To Whom It May Concern:
I am writing to you in good faith that you will be able to help me with a very serious ordeal that is greatly impacting my family.
My mother, Joyce Darlene Patterson, went missing from Ohio in 1996. I was only 13 years old at the time. My mother had a long history of alcoholism and mental illness, so for everyone else in the family it was not a big deal. However, I knew that my mother would not just abandon me and that something was very wrong. I attempted to make a missing persons report here in Ohio, but could not because I was underage.
In 1997, my mother called her sister Barb and quietly whispered on the phone that she was being held captive by a religious cult in Phoenix Arizona. My Aunt Bobbie did not know what to think, due to my mother’s prior mental status and did not know where to go with the information. She did not want to make a fool out of herself.
Upon hearing of the information, I contacted Phoenix Police and requested to speak to a detective in regards to my mother. I was told that because I was underage and there were no facts to base the claim, there was nothing that they could do to assist me.
I did not give up. Since the authorities would not help me, I went about writing letters to TV shows, news stations and the social security administration. In 1999, my mother called me from Phoenix and confirmed that the story of the cult was indeed true, but that the women of the establishment had released her. She told me that she had struggled through the last year, been very depressed, gotten mixed up in a bad relationship with domestic violence and had tried to commit suicide more than once. She gave me her phone number to call her back, but when I did, she was not there. The man who owned the house, Norman Weisenberger, informed me that my mother had all of a sudden acted very crazy one evening and said some terrible things to him. He took her the following day and dropped her off at some church in downtown Phoenix. He was unable to give me the location or the name of the church.
Following this information, I again attempted to contact the Phoenix Police Department via letter to relay my concern for my mother’s well being. I received a letter back stating that they had received my correspondence and that they were unable to assist me.
At this point, I had no idea what else I could do. I was only 16 years-old at the time. My father, who had been divorced from my mother, had no interest in finding her and did not care that she was gone. Her alcoholism and mental illness had burnt him out years prior, like so many others who knew her.
I waited until 2001, when I turned 18, to attempt to contact the Phoenix Police again via phone. They again told me that they could not help me because my mother was not missing. They said that they had contact with her, but could not declare to me by what means. I tried again to explain to them my concern about her mental stability, to no avail.
In 2004, I really amped up the search for my mom. I found records online matching her name and date of birth on the Phoenix Police public records. They were for minor violations, but I took a gamble and called the public records division. I explained my situation to the woman on the phone and then asked if she could provide me with the address that was on the records. She informed me that my mother was listed as “transient” meaning homeless.
From there I began calling all of the homeless shelters that I could find in Phoenix. All of them gave me fax numbers to send her flyer, but informed me that they could not give me any information about her. I was told that they would post the information, in hopes that she would see that someone was looking for her.
I continued to seek assistance from the public and organizations down there from 2004 through 2008. I took to posting every where I could on the internet about my mother’s situation. In 2008, I met a man who took photographs of homeless persons in Phoenix and he elected to assist me in the search for my mother. We sent letters out to all of the public officials that we could find addresses on.
Finally, after many years of persistency, Phoenix Police Department sent me a letter in September of 2008, stating that they would forward my information on to the Missing Persons Detail. November 14, 2008, I received an e-mail from Detective Eric Cosgriff of the Phoenix Police Missing Persons Unit stating that he had opened a case on my mother because the police had no contact with her since March 14, 2007. Her flyer was issued and her date last seen was listed as March 14, 2007. Although that was not true, the last time she was seen by her family was July 19, 1996.
In the months following the Missing Persons Case being opened on my mother, I wrote Det. Cosgriff requesting information on his efforts to find my mother. He told me that he was exerting databases and that it was possible that she was not even in the state anymore and that once again, even if he found her, he could not give me her location only let me know that she was alive. I did not understand this because it stated right on her missing person flyer that she has a past of mental illness (multiple personality disorder).
I was not satisfied with the efforts made by Detective Cosgriff or his smugness about my mother’s case. He kept reiterating that she may just not wish to have contact with me. I did not believe this and wanted to pursue other avenues. Upon doing so, I met a man named Kelly Snyder, a private investigator in Phoenix who specializes in Missing Person Cases.
I gave him the information about my mother and in two days he was able to call me back to report that she had passed away on March 1st, 2007. I ask him to please reconfirm because Phoenix Police were listing her last contact with them as March 14th, 2007. How did they arrest her on the 14th if she died on the 1st? How do I know that the body buried was really hers? They have enough information to assure me that it is, but not enough to confirm her next of kin?
Why did I have to wait from November when Phoenix Police opened the case until someone else found her record at the coroner’s office in February, to find out she was deceased? Obviously the detective in charge of her case was not doing his job or did not know how to do it.
I reported the information found by Kelly, to Detective Cosgriff, and he confirmed my mother’s date of death and provided me with the contact information of the funeral home that took care of my mother’s arrangements. Harper Funeral Home was very cooperative in assisting me with the information that I needed. They confirmed my mother’s date of birth, which was off by one digit on the year, her place of birth and her social security number. Then they gave me the name of the place where she was buried and the location, White Tanks Cemetery.
Planning a trip to Phoenix, to pay my respects to my mother, I researched the location of White Tanks Cemetery and what I found next was VERY upsetting. White Tanks Cemetery is a depressing piece of desert land way out in “nowhereville” where Joe Arpaio’s chain gang buries indigents every Thursday. This is the cemetery for Jane and John Does, the cemetery for people who were not claimed at the time of their death.
Now tell me, after reading the story that I have just spewed to you, does it sound like my mother was “unclaimed”? Does it sound to you like she belongs out there in that piece of nothing graveyard?
I needed to know how this happened. How was she deceased for almost two years and I was never notified? After all of the communication with the Phoenix Police, the general public and organization in Phoenix, how did they not know that I was next of kin?
I found out that the Public Fiduciary is responsible for deciding who is indigent and also for finding the next of kin for those bodies which are identified. I proceeded to write him a letter requesting to know why he could not find my mother’s next of kin.
His explanation was that the information on the intake sheet was incorrect. He said that the funeral home had the wrong social security number and had to correct it. This I do not understand, because the hospital had the right social security number to place her bill in collections. He also said that the date of birth was one year off. However, he did admit that it stated on the sheet that she was from Ohio and they did have a middle initial for her.
The reasons that he gave me are not good enough. Even if I look up Joyce D Patterson, with the knowledge of a general date of birth (one year off) and the fact that she is from Ohio, I can get names of family members. For crying out loud, if you look up Joyce Patterson, Ohio and Phoenix on Google, you will find over 1,000 postings that I have put up with pictures of my mother. Not to mention, how many times I had been in contact with the Phoenix Police requesting them to look into her. The Public Fiduciary does not check Police Records for identifying bodies or next of kin? That doesn’t make any sense either. Why wouldn’t public officials work amongst themselves for information first before electing outside sources?
Our family is very upset about the lack of assistance throughout the years from the Phoenix Police. I am disappointment in the laziness of the Public Fiduciary Office in finding any next of kin. And I am very disappointed in the lack of action taken by the Phoenix Police even after her missing person case was opened.
We believe that the entire City of Phoenix, everyone involved, has failed us. It is unjustified that my mother is buried in a place where her family can not even provide her a headstone. We would like to pursue having her body disinterred and cremated at the cost of the City of Phoenix or the State of Arizona. The family will pay to get the remains back to Ohio.
I will be publishing this story. I will write letters to all of the elected public officials. And I will contact all of the media that I can, to have my story heard.
I anxiously await your response to this matter and pray that you will help me.
Sincerely,
Miranda N. Rhuda
415 Dewey Street
Sandusky, Ohio 44870
567-219-0095
419-602-7417