Patti Lou Volansky – The Charley Project
- Missing Since: 03/15/1985
- Missing From: Mims, Florida
- Classification: Endangered Missing
- Sex: Female
- Race: White
- Date of Birth: 03/13/1956 (65)
- Age: 29 years old
- Height and Weight: 5'2, 155 - 165 pounds
- Clothing/Jewelry Description: Possibly gray cowboy boots and a beaded necklace. A photo of the necklace is posted with this case summary.
- Distinguishing Characteristics: Caucasian female. Brown hair, brown eyes. Volansky's ears are pierced. She has a tattoo on the outside of her right forearm of a human skull with horns dripping blood, and a tattoo on the outside of her left forearm of a goat's skull with a dagger stuck in it. Photos of the tattoos are posted with this case summary. Volansky's maiden name is name Pratt, and many agencies spell her last name "Volanski." Her nickname is Pat.
Details of Disappearance
Volansky was last seen by her roommate between 4:30 and 5:30 p.m. on March 15, 1985. She had been drinking that day, and asked her roommate to drive her to the grocery store. When her roommate refused, Volansky decided to hitchhike, and and left their Mims, Florida residence on foot. She has never been heard from again.
A week after Volansky's disappearance, one of her disability checks arrived at her mother's house in the mail. Volansky would always come by to pick them up, but she didn't come, and her mother became concerned and reported her missing on March 25.
Her mother described Volansky as "sort of a street person." She didn't work and her only regular source of income was the disability checks, which she had received since her husband's death. In spite of her lifestyle, however, she was very close to her mother, and her mother doesn't believe she would have simply walked out of her life without warning.
John Brennan Crutchley, the so-called Vampire Rapist, is also considered a suspect in Volansky's case. He was sentenced to life in prison in 1986 for kidnapping and raping a woman in Orlando, Florida. He drained half her blood and drank it. Volansky's photo identification card was found at his work office, and he admitted he'd picked her up hitchhiking about six months before his November 1985 arrest.
According to Crutchley, he was high on marijuana that day, and after Volansky began talking about motorcycle gangs and making "obnoxious" demands for alcohol and drugs, he ordered her out of his car. He found her wallet and identification on the seat of his car the next day, took them to his office, and later threw away the wallet and wrapped the card in a plastic bag.
Crutchley died by suicide in prison in 2002. Investigators believe he was a serial killer, and he is also a suspect in the 1983 disappearance of
Tammy Leppert from Rockledge, Florida, but they were never able to link him to either Leppert or Volansky's disappearance. A photo of him is posted with this case summary.
Volansky's disappearance remains unsolved. Foul play is suspected in her case.
Investigating Agency
- Brevard County Sheriff's Office 321-633-8419
Source Information
