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NANCY GRACE
Single Mom Reportedly Leaves For Trip W/ Alleged Boyfriend Vanishes
Aired March 10, 2011 - 21:00:00 Â ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE
UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NANCY GRACE, HOST: Vanished into thin air.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Look for her.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We just need to kind her.
GRACE: So many cases --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We`re still looking.
GRACE: -- so few leads.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Missing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Missing.
GRACE: Missing person.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s our duty to find her.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Missing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The witness had seen the suspect on NANCY GRACE.
GRACE: There is a God.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The NANCY GRACE show was out there for us.
GRACE: Found alive.
Fifty people, 50 days, 50 nights.
Let`s don`t give up.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARCIA PITTS, PATRICIA ADKINS` SISTER: She`s a very doting, devoted mom to my niece. She
loved her, adored my niece. She was family-oriented, very close. My sister and I spoke on a regular
basis, pretty much daily. She had a big heart, was a loyal friend, hard worker.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): Just after midnight on June 30, 2001, Patricia Adkins
punched out at work at the Marysville, Ohio, Honda plant. At that moment, Patti had everything
going for her. She made good money at her Honda job, she was awaiting a promotion, and had a nice
home with a 7- year-old daughter and a good family foundation to lean on.
Nineteen seconds after midnight, Patti walks into the dark night of the Honda plant parking lot.
She`s never seen again.
PITTS: She was supposed to be going on a remote trip. They were to be leaving immediately after
work. And she said it wouldn`t be anywhere where there would phone service, so that I shouldn`t
expect to hear from her. She just took a couple, one bag -- one, like, duffel bag of clothing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Patricia tells friends and family they`re going to buy anything they need
once they get there, and her boyfriend says not to pack anything. Patricia is never heard from again.
PITTS: I called and kept getting her answering machine. I called a co- worker`s home and spoke to
his wife, just saying that I was a potential customer. And she just said he wasn`t home. So I just took
that to mean that he wasn`t back yet either.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When police questioned the co-worker, he reportedly denied any affair.
PITTS: He denied any knowledge of her, and that resulted in me panicking.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police thought they may have a break in the case when a tiny speck of
blood was allegedly found in the co-worker`s car. Investigators reportedly say they believe it`s
Patti`s blood, but because of technology constraints, have not been able to test it to confirm if it`s
Patti`s.
PITTS: Been waiting for 10 years, having to generate various scenarios trying to figure out what
happened to your sister. I do believe there are people out there that know more than they`ve come
forward at this point. I just have to keep hope that somebody eventually will come forward.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JEAN CASAREZ, "IN SESSION": Every day, 2,300 people go missing in America. They disappear.
They vanish. Their families are left waiting and wondering and hoping, but never forgetting.
And neither have we. Fifty people,50 days. Fifty nights we go live spotlighting America`s missing,
girls and boys, mothers and fathers, grandparents. They are gone, but where?
Tonight, to America`s heartland, Marysville, Ohio.
Nineteen minutes past midnight, June 30, 2001, 29year-old-mother Patricia Adkins clocks out after
work at the assembly line at the local Honda assembly plant. It`s for the company`s Fourth of July
week break.
It`s a secret, but she tells her close friends and family her married boyfriend has invited her for a
romantic week-long vacation to a remote cabin, just the two of them. He tells her, don`t bring
anything for the trip, we`ll get everything we need when we get there.
Patti is never seen again.
The boyfriend, he denies the affair, but police execute search warrants and interview many people.
They have found out a lot of information. You have got to hear it.
But where is Patti? Patti`s daughter, now 16, is without a mother.
Tonight, who took Patricia Adkins?
For the very latest, let`s go to Holly Zachariah, reporter with "The Columbus Dispatch."
Holly, Patti Adkins told her close family and friends that she believed this married boyfriend was
going to leave his wife and they were going to build a life together.
HOLLY ZACHARIAH, "COLUMBUS DISPATCH": That`s right. This was really the moment she`d
been waiting for. Patti believed that all these months he`d been telling her that this was it. They
were going to leave work that night and she was going to begin this happy relationship in the open.
She was ready to leave with him for a week and come home and start a new life.
CASAREZ: To Natisha Lance, NANCY GRACE producer, joining us tonight from Atlanta.
Let us start from the beginning at the point she clocked out. She went to work and she clocked out
because she had the late shift. It was 12:19 a.m. There is evidence she clocked out.
What do we believe happened after that? Because she told her sister what she was going to do.
NATISHA LANCE, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Right. Well, what we believe happened after that, as
you said, she clocked out just a bit after midnight. She went into the parking lot, and what she told
her friend is this -- she said that she was going to meet up with the boyfriend after work, and police
have told us that he was at work that night as well, and he left not too long after Patti did.
He had recently purchased a cover to go over the back truck bed of his pickup truck. Now, Patti was
supposed to get into the back of the truck, hide in there, because he was giving another co-worker, a
partner of his, a ride home as well, too. After he dropped off that partner, then Patti would real
herself, and then they should have gone off to their vacation in this remote area in Canada.
CASAREZ: So wait a minute, Nathisha. Where was she going to be, Patti Adkins? In the truck while
she dropped off his co-worker?
LANCE: She was going to concealed in the back of the truck, in the truck bed, in the back. It had a
new cover that was on it that he had purchased just a few days before Patti disappeared. I believe he
ordered it on June 26th. Patti was last seen on the 29th.
He received it on June 20th. And then that evening is the last time anybody saw Patti.
CASAREZ: So, everybody, we are taking your calls live tonight.
To Holly Zachariah, reporter from "The Columbus Dispatch."
So, what I`m hearing is that she was going to conceal herself -- she told her sister that -- until the co-
worker of the married boyfriend would be dropped off at his home and then they`d go on and have a
wonderful vacation?
ZACHARIAH: That`s exactly right. And Marcia, her sister who she was closest to, had concerns
about that and new that something didn`t sound right. But she trusted Patti and believed that, you
know, Patti was in love and knew what she was doing.
The trip from Honda to where this boyfriend and his co-worker live is maybe 30 -- you know, 30, 35
minutes. She probably thought that was going to be OK, she`d make it up there. And as soon as they
dropped the friend off, she`d get out and everything would be all right.
CASAREZ: Everybody, tonight we have the sister of Patti Adkins with us. Marcia Pitts is joining us
from Columbus, Ohio.
Marcia, thank you very much for joining us.
What did your sister tell you? She confided in you about this trip. And thank goodness she did,
because she gave you a lot of details.
PITTS: Yes. She had confided in me that she was planning on going away over her shutdown, and
that it was supposed to be a culmination of what had been almost two years of a relationship with
the man that she worked with.
MARTIN: And is it true that she didn`t take anything with her because he told her, we`ll just get
everything later?
PITTS: She had a duffel bag of things. No, she had a duffel bag of some clothes and her I.D. and
things like that. But, no, she didn`t take enough for a week.
CASAREZ: And Marcia, did she think that this was going to be the week that would change her life,
that she went to Victoria`s Secret and got something very special for that week?
PITTS: I don`t know anything about at.
CASAREZ: All right. That`s what our sources are telling us, that she went and shopped and took that
with her.
Natisha Lance, NANCY GRACE producer, describe for us the cover for this pickup truck that he gets
shortly before the trip.
LANCE: Well, this cover, it just goes over the back of the truck. It covers that area so that you
wouldn`t be able to see inside of it.
Now, what police say is that when they questioned this man, what he says is that he just got it to
cover up some fishing gear that he was going to have in the back of his truck, but as we heard from
her sister, and as we have heard -- seen in other reports, that this is -- this was supposed to be used
for Patti to be able to conceal herself while he was able to drop off this friend of his.
CASAREZ: All right.
Everybody, we do have the lead detective in this case. This is an active investigation.
Where is Patti Adkins? What happened to her? She was last seen clocking out of work at the Honda
assembly plant in Marysville, Ohio.
Joining us is Jeff Stiers. He is the detective from Union County Sheriff`s Department, joining us from
Columbus, Ohio.
Mr. Stiers, thank you, Detective.
When you found out that she had gone missing and you first spoke with this married boyfriend --
because I would assume that is who you went to almost initially -- what did he say?
DET. JEFF STIERS, UNION COUNTY SHERIFF`S DEPT.: Yes, when we first spoke to him, the
boyfriend was very hesitant in talking and was almost unsure at the time of who Patti was, which
was -- she worked with him on the line every day, and co-workers had seen them speaking to each
other. And we also had reports that they were together after work a few times also.
CASAREZ: So did you suddenly have a red flag? Because there you have, right off the bat, an initial
inconsistency of someone that obviously knew someone else, but is saying, I don`t even know her.
STIERS: Well, absolutely, there was a red flag. We also had reports that she had been buying gifts
for him such as T-shirts, a phone, Harley- Davidson phone that we found in his residence.
CASAREZ: What was his alibi? Where did he say he went after he clocked out of work in those early
morning hours?
STIERS: As far as the clock-out, that would have been 19 seconds after midnight, not 19 minutes.
And she clocked out at 19 seconds. He left shortly after that and drove straight to Canton, Ohio,
which was about 35 minutes from the Honda plant.
They then went to the Burger King up there, and said they waited in line at the drive-through for 45
minutes. When we spoke to the Burger King, they said there`s no way that they waited in line that
long, we don`t have that much business that early in the morning.
He then took his partner, dropped him off at his house. And then the boyfriend drove home. And at
2:30, the wife said that he pulled into the driveway.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PITTS: The day that she disappeared she took her dog to the vet to be boarded for the week and
exchanged my niece with her ex-husband, and then went to work, clocked out, and nobody has seen
her since.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Twenty-year-old mom Patricia Adkins is missing. Police need your help in
tracking her down.
PITTS: It would have been June 29th of 2001. My sister was a team leader on the assembly line at
Honda of America. She was supposed to be headed on a trip to Canada with a co-worker.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Workers (ph) say she was excited about spending Fourth of July weekend
with her boyfriend, a boyfriend who is reportedly married to another woman. Patricia allegedly tells
friends the man tells her not to pack anything for the trip and they`ll buy all they need once they get
to the remote Canadian cabin.
PITTS: Nobody has seen her since.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The boyfriend reportedly denies the affair.
PITTS: He sort of said that he did know here, but denied any kind of relationship with her.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But police say they find cat hair allegedly from Patricia`s cat in the flatbed
of the boyfriend`s pickup truck. No charges ever filed.
Where is Patricia Adkins tonight?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CASAREZ: Patti Adkins was only 29 years old. She was a supervisor at the Honda America
manufacturing plant in Marysville, Ohio. She had a young daughter and she had her beloved pets
that she took to the veterinary kennel because she was going to take this vacation with someone who
promised her a lifetime of love. And she was never seen again.
We are taking your calls live.
To Jennifer in Kentucky.
Hi, Jennifer.
JENNIFER, KENTUCKY: Hi. I have a question.
OK, did they give the boyfriend that she was seeing a lie detector test? And also, did he end up
staying gone for a week, or do they know, did he come back? You know?
CASAREZ: Two good questions. And we`re going have the answers for you.
Detective Jeff Stiers is with us tonight, detective from Union County in Columbus, Ohio. He is the
lead detective on this case.
First of all, have you given polygraphs in this investigation?
STIERS: Yes. The boyfriend did take one.
CASAREZ: And can you let us know the results?
STIERS: The results were he showed deception during the polygraph.
CASAREZ: Deception indicated.
Second question that Jennifer had, was he on a week`s vacation following the night that he clocked
out?
STIERS: I believe once everyone returned to work at Honda from the shutdown, he went out on a
disability and did not return back to Honda
CASAREZ: So you don`t have any evidence that that week during the shutdown, that he was on a
vacation in a little cabin in the woods in Canada?
STIERS: No. During the week of shutdown, from everybody we talked to, he was at his house.
CASAREZ: OK.
To Pat Brown, criminal profiler, author of "The Profiler," joining us in Washington, D.C.
So here`s the situation. You`ve got Patti Adkins, who leaves for a week. She`s gone for that week
that the plant shuts down because she`s on a vacation, she says, with this guy. And lo and behold,
he`s not.
PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER: Well, I don`t think she ever got anywhere near a vacation, and
I don`t think he ever had one planned. I think this poor woman was in extreme, extreme denial about
what kind of person she was with. The usual, oh, he`s going to leave his wife and he loves me and all
this stuff.
And the fact they were going to start this relationship in the open, and where did it really start? Her
covered up in the back of the truck. I mean, that should have been a big red flag to her, but
apparently she was minimizing all the negative things about the relationship and just hanging on to
hope.
CASAREZ: And the fact is, where is she? Where is Patti Adkins? She needs to be found.
Marcia Pitts, who is the sister of Patti Adkins -- and we want to tell you, your sister`s gorgeous.
She`s absolutely beautiful.
She got a ride to work that morning, right, from a co-worker because of this trip, and she didn`t
want to leave her car at the plant?
PITTS: Yes, her best friend drove her to work that day.
CASAREZ: Did you talk to that best friend? What did she say that their conversation had to do with
on that ride to work?
PITTS: She talked about being excited about going. Her best friend knew the details of the
relationship, knew of the money my sister had been loaning the co-worker. She said Patti was
excited. She was very happy that day.
CASAREZ: What do you think happened, Marcia?
PITTS: I believe he killed her that night. I don`t believe my sister ever made it to the next day,
honestly. I`ve never held out hope that my sister`s alive.
CASAREZ: Your sister loaned him money. Is that correct?
PITTS: A great deal of money, yes.
CASAREZ: How much?
PITTS: Detective Stiers would have to answer the exact amount. I know they tracked tens of
thousands of dollars. They tracked her withdrawals from her accounts and things.
CASAREZ: And everybody, she took loans off of her 401(k) to give him a loan.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Twenty-nine-year-old Patti Adkins was leaving work at an Ohio Honda
plant in the early morning hours of June 30, 2001. She was headed into the company parking lot
when she vanished.
PITTS: I`ve been waiting for 10 years, and I just have to keep hope that somebody eventually will
come forward.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Since that moment, nobody has seen or heard from Patti, and her family
is still waiting at home for answers.
PITTS: Wondering is very painful, when the unknown is more painful than knowing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Investigators searched the entire area around the plant, but there was no
sign of the missing mom.
Where is Patti Adkins?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CASAREZ: I`m Jean Casarez. Patti Adkins was last seen June, 2001. Her daughter is 16 years old
now, and still doesn`t know where her mother is.
This needs to be solved. Where is Patti Adkins?
We`re taking your calls live.
To Brittany, in Missouri.
Hi, Brittany.
BRITTANY, MISSOURI: Hi. I have two questions.
My first question is, how do they know that the black cover on the truck -- how do they know she`s
supposed to be hidden under there? And my second question is, do the police really got hard
evidence that they were having an affair? How do they know?
CASAREZ: All right.
To Jeff Stiers, who is the detective on this case, joining us from Columbus, Missouri.
The black truck cover you forensically tested. And tell everybody what you found.
STIERS: Yes. We sent that off to the lab, and we found animal hairs, particularly cat hairs that
belonged to Patti`s cats.
CASAREZ: And what else did you find on there?
STIERS: There was also a spot of blood that was found on the underneath side of the Tonneau cover.
That was presumptively tested and showed blood.
CASAREZ: So, everybody, a presumptive test meaning it`s an initial test, it shows positive for blood.
You have to do further testing to have it be conclusively positive for blood and Patti`s blood.
Have you done that test?
STIERS: That`s correct. No, we have not. We are waiting -- it was such a small amount of blood, that
we are waiting for technology to catch up so that we do not use the whole sample up.
CASAREZ: So, Detective, would that small amount of blood be destroyed with testing?
STIERS: It would be, yes.
CASAREZ: How big would it be? I think you described it as if you killed a fly, the little spot that`s
left, that that`s the amount of blood.
STIERS: That`s correct.
CASAREZ: How did you gain custody of that car cover?
STIERS: We got -- we found that in the business of the boyfriend`s up in Ada. It was in his shop
rolled up two weeks after he had put it on.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NANCY GRACE, HOST: Vanished into thin air.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Look for her.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We just need to find her.
GRACE: So many cases.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`re still looking.
GRACE: So few leads.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Missing.
GRACE: Missing person.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s our duty to find her.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Missing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The witness seen the suspect on Nancy Grace.
GRACE: There is a God.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nancy Grace show was out there for us.
GRACE: Found. Alive. 50 people, 50 days, 50 nights. Let`s don`t give up.
VOICE OF MARCIA PITTS, SISTER OF PATTI ADKINS: She`s a very doting, devoted mom to my
niece. She loved her. Adored my niece. She was very family oriented. Very close. My sister and I
spoke on a regular bas, pretty much daily. She had a very big heart, was a loyal friend, hard worker.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just after midnight on June 30th, 2001, Patricia Adkins punched out at
work at the Marysville, Ohio, Honda Plant. At that moment, Patti had everything going for her. She
made good money at her Honda job. She was awaiting a promotion and had a nice home with a
seven- year-old daughter and a good family foundation to lean on. Nineteen seconds after midnight,
Patti walks into the dark night of the Honda Plant parking lot. She`s never seen again.
PITTS: She was supposed to be going on a remote trip. They were to be leaving immediately after
work, and she said it wouldn`t be anywhere where there would be phone service, so that I shouldn`t
expect to hear from her. She just took a couple, one bag, one, like, duffel bag of clothing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Patricia tells friends and family they`re going to buy anything they need
once they get there, and her boyfriend says not to pack anything. Patricia is never heard from again.
PITTS: I called and kept getting her answering machine. I called a co-worker`s home and spoke to
his wife just saying that I was a potential customer, and she just said he wasn`t home. So, I just took
that to mean that he wasn`t back yet either.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When police questioned the co-worker, he reportedly denied any affair.
PITTS: He denied any knowledge of her and that resulted in me panicking.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police thought they may have a break in the case when a tiny speck of
blood was allegedly found in the co-worker`s car. Investigators reportedly say they believe it`s
Patti`s blood, but because of technology constraints have not been able to test it to confirm if it`s
Patti`s.
PITTS: Been waiting ten years having to generate various scenarios trying to figure out what
happened to your sister. I do believe there are people out there that know more than they`ve come
forward at this point. I just have to keep hope that somebody eventually will come forward.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JEAN CASAREZ, LEGAL CORRESPONDENT, "IN SESSION": I`m Jean Casarez. Where is Patti
Adkins? Twenty-nine years old when she went missing. Thank goodness, she told close friends and
her family where she was going and what she was going to do, but she said that this boyfriend of
hers, this married boyfriend said, you can`t take anything with you because there`s no cell phone
reception, there`s no phones, nothing. Just you and me.
I want to go out to Holly Zachariah. She`s a reporter for the "Columbus Dispatch" joining us from
Columbus, Ohio. Take us through this timeline of the last hours that we know she was alive.
VOICE OF HOLLY ZACHARIAH, REPORTER, THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH: Well, we know that on
that last day that she was seen on June 29th, as Marcia said, she took care of her animal. She had a
Golden Retriever dog, took him to the kennel, got her cats with either at the kennel or with friends,
and met her friend, then her girlfriend, to ride to work. We, as Marcia said, we know that they talked
about it, that Patti was nervous and excited at the same time about what was about to happen.
She clocked in at Honda at 3:06 that afternoon, worked her full shift, and as the detective said, at 19
seconds after midnight, she clocked out that was unusual for her. She usually, as a supervisor at
Honda, was one of the last to leave her shift. You cleaned up the area, made sure everything was
right for the next day. She was clearly wanting to get out of work that night.
I mean, she was ready to go. She was one of the first, you know, I mean, if that shift ends at
midnight, she clocked out at 19 seconds after midnight. She was gone.
CASAREZ: Yes. Unusual behavior. Natisha Lance joining us. Talk to us about this car cover, that
truck cover, I should say, that this boyfriend, that she believed she was going to spend the rest of
her life with, bought just a day or so before they went on this trip?
NATISHA LANCE, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Right. He had ordered this on June 26th, just a few
days before this happened. It appears that it was a soft cover that went over the truck bed of his
pickup truck. Now, something else about this truck, Jean, this wasn`t the normal car that he would
drive to work. He usually wouldn`t drive his truck to work so it was a bit unusual for him to even be
driving the truck to work that day, but the truck cover went on
http://bashfulbandit7492.shutterfly.com/bashfulbandit7492 top of that.
When police questioned him about it, he said that it was used just to cover some fishing gear that he
had in the back, and according to what the friend said, Patti was supposed to hide in the back of that
truck while he dropped off a friend at home. He says that he and the friend went to a Burger King,
which was about 30 or so miles away from where they work. They went through the drive-thru, and
he says and also his wife says that he was home at 2:30 that morning.
CASAREZ: I want to go out to Jeff Stiers who is the lead detective on this case joining us from the
Union County Sheriffs Office. Detective, when you spoke with this man`s wife, what did she say to
you?
VOICE OF JEFF STIERS, DETECTIVE UNION CO. SHERIFF`S OFFICE: She was in denial of the
whole thing. Of course, she could never believe that her husband would do anything like that. She
said that she was asleep, and at 2:30, her husband came home at his normal time. She had heard his
truck pull in the driveway, and he would go out to the garage and work in his shop and then come
into bed later on.
CASAREZ: We`re taking your calls live. Brenda in Alabama. Hi, Brenda.
BRENDA, ALABAMA: Hi.
CASAREZ: Thanks for calling.
BRENDA: Yes. I would like to know. Does he have a violent record?
CASAREZ: Does he have a violent record?
BRENDA: Yes. And why his picture hasn`t been put up just in case someone has seen them together
after he checked out of work?
CASAREZ: You know, Brenda, his name has not been released. He is a person of interest, has not
been charged. As you can see, we`re not saying his name. That name has not been released. I do
want http://www.4shared.com/office/ui_R3QCIce/Practical_Tonneau_Covers_Syste.html to ask the
detective on this case, Jeff Stiers. Are you concerned at all that as you wait for the testing of this
blood on this truck cover, that this man, if he is involved in foul play with her, could go on and do it
to others because he is free and has not been arrested?
STIERS: You know, that`s always a concern. Absolutely. In this case, he does not have a violent
background. And so, we`re, you know, we`re taking the chance and waiting. He is still married. He`s
still with his family.
CASAREZ: All right. To Eleanor Odom, senior attorney of the National District Attorneys Association,
death penalty qualified, joining us out of Washington, D.C. Eleanor, as I put the pieces of this case
together, I see a lot of premeditation that is involved. The trip is planned. A truck cover is
purchased. Just too much for comfort, I think, in this case.
ELEANOR ODOM, SENIOR ATTORNEY OF THE NATIONAL DISTRICT ATTORNEYS ASSOCIATION:
Oh, exactly, Jean. And the fact that he allegedly told her, hey, you can`t use your cell phone. We`re
going to a remote place. Don`t bring anything. Don`t bring any luggage. No personal items. I think
that screams out loud that something is going on here.
I am really eager to find out of when they can test that blood because as soon as they have the
ability to test that small amount of blood, I think, that will give us some answers, as well.
CASAREZ: And Peter Odom, defense attorney, the point is not to arrest someone in this crime. The
point is to find Patti Adkins. That`s what we want to do. Do you think, is there any way that they
could trace where that truck went that night because where the truck went may be where Patti
Adkins can be found?
PETER ODOM, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: There`s no way they can do that now. There just too much
time has passed. And you know, whatever happened during the investigation back first, when she
went missing, but you know, what they have now is a circumstantial case. And circumstantial
evidence is, while it can be enough to convict someone in a court of law, any rational inferences
consistent with innocence have to prevail.
And in this case, there are just too many inferences that are consistent with innocence as suspicious
as things going to be.
CASAREZ: Detective Jeff Stiers, very quickly, did he have a cell phone on him that night? Is there
any way that through cell phone technology today, records from 2001 could be used to trace the
steps of his truck?
STIERS: I`m not sure if he had a cell phone on him that night. He did have his cell phone that was in
his name, and we were able to pull Patti`s phone records, his phone records, and show that they had
communication --
CASAREZ: But not location.
All right. Tonight, everybody, help us find Jesse Pinegar. He`s 22 years old. He vanished on March
24, 2009, from Kauai, Hawaii. He`s a white male, 6`1", 170 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes.
If you have any information, please call 808-241-1711.
If your loved one is missing and you need help, go to CNN.com/nancygrace, send us your story, we
want to help you find your loved ones.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Friends say she was excited about spending the fourth of July weekend with
her boyfriend, a boyfriend who`s reportedly married to another woman.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Patti`s family reportedly says she was in a relationship with a married co-
worker, and they were allegedly planning a getaway that weekend.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But friends and family never hear from Patricia again.
PITTS: I called and kept getting her answering machine. I called the co-worker`s home, and when I
questioned him about my sister, he denied any knowledge of her, and that resulted in me panicking.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Reports the married man denies the affair, but investigators allegedly find
hair from Patricia`s cat in his truck. Also, cops reportedly find one speck of blood, a speck of blood
so small it`s still unable to be identified.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: I`m Jean Casarez. Out to the callers. Barbara in Maryland. Hi, Barbara.
BARBARA, MARYLAND: Thank you for taking my call. I`d like to know what the wife`s alibi was for
the time?
CASAREZ: Well, what the wife says is that he always rolled in about 2:30 in the morning, and it was
no different from other nights. He got home, went to the garage, piddled around, and then went to
bed. So, as the detective said to us, she most likely was in denial. To the detective, Jeff Stiers, do you
think she knows more than what she`s saying?
STIERS: One would often wonder. At this time, we really don`t know, but you would think.
CASAREZ: What about this buddy that he says that he went to go get a hamburger with about 31
miles away from the plant? That buddy, did you talk to him? That co-worker friend? And does he
stick by that story?
STIERS: We did talk to him extensively, and, yes, he claims that he knows nothing about it.
CASAREZ: OK. Sounds like party to a crime to me. Marcia Pitts, the sister of Patti Adkins, joining us
tonight. We did confirm with law enforcement that your sister took loans out on her 401(k) in about
the amount of $90,000 through the course of two to three years. Why did she loan this boyfriend that
much money?
PITTS: He had said that he needed to buy his business. That if he was going to leave his wife, he
didn`t want her to get ahold of his business. So, he was going to use the money to buy the business
out in the name of his brother-in-law, I believe.
CASAREZ: I get it. And then it would be theirs for their lifetime together. And I think that loan was
starting to have to be paid off in the months to come after Patti disappeared. Marcia, if there is foul
play here at the hands of this boyfriend, do you think it was motivated because of money, not
wanting to pay back that $90,000 or motivated because of his marital situation?
PITTS: I believe it was the money. In February of prior to her -- February of 2001, prior to her
disappearance, she told me she had informed him that he would have to start paying the money back
in July because she had to start paying back on her loan. She also -- she didn`t max out her 401(k).
She still had quite a bit of money in her 401(k). So, it`s not like she was financially strapped and left
because she was in debt.
She had stocks that she cashed in and other money and accounts that she had depleted, but three
weeks after she had told him approximately I would say, about repaying the money, is when the trip
to Canada was brought up.
CASAREZ: To Bethany Marshall, psychoanalyst, joining us tonight from Los Angeles. I said this
through the show, but thank goodness that Patti told people about her life and her dreams and what
she hoped for, because if she had kept it a secret, we really wouldn`t know what had happened to
her. Why do you think she opened up like that about a life that she obviously wasn`t real proud of?
BETHANY MARSHALL, PSYCHOANALYST: I think she opened up because he dangled in front of her
the hope that they would one day be together, and she was probably so firmly under his control that
he threatened her and told her not to tell anybody, but despite that, she was so hopeful and ebullient
and happy that they might be together some day that she began to confide in family and friends, but
let`s be honest.
He preyed on her for sex and money. That`s what he did, and when she wanted to be repaid, he got
rid of her. What`s going to happen when he needs money and his sexual appetite increases? Who
else is he going to prey on in that community? Perhaps even his own wife? We could guess that his
wife is as firmly under his control and seduced and manipulated as the girlfriend was.
Is the wife supplying money to him, in some way? And what happens when she gets a backbone and
she stands up to him? Is he going to need to get rid of her, too? I think women in the community are
at great risk.
CASAREZ: It`s a very big concern. I agree with you. It is a big concern. Detective Jeff Stiers joining
us, you know, we looked up this Honda America Auto Plant, and it is, according to their website, 3.6
million square feet inside that facility. The searches that you have done, what`s the future of this
case? Do you have more searches planned? If so, where?
STIERS: Yes, when we get calls in and we get tips, we will definitely search wherever we need to.
CASAREZ: Did you search inside that entire facility in attics, in basements, every nook and cranny?
STIERS: The building was not searched. People did look around. Workers out there. We searched the
property outside of the building.
CASAREZ: Which is many, many acres, I think, 8,000 acres or so. What words do you have for
anybody out there that knows anything because the time has come for justice for Patti.
STIERS: Yes. We ask that if you, especially Union, Logan and Harden County in Ohio, those are the
three counties that he would have went through that night, and if you own property out there, we
just ask for everyone to look around and, you know, make sure she`s not on their property.
CASAREZ: OK. Very good words. Marcia Pitts, who is the sister of Patti Adkins, what do you want to
say to anybody out there tonight that is listening about your sister, about finding your sister`s
whereabouts?
PITTS: You know, my sister would have never, never left permanently of her own will. I know that in
my heart and know better than anybody. And I know that somebody out there knows something, and
I just wish other people (INAUDIBLE) were involved with it, just a little bit of information they know.
If they can imagine how excruciating something like this to try to live with for 10 years and put
themselves in our place, then they would come forward because they would want anyone to come
forward no matter how small they think or insignificant they think what they know is.
CASAREZ: How is her daughter doing? And she`s with you, right?
PITTS: Yes, my niece lives with me, and she is doing very well (INAUDIBLE), and it`s hard for her to
be without her mom. She remembers her in a very great deal. She would like to know, too, what has
happened with her mother.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CASAREZ: These are the faces of America`s missing. Every 30 seconds, another child, a sister, a
brother, a father or mother, they disappear. Their families are left behind wondering and waiting
and hoping. We have not forgotten.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Carlton Ireland disappeared from Zephyrhills, Florida in 2007. He was last
known to have pawned a ring in Tampa. If you have any information, call 813-780-0050.
Amanda Garey disappeared from Washington, D.C. in 2006. She has a scar on her right hand. Her
mother prays Amanda will return one day.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can`t even put into words how much I miss my child. I just want to know
if anyone should see her, please telephone someone and let them know that she`s out there, and
she`s missed. And we love her so much and miss her so much.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Carla Corley went missing in 1980 from Birmingham, Alabama. She was last
seen at home. Carla`s sister says that night, there were clear signs of a disturbance.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My mother said she did not hear her. She said she woke up to coke
bottles overturned in boxes (ph), and Carla`s belongings there, a snowy TV, and the back door wide
open, the screen busted, and chairs overturned. She was very intellectual, very giving, very kind,
very outgoing, was a very loving individual.
Alicia Amanda Stokes vanished from ago Oakland, California in 2007. She was last seen at her home.
Her car, a 2001 black Honda Accord, was later found. Her wallet, I.D., and cell phone were in the
car.
VOICE OF RET. SGT. DONALD WILLIAMS, OAKLAND POLICE DEPARTMENT: I`m Retired
Sergeant Donald Williams of the Oakland Police Department. I retired about 4 1/2 years ago. Now,
I`ve been hired back part-time to work on cold case homicides. Alicia Stokes` case began off as a
missing person case November of 2007.
In December, it was determined that there`s a fair high probability that there`s been some foul play
or act of violence involved in this case. One thing I found under the investigations is that people who
commit real serious acts tend to talk about things.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CASAREZ: I`m Jean Casarez. See you tomorrow night, nine o`clock sharp eastern. Until then, we
will be looking. Goodnight, everybody.
END
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