Patterson was last seen at her residence at Silver Leaf Apartments in Haskell, Oklahoma on May 5, 1988. Her three children woke up at 6:00 a. m. and discovered she was gone. She has never been seen again. Patterson's mother got a phone call on Mother's Day in 1989; the caller hung up immediately and has never been identified, and it's unclear whether the caller was Patterson. Few details are available in her case.