Ohio has an extraordinary number of unsolved homicide and missing persons cases. One of the most intriguing ones I have followed for years is the story of Patti Adkins. Patti, a 29-year-old single mother worked at the Honda plant in Marysville, Ohio. After leaving work on June 29, 2001, she vanished. It’s been over twenty years since anyone has seen or heard from her.

Marc Hoover.

Patti worked hard and planned on taking a weeklong trip to Canada with her boyfriend. He also worked at the Honda factory. They had been seeing each other for a year. However, the boyfriend had a wife. But according to Patti, not for much longer. Patti had told a friend about her planned trip to Canada with her boyfriend. He told her not to bring anything.

However, if he was married, I am not sure how he would explain a weeklong trip to Canada. Of course, he may not have had any intention of traveling to Canada with Patti. She arranged for her pets to be boarded and for someone to watch her daughter after she left.

On July 8, 2001, Marcia Pitts went to her sister’s house after Patti failed to pick up her daughter. She found Patti’s car in the garage and then entered her sister’s home. After not finding anything suspicious, she filed a missing persons report with the Marysville police. Another one of Patti’s sisters called the boyfriend’s wife and revealed his affair with Patti.

The boyfriend’s wife didn’t believe the allegation and gave the phone to her husband. It appeared as if the conversation became unproductive as both tried to get information from each other. The police interviewed the boyfriend on July 10, 2001. He denied being Patti’s boyfriend and said he had nothing to do with her disappearance.

Authorities also searched Patti’s home for any suspicious activity. Like Patti’s sister, they found nothing suspicious. If someone abducted her, it didn’t happen from her home. On the day she vanished, she got a ride into work with a friend.

Law enforcement also spoke to the boyfriend’s wife, who didn’t have any knowledge of an affair. She told authorities her husband couldn’t be involved with Patti. She said between his job at the plant, his side job and taking care of his children, he wouldn’t have had any time to meet with Patti. Law enforcement checked on the boyfriend’s whereabouts on the night Patti vanished. The boyfriend left around midnight, took someone home and arrived at home by 2:30 a.m. He spent the entire week with his wife and children, so he claimed he didn’t have time to harm Patti.

The police questioned co-workers about the alleged affair. They claimed Patti had an emotional relationship with her boyfriend. They spoke to each other often and had been together a few times.

So did he have an affair with Patti? Although her alleged boyfriend denied a relationship with Patti, authorities didn’t believe him. Authorities searched his property on July 13. Some items police found in the boyfriend’s home made them suspicious. For instance, they found a birthday card signed by Pattie and also a phone and tee-shirt purchased by Patti. It begs the question: If he wasn’t involved in a relationship with Patti, why would he accept a phone and other gifts from her? But the most damning part of this mystery is when authorities learned Patti had loaned the boyfriend over $90,000.

Was it possible Patti angered her boyfriend after asking for her money back? And what about his alibi on the night in question? If the boyfriend and his friend stopped by a restaurant, authorities felt it would leave some time unaccounted for. I would be interested in knowing the conversation between the police and the friend. Did he confirm their time together? And did the police contact the fast-food restaurant the men visited? It’s unclear whether the friend confirmed the stop after the shift.

When authorities checked the boyfriend’s truck, they noticed the truck still had parts of the tonneau cover, but the pullover was missing. It was located elsewhere. There was some forensic evidence found on the cover. There was a small spot of blood and cat hair from Patti’s cat. The blood evidence was so small it couldn’t be tested in 2001. Unfortunately, Patti has since been declared legally dead. Her family continues to wonder what happened to her. Someone out there knows the truth.

Marc is a longtime resident of Clermont County and an avid reader. Contact him through his website at www.themarcabe.com or through Facebook: www.Facebook.com/themarcabe or his twitter account @themarcabe. Marc also has a podcast called Catch my Killer where he interviews family members seeking justice for their murdered loved ones. You can listen at www.catchmykiller.com.