The Disappearance of Patrice Endres

On April 15, 2004 Patrice Endres was abducted from her salon in Forsyth County Georgia. She was in between customers when someone entered the salon, interrupted her in the middle of heating up her lunch, and abducted her.
That night as Forsyth County police searched for her, I could hear the helicopters flying over our house headed to the search. My family had been watching this on the news. I didnt sleep at all that night. All I could think about was that woman and was she in trouble at that very moment.
The next day I did little work at my job, I kept hitting the reload button on the Channel 2 Action News website waiting to hear that she'd been located. By the end of the day, I couldnt take it anymore. I called Forsyth County and asked them if they were taking searchers for Patrice. They told me not at that time. Unable to let it go at that mom and I got in the car and headed to the command post. I had a little experience with missing people by this time so I could offer some help, but at that time, I wasnt sure what. Upon our arrival to the command post, a search and rescue lady came out to talk with us. I explained to her that I had worked with one case of a missing woman and I felt like with us being so close and not helping that it was just wrong. Then it came to me. I asked the woman did Patrice have a website, and if not, would the family like one made for Patrice free of charge. She told us yes and I headed home to get started. Later that afternoon we spoke with Patrice's husband, Rob Endres. A kind man who was at his wits end about the whole situation. We had Patrice's site up and running by that night however, Patrice was still missing without a trace.
Days would turn into weeks with no answers as to what happened to Patrice that day. I began working with Patrice's husband on ideas of how we could increase her reward fund and gain more public interest in her case. We started doing car washes as fundraisers. My memory goes back to the very first one we had. It was Memorial Day weekend in 2004. We worked that entire day washing at least 50 cars. We would have several more of these when six months had passed since Patrice vanished. It was now time for a vigil for her.
At that same time, authorities had began to focus in a man named Jeremy Jones who they believed might be responsible for Patrice's abduction. Jones is a known sex offender in Oklahoma. At that time he was believed to be connected to about 3 women who were either dead or missing. In March of 2005 our worst fears came to pass. Jones confessed to Patrice's abduction, rape and murder. He claimed that he disposed of her that fateful day in the Sweetwater Creek which deposits into a larger more complex body of water, the Chatahooche River. A massive search was underway and all we were allowed to do was watch from over a bridge. The search was called off due to weather conditions and later it was canceled completely. Would we ever bring Patrice home?
Shortly after the search was called off Patrice was missing for a year. Her husband needed to have something special for Patrice. It ended up being a special dinner that was held by Ray's on the River. The dining area overlooked the river where Patrice is known to be. Family members of the other victims of Jeremy Jones were at this gathering. My family worked feverishly to create a suprise website for Amanda Greenwell and Lisa Nichols' family as a token of our sympathy that night. It turned out to be a beautiful but sad night. As a token of our sympathy for Patrice, a hand drawn portrait was drawn and framed from my dad (who is an artist) to Rob Endres. At the end of the dinner, we all walked down to the river and tossed a purple rose (in Patrice's favorite color) into the river. It didnt seem enough but there was not much else we could do.
In October 2005 Patrice's abductor went on trial and was found GUILTY of raping, murdering and then setting Lisa Nichols on fire. He has been sentenced to die by lethal injection. Although all the victims of Jeremy Jones know he will never hurt another woman, we still need for Patrice to be found. I think about Patrice every time it rains, snows, or it's beautiful outside. I wonder when she can be returned to her family for a proper burial. My heart aches for her husband because he would do anything for Patrice and his heart is forever broken because of what's happened to her. Patrice was the second case I ever worked on. Her birthday is November 28th and she would've been 40 years old. I know that Patrice is in heaven now and she's not feeling any pain but it still hurts me to think of what happened to her. Another example of how our society needs to be more careful and strict with sex offenders. Patrice will always be special to me although we never knew eachother. I will never lose faith that she'll be found. For more information on Patrice's case, visit
www.FindPatriceEndres.Com

Today's blog entry is dedicated as always to Carrie Culberson. The reason I do what I do today. She will be found one day.