Patricia was born in California. Some time later, due to problems at home, she went to live with relatives in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Six months later, she was taken to Oklahoma and placed in the care of Oklahoma's Department of Human Services. Initially she stayed at the Oklahoma Baptist Home for Children's Owasso campus. She was transferred to the Tulsa Girls Group Home in July 1981. Patricia was last seen on August 31, 1981. Authorities classified her as a runaway. The Oklahoma DHS closed her case when she turned eighteen, but in 2015, after over 30 years without hearing from Patricia, her family asked the police to open a missing persons case for her. The circumstances of her case are unclear. There is an official letter from DHS from 1994 when family was searching then, stating that she'd never been adopted out. She has a tattoo of the letter S on her right arm.