Thirty-eight-year-old Patrice Endres was a respected businesswoman in her home town of Cummings, Georgia; she had owned a salon called Tamber’s Trim ‘n Tan for eight years.
On the morning of April 15th, 2004, Patrice dropped her son Pistol off at school as she usually did, and then headed to work. Her first appointment was set for nine a.m., and the client arrived about ten minutes early, later noting that Patrice seemed more distracted than normal, as though her mind was elsewhere. This client left the salon at five minutes past eleven, and the next appointment arrived five minutes after that. This individual left the establishment at eleven-twenty-seven a.m.
Less than ten minutes later, Patrice fielded a call from another client who wished to change the time of their scheduled appointment. As stated by the caller, Patrice was uncharacteristically brusque on the phone, and the exchange only lasted two minutes.
According to phone records, the next call came in to the salon at eleven-fifty a.m., but Patrice did not answer it. She had also missed the appointment she had scheduled for eleven-thirty, and a client who arrived at a little past noon phoned police when she found the salon suspiciously empty.
When authorities arrived, they found the cash register open and the money missing. Patrice’s car remained in the lot, albeit situated at an odd angle in a spot where she didn’t normally park. There was no sign of a struggle or a break-in, and although Patrice’s purse and car keys were left on the counter, of Patrice herself, there was no sign. It appeared that Patrice had been preparing to microwave her lunch when her abductor or abductors arrived. Investigators theorized that Patrice vanished at some point between eleven-forty a.m. and twelve-ten p.m.
A witness claimed they had passed the salon that morning and seen a black SUV and a white cargo van blocking the entrance to the establishment, and further spotted a man walking around the side of the van, but the witness later recanted this statement.
Patrice’s fate would remain unknown for more than a year. In the meantime, police searched diligently for her, running down an unknown fingerprint found on her car, which turned out to belong to a mechanic who had done some work on it. They also looked into the possible involvement of Patrice’s husband Rob, but he was able to prove he was at work at the time the crime occurred.
The case stagnated as a frustrating missing persons investigation until December 6th, 2005, when Patrice’s skeletal remains were discovered behind Lebanon Baptist Church, approximately six miles away from the salon. Cause of death has not been confirmed, though authorities noted that Patrice’s distinctive wedding ring was not found with the body. They have released a photo of the ring in the hopes that a member of the public might recognize it.
The mystifying case was featured on the new Unsolved Mysteries series on Netflix, and though three separate serial killers have confessed to killing Patrice Endres, authorities could find no evidence to support these claims. The murder remains unsolved.
Crime Immemorial 