Missing
Abby Lynn Patterson
Patterson, approximately 2017; Tattoo on Patterson's shoulder
Date and time person was reported missing : 09/05/2017
Missing location (approx) :
Lumberton, North Carolina
Missing classification : Endangered Missing
Gender : Female
Ethnicity :
White
DOB : 02/15/1997 (24)
Age at the time of disappearance: 20 years old
Height / Weight : 5'7, 140 pounds
Description, clothing, jewerly and more : A white shirt and brown shorts.
Medical conditions : Patterson is addicted to heroin. She had spent time in a Florida drug rehabilitation facility just prior to her disappearance.
Distinguishing characteristics, birthmarks, tattoos
: Caucasian female. Brown hair, brown eyes. Patterson has a dark-colored birthmark on the back of her right thigh and a tattoo of three birds in black ink on the back of her right shoulder; a photo of the tattoo is posted with this case summary.
Information on the case from local sources, may or may not be correct : Patterson was last seen in Lumberton, North Carolina at 11:30 a.m. on September 5, 2017. She said she had to run some errands and would be home in half an hour. left her home on east 9th Street, walked down the street towards Inglewood Avenue, got into a brown Buick sedan.
Authorities later identified and interviewed the car's driver, an acquaintance of Patterson's who said they dropped her off somewhere else. She has never been heard from again. Her mother reported her missing at 6:00 p.m.
In the months prior to Patterson's disappearance, three women were found dead under unclear circumstances in Lumberton. The bodies of Rhonda Jones and Kristin "Christina" Bennett were found fifty yards apart from each other on April 18, and the body of Megan Oxendine was found two city blocks away on June 3.
All the women were found naked and in various stAge at the time of disappearance: s of decay. All of them had struggled with drug addiction, as Patterson had, and the cause and circumstances of their deaths remain unclear.
Authorities stated there were few similarities between Patterson's case and the other women's deaths, and they don't think her case is related to the others. At the time of her disappearance, Patterson was visiting her mother in Lumberton after a stint in a Florida drug rehabilitation program; she lived in Jacksonville, Florida and had last lived in Lumberton three years before. Her case remains unsolved.
Other information and links : ncy
Lumberton Police Department
910-671-3845
Interactive Missing Person Search Map