THE daughter of a mom who vanished in the middle of the night 50 years ago believes the police have enough evidence to charge her own father with murder.
Patricia “Patty” Otto, then 24, disappeared on August 31, 1976, after having a violent argument with her husband, Ralph.
Her daughters, Natalie Meredith, who died aged 34, and Suzanne Timms, 52, said they grew up being told that their mom had left to seek a new life.
At the time, Ralph told the police that Patricia abandoned them, but two months into the investigation, he hired a hit man in a failed attempt to kill Idaho Police Captain Duane Ailor, after accusing him of harassment.
He served four years in prison for attempted murder before dying in 1983.
Ralph was never convicted of murdering his wife, but now Suzanne said that a cold case investigator with Idaho Police believes he killed Patricia and has told her they have enough evidence to charge him posthumously with her murder.
Suzanne, a director of nursing, from Walla Walla, Washington, said: “My dad never faced justice, but I do believe his own daughters asking him if he killed their mother affected him.
“I believed in my heart, my whole life, she was never coming back, but I would tell people mom left.
“Now knowing my dad is guilty, if they convict, it doesn’t change that I still love my father dearly.
“I have forgiven him for what he had done. I understand that we all make mistakes in the heat of the moment.
“He drank himself to death; he had tortured himself after my mom’s disappearance.”
On the night of August 31, 1976, Suzanne said her mom put her and her sister in a downstairs bedroom for the night instead of their usual bedroom across the hall from Patricia and Ralph.
In the middle of the night, Suzanne said she was awoken by crashing, so she walked up the stairs and saw her mom and dad fighting.
“I saw my dad hit mom, she hit him back, and that is when he grabbed her by the neck and dragged her out of my sight,” Suzanne said.
“I remember going to bed and telling Natalie we need to help, but she told me to go back to sleep.
“The next morning, my dad woke us up in a hurry to get us out of the house.
“He told us that we didn’t have a mom anymore, and she wasn’t coming home.
“For years, I thought my mom left us, that she didn’t want to be a mom anymore.”
Ralph had told family and the police that Patricia had abandoned them, but the police began an investigation into her disappearance.
He claimed that the police were harassing him, so he hired a hit man – which turned out to be an undercover officer – to kill Captain Duane Ailor.
Ralph was convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to prison, where he served four years.
Suzanne said: “What innocent person hires a hit man to kill the person who is trying to find your mother?
“I felt like everyone was lying to me; nobody was telling us the truth about anything.
“I wasn’t getting any answers about my mom, and if someone told us something, they were lies – it was pretty rough.”
Ralph died in police custody in 1983, but was never charged or convicted of Patricia’s disappearance.
When Suzanne was 18, she requested the police report, which made her realize “what everyone knew” – that her dad was guilty.
She said: “My father never looked for her, he would never wonder where she was at – it was so obvious to me he was guilty.
“I felt extremely naïve, I felt misled my whole life.”
In June 2021, Suzanne was lying in bed next to her husband, Gary, 42, when she saw an image of Jane Doe, who was found dead two years after her mom’s disappearance, on July 28, 1978, on Facebook that felt like “looking in the mirror”.
The unidentified woman, known as the Finley Creek Jane Doe, was wearing red polyester pants and a white blouse, which was similar to what Patty had last been seen wearing. Despite these details, the case was labeled a homicide and closed in 1990.
Although Patricia Otto is officially listed as ruled out, discrepancies exist in the dental comparisons with Finley Creek Jane Doe, leaving the possibility unresolved.
“When I saw the photo, I felt a chill. I sat straight up in bed thinking it was me. It was my face, I was in a missing person poster,” Suzanne said.
“I read the details, and it describes a short, Caucasian blonde female with red pants and a white blouse found two years after my mother disappeared, and I’m like, ‘This isn’t my face, this is my mother’s face!’
“I sent the task force a photo of my mother, Jane Doe and me, and they told me that she was ruled out as the victim years ago.”
Suzanne found a newspaper article about the Finley Creek Jane Doe, and one of the men named as finding the body was her husband’s grandad and father.
Within a week, her father-in-law went to the site of the Finley Creek Jane Doe and confirmed that it was the site where the woman’s body was found.
Suzanne said: “They were told it was an elderly woman who went berry hunting and came off the path, so they never thought about the case again.”
Suzanne believes that the Finley Creek Jane Doe is her mother, but she has no body to confirm this.
Oregon State Police closed the case in 1990, sending the remains of Finley Creek Jane Doe to be cremated. A few remains were never found, including her hands, an arm and a pelvic bone.
But now a cold case investigator in Idaho has told Suzanne they have enough evidence to charge and convict her father posthumously with Patricia’s murder.
Despite this, Suzanne doesn’t feel she will get closure until she finds out who Jane Doe is.
She said: “If someone tells you your mother is dead, you need to have proof of that.
“I don’t understand why the police in Oregon can’t give me any closure.
“It has been 50 years, after everything I have lost, all I am searching for is answers.”
Captain Jeff Klone, from Lewiston Police Department, said: “This case is still considered active and not closed by the Lewiston Police Department.
“While the case began in 1976, we have never considered it unsolvable or inactive.
“We continue to follow up on any leads, new information and partner with other agencies and resources in an effort to bring a resolution in this case including partnering with the Idaho State Police Cold Case Working Group to work on this case.
Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/16304139/patricia-otto-murder-husband-evidence/
