True Life Tuesday: William and Margaret Patterson

This is another unsolved mystery. This couple seems to have just fallen off the face of the Earth,

William (52) and Margaret (42) Patterson lived in El Paso, Texas. They owned a photo supply shop near their home. They were well off financially and seemed to live a quiet and normal life. 

On March 7, 1957 they were seen leaving their home and were never seen again. When they did not show up at work the next day they were reported missing. The police entered the house where they found clothes piled on the bed, dirty dishes in the sink and their cat, Tommy. They stated that it appeared that they left and planned on returning because no belongings seemed to be missing. 

The day after they disappeared a man named Doyle Kirkland showed up in their Cadillac at the auto shop of the Patterson's friend, Cecil Ward. Kirkland told him that the Pattersons were going out of town and asked him to take the car in for service. A neighbor also stated that she visited with the couple on the day they disappeared and they seemed to be upset and agitated about something. 

On March 15th their accountant received a telegram postmarked from Laredo, Texas. In the telegram he was advised that they would not be returning what to do with their assets which included putting Doyle Kirkland in charge of their business. This seemed strange since even though Kirkland and William Patterson were friends Kirkland owned a competing photo shop. The telegram was signed W.H. Patterson but William's actual initials were W.D. Doyle Kirkland was suspected by many people but he was never charged in relation to the disappearance. 

Authorities had a difficult time finding background information on the couple. They were very private and did not give out any information. People did not even know how they met or when they were married. Margaret had also stated that she had been estranged from her family for some time so there were no relatives to contact. However, it was discovered that William did have mistress in Juarez, Mexico. She stated that she saw William on March 6th and he told her that someone was after him and he may need to disappear. She later recanted this story.

There were many sightings of the couple in Mexico but they were never confirmed. The couple was legally declared dead in 1964. In 1984 a former caretaker for the Patterson's came forward stating that he saw blood in the garage and an "associate" taking a bunch of bloody sheets from the house and putting them in a car. He said he did not come forward earlier because he was an illegal alien and waited until he was a US citizen before he said anything. However, he was killed in a car accident not long after making his statement and his story could not be confirmed. 

The mystery of the Patterson's disappearance was never solved. There are many theories including that the couple was killed by Doyle Kirkland, that one killed the other one and escaped, or that they simply disappeared. Another theory is that the couple were spies. William was seen taking pictures of a nearby military base. It was thought that they were told to leave their post and that would explain why everything was left behind. Unfortunately we will probably never know what happened in this strange case.

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