WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.840 --> 00:00:03.759 Welcome back to The Pathwent Chili for this month's bonus 2 00:00:03.759 --> 00:00:07.440 Patreon minisode I'm Robin, I'm Jules. 3 00:00:07.280 --> 00:00:10.800 And I'm Ashley. Let's dive right into this month's case. 4 00:00:11.880 --> 00:00:17.920 April twentieth, nineteen eighty nine, McCone County, Montana. While driving 5 00:00:17.920 --> 00:00:20.920 on the wrong side of a rural highway, thirty seven 6 00:00:21.000 --> 00:00:24.519 year old Patricia Mihan gets into a collision with another car. 7 00:00:25.320 --> 00:00:29.399 After staring blankly at the other vehicle's driver, Patricia walks 8 00:00:29.440 --> 00:00:34.079 out onto the prairie and disappears. During the next few months, 9 00:00:34.240 --> 00:00:38.119 there would be numerous sightings of a disoriented woman resembling Patricia, 10 00:00:38.719 --> 00:00:42.240 leading to speculation that the trauma of the car crash 11 00:00:42.320 --> 00:00:45.439 caused her to develop amnesia and forget who she was, 12 00:00:46.000 --> 00:00:49.840 But in spite of an extensive search, Patricia is never found. 13 00:00:50.920 --> 00:00:54.759 After that The Path Went Chili. So today we are 14 00:00:54.759 --> 00:00:56.719 going to be covering a case which was featured on 15 00:00:56.799 --> 00:01:00.880 Unsolved Mysteries, the nineteen eighty nine disappearance of Patricia Mihan. 16 00:01:01.759 --> 00:01:03.719 This is considered to be one of the most haunting 17 00:01:03.759 --> 00:01:06.680 missing person's cases ever featured on the show because the 18 00:01:06.760 --> 00:01:11.280 victim vanished under such unusual circumstances. After getting into an 19 00:01:11.319 --> 00:01:14.640 accident with another car on a rural highway, Patricia Mihan 20 00:01:14.680 --> 00:01:17.120 approached the other driver and gave her a blank stare 21 00:01:17.200 --> 00:01:21.519 without saying anything, before she walked out onto an open prairie. 22 00:01:21.599 --> 00:01:24.159 That in itself would be creepy enough, but what makes 23 00:01:24.200 --> 00:01:27.640 the situation even more unusual is that the accident took 24 00:01:27.680 --> 00:01:30.719 place nearly four hundred miles away from where Patricia lived, 25 00:01:31.040 --> 00:01:33.120 and no one knows what she was doing there. To 26 00:01:33.159 --> 00:01:36.319 begin with, it seemed apparent that Patricia was suffering from 27 00:01:36.359 --> 00:01:39.319 some serious mental health issues at that time, and there 28 00:01:39.400 --> 00:01:41.439 was fear that the accident may have caused her to 29 00:01:41.480 --> 00:01:44.480 lose her memory and forget who she was. However, that 30 00:01:44.519 --> 00:01:47.120 also meant there was a possibility she was still alive 31 00:01:47.280 --> 00:01:51.519 and aimlessly wandering around somewhere. While most missing persons cases 32 00:01:51.560 --> 00:01:54.560 have eyewitnessed sightings of the victim, the authorities in this 33 00:01:54.719 --> 00:01:58.280 particular case believed that the sightings of Patricia were very credible, 34 00:01:58.680 --> 00:02:01.719 so when the Unsaw Mystery segment originally aired, there was 35 00:02:01.760 --> 00:02:04.480 hope that Patricia might be watching the show and decide 36 00:02:04.480 --> 00:02:08.039 to come forward, but this never happened, and unfortunately, she 37 00:02:08.080 --> 00:02:09.199 has still never been found. 38 00:02:09.919 --> 00:02:13.319 This one's really eerie because she's so far away from home. 39 00:02:13.599 --> 00:02:16.599 Four hundred miles is an incredibly long distance. And then 40 00:02:16.759 --> 00:02:19.080 we know that she was also suffering with mental health 41 00:02:19.080 --> 00:02:22.120 issues prior to the car crash, So then once she's 42 00:02:22.159 --> 00:02:24.599 in this car crash, it does make sense that that 43 00:02:24.639 --> 00:02:29.439 could exacerbate or worsen those effects. And like you said, Robin, 44 00:02:29.520 --> 00:02:32.439 that it makes it probable that she was struggling and 45 00:02:32.439 --> 00:02:35.560 couldn't remember maybe who she was. Maybe she's still alive 46 00:02:35.599 --> 00:02:39.000 wandering around. But it also makes her an incredibly vulnerable 47 00:02:39.120 --> 00:02:43.120 victim for someone who might encounter her realized that she's 48 00:02:43.159 --> 00:02:47.520 not kind of in her own faculty, she's disoriented. It 49 00:02:47.560 --> 00:02:51.120 makes her very vulnerable to other people hurting her as well. 50 00:02:51.319 --> 00:02:53.479 Robin, what was the case we just covered. 51 00:02:53.639 --> 00:02:55.560 The name is eluding me right now, and it was 52 00:02:55.599 --> 00:02:57.280 the one where it was a truck driver and we 53 00:02:57.360 --> 00:03:00.680 theorized maybe there was a mental health condition, but he 54 00:03:00.719 --> 00:03:03.560 walked off into the woods and he was never found. 55 00:03:04.240 --> 00:03:04.400 Uh. 56 00:03:04.520 --> 00:03:06.479 Yes, that was Devin Williams. And he was a guy 57 00:03:06.520 --> 00:03:09.280 who was going on a cross country truck trip because 58 00:03:09.319 --> 00:03:11.360 he was a truck driver, but then came into this 59 00:03:11.520 --> 00:03:14.400 forest in Arizona that was way off his route, and 60 00:03:14.520 --> 00:03:17.400 he left the truck and was started acting very strangely 61 00:03:17.439 --> 00:03:20.039 in front of all these witnesses before he disappeared. And 62 00:03:20.080 --> 00:03:22.919 in that case, they did find a partial skull fragment, 63 00:03:23.000 --> 00:03:26.039 but they were unable to figure out how he died. 64 00:03:26.120 --> 00:03:28.159 But it's been suspected that he had some sort of 65 00:03:28.199 --> 00:03:31.039 unexplained mental health issue that caused him to drive there 66 00:03:31.560 --> 00:03:33.879 before he disappeared and then died of exposure. 67 00:03:36.000 --> 00:03:40.120 Our story begins in Montana in nineteen eighty nine. Our 68 00:03:40.159 --> 00:03:43.719 central figure is thirty seven year old Patricia Mihan, who 69 00:03:43.759 --> 00:03:47.520 originally hails from Pittsburgh but now lives in Bozeman and 70 00:03:47.639 --> 00:03:51.240 is employed as a ranch hand who works with horses. However, 71 00:03:51.360 --> 00:03:55.080 everyone who knows Patricia believes that she has become noticeably 72 00:03:55.120 --> 00:03:59.639 depressed and withdrawn. Even though she loves children and initially 73 00:03:59.680 --> 00:04:03.159 planned to have a career in daycare, Patricia seems saddened 74 00:04:03.199 --> 00:04:05.360 by the fact that she's reached the age where it 75 00:04:05.400 --> 00:04:07.599 may soon wind up being too late for her to 76 00:04:07.639 --> 00:04:11.840 have children of her own. On April nineteenth, Patricia called 77 00:04:11.840 --> 00:04:13.840 her parents to tell them that she was under a 78 00:04:13.840 --> 00:04:17.360 great deal of stress and inquired about the possibility of 79 00:04:17.399 --> 00:04:19.600 moving back home to Pittsburgh to live with them for 80 00:04:19.639 --> 00:04:23.279 a while. Her parents agreed to this, and Patricia scheduled 81 00:04:23.319 --> 00:04:26.360 an appointment with her psychologist for the morning of April 82 00:04:26.439 --> 00:04:30.879 twenty first, in order to discuss the whole change. Patricia 83 00:04:31.000 --> 00:04:33.360 did not like to fly, but her parents did not 84 00:04:33.600 --> 00:04:36.759 like the idea of her driving over eighteen hundred miles 85 00:04:36.800 --> 00:04:39.639 to Pittsburgh, and she agreed to talk about. 86 00:04:39.439 --> 00:04:39.959 It with them. 87 00:04:40.040 --> 00:04:44.680 After her appointment on April twentieth, Patricia called her landlord 88 00:04:44.759 --> 00:04:46.519 to say that she would be gone for a while 89 00:04:46.839 --> 00:04:49.800 before leaving her apartment in Bozeman, and he would later 90 00:04:49.879 --> 00:04:53.160 describe her as sounding very hyper and not making much sense. 91 00:04:54.319 --> 00:04:57.519 At around eight fifteen pm that evening, Patricia was driving 92 00:04:57.560 --> 00:05:00.480 east down Highway two hundred through McCone County, in a 93 00:05:00.560 --> 00:05:04.040 desolate rural area seven miles southwest of the small town 94 00:05:04.079 --> 00:05:07.560 of Circle. This location was nearly four hundred miles away 95 00:05:07.560 --> 00:05:11.040 from Bozeman, and Patricia was inexplicably driving on the wrong 96 00:05:11.120 --> 00:05:14.120 side of the road When another car approached her, Patricia 97 00:05:14.199 --> 00:05:16.639 nearly wound up having a head on collision with this vehicle, 98 00:05:16.720 --> 00:05:19.480 which swerved out of the way. However, there was another 99 00:05:19.519 --> 00:05:22.120 car behind that one, and even though the driver tried 100 00:05:22.160 --> 00:05:24.920 to pull off the road, Patricia still wound up crashing 101 00:05:24.959 --> 00:05:28.800 into her. The driver was left dazed but not seriously injured, 102 00:05:28.959 --> 00:05:31.399 though she would end up witnessing a strange sight. After 103 00:05:31.480 --> 00:05:34.920 she exited her vehicle, Patricia emerged from her own car 104 00:05:35.000 --> 00:05:37.759 and walked towards the wreckage, where she proceeded to stare 105 00:05:37.839 --> 00:05:40.720 down at the driver. She was described as having a 106 00:05:40.759 --> 00:05:43.240 blank look in her eyes and gave off no reaction 107 00:05:43.360 --> 00:05:46.920 to the situation at all. Without saying a word, Patricia 108 00:05:47.000 --> 00:05:49.759 walked away from the road, climbed over a fence, and 109 00:05:49.839 --> 00:05:53.319 stared aimlessly at the accident seen again. She then walked 110 00:05:53.319 --> 00:05:56.759 out into the open prairie and subsequently disappeared into the night. 111 00:05:57.839 --> 00:05:59.000 This is a. 112 00:05:59.199 --> 00:06:02.199 Tragic rea reality when you start thinking about that, she's 113 00:06:02.519 --> 00:06:06.279 basically begging her parents to let her come home at 114 00:06:06.319 --> 00:06:10.079 age thirty seven, So you know her struggle is real, 115 00:06:10.279 --> 00:06:13.399 it's heavy, it's deep. She has a plan and something 116 00:06:13.439 --> 00:06:15.079 she wanted to do with her life, which was work 117 00:06:15.079 --> 00:06:17.720 in childcare. It sounds like she also wanted to be 118 00:06:17.720 --> 00:06:19.480 a mom, but felt a lot of pressure of kind 119 00:06:19.519 --> 00:06:23.319 of her biological clock ticking. And so when she is 120 00:06:23.839 --> 00:06:25.759 talking to her parents and you're saying, I can't fly, 121 00:06:26.120 --> 00:06:29.279 but I want to drive to you. I'm feeling significant distress. 122 00:06:29.399 --> 00:06:32.040 I'm going to go see my therapist. Could she have 123 00:06:32.120 --> 00:06:34.680 been getting into the car with this idea that she's 124 00:06:34.759 --> 00:06:37.560 driving to her parents' house and just kind of this 125 00:06:37.759 --> 00:06:41.680 desperate pursuit of that, and then you look at her 126 00:06:41.959 --> 00:06:44.800 physical behavior and that blank stare. I don't know if 127 00:06:45.480 --> 00:06:48.399 you know listeners have ever dealt with someone with a 128 00:06:48.480 --> 00:06:51.920 severe mental health crisis, but I've seen in people that 129 00:06:51.959 --> 00:06:54.160 I love and care about and in people that I 130 00:06:54.240 --> 00:06:57.639 work with, where you'll see that stare where it's like you're. 131 00:06:57.480 --> 00:06:59.360 Not present, you're catatonic. 132 00:06:59.759 --> 00:06:59.959 Yeah. 133 00:07:00.279 --> 00:07:03.959 Absolutely, they're looking through you. They're looking off past the 134 00:07:04.000 --> 00:07:07.519 reality of what's in their current view, and you can't 135 00:07:07.519 --> 00:07:10.360 connect to them. You can't get through to them into 136 00:07:10.600 --> 00:07:14.879 reality because they're so they're struggling so deeply in that moment. 137 00:07:15.199 --> 00:07:18.480 And so that sounds like what's happening here that she 138 00:07:18.680 --> 00:07:21.879 was a little chaotic when she's talking to her landlord, 139 00:07:22.279 --> 00:07:25.600 she's driving chaotically. Then you add a potential of some 140 00:07:25.680 --> 00:07:28.680 kind of head injury here. It seems like she is 141 00:07:28.839 --> 00:07:32.199 truly disconnected from who Patricia really is, and she's almost 142 00:07:32.279 --> 00:07:35.800 caught up in this psychosis or episode that she's having. 143 00:07:36.560 --> 00:07:39.000 I'm a little worried by the fact that she was 144 00:07:39.000 --> 00:07:43.519 described as being deeply depressed prior, and I'm obviously not 145 00:07:43.560 --> 00:07:46.800 trying to diagnose her here, but biblearr disorder is like 146 00:07:46.839 --> 00:07:50.680 a pendulum, and if you swing really far to one side, 147 00:07:50.800 --> 00:07:54.199 which is depression, you're often going to swing far to 148 00:07:54.240 --> 00:07:58.040 the other side, which would be a manic episode or 149 00:07:58.680 --> 00:08:02.319 a hypomanic episode of your bipolar two. We have the 150 00:08:02.399 --> 00:08:05.839 landlord describing her as being hyper, and it's really tough 151 00:08:05.839 --> 00:08:09.040 to tell if it is like a manic episode or 152 00:08:09.120 --> 00:08:13.040 if it's just anxiety about having to travel home and 153 00:08:13.120 --> 00:08:18.480 that's manifesting as being hyper. But the catatonic stare is 154 00:08:18.560 --> 00:08:23.560 also troubling. That can be a byproduct of a manic episode. 155 00:08:24.040 --> 00:08:27.000 It's just not looking very good here. It seems like 156 00:08:27.319 --> 00:08:31.399 thirty seven would be an age where you would have 157 00:08:31.480 --> 00:08:34.200 already been diagnosed with this, But we also have to 158 00:08:34.240 --> 00:08:37.320 consider the time period. A lot of people didn't seek 159 00:08:37.360 --> 00:08:40.600 mental health treatment like they do today. There was a 160 00:08:40.639 --> 00:08:43.240 lot more of a stigma attached to it. So there 161 00:08:43.320 --> 00:08:46.080 is a very real possibility that there could have been 162 00:08:46.639 --> 00:08:51.320 other mental health episodes or manic episodes if she was 163 00:08:51.399 --> 00:08:55.200 indeed bipolar and she just wasn't treated for it and 164 00:08:55.279 --> 00:08:58.200 somehow managed to come out the other side and maybe 165 00:08:58.279 --> 00:09:02.200 had long periods of you mea where she actually felt, 166 00:09:02.480 --> 00:09:06.559 like i'll say in quotations, normal or typical, not depressed 167 00:09:06.919 --> 00:09:11.080 or manic, And so people maybe weren't aware that she 168 00:09:11.279 --> 00:09:12.960 was struggling so mightily with this. 169 00:09:14.000 --> 00:09:16.080 Would you happen to know how much awareness there was 170 00:09:16.080 --> 00:09:19.360 about bipolar disorder back in nineteen eighty nine. Was this 171 00:09:19.399 --> 00:09:21.720 a time period when people would be diagnosed with it 172 00:09:21.840 --> 00:09:24.240 or was there just not much awareness about it at all? 173 00:09:24.679 --> 00:09:26.799 Yes, you would be diagnosed with it, but it would 174 00:09:26.840 --> 00:09:29.399 take a lot more. I think it would have to 175 00:09:29.399 --> 00:09:32.879 be extremely severe. Like I'll just use my mother as 176 00:09:32.919 --> 00:09:36.639 an example, because she was diagnosed i think in nineteen 177 00:09:36.720 --> 00:09:39.879 eighty four. So you know, when I was like basically 178 00:09:39.879 --> 00:09:44.399 a baby, she had me and within six weeks she 179 00:09:44.759 --> 00:09:47.200 was in a full manic episode like psychosis. 180 00:09:47.679 --> 00:09:48.960 It was really bad. 181 00:09:49.080 --> 00:09:52.559 And luckily my uncle had gone to UBC med school 182 00:09:52.759 --> 00:09:55.919 and where we lived was hours away, but he pulled 183 00:09:55.960 --> 00:09:59.320 some strings, got her in with the best psychiatrists, and 184 00:09:59.360 --> 00:10:03.519 she was in there observation for six months until she 185 00:10:03.600 --> 00:10:07.440 was diagnosed and properly medicated. So that tells you kind 186 00:10:07.519 --> 00:10:10.360 of what it was the landscape was like in the eighties. 187 00:10:10.399 --> 00:10:12.399 I think it depends if you were in a major 188 00:10:12.480 --> 00:10:15.399 metropolitan area, like say, if you're in a major city 189 00:10:15.440 --> 00:10:18.200 like you know, Los Angeles or New York, and you 190 00:10:18.480 --> 00:10:21.559 had the financial means or the connections to be able 191 00:10:21.600 --> 00:10:25.799 to secure the right type of treatment with professionals, then 192 00:10:25.919 --> 00:10:28.519 you're going to do a lot better. But I think 193 00:10:28.639 --> 00:10:31.919 in nineteen eighty nine you're a lot less likely to 194 00:10:32.120 --> 00:10:34.960 seek help, and even if you did seek help, you 195 00:10:35.080 --> 00:10:38.759 might not find the right professional who has either adequate 196 00:10:38.799 --> 00:10:42.639 experience or is really great at spotting the signs. I 197 00:10:42.639 --> 00:10:45.840 think that there's so many variables that have to line 198 00:10:45.919 --> 00:10:49.039 up in order to get that appropriate diagnosis and to 199 00:10:49.080 --> 00:10:52.039 be put on the right medication, because it is trial 200 00:10:52.080 --> 00:10:55.240 and error with bipolar. What works for one person, what's 201 00:10:55.240 --> 00:10:58.720 the first line treatment like lithium may not work for another. 202 00:10:59.799 --> 00:11:01.840 Also really hard too, is if you think back to 203 00:11:01.879 --> 00:11:04.720 like when we were teenagers, if you were talking about 204 00:11:04.759 --> 00:11:08.519 certain careers or having different dreams and aspirations. You were 205 00:11:08.639 --> 00:11:12.120 encouraged not to seek mental health help because it would 206 00:11:12.159 --> 00:11:14.120 be part of your medical record and you wouldn't be 207 00:11:14.159 --> 00:11:17.240 allowed to pursue any of those goals. So someone who 208 00:11:17.320 --> 00:11:18.960 might want to go into the military, or might want 209 00:11:18.960 --> 00:11:21.799 to go into law enforcement or federal government, if you 210 00:11:22.039 --> 00:11:26.240 had a health record with mental health anxiety, depression by polarism, 211 00:11:26.720 --> 00:11:29.399 you were kicked out of those jobs, right or you 212 00:11:29.399 --> 00:11:31.919 were told hey, that's a red flag. It creates a 213 00:11:31.919 --> 00:11:34.600 harder barrier for you to get those careers. And so 214 00:11:34.720 --> 00:11:37.759 I remember, you know, struggling with anxiety and depression as 215 00:11:37.759 --> 00:11:39.519 a teenager. My dream was to be in the FBI, 216 00:11:39.600 --> 00:11:41.879 and I was like, oh I got to this is 217 00:11:41.919 --> 00:11:43.639 I knew what I had to do, how many push ups, 218 00:11:43.679 --> 00:11:46.200 what my health had to look like. And so I 219 00:11:46.240 --> 00:11:49.399 remember thinking I can't ask for help, like I just 220 00:11:49.440 --> 00:11:51.279 need to talk to my parents and I just need 221 00:11:51.320 --> 00:11:53.799 to have my girlfriend help me. But I mean, I 222 00:11:53.840 --> 00:11:56.720 still struggle with anxiety and depression. So back then it 223 00:11:56.759 --> 00:11:59.240 was a shield of like don't don't get help unless 224 00:11:59.240 --> 00:12:01.200 you really have to, and it was almost a source 225 00:12:01.240 --> 00:12:04.000 of shame, like you couldn't handle your emotions by yourself. 226 00:12:04.120 --> 00:12:06.519 So even if it wasn't by polar as a mental 227 00:12:06.519 --> 00:12:09.679 health in general, I think was just viewed so differently 228 00:12:09.679 --> 00:12:11.480 with such a negative lens. At the time. 229 00:12:15.320 --> 00:12:18.360 When the mcconne County Sheriff's Office were notified about what 230 00:12:18.480 --> 00:12:21.799 happened and arrived to the scene, they searched Patricia's car 231 00:12:21.879 --> 00:12:25.639 and noticed some clothes and other items inside. This suggested 232 00:12:25.720 --> 00:12:27.720 she was in the midst of taking a trip somewhere, 233 00:12:28.039 --> 00:12:30.519 and the only item Patricia would have had on her 234 00:12:30.559 --> 00:12:33.559 when she left was her purse. The police searched the 235 00:12:33.600 --> 00:12:35.960 prairie and about three quarters of a mile from the 236 00:12:36.000 --> 00:12:38.720 crash scene, they were able to find a trail of 237 00:12:38.799 --> 00:12:42.159 size six tennis shoe tracks, which probably belonged to Patricia, 238 00:12:42.639 --> 00:12:45.480 but these tracks soon came to an end. For the 239 00:12:45.519 --> 00:12:48.399 next five days, an extensive ground and air search was 240 00:12:48.440 --> 00:12:51.440 conducted of the area, but other than her shoe tracks, 241 00:12:51.919 --> 00:12:55.960 no trace of Patricia could be found. It was established 242 00:12:56.000 --> 00:12:58.120 that a hay truck had been parked about a half 243 00:12:58.159 --> 00:13:01.120 mile away from the accident scene before it was driven 244 00:13:01.120 --> 00:13:04.039 away a short time later, so it was theorized that 245 00:13:04.080 --> 00:13:06.600 Patricia might have stowed away on the truck without the 246 00:13:06.679 --> 00:13:09.879 driver's knowledge, or that she was picked up after hitching 247 00:13:09.879 --> 00:13:10.720 a ride somewhere. 248 00:13:11.519 --> 00:13:13.120 I almost feel like it would be more the hitch 249 00:13:13.159 --> 00:13:16.600 hiking route for me. The landscape kind of hard to 250 00:13:16.720 --> 00:13:19.000 wrap my head around. It said she walked off into 251 00:13:19.039 --> 00:13:22.000 this almost prairie like open field kind of area, so 252 00:13:22.080 --> 00:13:24.120 there's not a whole lot of places for her to quote, 253 00:13:24.240 --> 00:13:28.120 disappear into if she's just wandering around aimlessly, which leads 254 00:13:28.120 --> 00:13:30.759 you to think something like the truck or getting someone 255 00:13:30.799 --> 00:13:33.279 to pick her up would be possible. But remember the 256 00:13:33.399 --> 00:13:36.720 state that she's in. If you were picking someone up 257 00:13:37.039 --> 00:13:40.120 and you drove around and this person really is not 258 00:13:40.320 --> 00:13:43.639 connected to reality, is as someone that you would feel 259 00:13:43.679 --> 00:13:46.600 safe getting into your car or feel like there might 260 00:13:46.639 --> 00:13:48.720 be a problem down the road if you give this 261 00:13:48.759 --> 00:13:51.120 person a ride. 262 00:13:51.399 --> 00:13:53.919 Yeah, And another possibility which you brought up in the 263 00:13:54.039 --> 00:13:56.720 opening is if it could have been someone with nefarious 264 00:13:56.720 --> 00:13:59.360 intentions who saw that she was a vulnerable person to 265 00:13:59.399 --> 00:14:02.039 be taken adage of, so as possible that if she 266 00:14:02.120 --> 00:14:04.279 hitched a ride with the wrong person, she could have 267 00:14:04.279 --> 00:14:07.519 become the victim at foul play. At some point, when 268 00:14:07.559 --> 00:14:11.039 Patricia's family was contacted by the authorities about her disappearance, 269 00:14:11.360 --> 00:14:13.679 They had no idea why she was driving nearly four 270 00:14:13.720 --> 00:14:17.080 hundred miles away from Bozeman. While it was possible she 271 00:14:17.120 --> 00:14:20.120 was heading towards Pittsburgh, her parents ru under the oppression 272 00:14:20.159 --> 00:14:22.480 that she would not be traveling to see them until 273 00:14:22.519 --> 00:14:26.879 after her appointment with her psychologists the following day. Regardless, 274 00:14:27.039 --> 00:14:29.960 Patricia's parents and brother would spend the next few months 275 00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:33.399 traveling around the Pacific Northwest in order to distribute over 276 00:14:33.480 --> 00:14:36.759 two thousand Missing Persons flyers, and it wasn't long before 277 00:14:36.799 --> 00:14:40.039 reported sightings of Patricia started popping up all over the place. 278 00:14:40.960 --> 00:14:43.200 Many of the alleged sidings of Patricia took place at 279 00:14:43.240 --> 00:14:47.000 truck stops in Montana or Washington State, but it seemed 280 00:14:47.039 --> 00:14:50.159 like whenever the authorities or her family were notified about them, 281 00:14:50.440 --> 00:14:52.600 she would hitchhike out of the area before they could 282 00:14:52.679 --> 00:14:56.000 arrive at the scene. But the most consistent detail from 283 00:14:56.000 --> 00:15:00.720 these sidings was that Patricia looked confused and disoriented. Initially, 284 00:15:01.039 --> 00:15:02.960 it was suspected that she might have fled the scene 285 00:15:03.000 --> 00:15:06.039 of the accident to avoid potential legal trouble, but the 286 00:15:06.080 --> 00:15:09.159 accounts of these sightings told a different story. For example, 287 00:15:09.279 --> 00:15:12.559 on May fourth, two weeks after the accident, a police 288 00:15:12.600 --> 00:15:15.360 officer believed he saw a woman resembling Patricia at a 289 00:15:15.399 --> 00:15:19.279 Harty's restaurant in Laverne, Minnesota, where she reportedly sat in 290 00:15:19.320 --> 00:15:22.399 a booth drinking water for five straight hours until the 291 00:15:22.440 --> 00:15:26.440 restaurant closed. Afterward, the woman then walked to a nearby 292 00:15:26.519 --> 00:15:29.600 twenty four hour diner, and when the officer approached her 293 00:15:29.639 --> 00:15:32.240 and tried to question her, she would not give her name, 294 00:15:32.600 --> 00:15:35.480 though she did claim she was from Colorado before then 295 00:15:35.559 --> 00:15:36.840 saying she was from Israel. 296 00:15:37.759 --> 00:15:40.919 And the problem there is that law enforcement also did 297 00:15:40.960 --> 00:15:43.879 not have tools and still doesn't have the tools needed 298 00:15:43.919 --> 00:15:45.840 to help someone who they believe is struggling with a 299 00:15:45.879 --> 00:15:49.200 mental health crisis. There's such limited resources of what you 300 00:15:49.279 --> 00:15:52.919 do when you suspect someone is struggling, right when you 301 00:15:52.960 --> 00:15:55.720 don't have proof and you don't have documentation, and then 302 00:15:55.759 --> 00:15:58.840 you don't have community resources to refer them to because 303 00:15:58.840 --> 00:16:01.000 it's kind of out of his person you especially back 304 00:16:01.080 --> 00:16:04.840 in the eighties and nineties, that law enforcement didn't really 305 00:16:04.960 --> 00:16:08.960 handle mental health right. They handled criminal behavior that came 306 00:16:09.000 --> 00:16:11.720 as a result of mental health, but weren't in the 307 00:16:12.039 --> 00:16:16.000 position to assist in that scenario and so oh man, 308 00:16:16.039 --> 00:16:19.120 it's like Patricia's almost just one step ahead of everybody, 309 00:16:19.200 --> 00:16:22.000 and yet she's not even quite sure where she's stepping to, 310 00:16:22.279 --> 00:16:24.360 Like she's not aware of who she is or where 311 00:16:24.399 --> 00:16:26.000 she's at in this whole process. 312 00:16:27.840 --> 00:16:29.879 Yeah, that's the thing. Like, this woman had not broken 313 00:16:29.919 --> 00:16:31.639 any laws, and she did not appear to be a 314 00:16:31.720 --> 00:16:34.000 danger to herself, So there was really nothing else that 315 00:16:34.080 --> 00:16:37.000 the officer could do besides ask her a few questions. 316 00:16:37.399 --> 00:16:39.279 And of course, this is one of those sightings that 317 00:16:39.360 --> 00:16:42.360 took where the officer did not realize it could have 318 00:16:42.360 --> 00:16:45.159 been Patricia Actil after the fact, because at the time 319 00:16:45.159 --> 00:16:47.480 he questioned this woman, he had not heard about her case, 320 00:16:47.519 --> 00:16:49.480 and it was only after he saw a photo of 321 00:16:49.559 --> 00:16:51.879 or a short time later that he realized this might 322 00:16:51.919 --> 00:16:53.159 be the same woman I saw. 323 00:16:54.440 --> 00:16:57.759 The day after the sighting in Laverne, a woman matching 324 00:16:57.759 --> 00:17:01.000 Patricia's description was seen at a trust and Sioux Falls, 325 00:17:01.039 --> 00:17:05.359 South Dakota, drinking coffee and laughing at herself. A female 326 00:17:05.400 --> 00:17:08.400 truck driver crossed paths with her in the restroom well, 327 00:17:08.440 --> 00:17:10.599 she was staring at herself in the mirror, and when 328 00:17:10.640 --> 00:17:13.319 the driver asked the woman her name, she replied, quote, 329 00:17:13.440 --> 00:17:16.839 I don't know. Later that night, Patricia was spotted at 330 00:17:16.880 --> 00:17:19.599 another truck stop over two hundred miles away in the 331 00:17:19.599 --> 00:17:23.200 town of Murdo, South Dakota, but this time she was 332 00:17:23.319 --> 00:17:27.279 arguing with a male companion. The most interesting sighting occurred 333 00:17:27.279 --> 00:17:30.680 on May nineteenth, when Patricia was seen by two waitresses 334 00:17:30.799 --> 00:17:34.160 at a Perkins restaurant in Bozeman, only a few miles 335 00:17:34.160 --> 00:17:37.000 from where she lived. She came in at around eight 336 00:17:37.119 --> 00:17:39.960 thirty am to order coffee in a cinnamon roll and 337 00:17:40.000 --> 00:17:42.000 told the waitress she was in a hurry because she 338 00:17:42.079 --> 00:17:44.799 needed to go shopping. But then she remained in the 339 00:17:44.839 --> 00:17:47.759 restaurant for around two hours and spent most of her 340 00:17:47.759 --> 00:17:51.559 time either talking to herself or just staring blankly. When 341 00:17:51.599 --> 00:17:55.400 she left, she paid the two dollars tab entirely in change. 342 00:17:55.440 --> 00:17:59.440 In addition to circulating her photograph, Patricia's family also brought 343 00:17:59.480 --> 00:18:01.839 a video time of her with them to show people 344 00:18:01.839 --> 00:18:04.720 who had seen her. When the waitress and Bozman watched 345 00:18:04.759 --> 00:18:07.319 the tape, they were very certain the woman they saw 346 00:18:07.480 --> 00:18:08.920 was Patricia. 347 00:18:09.000 --> 00:18:12.279 This case is very much different than other missing person 348 00:18:12.319 --> 00:18:15.640 cases because where you do have eyewitnesses and everyone knows 349 00:18:15.640 --> 00:18:18.759 our concerns with eyewitnesses. You usually have one or two 350 00:18:18.839 --> 00:18:21.000 that say they sell someone similar to her, and we 351 00:18:21.039 --> 00:18:23.680 talk about confirmation bias and these kinds of things. But 352 00:18:23.960 --> 00:18:27.880 here you have people from all over the country who 353 00:18:27.960 --> 00:18:33.160 are almost following a trail of her behavior and her whereabouts, 354 00:18:33.240 --> 00:18:38.039 and they're all very consistent. They're all describing a catatonic stare. 355 00:18:38.359 --> 00:18:41.680 They're describing someone whose words don't match her behaviors, like 356 00:18:41.720 --> 00:18:43.559 I'm in a hurry, I have to go, But then 357 00:18:43.559 --> 00:18:47.119 she sits there for two hours, she's talking to herself. 358 00:18:47.480 --> 00:18:51.000 She isn't rational or making any sense when people confront her. 359 00:18:51.400 --> 00:18:54.680 And so when you look at this, to me, it's 360 00:18:54.759 --> 00:18:58.480 kind of crazy how many people, even new to come 361 00:18:58.559 --> 00:19:01.440 forward and share these stories. They're pretty convincing. 362 00:19:02.319 --> 00:19:04.799 Yeah, I'm pretty sure that not all of them were Patricia, 363 00:19:04.839 --> 00:19:07.799 because I'm kind of skeptical that she traveled two hundred 364 00:19:07.880 --> 00:19:10.480 miles in the same night from Sioux Falls to Murdo, 365 00:19:10.480 --> 00:19:13.920 South Dakota. So possibly one or both of them are mistaken. 366 00:19:14.400 --> 00:19:17.920 But it is quite interesting that they're also consistent, because 367 00:19:17.960 --> 00:19:19.880 it's one thing if you just see someone from a 368 00:19:19.920 --> 00:19:22.559 distance and think they look like a missing person, but 369 00:19:22.640 --> 00:19:25.440 when they're exhibiting strange behavior, they're going to leave more 370 00:19:25.799 --> 00:19:27.880 of an impression. And then you hear about a missing 371 00:19:27.880 --> 00:19:31.680 woman who had also been beheating strangely before she disappeared, 372 00:19:31.720 --> 00:19:33.680 and then you can understand why it seems like such 373 00:19:33.680 --> 00:19:34.559 a compelling match. 374 00:19:35.319 --> 00:19:37.920 I don't know if either of you or the listeners 375 00:19:37.960 --> 00:19:40.519 have ever known somebody when they're in a state like this, 376 00:19:41.000 --> 00:19:44.880 they are so incredibly vulnerable. So it really worries me 377 00:19:45.240 --> 00:19:47.759 knowing you know, from like a lot of the truck 378 00:19:47.759 --> 00:19:50.559 stop murders that have happened, and a lot of sex 379 00:19:50.640 --> 00:19:54.839 work and drugs that goes on at these different truck stops, 380 00:19:55.319 --> 00:19:58.960 how vulnerable Patricia would be if she was in a 381 00:19:59.000 --> 00:20:02.279 state where she it was basically, had had a psychotic break, 382 00:20:02.319 --> 00:20:05.839 if she had amnesia, if she was having a manic episode. 383 00:20:06.200 --> 00:20:08.839 Any of these things would leave her open to those 384 00:20:08.880 --> 00:20:13.240 with nefarious intentions. And if any of these sightings are her, 385 00:20:13.720 --> 00:20:17.359 I'm just so worried for whomever came across her and 386 00:20:17.440 --> 00:20:21.160 if they had good intentions or not, especially when. 387 00:20:21.039 --> 00:20:23.039 All these reports talk about her were like staying in 388 00:20:23.079 --> 00:20:26.119 places like coffee shops and truck stops for hours at 389 00:20:26.119 --> 00:20:28.599 a time, just sitting there. So if someone was in 390 00:20:28.640 --> 00:20:31.359 there with the nefarious intentions just saw this woman just 391 00:20:31.440 --> 00:20:34.559 talking to herself, staring blankly in a booth, they would 392 00:20:34.720 --> 00:20:37.079 probably say, well, maybe I'll offer this woman a ride, 393 00:20:37.119 --> 00:20:41.200 and then they would take advantage of the situation. The 394 00:20:41.279 --> 00:20:44.039 sightings would continue for over a year, and an interesting 395 00:20:44.079 --> 00:20:47.559 development occurred in August of nineteen ninety when a transient 396 00:20:47.599 --> 00:20:50.400 woman with a strong resemblance to Patricia was arrested for 397 00:20:50.440 --> 00:20:54.319 littering in Idaho. The officer who arrested her was initially 398 00:20:54.359 --> 00:20:57.440 certain that she was Patricia, so much so that one 399 00:20:57.480 --> 00:21:01.440 newspaper prematurely purported that it was her her. However, a 400 00:21:01.480 --> 00:21:04.400 fingerprint check soon confirmed that the woman was someone else. 401 00:21:05.160 --> 00:21:07.319