On a mild day in March 1957, William and Margaret Patterson, a wealthy couple from El Paso, Texas, disappeared without a trace, leaving behind their busy photography business, a pet cat and a trail of unanswered questions.
Decades later, their disappearance remains one of the most baffling unsolved mysteries in American history.
“What makes this case so unique are the circumstances surrounding it at the time,” said Sergeant James Belknap of the El Paso Sheriff’s Office.
“The Pattersons went missing and at the time it was unknown if they had engaged in some form of foul play or if they had simply decided that they were leaving El Paso.”
A quiet life in El Paso
William Durrell Patterson, known as Bill, was a successful entrepreneur who owned Patterson Photo Supply, a thriving photography business.
“At the time, [William Patterson] was very prosperous in the community. His business was doing well, his wife stayed home and they traveled a lot,” Belknap said.
His wife, Margaret, was equally respected in the community and was often described as a private but pleasant woman. The Pattersons lived a comfortable life in a modest but well-maintained home on Piedmont Drive and enjoyed the fruits of their hard work and dedication.
According to friends and acquaintances, there was little to indicate that the Pattersons were anything but a typical, contented couple. They had no children and led a relatively quiet social life, preferring to keep to themselves. Yet beneath this veneer of normalcy, something darker seemed to be brewing.
The sudden disappearance
On the evening of March 5, 1957, the Pattersons attended a party at the home of Cecil Ward, a business associate. They seemed cheerful and showed no signs of anxiety or impending trouble.
The next morning, their neighbor, Mrs. Mary McDonald, noticed that the couple’s car, a 1956 Cadillac, was missing. She thought little of it at the time, assuming they had gone on a trip.
As days turned into weeks, concern grew. The couple’s cat was found hungry and unattended, and their business remained closed. Friends and colleagues began to worry.
Tom Hanley, an employee of Patterson Photo Supply, was one of the first to sound the alarm. “It wasn’t like them to just walk away without saying anything, especially when it came to business,” Hanley recalled in an interview.
The El Paso Police Department was soon called to investigate. They found no signs of a struggle in the Pattersons’ home. Personal belongings, including Margaret’s expensive jewelry and William’s camera equipment, were left untouched.
The only clue to their sudden departure was a note left for their housekeeper, asking her to take care of matters in their absence – a note that seemed strangely nonchalant given the circumstances.
“Because no one knows what happened to them, and those rumors and theories, like everything else, just keep growing and growing,” Belknap said.
Theories and speculations
The initial investigation yielded few clues. Police discovered that the couple had withdrawn a significant amount of money from their bank accounts shortly before their disappearance, leading some to speculate that they had left voluntarily. But as time went on, darker theories emerged.
A prevailing theory suggested that the Pattersons had run afoul of criminal elements. El Paso, located on the border with Mexico, was a known hotspot for smuggling and organized crime.
Some speculated that William Patterson, a shrewd businessman, may have been involved in illegal activities or owed money to the wrong people.
Another theory suggested that the pair had been victims of foul play. Friends and acquaintances reported seeing strangers hanging around the Patterson home in the weeks leading up to their disappearance.
One witness, who asked to remain anonymous, claimed to have seen a man in a dark suit enter the Pattersons’ home the night they disappeared.
Then there was the curious case of the Cadillac. Months after the Pattersons disappeared, the car was found abandoned in a parking lot near Dallas, Texas. Despite thorough forensic investigation, no evidence was found that could shed light on the couple’s fate.
Belknap said the theories don’t necessarily hinder the investigation, but the age of the case does pose challenges.
“Unfortunately, many of the people have passed away; they would be in their 80s and 90s at this point,” Belknap said. “That hinders possible leads that have not yet been investigated.”
A search for answers
As the years passed, the case grew colder. However, it has never completely disappeared from public memory. In the 1980s, renewed interest in the case led to the creation of a task force to re-examine the evidence.
Sergeant Jim Clark, a seasoned investigator, took charge of the new investigation. “This case has haunted this department for decades,” Clark said at a news conference. “We owe it to the Pattersons and their family members to find out what really happened.”
The task force uncovered previously overlooked details. For example, an employee of William’s came forward with information about a secret business trip to Mexico that William had talked about shortly before his disappearance.
This revelation added a new layer of complexity to the case, suggesting that the couple may have left the country voluntarily, only to suffer setbacks.
Despite exhaustive efforts, the fate of William and Margaret Patterson remains unsolved.
CBS4 spoke with Belknap in 2017 about the Patterson case and the department said there are no new leads, but the department continues to investigate.
“These types of cases, just like homicide cases, will remain open indefinitely,” Belknap said. “Like any major crime investigator, you will do your due diligence and either get on with it or get to a point where you can eliminate that as a possibility.”
