TN TN - Leoma Patterson, 52, Anderson County, 20 Oct 1978

Leoma Patterson
was reported missing on October 20, 1978 from Anderson County, Tennessee
Classification: Missing
Vital Statistics
Date Of Birth: June 11, 1926
Age at Time of Disappearance: 52 years old
Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. She was a "snuff" user at the time of her disappearance.

Circumstances of Disappearance

Patterson was reported missing on October 20, 1978 from Anderson County, Tennessee.

She was last seen at Peggy's Place, a bar that used to be on Clinton Highway. Police reports say she left the bar with two men. Days later, Leoma was reported missing.

On March 12, 1979, children found skeletal remains on the banks of Norris Lake in Twin Cove. Tests at the time concluded that the remains were of Leoma Patterson. The bones were laid-to-rest in September 1985 in Phillips Cemetery in Anderson County, Tennessee. In August 1985, Jimmy Ray Maggard confessed to killing Patterson by hitting her over the head with a tire iron and dumping her body in the same spot where the remains were found. Although there were inconsistencies such as there being no damage to the skull, the body lay buried for almost 30 years.

In 2005, Leona’s family hired one of the world's leading forensic anthropologists, Dr. William Bass, to exhume the remains to confirm if this was indeed their mother. DNA samples from teeth taken from the grave were compared with DNA from two different daughters of Leoma Patterson, and there was no match.

The case of the disappearance of Leoma Patterson is again open. Authorities have not been able to identify the remains that lay buried in Leoma's grave for nearly 30 years.

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

Tennessee Bureau of Investigation 615-744-4000


Source Information:
WBIR
Body in Grave is Not that of Leoma Patterson
Leoma Patterson.com
doenetwork.org Case File 2143DFTN

Wow

I know it sounds stupid but there is such a thing as Chimera DNA. A person can have 2 types of DNA. There have been cases where mothers were told their children were not theirs only to find the mother had Chimera DNA. Could this have happened?

Becba said:

I know it sounds stupid but there is such a thing as Chimera DNA. A person can have 2 types of DNA. There have been cases where mothers were told their children were not theirs only to find the mother had Chimera DNA. Could this have happened?

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I thought it may help readers to post a link to an explanation of the DNA type that you spoke of.

http://www.thetech.org/exhibits/online/ugenetics/ask.php?id=172

docwho3 said:

I thought it may help readers to post a link to an explanation of the DNA type that you spoke of.

http://www.thetech.org/exhibits/online/ugenetics/ask.php?id=172

Click to expand...

An interesting discussion. However, this type of mutation of DNA is rare. Besides, the dead woman's DNA was compared to two sisters, both daughters of the missing Leoma Patterson. The possibility of BOTH daughters being Chimera DNA individuals would be highly unlikely.

I am not certain what type of DNA testing and comparisons were done in this specific case, but it is very likely that MITOCONDRIAL DNA is what they were looking at. That is the kind of DNA which is passed down from a mother to her children, and it would be the same even if this sort of "Chimera" fusing had taken place, because both fertilized eggs would have come from the mother.

All that said, there are certainly other possibilities which might indicate a DNA Non - Match. Adopted children who were never told that they were adopted, or a child switched at birth (there have been such cases) might account for inability to match DNA.

One wonders what other factors were considered which gave investigators cause to exhume the body and check the DNA. As it stands now, a once "solved" case is wide open and there is now a woman who is still missing - and the body is that of an unidentified "Jane Doe".

Is there a link to a reconstruction of the body that was in the grave?

pardilia said:

Is there a link to a reconstruction of the body that was in the grave?

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Not that I am aware of at this time. My guess is that the next step will be to try to obtain an image of what the woman looked like and get it in the system, but that has not happened yet.

Richard said:

An interesting discussion. However, this type of mutation of DNA is rare. Besides, the dead woman's DNA was compared to two sisters, both daughters of the missing Leoma Patterson. The possibility of BOTH daughters being Chimera DNA individuals would be highly unlikely.

I am not certain what type of DNA testing and comparisons were done in this specific case, but it is very likely that MITOCONDRIAL DNA is what they were looking at. That is the kind of DNA which is passed down from a mother to her children, and it would be the same even if this sort of "Chimera" fusing had taken place, because both fertilized eggs would have come from the mother.

All that said, there are certainly other possibilities which might indicate a DNA Non - Match. Adopted children who were never told that they were adopted, or a child switched at birth (there have been such cases) might account for inability to match DNA.

One wonders what other factors were considered which gave investigators cause to exhume the body and check the DNA. As it stands now, a once "solved" case is wide open and there is now a woman who is still missing - and the body is that of an unidentified "Jane Doe".

Click to expand...

Your post is sort of an example of why I posted the link to the info. The info enables people to read and understand the dna type being discussed and thus to better decide if it is a viable possibility in this case. (Although for all I know you yourself may have already known about the DNA type discussed. It still may assist others to read and know the info.)

Whatever the reason for the case being reopened, kudos to those L.E. willing to open a supposedly closed case to find the truth.

Richard said:

Not that I am aware of at this time. My guess is that the next step will be to try to obtain an image of what the woman looked like and get it in the system, but that has not happened yet.

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http://www.doenetwork.us/cases/514uftn.html

Weee! Just posted on the doenetwork. Heh. States your theory - they're in the process of exhuming in order to get more information.

The time between Leoma going missing and the remains being found appears to be less than 5 months. In Richard's first post of this thread it indicates children found skeletal remains, would the body really be just skeletal remains in less than 5 months? I realize they seem pretty confident the body is not Leoma but seeing the dates just made me wonder. I tried looking up decomposition but I kept getting results for bodies in caskets.

but if a body is exposed to animals there is a good chance that there only will be skeletal remains after a few weeks.

Sorry

M.

Mischa said:

but if a body is exposed to animals there is a good chance that there only will be skeletal remains after a few weeks.

Sorry

M.

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You don't need to worry, we've probably posted worse on here.

Welcome to WS, it's nice meeting you!

Thank you for your nice welcome. I'm not American, but from Germany. And I’m very impressed how polite and empathetic you interact here. Some of the threats I've read would have badly escalated if posted on German websites.
So I try to behave myself just to meet American standards ;-)



Greeting from Munich, Bavaria





M.

Mischa said:

Thank you for your nice welcome. I'm not American, but from Germany. And I’m very impressed how polite and empathetic you interact here. Some of the threats I've read would have badly escalated if posted on German websites.
So I try to behave myself just to meet American standards ;-)



Greeting from Munich, Bavaria





M.

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I'm from Canada and I've always wanted to go to Germany. I also know some German from my German language pop albums. I don't speak the language well enough though to hold a conversation. Auf Wiedersehen!

A bizarre mystery swirling around a woman who went missing 28 years ago has taken an even stranger turn, Dr. Bill Bass said Friday.

DNA tests confirming that bones exhumed from Leoma Patterson's grave aren't hers have been ruled faulty, the famed forensic anthropologist and author said.

And some say a clay model built upon the now re-exhumed skull bears a strong resemblance to Patterson, Bass said.

"This may be Leoma,'' Bass said. "After all of this, it's possible it could be her.''

The startling developments have reopened a family's wounds and worries over the fate of their long-missing mother.

"I'm telling you, this is a mess,'' said Pearl Smith of Jamestown, one of Leoma Patterson's seven children. "It's mind-boggling and everything else.''

The still-unfolding saga has also divided family members.

http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/local_news/article/0,1406,KNS_347_5325392,00.html

This case will be 30 years old this October.


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A look at the Leoma Patterson scandal - People in the News - Helium - by R.L Hanlon

Twenty-six years after believing they'd buried their mother, Leoma Patterson's family had the body exhumed and it was found to not be her.
Leoma Patterson was reported missing two days after her last sighting on October 20th, 1978. She was last seen leaving a bar escorted by two men, one of which was her nephew Jimmy Ray Maggard.

In March1979 skeletal remains were discovered by children walking along the banks of Norris Lake in Campbell County, Tennessee. Forensic testing on the body at the time, determined that the remains were those of Leoma Patterson. Once this had been determined, the family then proceeded to bury the body....

LINK:

http://www.helium.com/items/779203-twenty-years-after-believing



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A look at the Leoma Patterson scandal - People in the News - Helium - by Monty Hamilton

The Leoma Patterson scandal is definitely one for the books. It is an unsolved murder mystery in which the murderer has been caught, and the mystery lies in who lies beneath Leoma Patterson's tombstone, because many believe it's not Leoma....


LINK:

http://www.helium.com/items/784765-leoma-patterson-scandal-definitely

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2007/jun/28/bones-buried-inpattersons-graveare-hers-bass/

Posted June 28, 2007 at midnight

Stymied without a good DNA source from the bones, Jefferson said he recalled that a mat of human hair was discovered at the crime scene.

It was found next to the bones, and it tentatively matched hair on rollers in Leoma Patterson’s house, he said.

Jefferson said he called Claiborne County Sheriff David Ray, who was the TBI agent investigating Leoma Patterson’s death.

“I asked Sheriff Ray enough questions that he got kind of curious,’’ Jefferson said.

Ray had a file on the case at his house, Jefferson said.

“Lo and behold, there was the hair mat,’’ Jefferson said, with the original TBI seals still intact.

That DNA hair sample matched DNA from one of Leoma Patterson’s granddaughters.

The odds are 99.99 percent that the granddaughter and the woman “whose remains we’ve been looking at are of the same maternal lineage,’’ Jefferson said.

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The article states that it was difficult to get DNA because the SOP for cleaning bones in that year was to boil them in detergent and water. It compromises the DNA in some cases.

Bumping this interesting case up. It was 35 years ago that Leoma Patterson disappeared. Does anyone have any recent information or conclusions on Leoma's case?

Richard-the original DNA test came back as a non-match because the ME at the time bouled the bones with bleach-SOP in the days before DNA testing. They subsequently tested the hair that was with the skeletal remains, and that came back as a match (99.99%).

I guess that this thread should be transferred to the "Identified" section then.