you know, late June,

[Mike Ferguson]

probably a little warm.

[Caller John]

Warm.

[Mike Gibson]

It is a tarp.

[Mike Ferguson]

It is midnight. But also, truck beds aren't built for comfort. No, they're, they're rigid, they're unforgiving. So bouncing up and down on, you know, a 30, 40 minute drive is, Is not going to be fun.

[Mike Gibson]

I mean, I guess, I guess you have to really love somebody to get in a truck bed underneath the tarp and lay there for 45 minutes as you go up and down the highway.

[Mike Ferguson]

On July 8, 2001, Patty did not pick up her daughter as expected. Marsha was worried. She went to Patty's house and found her car in the garage and her personal items undisturbed. She decided to report her sister missing that day. Marsha decided to call Patty's boyfriend since she knew they were supposed to be together. According to Lt. Steers, he played it off like he didn't even know who Patty was.

[Mike Gibson]

Wow, what a dick.

[Mike Ferguson]

He claimed he and Patty were not in a relationship and never had plans to go on vacation.

[Mike Gibson]

So this is something that according to him, Patty made up.

[Mike Ferguson]

Well, I don't even know if he's saying that because he's saying he doesn't even know who she is.

[Mike Gibson]

Is, yeah, Patty. Who's that?

[Mike Ferguson]

Let alone that, you know, they were in a relationship, that they were planning on going to Canada together.

[Mike Gibson]

I'm sitting here right next to my wife and she doesn't know who Patty is. Either.

[Mike Ferguson]

Well, and that's a great point.

[Mike Gibson]

Right.

[Mike Ferguson]

Is there a reason why, when questioned, he might want to disavow any knowledge of Patty now? There's the fact that he's married. That's one for sure. And obviously, if he had anything to do with her disappearance, that would be another reason. But on that angle, this would be strange, by my way of thinking, because you're just opening yourself up.

[Mike Gibson]

Yeah.

[Mike Ferguson]

In a major way. It would be much easier to say, yeah, we went on this vacation, she got mad, she stormed off, and eventually I just had to come home. I couldn't find her. You know, I'm saying there's some story there that is at least somewhat more plausible than I don't know who Patty is. You know, finding a gift for my wife can be extremely difficult. You know, I want something that's personal. I can't give her a gift card, and I don't want to just grab the first thing I see off the shelf. Well, that's where Zazzle comes in. I made my wife a mug with our two Malteses on it. She loves those Malteses more than anything. So she was blown away to get a mug with them on it. Zazzle is a custom marketplace where you can take basically any product, a mug, a tote bag, a card, a phone case, and make it mean something. You're not just buying a gift, you're making one. You can browse millions of designs or start from scratch and build something completely your own. Either way, you're the designer and everything is made on demand, so there's no out of stock. Pick it, customize it. Done. Over 30 million customers have trusted Zazzle with their most important gifts. Yours is next. Right now, save 25% on your first order at zazzle.com that's 25% savings on your first [e-mail]. go make something amazing. Zazzle.com you know, folks, when your mental health is suffering, therapy can help. But sometimes it's not the whole answer. To gives you access to real psychiatric care with licensed clinicians who can diagnose and prescribe medication if it's right for you. It's a simple way to get effective treatment right from your home. Talky is a 100% online psychiatry practice that provides comprehensive evaluations, diagnoses, and ongoing medication management for conditions like ADHD, anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, OCD, PTSD, insomnia, and more. All 800 plus clinicians are in network with major insurers so you can use your existing insurance instead of paying monthly subscriptions. Or out of network costs. Getting started takes just a few minutes. Complete a short online assessment, get matched with clinicians who fit your needs and schedule your first visit in days, not months. More than 300,000 patients have already found high quality psychiatric care through talkiatry. Head to to complete the short assessment and get matched with an in network psychiatrist in just a few minutes. That's toxiatry.com unsolved to get matched in minutes. The family also talked to the friend who drove Patty to work and found out some of the details of the trip and. And her planning. Per the Marysville Journal Tribune. The one thing that is certain here is that she wasn't shy about telling a lot of people about this trip.

[Mike Gibson]

Yeah.

[Mike Ferguson]

A lot of people knew that she was going on it. She didn't keep it top secret.

[Mike Gibson]

So somebody here is not telling the full truth.

[Caller John]

Oh.

[Mike Ferguson]

And I think based on everything we know so far, you would have to say that the boyfriend is not telling the truth. Now there. There could be some legitimate reasons for that.

[Caller John]

Right.

[Mike Ferguson]

He doesn't want his wife to know that he was having an affair. There could also be some nefarious reasons exactly for that, because the only alternative is that Patty is lying to all of her friends and family about, number one, the fact that she has this boyfriend, and number two, that they were going to Canada on this trip together. And what would be the reason for her to lie? It's not like she's making herself out to look good. She's having an affair with a. A married man.

[Mike Gibson]

Yeah. No one's like, come here. Give me high five on that.

[Mike Ferguson]

Now he's saying he's going to leave his wife. That's what she's telling everybody. But I'm sure it still doesn't make her look great. Right?

[Mike Gibson]

Right.

[Mike Ferguson]

Patty's disappearance was classified as uncharacteristic and suspicious. Investigators, as well as Patty's family, knew she would not leave her daughter behind.

[Mike Gibson]

Yeah. That does not make sense for her to do that.

[Mike Ferguson]

I'll be so honest with you. In so many of these unsolved cases, that's what I think. You know, when you hear about these people and how much they love their children, their world revolves around their children. The thought of them just up and voluntarily disappearing and never again.

[Caller John]

Right.

[Mike Ferguson]

For 10, 20 years, even letting their family or their kids know that they're okay, I just don't buy it.

[Caller John]

Yeah.

[Mike Ferguson]

I'm not saying it couldn't happen. What I am saying is I think the percentage is so very minuscule, Very unlikely. Yeah. The Union County Sheriff's Office and the Marysville police were involved in the case. Lt. Jeff Steers told NBC he got the case on July 10, 2001. He was still the lead detective over 20 years later.

[Mike Gibson]

There's a case that probably haunted him almost every night.

[Mike Ferguson]

Yeah.

[Mike Gibson]

Driving you crazy trying to figure out what happened.

[Mike Ferguson]

And probably, you know, still does.

[Caller John]

Yeah.

[Mike Ferguson]

Even after maybe he's retired now. I don't know if he is or not, but. Authorities tracked Patty's boyfriend down at his residence within a couple of days. He denied having anything to do with Patty's disappearance. He told police he barely knew Patty and they had no plans to go on vacation. He claimed that after clocking out of work on June 29, he and a co worker left together, stopped to get fast food at Burger King on their way home. They waited about 45 minutes for their food. His wife backed up his story and said he arrived home at 2:30am which was his usual time. She didn't know anything about the affair.

[Mike Gibson]

Have you ever waited 45 minutes for food from Burger King?

[Caller John]

No. No.

[Mike Gibson]

Nor would I.

[Mike Ferguson]

But let's put this into perspective. If Patty jumped into the bed of the truck before the coworker got in the truck, the co worker would know nothing about the fact that she was in there?

[Mike Gibson]

Of course not.

[Mike Ferguson]

So would be truthful in telling police, hey, it was just, you know, me and him and, yeah, we went to Burger King and, you know, he dropped me off or whatever happened. That would also lead me to believe that if she was in the bed, she was in there for even longer than I thought or I talked about earlier.

[Mike Gibson]

Well, I think she was in the truck for a long time, covered up underneath the tarp. You know, I don't know if it's the type of tarp that is locked. Once you shut the tailgate and you can only open the tarp with a key. I think you have something like that, right? I do, yeah. Your tarp is locked down.

[Mike Ferguson]

Yeah.

[Mike Gibson]

So you could almost say she could have been trapped.

[Mike Ferguson]

She could have been.

[Mike Gibson]

And that's a lot of heat and things like that. So maybe she died.

[Mike Ferguson]

Yeah, it's possible. Right. And then maybe he goes to get her out, realizes she's dead, has to try to cover that up. I mean, that's a possibility. There's also some more nefarious possibilities that we'll get into.

[Caller John]

Absolutely.

[Mike Ferguson]

But it's clear, right, that they didn't leave to go on this trip because his wife says, oh, yeah, he's back home at 2:30 when he normally is.

[Mike Gibson]

Yeah.

[Mike Ferguson]

Also, I'm sure she would have noticed if he was gone to Canada for a week.

[Mike Gibson]

So that's, you know, probably why she said she didn't know anything about an affair.

[Mike Ferguson]

Patty's boyfriend gave the police permission to search his property. And according to the Marysville Journal Tribune, investigators noticed a freshly poured area of concrete. Police later dug it up, but nothing was found. And to me, that's the first place you want to dig up.

[Mike Gibson]

Sure.

[Mike Ferguson]

Because how many cases have been solved by digging up concrete? That it was found out, you know, oftentimes much later, that the concrete was poured just after a person disappeared.

[Mike Gibson]

Yeah, it's kind of almost obvious, but

[Mike Ferguson]

they didn't find anything. Lt. Steers told NBC there were a couple of items found there at the house that circumstantially validated the story we were getting from other people about their relationship.

[Caller John]

Okay.

[Mike Ferguson]

Some of those items included a phone and T shirt that Marsha confirmed Patty had gifted to the man.

[Mike Gibson]

All right, so he was trying to make it sound like Patty was crazy, but sounds like Patty was not crazy.

[Mike Ferguson]

Well, I think he just didn't want his wife to find out that he was having an affair. Investigators also found a letter written by Patty talking about how she wanted to be with him. One of the most important pieces of evidence investigators found was a bed cover for the man's truck. Patty's boyfriend said he got the bed cover on June 26. He reportedly said he put it on on the morning of June 29th to cover up some fishing gear and removed it July 8th.

[Mike Gibson]

Interesting. Right? That's the time frame that she was going to get underneath it, and then they were going to go up to Canada and return on the 8th.

[Mike Ferguson]

Yeah. The timing is strange, but what's even more strange is police found a small spot of blood inside the bed COVID Testing identified the boyfriend's DNA and the DNA of another individual. Unfortunately, the sample was too small to even identify if the DNA was male or female, per the Journal Tribune.

[Mike Gibson]

Oh, man, that's rough. I wish it was enough that they could have something more substantial.

[Mike Ferguson]

Yeah, I mean, it was 2001. I mean, DNA technology in 2001 wasn't what it is now in 2026. They can do a lot more now with less than they could back then. The Charlie Project reports that cat hairs were also found on the bed cover. Patty owned cats, and her vet determined the hair came from her cat.

[Mike Gibson]

Okay. I mean, we're getting some pretty good information here.

[Mike Ferguson]

Well, yeah, I mean, if this vet is Correct. Then it begs the question, why would Patty's cat's hairs be in the bed of this truck if she was never in it? If they don't know each other.

[Caller John]

Right.

[Mike Ferguson]

I mean, that's kind of hard to imagine. Patty's DNA was not found in the bed of the truck. According to NBC, police interviewed the manager at the Burger King where Patty's boyfriend said he stopped to get food after his shift. The manager said they were not usually busy in the early morning hours, and no one would have had to wait 45 minutes to get their food.

[Mike Gibson]

Exactly. That's B.S. we know that. You know, I think the longest I've ever waited for my food at a Burger King might have been 10 minutes, but I certainly wouldn't have stayed in line or pulled up to the number 1, 2, 3, or 4 spot for and sit there for 45 minutes waiting for a Royale or whatever Burger King's serves.

[Mike Ferguson]

Now, you don't know what kind of sandwiches Burger King has.

[Mike Gibson]

I just thought about it. I think it's a Whopper.

[Mike Ferguson]

Yeah, I think it is. It's definitely not a Royale. I think you're thinking of Pulp Fiction.

[Mike Gibson]

Oh, yeah.

[Mike Ferguson]

But here's the thing, right? We're talking about, what, 12:15, 12:30 in the morning.

[Caller John]

Yeah.

[Mike Ferguson]

Is that peak rush hour at Burger King? I don't think it is.

[Mike Gibson]

So either. But even if, you know, a bunch of Honda workers go there because it's the end of the shift.

[Mike Ferguson]

Yeah.

[Mike Gibson]

One, I don't think they're all going right to Burger King. Right. And I don't think any gain. And nobody's gonna wait that long. You're just not gonna wait that long for that food.

[Mike Ferguson]

Well. And I would trust the manager.

[Caller John]

Right.

[Mike Ferguson]

They're there. They're there a lot. They know how busy things get. And I think they would have said, hey, yeah, around that time, we're always super busy because everybody from Honda goes here. And it can be 30, 45 minutes. No, they didn't say that. Lt. Steers told Nancy Grace in 2011 that the boyfriend did have a cell phone. Investigators pulled his and Patty's records and confirmed they had communication.

[Mike Gibson]

Again, he's lying. Probably because of his wife.

[Mike Ferguson]

Yeah, but it makes him look terrible.

[Caller John]

Right.

[Mike Ferguson]

I don't know her. I hardly know her, I think is what he said at one point. Well, you got a bunch of communication here, Jack. So it's kind of hard to pull the. I don't know this person. However, Steers said they were unsure if he had his phone on him on the Night Patty disappeared. Police didn't have evidence that the boyfriend went to Canada during the shutdown week. Based on statements from people they interviewed, he was at his house that week.

[Mike Gibson]

Which tells me something happened to Patty from the time that she got into the back of the truck and the time that he got home at 2:30.

[Mike Ferguson]

Yeah, and now he could have dealt with it after 2:30. You know, he could have waited till his wife went to sleep, come back out.

[Mike Gibson]

Right.

[Mike Ferguson]

Done something then. But at the very least, you'd have to say, this guy doesn't look good.

[Caller John]

No.

[Mike Ferguson]

The friend who was with him maintained his statement that they got fast food in the early morning hours.

[Mike Gibson]

Yeah, I'm sure they did, but I don't think they waited 45 minutes.

[Mike Ferguson]

I never saw anything where the friend said that they waited 45 minutes. This person only said that they did get food. Police have never been able to track down the duffel bag that Patty allegedly packed for the trip. Investigators learned that Patty had given her boyfriend about $90,000 in the months leading up to her disappearance.

[Mike Gibson]

Wow.

[Mike Ferguson]

That is a boatload of money. I barely know her, but yet she gave me $90,000. She borrowed money from her retirement account. She also depleted some of her accounts, but according to Marsha, she did not fully max out her 401k and still had some money left in the retirement account. Patty's boyfriend reportedly needed the money to buy out his portion of his side business so that when he got divorced, his wife couldn't touch it. And that maybe makes a little more sense, Right? If Patty and this guy had plans to be together, if he truly was going to divorce his wife, he could have spun some type of story to Patty where he needed this money, and if he didn't get it, you know, his wife was going to take him for all he was worth, or, you know, something along those lines. And then he wouldn't be as set up as he would be when they started their life together.

[Mike Gibson]

Maybe he was being truthful to her about it. Or maybe he was just saying that so he could get that money.

[Mike Ferguson]

His hands on her money?

[Mike Gibson]

Yeah.

[Mike Ferguson]

According to Lt. Steers, Patty's boyfriend took a polygraph and his results showed deception.

[Mike Gibson]

Shocking.

[Mike Ferguson]

The man left the Honda plant and never returned.

[Mike Gibson]

Well, it sounds like maybe he was embarrassed or concerned what other people would think about what type of individual he was. Did he have something to do with her disappearance?

[Mike Ferguson]

I don't know. This probably was a pretty good job.

[Mike Gibson]

Oh, absolutely. It had to be.

[Mike Ferguson]

They made good money.

[Mike Gibson]

Yes.

[Mike Ferguson]

So him leaving, to me Is kind of strange. Now, maybe this side business took off, I don't know.

[Mike Gibson]

Plus the $90,000 that he had of hers.

[Mike Ferguson]

Yeah. But I had a feeling he probably made quite a bit of money.

[Mike Gibson]

Yeah.

[Mike Ferguson]

By mid July, Marysville police Chief Eugene Mayer told the press it's still a missing persons case, but chances dwindle as we go of finding her alive. And that's always true.

[Caller John]

Right.

[Mike Ferguson]

I mean, unfortunately, the facts are the longer the case goes, the less chance it's going to be that you're going to find this person alive.

[Mike Gibson]

Yeah, definitely. The longer it goes, the more unlikely it is that she'll be found alive.

[Mike Ferguson]

Mayer also said there have been lots of interviews and a lot of searching. By August 17, 2001, authorities said that a woman's body found by a farmer on August 16th was not Patty Adkins. The woman's body had been badly burned and wrapped in plastic. Examiners estimated that the woman died two to six weeks earlier from a massive skull fracture on the right side of her head. So it's sad because someone else died.

[Mike Gibson]

Right.

[Mike Ferguson]

But you have to believe that authorities were very interested in this, thinking that this could potentially be Patty.

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[Mike Ferguson]

But six months after Patty went missing, the police still had no solid leads. Police chief Eugene Mayer said, per the Marysville Journal Tribune. We're still actively working on the case. All of us hoped if there was any foul play that the farmers would find her when they went out to harvest or the hunters would find her when they went out. And obviously no one has found her yet.

[Mike Gibson]

Well, we know it can be very difficult to find a body. How many times have we covered cases where they looked right in the area where a body was found years later? They just didn't see it because the way it was laying in some brush or the way it was slightly buried, they just didn't find it then. And somebody came across it years later and they went back and said, oh, we did search that area.

[Mike Ferguson]

But I also get what he's saying.

[Caller John]

Right.

[Mike Ferguson]

We have a lot of Farmland here in Ohio, yo.

[Mike Gibson]

We do, yeah.

[Mike Ferguson]

And so, you know, if you were to dispose of a body on a big piece of farmland until whatever that is is cut down, it would be pretty hard to see, pretty hard to find. And then you also have the hunters, and we've seen that often where hunters find bodies because they're often walking in places that a lot of other people don't go.

[Mike Gibson]

I mean, this guy or boyfriend also seems like he was a fisherman, so maybe he knew some lakes or ponds that you could take a body to.

[Mike Ferguson]

But that's the thing, right? They're saying, okay, police still have no solid leads. And I get that. I guess you have to focus in on the word solid.

[Mike Gibson]

Yeah.

[Mike Ferguson]

Because the boyfriend has to be a prime person of interest, I would think, based on all of the information that we've talked about so far. But is that a solid lead? It's suspicious, but depends on what you mean by solid, I guess. In January 2002, two Marion boys found a body in a culvert near the Southland Mall at Barks Road West. But the body was not Patty Adkins. It's also a little scary when you're just finding bodies.

[Mike Gibson]

They found two bodies so far that weren't Patty.

[Mike Ferguson]

The body was identified as 47 year old Michael James Swisher of Marion, who had been missing since September 2001. He was believed to have died of natural causes. Patty's case eventually went cold with seemingly no leads. And there's that statement.

[Caller John]

Right.

[Mike Ferguson]

I get it. They don't really have a great lead.

[Caller John]

Yeah.

[Mike Ferguson]

But they do have a person of interest.

[Mike Gibson]

Pretty solid one, I would think.

[Mike Ferguson]

But they're not talking about him a lot, you know, as we're going through the research. Yeah, they talked about him initially, but then as. As time goes by, they don't really bring him up that much. He just doesn't come up in the, in the reporting.

[Mike Gibson]

You think that's because they feel like they just need to keep an eye on him until he slips up? Or maybe he didn't have anything to do with it.

[Mike Ferguson]

Well, I just don't. I don't think as far as the reporting goes, police had anything to say about him.

[Mike Gibson]

Yeah.

[Mike Ferguson]

So if police don't have anything to say, what is a newspaper going to report on? That's true, right? Nothing. On October 3, 2006, the Union county probate court filed a presumption of death so that Patty's family could organize her estate. Marsha Pitts told the Journal Tribune it was something that needed to be done. We tried to keep it low key at the time. We didn't want much attention on that. It was very difficult for us to go through that process.

[Mike Gibson]

Man, I hope they took that guy to civil court or something to try to get that $90,000 back.

[Mike Ferguson]

Yeah, I didn't see anything about that in the research, but, I mean, they did wait over five years.

[Caller John]

Yeah.

[Mike Ferguson]

And it's got to be such a hard decision to make, you know. Yeah. Eventually, you're going to have to do something with her estate.

[Mike Gibson]

Yeah. I mean, you know, you're going to need some of that money from that estate to help raise her daughter.

[Mike Ferguson]

That's true. And maybe do a memorial for her or, you know, whatever. But you don't want to give up.

[Mike Gibson]

No.

[Caller John]

Right.

[Mike Ferguson]

No family ever wants to say, yeah, we're going to have to finally say that she's most likely dead. In 2009, the show America's Most Wanted covered Patty's case. Police hoped the show would spread the case beyond Ohio. And if there's any show that would do it, America's Most Wanted is that show.

[Caller John]

Sure is.

[Mike Ferguson]

Tons of people watched it. I don't know how popular it was by 2009, but, you know, it was a popular show for many, many years, and it did a lot of good.

[Mike Gibson]

It did.

[Mike Ferguson]

It helped solve a number of cases. Marsha Pitt said the scope of America's Most Wanted brought new hope, adding, I truly believe that somebody has information, somebody that hasn't come forward. I'm happy that Union county has stayed on top of it and has continued to pursue the case.

[Mike Gibson]

And that's great. Right. Because you don't always hear that in these unsolved cases that the local authorities sometimes have backed down on the case.

[Mike Ferguson]

Well, the other thing that you don't hear a lot is praise from the family for law enforcement for staying on it.

[Caller John]

Yeah.

[Mike Ferguson]

If anything, what we most often hear in unsolved cases is that according to the family, the police just don't care. They're not doing enough.

[Caller John]

Right.

[Mike Ferguson]

We get that a lot. Marsha said that coming to terms with the loss of her sister was difficult, but she said she knew from day one that her sister was probably not alive. And, you know, I guarantee you that was based on the fact that they talked almost every day. She knew her sister. She knew her sister wouldn't leave her daughter, but she also knew that her sister wouldn't just not call her anymore.

[Mike Gibson]

Yeah, exactly.

[Mike Ferguson]

Everything that was happening went against the person that her family knew she was. So that is a very bad sign. In their eyes. In 2011, Marsha told Nancy Grace she thought money might be the motive behind Patty's disappearance. According to Marsha, in February 2001, Patty told her boyfriend he needed to start paying her back in July because she had to start making payments on her loan. Three weeks after Patty brought up repayment, the boyfriend mentioned the trip to Canada. Okay. Yeah, we knew that $90,000 was going to come back around, and it did. And this is, to me, a big deal in this case because it provides an incredible motive for the boyfriend maybe to want to murder Patty.

[Mike Gibson]

Yeah, I've got her 90,000. I don't want to pay it back. And if I don't pay her back, she might go tell my wife.

[Mike Ferguson]

Yes, there's a number of motives. Right. I mean, you could see a scenario where this guy had no plans of leaving his wife. He possibly was stringing Patty along. Maybe he enjoyed being with her, but. And he didn't want that to end. But he wasn't going to leave his wife once he gets the $90,000 and then is told he has to start paying it back. I'm right with you. First of all, he doesn't want to pay it back because who wouldn't love to just keep $90,000? And secondly, if he knows he doesn't start to pay it back, she could potentially talk to his wife. His whole world could blow up.

[Mike Gibson]

Sure it could.

[Mike Ferguson]

Those are definitely motives for murder.

[Mike Gibson]

Yeah. And depending on his position at Honda, his job could be in jeopardy.

[Mike Ferguson]

Yeah, that's true as well. We know they were co workers. We don't really know where they were is in terms of did they work in the same unit? Was she actually a subordinate of his, which would play a big factor maybe into things.

[Mike Gibson]

Sure would.

[Mike Ferguson]

I still think it's strange that he left Honda again. There could be a number of reasons for it, some that we. That we talked about, but that is not a job that people give up easily.

[Mike Gibson]

Typically, they stay because it's a good

[Mike Ferguson]

job in that area. Yeah, a very good job. Union County Sheriff Jamie Patton provided a case update to the Marysville Journal Tribune in 2016. He noted that Patty's information was uploaded to every national missing person's database and said, I think we've covered everything even remotely possible to. To have the information out beyond the county lines and beyond Ohio's borders. Law enforcement believes that eventually someone will come forward with a key piece of information or that Patty's body will be found and investigators can conduct forensic testing. And that would be huge. Right. Finding the body might allow for some additional evidence, maybe on cause of death, manner of death. Maybe there's some clothing, maybe there's some DNA on the clothing. If it's still there, we don't know.

[Mike Gibson]

Or maybe just the location where she's found.

[Mike Ferguson]

Well, that could. Yeah, yeah. I mean, obviously if they would have found her under this guy's freshly poured concrete, yeah, that would have kind of been a no brainer. In June 2016, Marsha told the news outlet WCMH, I don't have any hope that my sister's alive. I knew when she didn't return that she wasn't alive. But I have hope that justice will happen, that someone will be held accountable for her death. That same year, Patty's daughter Michaela Adkins spoke for the first time about the case and, and how life has been growing up without her mom. She told WSYX, it's been a challenge growing up going through 15 mother's days without a mom, 15 birthdays without a mom. She didn't remember much about the days after her mom was reported missing and all the media attention surrounding her disappearance. At the time of her interview, Michele was 22 years old and attending grad school at Kent State. She said, I think my mom would be proud, absolutely. But that's heartbreaking, you know, to think she was seven years old and then she gives this interview and at that point she's 22 years old. 15 mother's days, 15 birthdays. She's going to obtain a graduate degree from Kent State, which means she already got her bachelor's. Her mom wasn't there for any of that?

[Caller John]

No.

[Mike Ferguson]

Not to mention just the daily advice and help and just everything that comes with, you know, having a, your parent in your life. She missed out on all of it.

[Mike Gibson]

Yeah, terrible.

[Mike Ferguson]

She expressed her hope that someone would come forward one day. She said, we want closure. I hope someone will let us know what happened.

[Mike Gibson]

I think that's the best thing that she can hope for, is that somebody knows something that will finally just come forward and say, hey, you know, I know what happened that night.

[Mike Ferguson]

Yeah, it's probably the only thing she's going to be able to, the family's going to be able to get right now at this point in 2023. Lieutenant Steers told Dateline that they needed evidence beyond a reasonable doubt to make an arrest. Steers also said about Patty's boyfriend, we follow up on every lead and every person that's mentioned to us as much as we can, but he is the primary suspect, of course, and that's what

[Mike Gibson]

he's trying to say. We could arrest him, but we need something beyond a reasonable doubt to get a conviction. Yeah, right.

[Mike Ferguson]

And you don't want to go to trial and have this guy get off.

[Mike Gibson]

Exactly.

[Mike Ferguson]

And then never be able to maybe be tried for it again. But I think that statement is very telling because it means they have evidence. They just need more.

[Mike Gibson]

Right.

[Mike Ferguson]

They just don't have exactly what they need. In 2025, it was reported that an investigator with the Union county prosecutor's office had been assigned full time to Patty's case. And that's amazing.

[Mike Gibson]

It is.

[Mike Ferguson]

And we are seeing that a little bit, you know, more and more with some of the cold case units and things like that. But even then, I don't know how often someone is assigned full time. The cold case unit might have, you know, many more cases than what they have unit members. This is a big deal, and sometimes

[Mike Gibson]

I think you have to do that so they can take the case from the very beginning and go through every step all the way through. Did we miss anything? Is there anything that we need to follow up on? What can we do to get to the answers that we need?

[Mike Ferguson]

Yeah, I think a lot of times the best course of action is just to go back and try to. To reinvestigate, talk to everyone again. Now, not everybody's going to be alive.

[Mike Gibson]

That's true.

[Mike Ferguson]

And you may not be able to find everybody, but a lot of times I think that's what they try to do. Union county sheriff Mike justice refrained from speculating on what happened to Patty without solid evidence, saying, right now we have a missing person. I'm not going to commit that. It's one of foul play. It's strictly a missing person. Union county prosecutor David Phillips added, it's a cold case, and he's going to take the evidence that we have, finding where the errors or holes that need to be filled and try to fill those. The additional manpower will was added soon after an online petition asked for the prosecutor to present the case to a grand jury. Phillip said this wouldn't be an appropriate step at this point, given the status of the evidence. And I get all of it. I get the family, I get the public wanting this case solved. And I'm thinking, you know, they're saying, hey, take it before a grand jury.

[Caller John]

You.

[Mike Ferguson]

You know, we think we know who it is. Right.

[Caller John]

Right.

[Mike Ferguson]

I think the police do, too.

[Mike Gibson]

Yep.

[Mike Ferguson]

I think they. They believe it's this guy, but they want to be sure. And. And I don't blame them for that. If you don't have the evidence, you don't have the evidence.

[Mike Gibson]

Yeah, and you can't risk going to trial on that.

[Mike Ferguson]

June 29, 2026 marked 25 years since Patty went missing. Union county authorities and and central Ohio crime stoppers continue to seek new information to locate Patty. No one has heard from or seen Patty Atkins since June 29, 2001. Foul play is suspected in her disappearance. Patty was legally declared dead in 2011. She would be 54 years old if she was still alive today, just a

[Mike Gibson]

year older than you.

[Mike Ferguson]

No arrests have ever been made in connection with Patty's disappearance. Anyone with information about this crime is asked to call the Union County Sheriff's office at 937-645-4110, Crime Stoppers at 614-461-tips or visit stopcrime.org and submit your tip online.

[Mike Gibson]

Hey, look, if you were around this area at that time and you can think of anything, anything, no matter how small, that would be helpful. Call them, Tell them. And if you know this individual that seems to be a person of interest and you know, anything strange, weird about his actions or something in his life that could help out, no matter how small or crazy it might be, go ahead and call them.

[Mike Ferguson]

Yeah, it would be great if somebody knows something or remembers something and calls in. You know, as we wrap this one up, Gibbs, I think this is very different from a lot of unsolved cases we. Do you know this boyfriend, whoever he is? We don't have his name. It wasn't in the research, and we wouldn't say it even if we did because it wouldn't be right. There is so much smoke that, for me, it's hard to believe there's not some fire there, that he didn't have something to do with Patty's disappearance. I would be shocked, to be honest with you.

[Mike Gibson]

I wonder if his wife is still with him.

[Mike Ferguson]

Yeah, I don't know. I couldn't find anything on that either.

[Mike Gibson]

Yeah.

[Mike Ferguson]

Now, obviously, it would have come out at some point, right? She would have known.

[Mike Gibson]

Yeah, of course she would. But would she be that type of person that stays with her husband? Because why not? He made a mistake, and I forgive him, and I'm gonna stick with him.

[Mike Ferguson]

Well, and some people do.

[Mike Gibson]

Sure.

[Mike Ferguson]

Now, the other thing that you could have happen is a wife turn on a husband. Yes, but there's a. There's a very good chance she has no idea if it's true, that she had no idea that the affair was going on. She could legitimately have no idea what happened to Patty. In fact, it would be in his interest. It would have been in his interest to keep her completely in the dark, which I think he did.

[Mike Gibson]

Yeah, I think so too, but I

[Mike Ferguson]

just don't know, you know, what would have happened. But I think you said it earlier, it does seem like if he did something to her, it would have had to have happened most likely from the time that maybe he dropped the co worker off to the time that he went into the house at 2:30am yeah,

[Mike Gibson]

there was a good gap of time there.

[Mike Ferguson]

There was now, like I said, he could have come back out later after his wife went to bed or something along those lines and disposed of her body. I don't know. But she would have most likely have been either severely incapacitated or dead at that point.

[Mike Gibson]

Yeah, and he had that cover on until July 8th. So really anytime from the 29th to the July 8th, he could have had the body underneath that cover and picked his time to dispose of the body.

[Mike Ferguson]

Although I sincerely doubt he had it under there until July 8th because you're talking about July. Even in Ohio. It gets very hot in July.

[Mike Gibson]

Very hot.

[Mike Ferguson]

But I don't know, somebody. It's going to probably take, you know, obviously some big piece of breaking evidence or somebody would with knowledge coming forward.

[Mike Gibson]

Yeah, I hope somebody does.

[Mike Ferguson]

I hope somebody does as well. But that's it for our episode on Patty Atkins. We got a voicemail. You want to check that out?

[Mike Gibson]

Let's hear

[Caller John]

John, your most avid caller from Oregon. Sorry I blow your phone up all the time and I have to apologize a little. A little late for that. But I'm mobile. I should probably send emails, but I'm mobile all the time so it's easier to call into David Bander here. And I just want. I don't think this guy's in it or anything like that. But I just wanted to say that the sunrise time is a little misleading given that there's a point before the sun has officially rise where the sky lights up. It is somewhat visible. And if you're walking around a kind of like serene, the sky's coming up over or the sun's coming up over the mountain, you know, it's. It's a little misleading, that's all. Otherwise that guy's a piece of shit and deserved whatever he and happened to him. As for dodo birds, they're a really stupid bird and they would have brought them. Brought their own extinction. Humans had nothing to do with it. And always beware of a man who raises pigs. That is all. Goodbye.

[Mike Ferguson]

I always get a kick out of John's voice mouth so that was a TCAT episode but I'm playing it on unsolved.

[Mike Gibson]

Yeah, was funny but yeah, his his

[Mike Ferguson]

voice voicemails are always funny and yet somehow also informative.

[Mike Gibson]

Very.

[Mike Ferguson]

Which is a great combination. All right buddy, that is it for another episode of True Crime. All the Time Unsolved. So for Mike and Gibby, stay safe and keep your own time. Tick.

[Mike Gibson]

Sam.

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