48 years, many theories, no leads. Still missing

January 29, 2005

By Diana Washington Valdez
El Paso Times

The disappearance of William and Margaret Patterson has been a mystery to the police and El Paso for nearly 50 years. It has inspired urban legends, wild stories of espionage and even tales of UFO abductions.

Their old house in the 3000 block of Piedmont was known by generations of El Pasoans as the "haunted house." Over the years, several theories emerged to explain what happened to them: They were kidnapped, they met with foul play, they left everything behind to start a new life elsewhere, they were spies or they were abducted by space aliens.

Now the mystery has taken another turn: The El Paso sheriff's and police departments are taking a new look at the case, which began in March 1957.

"We're assembling all the information in our files and archives," said Sgt. Jim Belknap of the sheriff's Crimes Against Persons unit. "At some point, we will get together with the Police Department people again, lay out everything we have, see what we have and figure out where we can go from there."

Representatives of the El Paso County Sheriff's Department and the El Paso Police Department met during the past week to discuss the possibility of working together to solve the case, which has baffled law enforcement for nearly half a century.

"We're willing to follow any leads that might help to solve this case," said Carlos Carrillo, a missing persons detective for the Police Department. He said Detective Darrel Petry and police spokesman Javier Sambrano are helping him.

Theories of espionage

"I think they were spies," El Paso County Sheriff Leo Samaniego said. "The way they got up and just walked away and left everything behind. The Russians, or whoever sent them, probably told them to drop everything and go back. Some people said they had seen Patterson take photographs of Fort Bliss and of military shipments on the trains that came here."

The Pattersons owned Patterson Photo Supply near Downtown.

"It was a high-profile case, very unusual," Samaniego said. "The original theory was that they were kidnapped. There was no sign of a struggle. It's like they went out for a walk and never came back."

The Pattersons' disappearance received widespread publicity and became one of El Paso's best known cases.

In their quest to find the couple, El Paso officials sought help from the FBI, Los Angeles Police Department and Mexican authorities, among others.

El Paso FBI Special Agent Art Werge said he couldn't find any information in the agency's files that go back that far to could indicate whether the Pattersons ever came under surveillance for suspected espionage.

Associates of the Pattersons told authorities in the 1950s that the couple left to go on an extended vacation to Florida, and later, that they sent word that they weren't coming back.

Cecil Ward, a friend of the Pattersons, reported the couple missing Aug. 15, 1957, five months after they were last seen in El Paso. Ward filed the report with then-Sheriff Jimmy Hicks.

Court of inquiry

El Paso authorities convened a rare court of inquiry, also known as an inquest, to look into the couple's whereabouts, but the inquiry failed to find them.

According to news archives, Patterson's 75-year-old father, Luther Patterson, traveled from Chicago to El Paso to testify at the court of inquiry.

He said then, "I always knew Pat and Margaret would take off like this some day, but I figured it to be four or five years away. ... They're not dead. ... My boy has done things like this before. ... He made his living doing sleight-of-hand tricks."

However, several years later, after failing to hear from his son, Patterson's father said he suspected the couple was dead.

Adding to the mystery was the fact that Patterson associates told police that William Patterson had sent written instructions on how he wanted to dispose of his business and private properties.

A letter signed "W.D. Patterson" stated that Patterson wanted his properties to be distributed among Doyle D.G. Kirkland, a friend and manager of Duffy's Photo Supply store; Herb Roth, his business auditor; and Art Moreno, an employee of Patterson who was 24 at the time.

Police lost track of Kirkland after he left El Paso, and Ward and Roth have died. Moreno, who is on vacation out of the country, was unavailable for comment.

At some point, sheriff's Sgt. Belknap said, a signature on one of the letters Patterson allegedly sent was challenged.

Belknap said it was unusual for Patterson to leave his property to those people, considering that he had at least two living relatives at the time, his father and a sister.

Besides the Patterson Photo Supply store in Downtown, Patterson also owned an interest in a high-end boat company, property in Guaymas, Mexico, the house, a boat and a Cadillac.

A girlfriend

During the initial investigation, police interviewed Patterson's alleged 20-year-old girlfriend, Estefana Arroyo Marfin, who lived in Juárez.

She said she last saw William Patterson early March 6, 1957, and said that he told her he had important things to tell her, and that "when they come for me, I'll have to go in a hurry." Belknap said she recanted her statement later.

Ward was the last person to talk to Margaret Patterson, who reportedly had a drinking problem. And Kirkland, they said, was the last person who was at the Patterson house before the couple vanished.

"Kirkland was helping Patterson work on (Patterson's) boat in the garage at the house," said Freddie Bonilla, a former homicide detective who now works as a private investigator. "I can't believe they just took off. They left their house, business, money and their cat. I heard they fed their cat caviar."

The feline turned up when new tenants leased the house.

Several sightings

Several sightings of the couple were reported in Mexico and the United States, but sheriff's officials said they were never able to confirm any of them.

Bonilla suspects that the Pattersons were killed. In 1984, when he was a sheriff's captain, a new witness emerged who gave credence to that theory. His name was Reynaldo Nangaray.

Bonilla, who also was a homicide detective for the El Paso Police Department, said the case was reopened quietly. "I wanted to take the case to a grand jury and get an indictment," he said.

"Nangaray told us he found blood in (the Pattersons') garage and a piece of human scalp on the propeller of Patterson's boat. He found a pair of jeans with a Rolex watch that belonged to Patterson, and said he also saw one of Patterson's (associates) remove bloody sheets from the home and put them inside the trunk of a car," Bonilla said. "He did not talk to police sooner because he was an illegal immigrant at the time, but when he came to see us, he was a U.S. citizen."

Two weeks ago, current residents of the Piedmont house allowed Bonilla to look over the property and photograph the exterior and garage. He has never lost the desire to solve the case.

Nangaray died in a car accident two years after giving his statement to the Sheriff's Department. Belknap confirmed that Nangaray's statement is on file.

Bonilla said his employment contract with the Sheriff's Department was not renewed in 1985, and he thinks the investigation lost steam after that.

Ghost stories

The mystery also fueled rumors that ghosts of the Pattersons haunted their former home. Another detective in the early investigation suspected that their bodies might be there, according to news archives.

"When I was a city patrolman, the house on Piedmont was in my district," Samaniego said. "I would get a hundred calls ... all these kids would stop by the house because they thought the house was haunted, and they would scare this poor old lady who (once) lived there."

Frank Manning, a former chief sheriff's deputy, was in charge of the earlier investigation in the 1950s. Former El Paso County Sheriff R.L. "Bob" Bailey told the El Paso Herald-Post that "at one time Frank thought maybe the bodies were buried right there in or under the house, but he could never find any evidence of it."

Timeline

1957

• Couple disappears March 5 or 6, 1957.

• Business associates tell the public they went on an extended vacation to Florida.

• Cecil Ward, a friend, files a missing persons report in August with Sheriff Jimmy Hicks.

• Authorities convene a court or inquiry, or inquest, to investigate the Pattersons' whereabouts.

1959

• Sheriff R.L. "Bob Bailey" traveled to Valle del Bravo in the state of Mexico to check on a reported sighting of the couple. He was unable to confirm it.

1984

• Sheriff's office reopens the case quietly. Detective Freddie Bonilla interviews a man who claims he cleaned blood from the Patterson's garage and saw one of the Patterson's associates remove bloody sheets from the home. Bonilla was hoping to take the case to a grand jury for an indictment.

1989

• Sheriff's office takes a statement from a woman in Colorado who knew the Pattersons several years before they were reported missing. It does not advance the investigation.

Theories

Over the years, speculations on what happened to the Pattersons have ranged from the serious to the outlandish. Some of the theories and legends their 1957 disappearance have inspired:

• They were kidnapped.

• They left everything behind to start a new life elsewhere.

• They were spies and had to leave suddenly.

• They met with foul play.

• He killed her intentionally or accidentally and left town.

• She killed him intentionally or accidentally and left town.

• They were abducted by UFOs.

• Their spirits haunt their old house in the 3000 block of Piedmont.

Comments

[Lola]

Why hasn't Cold Cases looked into this disappearance? It would make for a great TV Cold Case file.

[Betty Guillen]

Back in the mid sixties my family rented the Patterson home unaware of it's history. We were originally from El Paso but my father's career toke us to Los Angeles for a few years. When we moved back to El Paso I was 13 and my brother was 10. My father worked for the Southern Pacific RR and worked nights so obviously he slept during the day. My Mother worked the usual 9 to 5. As most families we were all too busy to really communicate with each other all the time so we made our Dad's days off our "family time". About 3 months into renting the house on Piedmont...we were all talking about how the house was beautiful but weird. Dad slept during the day but he said he could never sleep...he always felt someone in the house...then Mom chimmed in saying she really couldn't sleep either for the low conversations always coming from the den in the semi basement. Yeah, there was this half basement to the house where there was this creepy rectangular window...you could only see peoples feet when they walked by that window. The house was rented furnished and there was a radio in that basement that dated at least to the 30's. Much to my brother and my surprise this radio would go on at weird times for just an instant. Anyway, we moved the the Coronado side of the mountain to the Shadow Mountain apts. and that is really when we all realized we had been sleepless at Piedmont for 3 months. My cousin had an Uncle that was a Detective for the El Paso Police Dept. months later at a family gathering told us about the house and our hair on our necks definetely stood up straight. It has been a great experience just knowing we lived there. Any one from that time would also remember the witches house at the very end of Piedmont at the dead end...we used to go to her door and act liked we knocked and one day she really came out...scared the day lights out of all of us...we used to call them the Moon Worshipers. We all thought they would come out only during full moons and switch houses cuz she also had a daughter that lived in a weird house on Piedmont...the daughter was constantly painting her living room. TRUE STORIES!

[Austin SEO]

This was a long time ago. I'm not sure if this case will be solved. Maybe new technology can add leads. If there are really aliens, then leads could be stopped by the government.

[Betty]

I've been intrigued by this case for many years since I grew up here. It seems by the accounts I just read that they were killed by Kirkland. I don't know if they ever searched the premises for bodies because there is no such mention of it.

As they say, always follow the money and in this case, the beneficiaries of the Patterson's estate.

May the Pattersons rest in peace.

[legitimate paid surveys]

I think this will not be solved after 48 long years. Though there are leads, I think what we can do now is to pray for their souls.

[renamer]

Oh my goodness! What a mystery is that! Is it ever gonna solved anyway!

[Elo Moreno]

It's one of El Paso's great Mysteries....and all i know, is that the time friends of mine and I went....pretty errie.

[Symone Menchaca]

I'm very interested in this story. I'm going to stop by this house and check it out. I might see that witch house too. Does anyone know if the witch house is abandond or occupied? I'm interested in figuring out if this patterson house is haunted or has any paranormal activity. The witch house probably does, but i want to know about the patterson house.

[Betty Guillen]

Symone, I promise you the Patterson home has paranormal activity! If there was ANY way that I could buy the home I would jump at the chance now. I just wish we had been able to buy it back when I lived there. The furniture was so beautiful. The oriental rugs and the creepy den down stairs. It is a wonderful split level home! Betty Guillen