April 27, 2025 • 29 mins
As Patty’s family searched for her, a trial was taking place far away in Lubbock. It was a murder case with no body, but because their was blood evidence and other circumstantial evidence, it resulted in convictions. Patty Vaughan’s case arguably has more circumstantial evidence. Also, things were tense between Patty’s family and her estranged husband JR, resulting in assaults, one, perhaps, more understandable than the other. The search for Patty and the longing for justice has taken its toll on her family, and also taken a toll on former Bexar County Sheriff’s Office Investigator Adrian Ramirez, who worked the case as a young crime scene technician and again as a seasoned cold case detective.
If you have any information about the disappearance of Patty Vaughan, please contact the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office at 210-335-6000.
If you’re experiencing domestic abuse, please get help by calling the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-SAFE, or 800-799-7233. You can also text “start,” S-T-A-R-T to 88788 or visit thehotline.org
You can support gone cold and listen to the show ad-free at patreon.com/gonecoldpodcast
Find us at https://www.gonecold.com
For Gone Cold merch, visit https://gonecold.dashery.com
Follow gone cold on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, TikTok, YouTube, and X. Search @gonecoldpodcast at all or just click linknbio.com/gonecoldpodcast
The Wilson County News, The San Antonio News-Express, The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, foxsanantonio.com, and news4sanantonio.com were used as sources for this episode.
#JusticeForPattyVaughan #WhereIsPattyVaughan #BexarCounty #SanAntonio #Texas #TX #TexasTrueCrime #TrueCrime #TrueCrimePodcast #Podcast #Unsolved #ColdCase #MissingPerson #Disappearance #Vanished #UnsolvedMysteries #Homicide #UnsolvedMurder #ColdCase #CrimeStories #PodcastRecommendations #CrimeJunkie #MysteryPodcast #TrueCrimeObsessed #CrimeDocs #InvestigationDiscovery #PodcastAddict #TrueCrimeFan #CriminalJustice #ForensicFiles
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If you have any information about the disappearance of Patty Vaughan, please contact the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office at 210-335-6000.
If you’re experiencing domestic abuse, please get help by calling the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-SAFE, or 800-799-7233. You can also text “start,” S-T-A-R-T to 88788 or visit thehotline.org
You can support gone cold and listen to the show ad-free at patreon.com/gonecoldpodcast
Find us at https://www.gonecold.com
For Gone Cold merch, visit https://gonecold.dashery.com
Follow gone cold on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, TikTok, YouTube, and X. Search @gonecoldpodcast at all or just click linknbio.com/gonecoldpodcast
The Wilson County News, The San Antonio News-Express, The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, foxsanantonio.com, and news4sanantonio.com were used as sources for this episode.
#JusticeForPattyVaughan #WhereIsPattyVaughan #BexarCounty #SanAntonio #Texas #TX #TexasTrueCrime #TrueCrime #TrueCrimePodcast #Podcast #Unsolved #ColdCase #MissingPerson #Disappearance #Vanished #UnsolvedMysteries #Homicide #UnsolvedMurder #ColdCase #CrimeStories #PodcastRecommendations #CrimeJunkie #MysteryPodcast #TrueCrimeObsessed #CrimeDocs #InvestigationDiscovery #PodcastAddict #TrueCrimeFan #CriminalJustice #ForensicFiles
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/gone-cold-texas-true-crime--3203003/support.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Gone Call podcasts may contain violent or graphic subject matter.
Listener discretion is advised.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
After becoming ill at a friend's party in Lubbock, Texas,
on May thirteenth, nineteen ninety one, Roger Dunn, who went
by Scott, vanished. Upon his father reporting him missing, the
Lubbock Police visited his apartment, where they were met by
his living girlfriend, Lesha Hamilton. She claimed to have come
(00:30):
home from work to find Scott gone, and also to
find that a large portion of carpet was missing from
beneath the couch. When police searched the rest of the apartment,
they found that a large piece of carpet had also
been cut out in the bedroom and then replaced with
the carpet taken from under the couch. Underneath that, police
(00:51):
found blood soaked carpet padding. The baseboards looked as though
they'd been washed of blood as well. Luminol later lorest
on those spots, and on a massive portion of two
walls on which cleaning motions and spatters glowed in the dark.
Something terrible had taken place there. To Scott's father, Lesia
(01:14):
implicated a man who lived in an apartment near them
named Tim Smith, who had fallen in love with her.
When they went to question Tim, investigators discovered he was moving.
They found and confiscated a roll of duct tape he'd
attempted to hide from them, which was later shown to
be consistent with duct tape used to hold down the
(01:36):
patch of carpet at Scott and Lesia's place. The cops
had put two and two together, but what they didn't
have was a body. Frustrated with the fact that the
district attorney was unwilling to take the case, Scott's father
contacted the Vedock Society, a group founded by forensic experts
(01:56):
to assist law enforcement agencies with cold came. It would
take some time, but the organization resurrected Scott's case. After
sending the facts of the case and crime scene photographs
to Scotland Yard in London, it was determined that Scott
Dunn had been brutally slain in the corner of his bedroom,
(02:18):
the result of multiple and severe blunt trauma injuries at
least four. The crime scene Scotland Yard reported was inconsistent
with life. DNA had shown that there was a one
in ten billion chance the blood belonged to someone other
than Scott done. The Vedock Society later convinced the Lubbock
(02:40):
County District Attorney that it could be argued the blood
was connective tissue, meaning they had a body part. On
November twenty first, nineteen ninety six, Lesia Hamilton and Tim
Smith were arrested and charged with the murder of Roger
Scott Dunn. Both were convicted in May of the following
(03:01):
year based upon the blood evidence and some circumstantial evidence,
including a motive. It turned out that Scott was keeping
a fiance secret from Alicia, who, according to many others,
wasn't exactly monogamous to him either. These nobody murder trials
were happening at the same time the Christmas Day nineteen
(03:24):
ninety six disappearance of thirty two year old Patty Vaughan
was playing out. Patty's case also has blood evidence a
body part. According to precedence set by the Scott Dunn case,
it also appears Patty's case has far more circumstantial evidence.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
I told that family I was gonna I was gonna
solve it. You know, we're going to solve it. My
partner and I am, and we would do whatever it takes.
Then we got that unit taken away from us, and
there's nothing we could do.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Things were heated between Patty's family and her estranged husband Jr.
Since her disappearance. Patty's mother Patsy distraught and desperate for answers.
She believed Jr. Had entered de von residence through the
back door. In the early morning hour of February ninth,
nineteen ninety seven, Patsy confronted Jr. With a baseball bat
(05:06):
and was later arrested and charged with burglary of a
habitation and assault with a deadly weapon. Though it's difficult
to deny the seriousness of the ordeal, it is perhaps
just as easy to relate and sympathize. Regardless it was
blown out of proportion in the press.
Speaker 4 (05:25):
Please understand that this woman literally was five foot two
in maybe ninety pounds.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
She was very tiny.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
What wasn't reported on nearly as much was Jr's assault
on Patty's aunt Jean. One afternoon, while driving down Oak
Park Road, Jean and a friend passed the Vaughan house
before deciding to turn around and drive past it again.
Things quickly took a turn for the worse.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
They was passed the house and pulled into a driveway
and was going to turn around and drive back down
Oak Post Road, and on Jr. Pulled up behind him
and blocked him, and he got out and came up
to the side of the car and he told my
mom to put harassing him in stalking him, and She's like,
I've just missed her, I just miss her. And he
(06:14):
touched my mom in the side of the head to
the window. My mom had a friend with her and
so they immediately called the police and they arrested him.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
After being freed on a seven thousand dollars bond, Jr.
Failed to show up for a hearing concerning the charge
on June twenty third, nineteen ninety eight. Patty's mom, Patsy,
was out on a significantly higher bond, fifty thousand dollars. Ultimately, Jr.
Vaughan was given probation and ordered to pay a fine
(06:45):
and court costs that totaled around one thousand dollars. The
charges against Patsy for attacking Jr. Vaughn with a baseball
bat were officially dropped in twenty thirteen, after the case
got buried and was long forgotten about. After the first
anniversary of Patty's disappearance, Television, news segments and newspaper articles
(07:10):
slowed to an almost complete halt, perhaps mirroring the case itself,
which had gone cold. But tips were still coming in sporadically,
including one that might have slipped through the cracks near
the beginning of the investigation. On Tuesday, October fifth, nineteen
ninety nine, almost three years after Patty Vaughan went missing,
(07:33):
four law enforcement agencies and an archaeologist gathered off farm
to Market Road thirteen oh three, on the western edge
of Wilson County, not far from the winding bends of
the San Antonio River, on a piece of property. There,
officers combed the trees and bushy terrain for six hours,
(07:53):
working on a tip they'd received from a man the
week before, the day Patty vanished. This man had seen
a light blue Dodge caravan parked near the area being searched.
It's likely he'd never have thought another thing about it
if it wasn't for what he saw. The next day.
While driving to San Antonio, he saw what he believed
(08:16):
was the same mini van parked along Loop sixteen oh four,
the spot Patty's van was later found, which, of course,
had been the subject of many search efforts beginning later
that evening, when the missing woman's aunt and cousins began
looking around the area. Upon seeing the vehicle, the witness
returned to where he'd seen it the day before and
(08:39):
found what appeared to be a freshly dug and covered
gravesite on a privately owned six acre lot. Since the
Heidi Search Center had become involved the following day, the
man reported what he'd discovered to them, but that information
apparently never made it to police. Officials with the Heidi
Search Center that they had a note in their file
(09:02):
of the Patty von case that indicated that particular area
needed to be searched, but admitted that they had no
idea if the information ever made it to police or
if the area was even searched at all, though there
were likely tips here and there in between. The next
piece of news about Patty's case didn't come until December
(09:23):
two thousand and three. There was nothing new to report.
It was just an article in the San Antonio Express
News announcing that Patty would be one of several missing
people featured on a new effort put forth by the
Texas Department of Public Safety called Project Find Me. The
Project A top ten Texas Missing Persons poster featuring cases
(09:46):
where foul play is evident was distributed statewide. It's unknown
if it resulted in any new leads. A few missteps
(10:06):
by investigators in the Patty Von case occurred in the
first few days when investigators searched her home. Jr. Vaughn's sister,
Marylyn continually interrupted the Bear County crime scene technicians as
they processed the scene, a scene where the presence of
blood had not only been observed a couple days before
(10:27):
but was now gone, but also a large part of
which had reacted to the chemical luminol, which showed apparent
footprints and mop swab marks. It's unclear why they allowed Jr.
And Maryland to remain in the house while they worked.
Marylynd distracted the investigators so much, in fact, that a
(10:48):
later warrant to obtain blood samples told of the links
they went through to keep her away, describing how Deputy
Sergeant Daniel Sanchez took she and Jr. In the other
room to get another round of statements so the scene
could continue to be processed. During this statement, Jr. Admitted
He'd threatened Patty personally, though claimed not to remember what
(11:11):
he'd said, Even though they returned the following day to
do the same thing again. Officers didn't take photographs either time,
which was confirmed by former Bear County investigator Adrian Ramirez.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
And we didn't have the right equipment to take photographs
of it, so we didn't take photographs of it.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
After completing the second scene processing on December thirtieth, nineteen
ninety six, the officers involved all followed Jr. To his
southeast San Antonio apartment. Investigators with the Bear County Sheriff's
Office found several items of interest at the apartment, though
they have only expounded upon one of those. In a
(11:57):
warrant AFFIDAEPHIT. Sergeant salm Mayer described finding a calendar. There
On it, Maren said were several pornographic phrases, which Jr.
Explained was from a joke. Also on the calendar was
a list as follows one change mind, two quickly, three children,
(12:20):
and four Gary Jr. Told investigators that the list was
what to do if Patty changed her mind about the divorce,
but to act quickly if she didn't, with children meaning
the number one priority, and the fourth line indicating that
problems would always persist. As long as Gary was in
(12:40):
the picture. However, Jr. Could not provide a reason as
to why the word Christmas was written several times in
red ink on the calendar. He also said that when
he found out Patty had been seeing Gary, he gave
notice to move out of his apartment complex. Known to
the Bear County Sheriff's Office was the stalking of Patty
(13:04):
by Jr. In the two weeks leading up to Christmas.
Co workers were called Jr. Calling Patty daily. They described
her as extremely upset and crying after getting off the
phone each time. At some point, several years after Patty's disappearance,
a friend of Jr's sold their car. In that vehicle,
(13:27):
the new owner found tapes hidden in the trunk's wheel
well that turned out to be recordings of Patty's phone
calls and turned them over to authorities. The car belonged
to the wife of Jr's lifelong best friend. The implication
was obvious, and investigators believed from the start that if JR.
(13:48):
Was responsible for Patty's disappearance, he had help. The way
Marilyn attempted to distract crime scene investigators working the case
at the Von home put her at the top of
the list of persons of interest in that regard. According
to sources, the loan set of fingerprints found on the
wheel well above the purposefully flattened tire on Patty's Dodge
(14:13):
caravan matched Jar's teenaged nephew. On January twenty fifth, two
thousand and five, Wilson County Judge Marvin Quinney signed off
on paperwork filed by JR. Vaughan. With this signature. Patty
was legally deceased. Since he'd withdrawn his divorce petition against
(14:35):
his estranged wife in January of nineteen ninety seven, less
than a month after she disappeared, and because seven years
had passed since she was last seen, it was Jr's
lawful right to have Patty declared dead. It was also
his right to make a claim on her life insurance.
(14:55):
When he did make a claim, Patty's mother, Patsy, quickly
filed a lawsuit against Jr, resulting in District Judge Martha
Lyttleton ordering the money stay in the hands of the
court until the suit could be resolved one way or
the other. Patsy had no interest in the money, she
told reporters, but instead wanted it all to go to
(15:17):
Patty's three children. In court, Jr. Was once again forced
to give a statement describing what happened the day Patty
went missing, and at least one detail differed from his
initial statements to police. Then, he told Bear County Sheriff's
Office Sergeant Salmarn that after Patty left the house on
(15:37):
Christmas Day nineteen ninety six, between the hours of six
thirty and nine pm, that he called a locksmith to
come change the locks, before visiting his mother and telling
her to call the Wilson County Sheriff should Patty show
back up. In his court appearance during the lawsuit hearing, Jr.
Said he called the locksmith the following day. Less than
(16:02):
a week after Patty was declared deceased, her boyfriend Gary
died in an auto accident alongside his ex wife and son.
In early two thousand and six, Bear County Sheriff's deputies
and Texas rangers, with cadaverdogs by their side, searched a
property in Pleasanton after the land's owner told authorities that
(16:24):
j R. Vaughan had dug a pit there in December
of nineteen ninety six. By this time, Jr. And the
kids had long since moved to Colorado. The canines couldn't
isolate a cent there, likely since the Peace of Land
sat adjacent to a cemetery. The rangers said they didn't
have enough of a lead to attempt a dig. Several
(16:48):
months later, in June two thousand and six, cadaverdogs suggested
the presence of human remains twice at Natalia High School
in Divine, about fifty nine miles from patty home in
Wilson County. At the time of her disappearance, the school
was being constructed and Jr. Was the project manager of
diggin' poor sites. The search of the school came after
(17:12):
a man who'd worked with jar at the site said
that the week Patty went missing, he noticed a material
difference in the ground. Soon after he did, JR. Led
a team of construction workers as they poured a concrete
slab over the area. After the cadaver dogs picked up
a scent, ground penetrating radars showed anomalies beneath the cement. Ultimately, however,
(17:38):
nothing was found. Similarly, in March twenty fourteen, when the
eighty first Judicial District Attorney's Office financed an excavation on
the property where Patty lived, and from where she disappeared.
They came up empty handed. Trash burn pits were dug up,
but no sign of Paddy could be found. Neighbors had
(18:01):
reported that Jr. Was operating a backo there early on
the day she was reported missing, in the pre dawn hours. Also,
some of the excavations took place where aerial photos taken
in nineteen ninety seven showed area that appeared to have
been recently disturbed. Interestingly to test investigators, a false grave
(18:24):
was dug and covered up on the Vaughan property shortly
after Paddy vanished, but authorities never found it. It was
the Bear County Sheriff's Office's failure to take crime scene
photographs of the blood evidence at the house that began
the family's distrust in the investigation, but things like that
only strengthened it. Since the March twenty fourteen dig on
(18:48):
the Vaughan's former property, there has been little movement as
far as official searches in the case, though it wasn't
for a lack of trying on behalf of Bear County
Sheriff's Office cold case investigation. Adrian Ramirez, who worked the
case as a crime scene technician in the beginning, he
and investigator Louis and two had uncovered several witnesses never
(19:11):
before interviewed, and had managed to find the DNA of
an unknown female in Patty's van, though that's never been
elaborated on. When cold case Detective Adrian Ramirez was feeling
(19:35):
confident in the case he and his partner had built,
he was determined to take it to the next level.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
So Adrian's been with us, He's had several different partners
through the years, and he got really close to taking
this to the DA. One time.
Speaker 5 (19:51):
He wouldn't tell me why, but he said, I'm going
to the DA. We're going to take this trial. And
this is three years before his retirement. He was taken
off of the cold case. It got demoted immediately when
he went over. He went over Whoever's head and was
going to the DA with Patty's case.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
The cold case unit was disbanded. Interestingly, the Bear County
Sheriff's Office assistant chief was a lifelong friend of J. R. Bonds,
who grew up in Lavernia and Wilson County.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
You know, never asked us about the case, never talked
about the case. We never went up to him and
talked about it or nothing. You know, he never was
interested in it, never never show any interest in it.
And we don't know what happened why they disbanded our unit.
They were just our unit, you know, we until today
(20:48):
I stood. I don't understand. We know it had something
to do with the finances. But they said they were
going to do it to other units too, and they
didn't do it to the units, they did it to us.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
The same assistant chief deputy once set up a meeting
with Patty's cousin, Barb. Barba asked him repeatedly for a meeting,
and she told us he ignored.
Speaker 5 (21:10):
Her until I went on the news and said, we
can't get the police to call us back. We can't
get the sheriff's apartment to call us back. Nobody will
tell us what's going on. I do know there's been
some movement in the case, but nobody is talking to
the family.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
The next day, Barb got a phone call from the
assistant chief deputy.
Speaker 5 (21:28):
And he said for me to come to Spare County
Sheriff's office on a Sunday. He had me come down
there on a Sunday. It's the same building that you
go in to visit people in jail, and he came down,
picked me up in the lobby, took me up to
a big.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
Conference room with nobody on the whole floor.
Speaker 5 (21:45):
It was a Sunday have a conversation about Patty.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
And he told me, you just need to let it go.
Let it go. She's been gone, she's not coming back.
Nothing's going to happen with it. You look stupid. Just
let it go.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
Yuh Jr's best friend was also a reserve Bear County
Sheriff's deputy. Throughout the years. Decades now, Patty Vaughn's family
has been the driving force for answers and for justice.
Her cousin Kathy explained they.
Speaker 6 (22:17):
Never followed through because basically, without a body, there isn't
a crime, which is not true in the state of Texas.
There's multiple people that have been found guilty and they're actually,
you know, still serving time for murder without a body present.
A lot of the leads where we actually hired back
hose and people, we did that on our own because
(22:41):
law enforcement would not follow through on and you get
a lot of tips, you know, with something like this,
because everybody wants their five minutes of fame.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
You'll get the tips of the psychics, and.
Speaker 6 (22:57):
You know, the little lady looking through her blinds because
she wants to know what all the neighbors are doing.
And you get all these tips, but you have to
rule them out, you know. So we spent a lot
of time and money, and I'm not complaining about it,
because every time we spent was worth at least knowing
that that wasn't where she was. We spent a lot
(23:20):
of our own efforts looking in places that law enforcement
wouldn't look. We had people looking over the city dump
because they said, and I know everybody has a budget,
but they said that it would cost too much money
to look through the dump.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
The pain caused by Patty's disappearance is palpable, and her
cousin's memories are bittersweet. Remembering her as difficult on one hand,
but on the other the fond recollections keep Patty alive.
Speaker 6 (23:51):
And you know a lot of people paint deceased people
as saints, and I'm not trying to do that here.
But she was our person. You know, Patty was very
much our person. She was like our sister. She's the
mother of three beautiful children. She was very much a
very important part of us. The first Easter after Patty disappeared,
(24:13):
nobody wanted to eat out of bed. So, you know,
I loaded everybody up when we went to the beach
and we had Easter there. But I think that's the
last time that, you know, everybody really wanted to celebrate
it because that was such her holiday.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
Easter, her Mother's Day. She loved Mother's Day.
Speaker 6 (24:27):
Yeah, but yeah, she was just a really cool person.
And even almost you know, oh my gosh, one hundred
years later, it seems like just yesterday. But even after
all this time later, there's still so many things that.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
I want to share with her. The three of us girls,
Patty was the mildest. She had the mildest, meekest personality.
Well Kathy can attest to this. It doesn't ever go away.
Speaker 7 (24:58):
The way you respond to it and the way you
think about it, it changes, but you still think about
her all the time. Her house, her picture still hangs
in all of our houses, you know, great memories of
when we were kids and teenagers and in young adults.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
So it's it's it doesn't It's not easy. I wouldn't
wish this on anyone.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
Absolutely, the case is tragic. On virtually every conceivable level
from the guilt her family still carries.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
And I would tell her, You've got to get out
of this. He's going to hurt you one of these days.
You've got to get out of this. This isn't healthy.
This is not healthy. I spend a lot of time
feeling pretty guilty about that after this happened to her,
because I was so proud of her when she left him.
I was so completely proud of her for standing up
for herself and her children.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
To the fact that Patty wasn't the only one taken
away from them. From the moment she disappeared, Jr. Kept
his and Patty's three children away from her mother, Patsy,
her siblings, her aunt Jean, and her cousins, all of
whom were extremely close before to this day, After all
(26:17):
these years, they yearned for a relationship with them. While
Kathy and Barb would like justice to be served, the
most important thing to them is finding Patty so they
can give her a proper burial. Like former cold case
detective Adrian Ramirez among many others in law enforcement, they
(26:39):
believe whoever caused Patty's disappearance had help. Someone likely knows something.
If not everything. Patty Vaughan's family begs for those individuals
to come forward. Not solving the case still haunts Adrian Ramirez.
Speaker 3 (26:58):
I told that family I was going to solve that.
You know, We're going to solve that. My partner and
I am and we would do whatever it takes. Then
we got that unit taken away from us, and there's
nothing we could do.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
Both Patty's mother, Patsy and father Billy died never knowing
what happened to their daughter. Her aunt, Jean, has also passed.
In recent years.
Speaker 3 (27:26):
J R.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
Vond legally changed his name. He cited family genealogy as
his reasoning, though we were unable to find any ancestors
with the name or even just surname. He now uses
Roger Scott Dunn, whose case we referenced at the top
of the episode, was ultimately found after twenty one years.
(27:51):
In May of twenty twelve. His remains were discovered wrapped
in a blue vinyl material similar to that of a waterbed,
a bed sheet, and a not one hundred feet from
his apartment. He was buried in a shallow grave about
one and a half feet deep. If you have any
information about the disappearance, of Patty Vaughan. Please contact the
(28:14):
Bear County Sheriff's Office at two to one zero three
three five six thousand. We'd like to thank Kathy Barb
and former Bear County Sheriff's Office investigator Adrian Ramirez for
taking the time to speak with us about Patty's case
and their contributions to the episodes. If you'd like to
(28:37):
join Con Cold's mission to shine a light on unsolved
homicides and missing persons cases, get the show at free
and have access to bonus content. You can at patreon
dot com slash Gone Cold podcast. You can also support
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review on Apple Podcasts or wherever else you listen. However
(29:00):
you choose to support Gone Cold, we appreciate you. Thanks
for listening, y'all.
Gone Call podcasts may contain violent or graphic subject matter.
Listener discretion is advised.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
After becoming ill at a friend's party in Lubbock, Texas,
on May thirteenth, nineteen ninety one, Roger Dunn, who went
by Scott, vanished. Upon his father reporting him missing, the
Lubbock Police visited his apartment, where they were met by
his living girlfriend, Lesha Hamilton. She claimed to have come
(00:30):
home from work to find Scott gone, and also to
find that a large portion of carpet was missing from
beneath the couch. When police searched the rest of the apartment,
they found that a large piece of carpet had also
been cut out in the bedroom and then replaced with
the carpet taken from under the couch. Underneath that, police
(00:51):
found blood soaked carpet padding. The baseboards looked as though
they'd been washed of blood as well. Luminol later lorest
on those spots, and on a massive portion of two
walls on which cleaning motions and spatters glowed in the dark.
Something terrible had taken place there. To Scott's father, Lesia
(01:14):
implicated a man who lived in an apartment near them
named Tim Smith, who had fallen in love with her.
When they went to question Tim, investigators discovered he was moving.
They found and confiscated a roll of duct tape he'd
attempted to hide from them, which was later shown to
be consistent with duct tape used to hold down the
(01:36):
patch of carpet at Scott and Lesia's place. The cops
had put two and two together, but what they didn't
have was a body. Frustrated with the fact that the
district attorney was unwilling to take the case, Scott's father
contacted the Vedock Society, a group founded by forensic experts
(01:56):
to assist law enforcement agencies with cold came. It would
take some time, but the organization resurrected Scott's case. After
sending the facts of the case and crime scene photographs
to Scotland Yard in London, it was determined that Scott
Dunn had been brutally slain in the corner of his bedroom,
(02:18):
the result of multiple and severe blunt trauma injuries at
least four. The crime scene Scotland Yard reported was inconsistent
with life. DNA had shown that there was a one
in ten billion chance the blood belonged to someone other
than Scott done. The Vedock Society later convinced the Lubbock
(02:40):
County District Attorney that it could be argued the blood
was connective tissue, meaning they had a body part. On
November twenty first, nineteen ninety six, Lesia Hamilton and Tim
Smith were arrested and charged with the murder of Roger
Scott Dunn. Both were convicted in May of the following
(03:01):
year based upon the blood evidence and some circumstantial evidence,
including a motive. It turned out that Scott was keeping
a fiance secret from Alicia, who, according to many others,
wasn't exactly monogamous to him either. These nobody murder trials
were happening at the same time the Christmas Day nineteen
(03:24):
ninety six disappearance of thirty two year old Patty Vaughan
was playing out. Patty's case also has blood evidence a
body part. According to precedence set by the Scott Dunn case,
it also appears Patty's case has far more circumstantial evidence.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
I told that family I was gonna I was gonna
solve it. You know, we're going to solve it. My
partner and I am, and we would do whatever it takes.
Then we got that unit taken away from us, and
there's nothing we could do.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Things were heated between Patty's family and her estranged husband Jr.
Since her disappearance. Patty's mother Patsy distraught and desperate for answers.
She believed Jr. Had entered de von residence through the
back door. In the early morning hour of February ninth,
nineteen ninety seven, Patsy confronted Jr. With a baseball bat
(05:06):
and was later arrested and charged with burglary of a
habitation and assault with a deadly weapon. Though it's difficult
to deny the seriousness of the ordeal, it is perhaps
just as easy to relate and sympathize. Regardless it was
blown out of proportion in the press.
Speaker 4 (05:25):
Please understand that this woman literally was five foot two
in maybe ninety pounds.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
She was very tiny.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
What wasn't reported on nearly as much was Jr's assault
on Patty's aunt Jean. One afternoon, while driving down Oak
Park Road, Jean and a friend passed the Vaughan house
before deciding to turn around and drive past it again.
Things quickly took a turn for the worse.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
They was passed the house and pulled into a driveway
and was going to turn around and drive back down
Oak Post Road, and on Jr. Pulled up behind him
and blocked him, and he got out and came up
to the side of the car and he told my
mom to put harassing him in stalking him, and She's like,
I've just missed her, I just miss her. And he
(06:14):
touched my mom in the side of the head to
the window. My mom had a friend with her and
so they immediately called the police and they arrested him.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
After being freed on a seven thousand dollars bond, Jr.
Failed to show up for a hearing concerning the charge
on June twenty third, nineteen ninety eight. Patty's mom, Patsy,
was out on a significantly higher bond, fifty thousand dollars. Ultimately, Jr.
Vaughan was given probation and ordered to pay a fine
(06:45):
and court costs that totaled around one thousand dollars. The
charges against Patsy for attacking Jr. Vaughn with a baseball
bat were officially dropped in twenty thirteen, after the case
got buried and was long forgotten about. After the first
anniversary of Patty's disappearance, Television, news segments and newspaper articles
(07:10):
slowed to an almost complete halt, perhaps mirroring the case itself,
which had gone cold. But tips were still coming in sporadically,
including one that might have slipped through the cracks near
the beginning of the investigation. On Tuesday, October fifth, nineteen
ninety nine, almost three years after Patty Vaughan went missing,
(07:33):
four law enforcement agencies and an archaeologist gathered off farm
to Market Road thirteen oh three, on the western edge
of Wilson County, not far from the winding bends of
the San Antonio River, on a piece of property. There,
officers combed the trees and bushy terrain for six hours,
(07:53):
working on a tip they'd received from a man the
week before, the day Patty vanished. This man had seen
a light blue Dodge caravan parked near the area being searched.
It's likely he'd never have thought another thing about it
if it wasn't for what he saw. The next day.
While driving to San Antonio, he saw what he believed
(08:16):
was the same mini van parked along Loop sixteen oh four,
the spot Patty's van was later found, which, of course,
had been the subject of many search efforts beginning later
that evening, when the missing woman's aunt and cousins began
looking around the area. Upon seeing the vehicle, the witness
returned to where he'd seen it the day before and
(08:39):
found what appeared to be a freshly dug and covered
gravesite on a privately owned six acre lot. Since the
Heidi Search Center had become involved the following day, the
man reported what he'd discovered to them, but that information
apparently never made it to police. Officials with the Heidi
Search Center that they had a note in their file
(09:02):
of the Patty von case that indicated that particular area
needed to be searched, but admitted that they had no
idea if the information ever made it to police or
if the area was even searched at all, though there
were likely tips here and there in between. The next
piece of news about Patty's case didn't come until December
(09:23):
two thousand and three. There was nothing new to report.
It was just an article in the San Antonio Express
News announcing that Patty would be one of several missing
people featured on a new effort put forth by the
Texas Department of Public Safety called Project Find Me. The
Project A top ten Texas Missing Persons poster featuring cases
(09:46):
where foul play is evident was distributed statewide. It's unknown
if it resulted in any new leads. A few missteps
(10:06):
by investigators in the Patty Von case occurred in the
first few days when investigators searched her home. Jr. Vaughn's sister,
Marylyn continually interrupted the Bear County crime scene technicians as
they processed the scene, a scene where the presence of
blood had not only been observed a couple days before
(10:27):
but was now gone, but also a large part of
which had reacted to the chemical luminol, which showed apparent
footprints and mop swab marks. It's unclear why they allowed Jr.
And Maryland to remain in the house while they worked.
Marylynd distracted the investigators so much, in fact, that a
(10:48):
later warrant to obtain blood samples told of the links
they went through to keep her away, describing how Deputy
Sergeant Daniel Sanchez took she and Jr. In the other
room to get another round of statements so the scene
could continue to be processed. During this statement, Jr. Admitted
He'd threatened Patty personally, though claimed not to remember what
(11:11):
he'd said, Even though they returned the following day to
do the same thing again. Officers didn't take photographs either time,
which was confirmed by former Bear County investigator Adrian Ramirez.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
And we didn't have the right equipment to take photographs
of it, so we didn't take photographs of it.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
After completing the second scene processing on December thirtieth, nineteen
ninety six, the officers involved all followed Jr. To his
southeast San Antonio apartment. Investigators with the Bear County Sheriff's
Office found several items of interest at the apartment, though
they have only expounded upon one of those. In a
(11:57):
warrant AFFIDAEPHIT. Sergeant salm Mayer described finding a calendar. There
On it, Maren said were several pornographic phrases, which Jr.
Explained was from a joke. Also on the calendar was
a list as follows one change mind, two quickly, three children,
(12:20):
and four Gary Jr. Told investigators that the list was
what to do if Patty changed her mind about the divorce,
but to act quickly if she didn't, with children meaning
the number one priority, and the fourth line indicating that
problems would always persist. As long as Gary was in
(12:40):
the picture. However, Jr. Could not provide a reason as
to why the word Christmas was written several times in
red ink on the calendar. He also said that when
he found out Patty had been seeing Gary, he gave
notice to move out of his apartment complex. Known to
the Bear County Sheriff's Office was the stalking of Patty
(13:04):
by Jr. In the two weeks leading up to Christmas.
Co workers were called Jr. Calling Patty daily. They described
her as extremely upset and crying after getting off the
phone each time. At some point, several years after Patty's disappearance,
a friend of Jr's sold their car. In that vehicle,
(13:27):
the new owner found tapes hidden in the trunk's wheel
well that turned out to be recordings of Patty's phone
calls and turned them over to authorities. The car belonged
to the wife of Jr's lifelong best friend. The implication
was obvious, and investigators believed from the start that if JR.
(13:48):
Was responsible for Patty's disappearance, he had help. The way
Marilyn attempted to distract crime scene investigators working the case
at the Von home put her at the top of
the list of persons of interest in that regard. According
to sources, the loan set of fingerprints found on the
wheel well above the purposefully flattened tire on Patty's Dodge
(14:13):
caravan matched Jar's teenaged nephew. On January twenty fifth, two
thousand and five, Wilson County Judge Marvin Quinney signed off
on paperwork filed by JR. Vaughan. With this signature. Patty
was legally deceased. Since he'd withdrawn his divorce petition against
(14:35):
his estranged wife in January of nineteen ninety seven, less
than a month after she disappeared, and because seven years
had passed since she was last seen, it was Jr's
lawful right to have Patty declared dead. It was also
his right to make a claim on her life insurance.
(14:55):
When he did make a claim, Patty's mother, Patsy, quickly
filed a lawsuit against Jr, resulting in District Judge Martha
Lyttleton ordering the money stay in the hands of the
court until the suit could be resolved one way or
the other. Patsy had no interest in the money, she
told reporters, but instead wanted it all to go to
(15:17):
Patty's three children. In court, Jr. Was once again forced
to give a statement describing what happened the day Patty
went missing, and at least one detail differed from his
initial statements to police. Then, he told Bear County Sheriff's
Office Sergeant Salmarn that after Patty left the house on
(15:37):
Christmas Day nineteen ninety six, between the hours of six
thirty and nine pm, that he called a locksmith to
come change the locks, before visiting his mother and telling
her to call the Wilson County Sheriff should Patty show
back up. In his court appearance during the lawsuit hearing, Jr.
Said he called the locksmith the following day. Less than
(16:02):
a week after Patty was declared deceased, her boyfriend Gary
died in an auto accident alongside his ex wife and son.
In early two thousand and six, Bear County Sheriff's deputies
and Texas rangers, with cadaverdogs by their side, searched a
property in Pleasanton after the land's owner told authorities that
(16:24):
j R. Vaughan had dug a pit there in December
of nineteen ninety six. By this time, Jr. And the
kids had long since moved to Colorado. The canines couldn't
isolate a cent there, likely since the Peace of Land
sat adjacent to a cemetery. The rangers said they didn't
have enough of a lead to attempt a dig. Several
(16:48):
months later, in June two thousand and six, cadaverdogs suggested
the presence of human remains twice at Natalia High School
in Divine, about fifty nine miles from patty home in
Wilson County. At the time of her disappearance, the school
was being constructed and Jr. Was the project manager of
diggin' poor sites. The search of the school came after
(17:12):
a man who'd worked with jar at the site said
that the week Patty went missing, he noticed a material
difference in the ground. Soon after he did, JR. Led
a team of construction workers as they poured a concrete
slab over the area. After the cadaver dogs picked up
a scent, ground penetrating radars showed anomalies beneath the cement. Ultimately, however,
(17:38):
nothing was found. Similarly, in March twenty fourteen, when the
eighty first Judicial District Attorney's Office financed an excavation on
the property where Patty lived, and from where she disappeared.
They came up empty handed. Trash burn pits were dug up,
but no sign of Paddy could be found. Neighbors had
(18:01):
reported that Jr. Was operating a backo there early on
the day she was reported missing, in the pre dawn hours. Also,
some of the excavations took place where aerial photos taken
in nineteen ninety seven showed area that appeared to have
been recently disturbed. Interestingly to test investigators, a false grave
(18:24):
was dug and covered up on the Vaughan property shortly
after Paddy vanished, but authorities never found it. It was
the Bear County Sheriff's Office's failure to take crime scene
photographs of the blood evidence at the house that began
the family's distrust in the investigation, but things like that
only strengthened it. Since the March twenty fourteen dig on
(18:48):
the Vaughan's former property, there has been little movement as
far as official searches in the case, though it wasn't
for a lack of trying on behalf of Bear County
Sheriff's Office cold case investigation. Adrian Ramirez, who worked the
case as a crime scene technician in the beginning, he
and investigator Louis and two had uncovered several witnesses never
(19:11):
before interviewed, and had managed to find the DNA of
an unknown female in Patty's van, though that's never been
elaborated on. When cold case Detective Adrian Ramirez was feeling
(19:35):
confident in the case he and his partner had built,
he was determined to take it to the next level.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
So Adrian's been with us, He's had several different partners
through the years, and he got really close to taking
this to the DA. One time.
Speaker 5 (19:51):
He wouldn't tell me why, but he said, I'm going
to the DA. We're going to take this trial. And
this is three years before his retirement. He was taken
off of the cold case. It got demoted immediately when
he went over. He went over Whoever's head and was
going to the DA with Patty's case.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
The cold case unit was disbanded. Interestingly, the Bear County
Sheriff's Office assistant chief was a lifelong friend of J. R. Bonds,
who grew up in Lavernia and Wilson County.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
You know, never asked us about the case, never talked
about the case. We never went up to him and
talked about it or nothing. You know, he never was
interested in it, never never show any interest in it.
And we don't know what happened why they disbanded our unit.
They were just our unit, you know, we until today
(20:48):
I stood. I don't understand. We know it had something
to do with the finances. But they said they were
going to do it to other units too, and they
didn't do it to the units, they did it to us.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
The same assistant chief deputy once set up a meeting
with Patty's cousin, Barb. Barba asked him repeatedly for a meeting,
and she told us he ignored.
Speaker 5 (21:10):
Her until I went on the news and said, we
can't get the police to call us back. We can't
get the sheriff's apartment to call us back. Nobody will
tell us what's going on. I do know there's been
some movement in the case, but nobody is talking to
the family.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
The next day, Barb got a phone call from the
assistant chief deputy.
Speaker 5 (21:28):
And he said for me to come to Spare County
Sheriff's office on a Sunday. He had me come down
there on a Sunday. It's the same building that you
go in to visit people in jail, and he came down,
picked me up in the lobby, took me up to
a big.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
Conference room with nobody on the whole floor.
Speaker 5 (21:45):
It was a Sunday have a conversation about Patty.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
And he told me, you just need to let it go.
Let it go. She's been gone, she's not coming back.
Nothing's going to happen with it. You look stupid. Just
let it go.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
Yuh Jr's best friend was also a reserve Bear County
Sheriff's deputy. Throughout the years. Decades now, Patty Vaughn's family
has been the driving force for answers and for justice.
Her cousin Kathy explained they.
Speaker 6 (22:17):
Never followed through because basically, without a body, there isn't
a crime, which is not true in the state of Texas.
There's multiple people that have been found guilty and they're actually,
you know, still serving time for murder without a body present.
A lot of the leads where we actually hired back
hose and people, we did that on our own because
(22:41):
law enforcement would not follow through on and you get
a lot of tips, you know, with something like this,
because everybody wants their five minutes of fame.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
You'll get the tips of the psychics, and.
Speaker 6 (22:57):
You know, the little lady looking through her blinds because
she wants to know what all the neighbors are doing.
And you get all these tips, but you have to
rule them out, you know. So we spent a lot
of time and money, and I'm not complaining about it,
because every time we spent was worth at least knowing
that that wasn't where she was. We spent a lot
(23:20):
of our own efforts looking in places that law enforcement
wouldn't look. We had people looking over the city dump
because they said, and I know everybody has a budget,
but they said that it would cost too much money
to look through the dump.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
The pain caused by Patty's disappearance is palpable, and her
cousin's memories are bittersweet. Remembering her as difficult on one hand,
but on the other the fond recollections keep Patty alive.
Speaker 6 (23:51):
And you know a lot of people paint deceased people
as saints, and I'm not trying to do that here.
But she was our person. You know, Patty was very
much our person. She was like our sister. She's the
mother of three beautiful children. She was very much a
very important part of us. The first Easter after Patty disappeared,
(24:13):
nobody wanted to eat out of bed. So, you know,
I loaded everybody up when we went to the beach
and we had Easter there. But I think that's the
last time that, you know, everybody really wanted to celebrate
it because that was such her holiday.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
Easter, her Mother's Day. She loved Mother's Day.
Speaker 6 (24:27):
Yeah, but yeah, she was just a really cool person.
And even almost you know, oh my gosh, one hundred
years later, it seems like just yesterday. But even after
all this time later, there's still so many things that.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
I want to share with her. The three of us girls,
Patty was the mildest. She had the mildest, meekest personality.
Well Kathy can attest to this. It doesn't ever go away.
Speaker 7 (24:58):
The way you respond to it and the way you
think about it, it changes, but you still think about
her all the time. Her house, her picture still hangs
in all of our houses, you know, great memories of
when we were kids and teenagers and in young adults.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
So it's it's it doesn't It's not easy. I wouldn't
wish this on anyone.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
Absolutely, the case is tragic. On virtually every conceivable level
from the guilt her family still carries.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
And I would tell her, You've got to get out
of this. He's going to hurt you one of these days.
You've got to get out of this. This isn't healthy.
This is not healthy. I spend a lot of time
feeling pretty guilty about that after this happened to her,
because I was so proud of her when she left him.
I was so completely proud of her for standing up
for herself and her children.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
To the fact that Patty wasn't the only one taken
away from them. From the moment she disappeared, Jr. Kept
his and Patty's three children away from her mother, Patsy,
her siblings, her aunt Jean, and her cousins, all of
whom were extremely close before to this day, After all
(26:17):
these years, they yearned for a relationship with them. While
Kathy and Barb would like justice to be served, the
most important thing to them is finding Patty so they
can give her a proper burial. Like former cold case
detective Adrian Ramirez among many others in law enforcement, they
(26:39):
believe whoever caused Patty's disappearance had help. Someone likely knows something.
If not everything. Patty Vaughan's family begs for those individuals
to come forward. Not solving the case still haunts Adrian Ramirez.
Speaker 3 (26:58):
I told that family I was going to solve that.
You know, We're going to solve that. My partner and
I am and we would do whatever it takes. Then
we got that unit taken away from us, and there's
nothing we could do.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
Both Patty's mother, Patsy and father Billy died never knowing
what happened to their daughter. Her aunt, Jean, has also passed.
In recent years.
Speaker 3 (27:26):
J R.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
Vond legally changed his name. He cited family genealogy as
his reasoning, though we were unable to find any ancestors
with the name or even just surname. He now uses
Roger Scott Dunn, whose case we referenced at the top
of the episode, was ultimately found after twenty one years.
(27:51):
In May of twenty twelve. His remains were discovered wrapped
in a blue vinyl material similar to that of a waterbed,
a bed sheet, and a not one hundred feet from
his apartment. He was buried in a shallow grave about
one and a half feet deep. If you have any
information about the disappearance, of Patty Vaughan. Please contact the
(28:14):
Bear County Sheriff's Office at two to one zero three
three five six thousand. We'd like to thank Kathy Barb
and former Bear County Sheriff's Office investigator Adrian Ramirez for
taking the time to speak with us about Patty's case
and their contributions to the episodes. If you'd like to
(28:37):
join Con Cold's mission to shine a light on unsolved
homicides and missing persons cases, get the show at free
and have access to bonus content. You can at patreon
dot com slash Gone Cold podcast. You can also support
the show by leaving a five star rating and written
review on Apple Podcasts or wherever else you listen. However
(29:00):
you choose to support Gone Cold, we appreciate you. Thanks
for listening, y'all.
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