NM NM - Patricia Chesher, 12, Albuquerque, 17 June 1969

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http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/c/chesher_patricia.html

Patricia's case is one that fascinates me-police believe she ran off with some hippies, but her family is convinced something else may have happened to her. I'd love to have more information on this case and get some opinions!
What happened to this little girl during the summer of love??

Patricia was 12 years old when she vanished from Albuquerque, NM on June 17, 1969. She was last seen leaving her residence @ 3PM to sell raffle tickets (800 block of San Pedro Drive) SE of her home, and never returned.
Last seen wearing a multicolored plaid dress and sneakers.

Here's a news article about Patricia:
http://z10.invisionfree.com/usedtobedoe/index.php?showtopic=56520
( http://www6.lexisnexis.com/publisher/EndUs...1238334&start=7 )

Patricia on NamUs:
https://www.findthemissing.org/cases/8865/0
 
There is some speculation that Patricia Chesher is NY Caledonia Jane Doe, especially since they believe Cali was from Arizona, Cali, South Florida or Mexico-New Mexico is not too far.
NAMUS: https://identifyus.org/cases/6583
http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/1ufny.html

As far as stats: Jane Doe's estimated DOB is 1958-1967. Patricia was born in 1957, so it's just a year off. Of course their height and weight is a bit off, but if Patricia really did runaway, all those stats would change. Both have brown hair brown eyes. I know it's a long shot, but it would be nice to see these two at least compared.
 
Patricia Joan Chesher, 12, Missing since June 17, 1969 from Albuquerque, NM

Patricia Joan Chesher
Missing since June 17, 1969 from Albuquerque, Bernalillo County, New Mexico
Classification: Endangered Runaway

Vital Statistics

Date Of Birth: February 17, 1957
Age at Time of Disappearance: 12 years old
Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 4'0" (122 cm); 86 lbs. (39 kg)
Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Brown hair; brown eyes.
Clothing: Multicolor plaid dress and tennis shoes.
AKA: Patty

Circumstances of Disappearance

Patricia was last seen on June 17, 1969.

Investigators
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:

Albuquerque Police Department
505-242-2677

Agency Case Number: 690066603

Please refer to this number when contacting any agency with information regarding this case.

Source Information:
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
NamUs
The Doe Network: Case File 2893DFNM

LINK:

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/2893dfnm.html
 
Patricia Joan Chesher

Missing Since: June 17, 1969 from Albuquerque, New Mexico
Classification: Endangered Missing
Date of Birth: February 17, 1957
Age: 12 years old
Height and Weight: 4'0, 86 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics: Caucasian female. Brown hair, brown eyes. Patricia's nickname is Patty.
Clothing/Jewelry Description: A multicolored plaid dress and sneakers.


Details of Disappearance

Patricia disappeared from Albuquerque, New Mexico at 3:00 p.m. on June 17, 1969. She left her home in the 800 block of San Pedro Drive southeast to sell raffle tickets for the Elks Club. Patricia returned home briefly to pick up her coin purse which she'd forgotten, then left again, and never returned. She was last seen by a neighborhood girl who waved to her on the street.
Investigators initially assumed Patricia had run away from home, and she's still classified as a runaway with some agencies. Her family members never believed she left on her own, however. She's the youngest of eight children and was born in Indiana, and lived with her mother and some of her older siblings at the time of her disappearance.

The family's next-door neighbor is the only person known to have bought one of Patricia's raffle tickets, and she'd gotten her coin purse to make change for the dollar he'd given her. He's considered a person of interest in her case. So is Patricia's uncle, her aunt's one-time husband, who canvassed the neighborhood looking for her after her disappearance. He'd previously been accused of molesting Patricia and some of her sisters. Patricia's mother's boyfriend was at the Chesher home the day the child disappeared, but he said he was there at 3:30 p.m. and her family don't remember him being there until at least two hours after that. He never offered to look for Patricia. All three of these men are now deceased. None of them have been named as a suspect in her disappearance.

Patricia's sixteen-year-old sister broke up with her boyfriend shortly before the child went missing, and two days after Patricia vanished he checked himself into a psychiatric hospital, saying he was upset over the breakup and Patricia's disappearance. In 2010, authorities reopened the investigation and interviewed the boyfriend's relatives, who told them he'd confessed to the girl's murder. He suffers from severe mental illness and is in a hospital and unable to provide any useful information, and police weren't able to find anything to substantiate his alleged confession.

Patricia's family has never stopped looking for her. Her mother died in the 1980s, but her siblings are still alive and hope for resolution in her case.



Investigating Agency
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:
Albuquerque Police Department
505-242-2677





As of Mar. 11, 2013, Patricia is classified as Endangered Missing on Charley Project. Took them 44 long years to realize that. How dumb, it seems like every law enforcement agency back then thinks that every teenager who went missing ran away. That's just what happened with Ima Jean Sanders and she had died the day she was reported missing. The stupid, stupid thing about that is that Patricia was listed as a runaway for so long for no reason other than that she was a teenage girl (whatever, 12 is still a teen to me) who existed. I knew it when I saw the updates, I thought to myself, "Patricia Joan Chesher was finally classified as Endangered Missing, wasn't she?"

-Shrug-
 
Patricia has been missing for 45 years now.

It is amazing that with several potential suspects in her disappearance that police would theorize that she ran away with a bunch of hippies. At age 12?!

I think that the answers may still be forthcoming in this case.
 
I hope her case gets more publicity. An anniverary article. Interview with relatives. Something. Publicity is what is going to help get this case moving. Her disappearance was so haunting...
 
Here is a list of the mentioned POIs (not sure if they are definitely POIs, but I'm assuming they are since they were listed on the Charley's Project page.
(In no particular order0

1. Next Door Neighbor (bought a raffle ticket from Patricia)
2. Uncle (accused of molesting Patricia and sisters, did help look for her)
3. Mother's Boyfriend (did not help look for her, said he was at the house at 3:30, but others say not until 5:30)
4. Sister's Ex Boyfriend (mentally unstable, may have confessed)

Numbers 1-3 are deceased and 4 is institutionalized I believe.
 
Patricia has been missing for 45 years now.

It is amazing that with several potential suspects in her disappearance that police would theorize that she ran away with a bunch of hippies. At age 12?!

I think that the answers may still be forthcoming in this case.

In one of the archived news articles (available through Ancestry) it said that an older teen girl had reported that she gave Patty and a hippie male a ride out of the area and that Patty told her she wanted to go to Taos and had her mothers permission. This girl claimed she knew Patty.

So while it doesn't seem likely that she ran away after all these years, the police didn't just make that theory up.
 
I wish there was more information about who Patty was as a person - was it like her to run off? Was she a trusting girl? Was she the type of girl who would've gotten in the car with someone? I understand that in 1969, it was common to hitch a ride from strangers or people you barely knew, but I think it's still a relevant question. The sisters boyfriend might have snapped over the breakup, but then again, his story might be fabricated due to his mental illness. This is a very haunting case, hopefully there's a resolution soon.
 
Missing for 50 years...
PJChesher.jpg
PJChesher1.jpg

Right: Age-progressed to 53 years (circa 2010)

Patricia Joan Chesher
Missing since June 17, 1969 from Albuquerque, Bernalillo County, New Mexico
Classification: Endangered Runaway

Vital Statistics
    • Date Of Birth: February 17, 1957
    • Age at Time of Disappearance: 12 years old
    • Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 4'0" (122 cm); 86 lbs. (39 kg)
    • Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Brown hair; brown eyes.
    • Clothing: Multicolor plaid dress and tennis shoes.
    • AKA: Patty
Circumstances of Disappearance
Patricia was last seen on June 17, 1969.

Investigators
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:

Albuquerque Police Department
505-242-2677

Agency Case Number: 690066603
Please refer to this number when contacting any agency with information regarding this case.

Source Information:
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
NamUs
The Doe Network: Case File 2893DFNM
 
Has anyone ever linked Patty's disappearance to the Sena children? Patty went missing after she went back home to get her coin purse, and make change for the next door neighbor who purchased a raffle ticket from her. I'm not sure why he was never considered a suspect, because it sounds like he was the last one to see her at all. 10 years and 3 months later, two other children- Mary Lou Sena (9) and her cousin Billy Sena (11) went missing walking to the post office. The houses are 3.6 miles apart, and the post office sits right smack in between them. The very same post office that any neighbor of Patty's would use. If this is a predator in the neighborhood, there may be other victims, but these could be the only children who went missing. There are no other abductions of children in this exact range, from this exact area. So to me, it seems very likely that they could be connected. I've attached the little map I made showing the 3 locations in question. I cannot see that any connection has ever been floated- so I wanted to see what you guys know of this before I take other steps.
 

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Has anyone ever linked Patty's disappearance to the Sena children? Patty went missing after she went back home to get her coin purse, and make change for the next door neighbor who purchased a raffle ticket from her. I'm not sure why he was never considered a suspect, because it sounds like he was the last one to see her at all. 10 years and 3 months later, two other children- Mary Lou Sena (9) and her cousin Billy Sena (11) went missing walking to the post office. The houses are 3.6 miles apart, and the post office sits right smack in between them. The very same post office that any neighbor of Patty's would use. If this is a predator in the neighborhood, there may be other victims, but these could be the only children who went missing. There are no other abductions of children in this exact range, from this exact area. So to me, it seems very likely that they could be connected. I've attached the little map I made showing the 3 locations in question. I cannot see that any connection has ever been floated- so I wanted to see what you guys know of this before I take other steps.

That seems like a reasonable shout to me.
 
My family is New Mexican, not all that familiar with the area, but the address provided for the child's house is between the airport, the Air Force base, and the State Fairgrounds, now Expo New Mexico on the maps. I have been in all 3 places at different times. Central Avenue is actually Route 66. (I love Albuquerque & New Mexico....)

JMHO, as a girl who was 9 in 1969, the kind of girl who wears a plaid dress & tennis shoes, out fundraising for the Elks Club, is not the sort to run off with hippies.

Who was the Elks Club member who set this child up with the tickets? One of the 4 named POIs?

Sounds like lots of sibs -- too bad there wasn't a buddy with this young lady.

I agree -- where is Dad?

I expect the family relocated to New Mexico because of Kirtland AFB. In Indiana, Grissom AFB was active at the time.

Where are you, Miss Chesher?

JMHO YMMV LRR
 
I'm in the UK, so not much help with on the ground stuff. Only have my brain to offer.
 

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