Patricia Meehan

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2:20advised. My name is Sarah Turney, and this is Voices for Justice.

2:30Today, I'm discussing the case of Patricia Meehan. On the night of April 20th, 1989, a desolate stretch of highway near Circle, Montana was plunged into chaos. After a head-on collision, a woman emerged from the wreckage dazed, but seemingly unharmed. She wasn't frantic or crying for help. Instead, she was unnervingly silent. After the accident, she climbed a fence, watched the aftermath for a moment, and then just walked away into the Montana night, sparking a decades-long mystery fueled by theories of profound amnesia and thousands of unconfirmed sightings across the country. This is the case of Patricia Meehan.

3:16Patricia Bernadette Meehan is by all accounts a kind and gentle soul. She was born on November 1, 1951, to her parents Thomas and Dolly Meehan in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. We don't know much about her early life, but she does have a few siblings, Terry, Timmy, and Eileen. As everyone grew up and moved out of their parents' house, the siblings spread out across the country. Timmy went to Florida, Eileen went to Massachusetts, and Patricia pursued a degree in early childhood development at Oklahoma City College. This seemed like a great fit for her. While she didn't have kids of her own, she loved working with kids.

3:57She even found love in Oklahoma when she began dating a man named Kurt Fletchel. They lived together for a few years in the mid-80s before they eventually broke up and Kurt moved back to Spokane, Washington, where his family was from. And it's around this time that Patricia makes another major change in her life. She decides to move to Bozeman, Montana in 1985 to go work as a ranch hand. Just as she loved working with kids, she also loved working with animals. So while it was definitely a big change, she also flourished here and seemed to be happy. She worked on ranches during the summer and in the winter months, when there was less work there, she babysat her local families.

4:36But her mom, Dolly, does say that it was around this time that she noticed her daughter's smile fading in family photos. Dahlia said that as Patricia was entering her mid-30s, she began to think that she might have missed her opportunity to have the traditional 1980s nuclear family. A husband, a few kids, and a home with a white picket fence. I will say that what Patricia really wanted in life is a bit unclear. This sentiment really only comes from one snippet of one interview that I could find. But what we know for sure is that about six months after her 37th birthday in 1989, she's ready for another major change in her life.

5:16On April 19th, she calls her dad back home in Pittsburgh and tells him that she's under a lot of stress and wants to come home. Without hesitation, he immediately says yes, come home. Now, Patricia also tells him that she saw a doctor that day, who'd referred her to see a psychologist to see the following day on the 20th. Patricia also wasn't a big fan of flying, so her dad devises a plan. He says, listen, I don't want you driving across the country alone, and I know you don't want to fly, so go see the psychologist tomorrow, give me a call when you're done, and we'll come up with a plan to get you back home.

5:53Now, there are a lot of theories and conflicting reporting about exactly when and why Patricia was going to see this psychologist. So I want to read you a quote directly from her father. Thomas Meehan said, quote, She was under some sort of stress, and her doctor was sending her to a psychologist in the morning. She asked if she could come home, and I said sure. She didn't like to fly, and I didn't want her driving in her condition. I told her to call after she saw the psychologist that day. I wanted to figure out how we could get her home. End quote. So Patricia and her father end the phone call with a plan to sync up the following day.

6:29Everything seems relatively fine. But that call never came. The following evening, April 20th, just after 8 p.m., Patricia was driving 300 miles northeast of Bozeman, Montana, just outside the city of Circle, when her car crossed over the center line. In the other lane was Peggy Bueller, who was able to swerve out of the way. Behind her is police dispatcher Carol Heights. She sees this happening and quickly pulls over to the side of the road, but Patricia still hit her head on. Peggy is shaken up. She's also with her parents, so her dad takes over, turns around, and drives back to the scene of the crash, and they all watch Carol and Patricia crawl out of their vehicles.

7:14It's a terrible crash, but it seems like both women are okay. We know for sure that Carol only suffered minor injuries. Patricia's injuries are less clear. Carol says that when she saw Patricia, her eyes were starry like she was in shock, and that she really just looked right through her. Here's Carol speaking with Unsolved Mysteries in 1989. She just stared. Never said anything. Nothing. Just stared at me. I will never forget her. Now, Peggy's dad stays at the scene to help Patricia and Carol while Peggy drives away to call the police. But Peggy did see the scene before driving away. Here's what she told Unsolved Mysteries.

8:00As I looked out across the accident, I noticed someone on the other side of the fence standing there like a spectator, not like that it had happened to her. Patricia had left the accident site, climbed a fence, and just stared at them. Then she calmly walked deeper into the field and out of sight into the night. This episode of Voices for Justice is sponsored by Chewy. When I think about the holidays, I think about tiny moments with my dogs. The ones that really make the season bright. And that's why I'm joining Chewy Claws, who's out here making pet wishes come true. It's a really cool program.

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10:26They trace Patricia's car back to her, and luckily they do get to work searching for her right away. They brought out dogs who searched by moonlight, and they were able to track her scent, but then the trail just stopped. Unfortunately, the reporting I found doesn't go into a ton of detail. So whether the trail stopped at a road, a mountain, in the field, we just don't know. But they lose the scent. They also find tracks from a smaller-sized tennis shoe that they believe may belong to Patricia or a young boy. She was wearing a pair of Reeboks that most reporting says were traditionally worn by men, so take that for what you will.

11:05But just like the scent, eventually they can't follow the tracks either, and the search ends for the night. The next morning, there is a line of people ready to help search, and Patricia's family immediately hires a helicopter to look for her too as they get to the scene as quickly as they can. But the helicopter doesn't see her or any trace of her anywhere. They also can't pinpoint where she was going. While the route she was taking could eventually lead her to Pittsburgh back home with her parents, if that was where she was going, she was taking a longer route than she needed to. So right now, they're not really sure where she was planning on going, but they do theorize that she might have snuck into a hay truck that was about a half a mile from the accident site, but like so many things in this case, that could never be confirmed.

11:55The other theory is that she was picked up by someone against her will, or that she hitchhiked away from the crash site. I mean, it seems very possible at this point that Patricia may have thought that she harmed someone in the crash, or at the very least was just afraid of being in trouble for the damage that she caused. But the other, and to this day most prevailing theory, was that she hit her head in the crash and may be suffering from a terrible head injury or amnesia. They searched for her every single day for over a week. They had search teams, ATVs, horses, more dogs. They even searched local mine shafts in the area after a psychic from Florida called in to say that that's where she'd be found.

12:39But again, there was just nothing. And really, while these searches by law enforcement began to wind down, Patricia's family was just getting started. The way they all showed up for her is really best-case scenario for any missing person case. Her parents and siblings fly out, even one of her nieces joins in the search. The media quickly shares Patricia's information too. She's 37, 5 '3", weighs about 105 pounds, she has strawberry blonde hair past her shoulders, green-gray eyes and freckles, she looks younger than her age, last seen wearing blue jeans, white high-top Reeboks with a blue stripe, carrying a brown leather purse, and she has a mild East Coast accent.

13:26And really, immediately, people began calling the police to say that they've seen her. And while law enforcement did follow these leads, it was her family that had boots in the ground across the country to try to verify these sightings. They create a flyer, they set aside money for a reward fund, and they bring physical videotapes of Patricia to show anyone who says they may have seen her. So let's talk about some of these early sightings. On May 4th, a police officer nearly 700 miles away from the crash site in Laverne, Minnesota, says that without a doubt, he saw Patricia at a diner. Well, two diners, actually.

14:05According to the server, the woman spent five hours at the diner just drinking water until they closed at 11 p.m. Then she looked out the window and went to Country Kitchen across the street, which was open 24 hours. When this woman went to the second diner, the police officer approached her and asked her if she was okay. I mean, clearly whoever this was seemed to be going through something. So he goes up to her, he asks her name, but she refuses to give it. So he asks her where she's from, and she says Israel, but then backtracks and says Colorado. It's definitely an odd encounter, but she's not doing anything illegal, so the officer can't do anything.

14:49And at this point, he's not familiar with Patricia's case, so he just leaves her alone. But once he sees a photo of Patricia, he's pretty sure that the woman he encountered is her. And when her family shows him a video of her, he says without a doubt that the woman he saw was Patricia. After this encounter, Dolly Meehan told Jill Sunbai for the Billings Gazette, quote, This is not like her. We think she has amnesia, that she is confused and scared. We're quite sure she does not know who she is. End quote. At this point, this is considered to be a confirmed sighting of Patricia Meehan. And there are two more sightings the following day about 30 miles west of Laverne in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

15:37A cashier at a Rentschler's truck stop says that she saw someone who looked like Patricia at the diner there from 12 a.m. to 6 a.m. when her shift ended. The server who worked the next shift confirmed that she too saw the same woman from 6 a.m. to about 11.30 a.m. They say that this woman, maybe Patricia, was sitting, drinking coffee, and just laughing to herself. A truck driver also reported seeing this woman in the bathroom, staring at herself in the mirror. The truck driver asked the woman what her name was, and she said that she didn't know. Now, as far as I could find, this is considered to be an unconfirmed sighting, and Patricia's mother says that she never drank coffee.

16:20So, take that for what you will. But there was another confirmed sighting that same night about 200 miles west of Sioux Falls in Murdo, South Dakota. This was between 10 and 11 p.m. at another truck stop diner. The server says she saw who she believed to be Patricia with a man of slight build with curly hair in his 30s. She says they argued and then left the truck stop separately. So if this is Patricia, she does seem to be traveling back west, which would line up with our next confirmed sighting back in Billings, Montana on May 11, 1989. Here, a man says that he saw Patricia on the frontage road next to the I-90, and she asked him which way Washington was.

17:09So Patricia's parents and her 21-year-old brother Terry head to Billings. Terry told the Billings Gazette that they showed this man a videotape of Patricia, and the man said that he'd bet his life it was her. Dolly said, quote, they heard her voice, and that gives better confirmation than just showing a picture, end quote. This small detail about Washington also gave her family a lot of hope, because we know that her ex-boyfriend is from there and currently lives in Washington. So they're thinking maybe she has amnesia but is being drawn to that ex-boyfriend for some reason. But again, if this is Patricia, it seems like she didn't head to Washington just yet.

17:52Because another sighting that, according to the Billings Gazette, has been confirmed was just two days later on May 13th in the same city, Billings, Montana. a woman says that she saw Patricia at some type of horse sale or horse auction, which would make sense given her background working as a ranch hand. This also confirms some suspicions that her family already had, that maybe Patricia was still trying to pick up odd jobs on ranches for some pocket money while she seemed to be hitchhiking across the country, primarily from truck stops. The next confirmed sighting was again in Montana, but this time in Bozeman, about 150 miles west on May 19th, so about a week after she was last seen in Billings.

18:36And you guessed it, this sighting was also at a diner. Two servers say that they saw who they believed to be Patricia sitting, eating a cinnamon roll, and drinking coffee for several hours before leaving. Now, both of these servers were interviewed by Unsolved Mysteries, and they say that Patricia was concerned with being served quickly. She said that she needed to start shopping by 9am, but for some reason she stayed at the table for quite some time. They say that she seemed lost and even unsure of who she was. One server said that she asked if she was okay and the woman said that she was fine.

19:12And again, Patricia's family swoops in, shows them the video, and like the other witnesses, they say that they have no doubt that the woman they saw was Patricia. By June, Patricia's parents told the Associated Press that they're heading to Idaho and Washington to look for their daughter. At this point, there have been about 60 sightings of Patricia, a few of which have been confirmed. So again, they're thinking that something inside of her is telling her to go west towards Washington. They just don't know exactly where. Because while it does seem that Patricia or whoever this woman is was moving west, there didn't seem to be a lot of urgency or any direct path.

19:51Thomas Meehan said, quote, I just don't know where to go. We just have to go somewhere on the I-90. End quote. And here's Thomas Meehan speaking to Unsolved Mysteries. I think it just gives us more insight into how he and his family were feeling at this time. Well, more than anything else in the world, I want her back with us. And we would then know that she'd be safe, not knowing who she's going to get a ride from. And that's my biggest worry, I think. Just praise on your mind day in and day out. And you pray to God and hope that she's with good people. By mid-June, her parents make it to Washington.

20:36They link up with Patricia's ex-boyfriend, Kurt, and even his mom, Jean, both help in the searches for Patricia. And then the sightings in Washington begin to roll in. At IKEA, your dreams can come true. Well, maybe not the ones where you're being chased by a monster. We're talking about kitchen dreams. And there are IKEA products and solutions for all of them. Whether it's a whole new kitchen, a statement glassware set, or just new cutlery. If you got big dreams or small dreams in any size of budget, IKEA can help you bring them to life. Visit ikea.us slash dreamkitchen to learn more. Dream the possibilities.

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21:51All their suspicions that she's moving west to Washington seemingly are confirmed when all these sightings start to come in. Two women report seeing her walking on a road near North Bend, Washington. They approach the woman who tells them that her car broke down, but she ultimately declines an offer for a ride. A man in Tacoma reported seeing a woman who looked like Patricia at a truck stop asking people the way to Aberdeen, which is about 80 miles west of Tacoma where her ex-boyfriend lives. This sighting hasn't officially been confirmed as far as I could find, but it is backed up by another sighting.

22:26Port of Tacoma employee Don Dozerman says that he saw a woman matching Patricia's description near an I-5 truck stop in early June. And this seems to be a memory that is burned in this man's brain. He says that he remembers this because she was screaming at passing motorists, asking them how to get to Aberdeen, and where the 101 was, which goes through Aberdeen. She asked him too, and he told the woman to turn right at Olympia, and the woman asked if that was south. Ron said, quote, Her voice was quite loud and sharp. I had no problem hearing her. End quote. Now Ron actually does immediately think that this is Patricia.

23:09At this point, her case, and really more so her parents' search for her, have been in the newspapers and news reports across the country. They've done an amazing job getting her case out there. So Ron's thinking that he just cracked this case that he found missing Patricia Meehan. And he does exactly what he's supposed to do. He calls the Tacoma Police Department. But they tell him to call the Washington State Patrol. And they tell him that because Patricia's parents haven't filed a missing persons report in the state of Washington, they can't do anything. It makes me want to scream. And don't ask me how or why this happened.

23:51It's just what the reporting says. So Ron, who sees who he believes is Patricia, does exactly what he's supposed to do and calls the police. And they don't do anything. Whoever this woman was leaves without speaking to an officer And the next major reported sighting of Patricia happens about 700 miles east of Tacoma, Washington Back in Great Falls, Montana I know, I know, the route is all over the place But here we have another member of law enforcement Saying that they saw who they believe is Patricia At 1 a.m. on Saturday, June 24, 1989, a U.S. Marshals employee was at the Barrel Cafe on Central Avenue in Great Falls, and he spoke to a woman for about an hour.

24:40The following Monday, he was shown a video of Patricia Meehan, and he was convinced that it was the woman he spoke to over the weekend. And this time, you guys, they actually find the woman. According to reporting by the Great Falls Tribune, She was interviewed by sheriff's detective Dwayne Halverson, who says that while the woman was about an inch taller than Patricia Meehan, her physical appearance and even some of her mannerisms were a complete match. The issue was the woman couldn't provide any identification, but she did say that she was not Patricia Meehan. She said she was a truck driver from a family of truck drivers who moved around a lot.

25:22And they don't believe this woman. They are very suspicious of her story. She looks like Patricia, and most of the sightings match up with her being at a cafe at 1am and being associated with truck drivers. They just are not convinced that this isn't Patricia Meehan. And her dad is ready to make the trip to see for himself. In fact, according to that reporting, the trip was already booked. But the police department is like, hold on, why don't you talk to her over the phone first? So they schedule the phone call, and according to Thomas Meehan, this woman was not his daughter. The sighting is officially confirmed to be false.

26:04But the next sighting comes in not too long after, on August 7th in Billings, Montana. Two employees at the Lindell Auto Sales Shop on Division Street say they believe they saw Patricia open their door and ask if they were a restaurant. Of course, they're not, so they say no and point her to one down the street. Again, it all lines up. The area asking about a restaurant. So Patricia's family asks one of her friends to go down to the auto shop and show them photos of Patricia. And again, the men say that without a doubt, they saw Patricia Meehan. But the woman was never found. Now at this point, there have already been hundreds of sightings of Patricia.

26:48But when her case is featured on Unsolved Mysteries in November of 1989, they get about 1 ,200 phone calls basically overnight with even more sightings. And really, they just keep pouring in through the end of the year and into 1990. And again, a lot of these feel like they would make sense for what we know, make sense with Patricia's behavior, and the area where a lot of the most credible sightings are coming from. One woman says that she saw Patricia at the Spokane Coliseum watching an icecapades performance. Again, Spokane makes sense. A few months after that, in March 1990, a couple in Idaho Falls says that they saw Patricia at a medical center cafeteria.