What Happened to William and Margaret Patterson?
William Durrell Patterson and Margaret M. Patterson were a married couple that lived in El Paso, Texas. It is unknown when Margaret was born, though it is assumed that she was born around 1915. According to the Doe Network, William, also known as Pat, was born on July 23rd, 1904. William is described as having been white, 5'11, 200 pounds, with gray hair. He dressed well, wore expensive jewelry, and was known among his friends for wanting the best in life. Margaret was 5'4", 110 pounds, with red hair, she had a petite build. Margaret's maiden name was Keifer, and she was nicknamed Tillie as a child. Allegedly she had grown up in Owensboro, Kentucky.
Margaret was 42, and William 52 at the time of their disappearance.
Allegedly, the Pattersons moved to El Paso in 1940 from Dallas. They built up their business and during the war, William sold nylon stockings that he smuggled from Mexico on the black market.
The couple lived on the 3000 block of Piedmont Drive (or Avenue, or Street, depending on the source) in El Paso. On the night of March 5th, or even the early morning of the 6th, the two left their home without any indication that they'd be gone for more than a few hours.
When the house was examined, it was found to be in disarray, with the dishes unwashed, underwear and a pair of Margaret's stockings on a bed, and other indications that the Pattersons did not know they were going to be leaving for a long time. The couple had an orange tabby named Tommy, that they left behind. Tommy was considered to have Margaret's most precious possession, with neighbors saying that they fed him caviar. Their items were left behind at the house, and there wasn't a sign of a struggle.
People that knew the Pattersons told authorities in the 50's that the couple left to go on an extended vacation to Florida, and later weren't going to be coming back. A friend of the couple reported them missing five months later on August 15th, 1957. A neighbor said that she was at their house the night they disappeared, offering Girl Scout Cookies, and that Mrs. Patterson seemed very upset that the neighbor was there, they also noted unusual activity from the Patterson's later that night. The neighbor stated that this was the first time that they had tried to talk to the Pattersons, since they tended to keep to themselves. William was described as always coming across 'mean and unfriendly'.
The Pattersons left without disconnecting their utilities, telling the post office whether to stop or forward their mail, without stopping their newspaper delivery, storing their fur coats, or even boarding their cat Tommy.
El Paso authorities convened an inquest to look for the whereabouts of the couple, but it failed to find them.
Allegedly, before the couple disappeared, they had dinner one night with a friend named Cecil Ward and his wife. After eating, William and Cecil went to the garage to apply a coat of acrylic to the wooden boat William was building. Apparently William mentioned nothing about a trip, and they had even talked about plans for later that week. Cecil stated, "He talked about what we would do on the boat the other nights during the week, and about plans for fishing and doing a lot of other things in the spring and summer.". Cecil's wife stated that "Margaret never mentioned anything at all about plans for a trip.".
Cecil Ward owned a business as a mechanic. On the morning of March 6th, Ward was surprised that the Patterson's Cadillac was still in the driveway. Doyle Kirkland, rival business owner to William but friend, went into Cecil Ward's shop and asked him to service the car. There was apparently a broken horn ring on the steering wheel. That same week, Cecil Ward wanted his electric sander back which William had used. Ward called William's store, though didn't talk to him directly. When the sander was returned to Ward, it was brought over by Doyle Kirkland.
The Pattersons owned the Patterson Photo Supply near downtown El Paso. They also owned an interest in a high end boat company, property in Guaymas, Mexico, a boat, and a Cadillac. Associates told the police that William wrote instructions and sent them on how he wanted to dispose of his business and private properties.
On March 15th of that year, their accountant, Herbert Roth, got a telegram with instructions on how to manage the couples' assets. The telegram was called in to a Western Union office in Dallas from a pay phone near the Love Field Airport. The telegram was signed 'W.H. Patterson', despite William's initials being 'W.D.Patterson'. An officer has stated that it is very possible that the employee who took the message at Western Union may have messed up though.
Herbert Roth was also told to cancel the hotel reservations that the couple made in Washington D.C. (they were originally going to attend a National Photographer's Association that spring), rent out the Patterson home for nine months, to sell a mobile home that they owned and use the proceeds to support the store, and have Doyle Kirkland manage the store. There wasn't any evidence that the couple did or did not go to the photography convention.
Doyle Kirkland owned the rival business of Duffy Photo Service, also of El Paso. He was William's friend, and the last person to see them alive at their house before they vanished. Kirkland was helping William work on his boat in the garage. Allegedly, the note also stated (or it was the letter sent on May 29th, 1957 from Laredo, Texas) to distribute his properties and assets to his business auditor, and a 24 year old employee, Arthur Moreno. Moreno was to given their home and furniture; Kirkland got the vacation cabin, tools, boats, and William's Cadillac. It is considered unusual for William to left his businesses with these people, because he still had family living, such as his father and sister. As far as I know, the couple never had kids, and nothing ever mentions if they ever wanted any.
William is known to have been having an affair at the time before his disappearance. William was seen in Juarez, Mexico with 20 year old Estefana Arroyo Marfin. He got into an argument at a bar or night club, because Estefana wasn't being served, the argument was de-escalated though.
When the couple vanished, Estefana Marfin stated that before William disappeared, he told her that, "when they come for me, I'll have to go in a hurry", but she later recanted this statement.
There were several sightings of the couple in Mexico, but the sheriffs were unable to confirm these. For example, in 1959, Sheriff Bob Bailey traveled to Valle del Bravo to check on a report of a sighting of the couple, but came back empty handed. Allegedly a sheriff also went to Mexico City to look for them, where at a hotel workers identified the couple having stayed for 7 months in 1957. There was no evidence of the Pattersons having signed into any sort of guestbook though.
Business associates of the Pattersons told authorities that the couple left for an extended vacation to Florida, and then later sent word that they wouldn't be returning.
Months after they disappeared, the Patterson's cat Tommy was found at the home malnourished and filthy, after having wandering away for four months.
In June of 1957, a friend of William's said that he had lied to friends stating that he'd been in touch with William, stating that William asked him at one point that if he were to ever disappear, to make it sound like he was alright and would return soon. Doyle Kirkland claimed that he'd been awakened in the middle of the night of March 5th or 6th by a call from someone claiming to be William. The person stated that he and Margaret were going away for a while, and Kirkland stated that he had been so sleepy, he couldn't confirm if it was really William's voice or not. The Patterson's lawyer testified to the letter that he got.
The Pattersons were very secret about their previous life. Many people did not even know Margaret's birthday, and many couldn't ever get much out of the couple's background, no-one knew how they met or even when they were married. Allegedly Margaret had six siblings that all lived in the midwest who were later located after her disappearance. Margaret had left home at an early age and worked as a hostess at one point in the Hotel Vendome in Evansville, Indiana. Her family disapproved of William, and made her make a choice to choose either them or him, and she chose William. In 1957 they hadn't heard from Margaret in over 20 years, and assumed that she was dead.
As as I know from articles, at the time of disappearance, William's only family was his father and a sister that never seemed to have been interviewed. William's father, Luther Patterson, stated that William "made his living doing sleight of hand tricks" and had "taken off before". But after several years passed without hearing from his son, he changed his mind and stated that he thought William was dead.
In 1984, the case was reopened when a man named Reynaldo Nangaray came to authorities telling them what he saw. An illegal immigrant at the time, he was hired to clean the house after the couple vanished. He stated that he saw blood under and around the water heater in the garage, and a piece of human scalp on the propeller of the Patterson's boat. He found a pair of jeans with a Rolex watch that belonged to William, and he said that he saw one of Patterson's associates remove bloody sheets from the home, and put them inside the trunk of a car. The reason he did not come to police sooner was because he undocumented, though when he did come to law enforcement, he was a US citizen. Two years after coming forth to law enforcement, he died in a car accident.
In 1989, the sheriff's office took a statement from a woman in Colorado that knew the Pattersons several years before they were reported missing, but it did not advance the investigation.
William and Margaret were legally declared dead in 1964. After their disappearance, the house that they lived at was rumored to be haunted.
The case is still considered open to this day, and there do not seem to be any memorials for them anywhere. Allegedly, Doyle Kirkland left El Paso in the 1960's, and police never heard of him since.
Investigating Agency: El Paso Sheriff's Department [915-538-2291]
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[THEORIES]
There are quite a few theories as to what happened to the couple when they disappeared.
1. William Killed Margaret and ran
2. Margaret killed William and Ran
3. The couple were murdered by any of the people that inherited their stuff
4. The couple were government spies from a foreign country that fled to Mexico (or anywhere else)
5. The couple were kidnapped
6. They just left it all to start a new life
7. They were abducted by aliens
I'll start with the smallest points first.
Alien Abduction: There's nothing out there that reallys seems to suggest this, I've only read articles that mention this passingly, but considering the mid century association with sci-fi weirdness, I can see where this proposal came from. To me, this is about as strong a contention as Jim Sullivan being abducted by aliens. There's really nothing to prove it, or disprove it. Maybe William was an alien.
Left to start a new life: This is a contention that seems to have more strength to it, though there seems to be one problem. If they started a new life, wouldn't there have been proof of the couple having used their social security numbers for years after leaving El Paso? Granted, this doesn't mean that they didn't decide to start a new life in a whole other country, which is still possible. I haven't read anything saying whether their social security numbers were ever proven to be used or unused after disappearing. This could still be a possibility, even if it were one person leaving the other behind after a murder, since back then people could rather easily leave their money in various offshore accounts.
They were kidnapped: This seems plausible, though at the same time too feels a bit far fetched. If we were to completely ignore the information from 1984 about the blood, it just seems weird that they'd be kidnapped without any sort of ransom or note sent to the media about getting something for taking the couple.
They were murdered: There are people that think that both William and Margaret were murdered, more than likely by any of the people that inherited the stuff from them. Now, in conjunction with a kidnapping, this seems plausible. It is odd that non family members would inherit items from the Pattersons, but at the same time too, Margaret's family cut off all ties with her and thought that she was dead. The couple didn't have any offspring, and it didn't even seem like William was close to his own family. But even still, I personally doubt the possibility that they were both murdered for their stuff, when you think about all of the letters and telegrams that William supposedly sent to his lawyer. It seems like a very elaborate ruse that would require someone traveling all the way to Dallas from El Paso, and then at some point going all the way to Laredo just to send a letter. That's hours of traveling just to throw someone off.
One Spouse Killed Another: Personally, I think that this is a very big possibility. When I first read about this case, I thought that it sounded a lot like Margaret was in an abusive relationship. Her being cut off from her family for decades, her alcohol abuse, William seeming like a cold man, then having an affair on her, I was pretty convinced. I can see it going either way. Maybe Margaret had had enough of her cheating husband and did him in, or perhaps William killed Margaret and gave away all his things so other people would get their finger prints on his old stuff. Perhaps he wanted to run away to Mexico and start a life with Estefana. Thinking about how there was a scalp on the boat, and blood on some sheets that were then hidden in someone's car, someone must have gotten murdered somewhere. If the story is true of course. There is the belief that if they were killed in any way possible, they could have also been buried around the mountains behind their house.
I looked for unidentified peoples located in the El Paso area, and there weren't any cases even remotely close to the Patterson's. In fact, the earliest unidentified body was from the early 90's I believe. Some people believed that the couple never left at all, and their bodies were buried on or around the plot of the house, but there hasn't ever been any evidence of this either.
There is the idea that a John Doe from Colton, California may have been William. This doe was found on June 18th, 1964, and is estimated to have died about 2 weeks before being found. He was a white male anywhere from 5'6-5'8, 140-160 pounds, with grey balding hair. He was edentulous except for one lower molar. The doe was found in a grey plaid shirt, two pairs of grey or green pants, brown lace boots, blue socks, a gray cap, and a tan jacket. A Hamilton Watch Company watch case was found, and a leather key case that had the initials WDP. There are no exclusions to his case.
[http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/1628umca.html ]
They were spies: This may sound like the most crack pot theory, but I actually believe this one the most. Initially, I thought that maybe one of the spouses killed the other, but the more I looked for public information on the couple, the more confused I became. If you remember, the couple were very private about their past, usually keeping to themselves. Not much is known about their early lives despite William coming from Illinois, Margaret from Kentucky, and that they had hard childhoods.
When I tried to search for any sort of census records for either person, I found absolutely nothing. now, we don't know Margaret's birthday, but she is believed to have been born around 1915. William's alleged birth is listed above, but I doubt the veracity of that also. I looked for any sort of information about William being any census record from what would have been the 1910 to the 1940...and nothing. I searched the same for Margaret, and there was never a single result. I even searched up Margaret by her maiden name, in her alleged home state of Kentucky, and still never found any record of her. There is no record of their marriage, no record of birth, nothing. I am extremely suspicious of Margaret even having siblings, since there is no other source for this information other than the Charley Project, and there isn't a link to anything else saything that.
Even further, William's father is listed as 'Luther Patterson', who was 75 at the time of William's disappearance. Simple math tells us that this man would have been born around 1882, give or take a year for a late birthday. Articles state that William came from Chicago, and yet when I looked up any census record for Luther in Illnois, there was no such person. There was not even a record showing the birth of William, if he had even been born in Illinois to begin with. I looked for any sort of memorial for Luther Patterson on find a grave, and there is not anything that fits the area or time period that he would have came from either. Let's not forget that William supposedly had a sister, and yet we have never heard of a word from her. On top of that, William's own family did not report him missing, a neighbor did.
While it seems far fetched, even Sheriff Leo Samaneigo believes in this theory. He is quoted as saying, "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 that they had seen Patterson take photographs of Fort Bliss and military shipments on trains that came here.".
Though I admit, FBI Special Agent Art Werge stated that he couldn't find any info in the agency's files that go back that far indicating whether the Pattersons ever came under surveillance for suspected espionage. I don't think that the spy theory is too far off though, when you consider the time period that this was in. Just four years prior, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed by the United States after being convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage with the USSR. WWII was not that long ago, and it was the cold war era. In fact, this was just at the end of what is considered the second Red Scare, which itself was from 1947-1957.
What really drives this idea for me is that, despite William having worked as a Carnie in Chicago, he somehow had the money to own a business and have luxurious items in his home. Allegedly Tommy the cat ate cavier, they owned fur coats, and even had a Cadillac. What I want to know is, where did the Patterson's get their money?
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[ANECDOTES]
After the Pattersons disappeared, the city of El Paso had many rumors of the old house being haunted. There were rumors that both or at least the ghost of Margaret haunted their home. Sheriff Samaniego stated, "When I was a city patrolman, the house on Piedmont was in my district. 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 lived there.".
There are stories from people online claiming to have lived in the house, back when it was rented out. Not all knew the history behind the house, but all stories come back to the same line, that it was creepy. Interestingly enough, when rented out, the items left behind by the Pattersons were still in the house when various families lived in it, clothes and all.
On the kiss.fm website, there is audio of an investigation that Henry Flores performed years ago. There is audio that seems to capture a woman's cry.
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[CONCLUSION]
Unfortunately, I think that this case is much too old, and way too vague to ever solve. I find it curious that the house was left to be leased with literally all of their things left in it. I wonder if or why police didn't seem to go through their items for clues. Where did they even get their pictures of the couple? There are so many points here that do not make any sense, sometimes it feels like they could have been spies, other times they could have been murdered by Doyle Kirkland. I don't think that this is a case where we'll ever know the truth.
[SOURCES]
http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/4021dmtx.html
http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/2758dftx.html
https://charleyproject.org/case/margaret-m-patterson
https://www.elpasotimes.com/story/news/local/2017/03/06/el-paso-familys-disappearance-remains-mystery/98702680/
https://charleyproject.org/case/william-durrell-patterson
https://elpasotimes.typepad.com/morgue/2009/03/48-years-many-theories-no-leads-still-missing.html
https://the-line-up.com/william-and-margaret-patterson
https://kisselpaso.com/haunted-el-paso-patterson-house/
https://www.websleuths.com/forums/threads/tx-william-52-margaret-patterson-42-el-paso-5-march-1957.34297/
https://malefactorsregister.com/wp/if-the-cat-could-talk-what-a-tale-he-could-tell/
