On the morning of Thursday, April 15, 2004, thirty-eight-year-old Patrice Tamber Endres began what appeared to be an ordinary spring workday at Tamber’s Trim ’n Tan, the roadside hair and tanning salon she proudly owned and operated in Forsyth County, Georgia.
A warm, devoted mother to her fifteen-year-old son, Pistol, Patrice spent the morning washing hair, catching up with longtime clients, and setting her appointment book for the busy afternoon ahead.
By noon, she was gone.
She did not leave willingly. When two clients walked through the unlocked front door at 11:57 AM, the shop was eerily quiet. Her lunch sat untouched and warm inside the microwave. Her keys and purse rested undisturbed on the countertop. Outside, her Chevrolet Tahoe was parked at an awkward, crooked angle in the gravel lot. The cash register had been raided for roughly $100, yet hundreds of dollars in her handbag remained untouched.
Within a strictly verified thirteen-minute window, Patrice Endres vanished without a trace, setting off one of the most frustrating, heart-wrenching cold cases in Georgia law enforcement history.
“Someone came in, knew what they were doing, took her out of there, and got away with it in broad daylight on a busy state highway.”
The 780-Second Timeline
Forsyth County Sheriff’s detectives and agents from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) were able to reconstruct a remarkably tight timeline by cross-referencing telephone logs, register transactions, and passing driver testimony:
11:37 AM — Last Confirmed Call: Patrice concluded a routine, three-minute phone call with a client confirming an appointment. While the conversation was ordinary, the client later recalled Patrice sounding slightly rushed or distracted.
11:45 AM — The Sighting: Multiple motorists traveling along Matt Highway reported seeing a small, blue sedan parked haphazardly in front of the salon. One driver saw two figures standing near the vehicle; another reported seeing two women interacting out front. The descriptions, however, were fleeting and inconsistent.
11:50 AM — Unanswered Phone: Another customer called the salon to adjust an appointment. The telephone rang repeatedly until rolling over to voicemail. Patrice never answered.
11:57 AM — The Discovery: Two clients arrived for their noon cuts. They discovered the salon empty, the register opened, and Patrice missing. They alerted authorities immediately.
In a span of just 13 minutes—780 seconds—the perpetrator managed to pull onto the shoulder of a two-lane state highway in midday traffic, confront Patrice, likely stage a rapid robbery by pocketing the register’s cash, abduct her, and speed off unnoticed.
600 Days in the Dark: The Discovery at Dawson Forest
For nearly twenty months, search-and-rescue teams, canine units, and volunteers scoured the densely wooded acreage of North Georgia. Patrice’s son, Pistol Black, made impassioned public pleas, holding out hope that his mother might still be alive.
That hope was extinguished on December 6, 2005.
Surveyors working approximately eleven miles north in rural Dawson County stumbled across human remains on a steep embankment behind Lebanon Baptist Church, bordering the vast Dawson Forest Wildlife Management Area. Dental records confirmed what investigators dreaded: the remains belonged to Patrice.
Because the body had been exposed to the elements and wildlife for more than a year and a half, medical examiners could not conclusively determine the exact cause of death. However, investigators noted a crucial anomaly: Patrice’s wedding ring was missing from her remains. To this day, the ring has never surfaced in local pawn registries or secondary markets.
The Key Theories & Suspects
Over the course of two decades, investigators have scrutinized three primary angles in the case:
1. Rob Endres (The Husband)
Patrice’s husband, Rob Endres—a man twenty years her senior with a degree in criminology—drew intense public attention, particularly following the 2020 reboot of Netflix’s Unsolved Mysteries.
Friends, co-workers, and Pistol reported that the marriage was breaking down, alleging Rob was intensely possessive and that Patrice was actively preparing to file for divorce. Within twenty-four hours of Patrice’s disappearance, Rob changed the locks on the marital residence, locking out his teenage stepson. In media interviews, Rob openly spoke about sleeping with Patrice’s cremated remains and carrying her skull during the identification process.
Despite widespread public suspicion, Rob Endres has never been charged with a crime. He provided a verifiable alibi covering the time of the abduction, corroborated by a timestamped gas receipt and work records miles away. While GBI investigators have stated he was never formally ruled out, authorities maintain there is zero physical or digital evidence linking him to the crime.
2. Jeremy Brian Jones (The False Confession)
In late 2004, serial killer Jeremy Brian Jones confessed to kidnapping and killing Patrice, claiming he encountered her after getting lost on Highway 20. Jones claimed he dumped her body in Sweetwater Creek in Douglas County.
Law enforcement expended substantial resources draining sections of the creek, uncovering nothing. Jones eventually recanted, admitting he fabricated details to negotiate favorable treatment and food while in jail. When Patrice’s remains were discovered miles north in Dawson County rather than west in Douglas County, his confession was formally dismissed.
3. Gary Michael Hilton (The Dawson Forest Predator)
In 2008, serial murderer Gary Michael Hilton was apprehended following the abduction and murder of 24-year-old Meredith Emerson in the North Georgia mountains. Hilton ultimately led investigators to Emerson’s decapitated remains inside Dawson Forest—the exact woodland preserve where Patrice was recovered three years earlier.
Hilton was known to stalk isolated individuals, frequent wooded trailheads, and live out of his vehicle across North Georgia during the mid-2000s. While the geographic profile fits eerily well, GBI investigators have never uncovered physical evidence tying Hilton to Patrice’s abduction or vehicle.
Where the Case Stands Today
Patrice Endres was more than a headline or a true-crime statistic; she was a beloved mother, sister, and businesswoman whose life was violently interrupted.
The Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation continue to treat this as an active, open homicide investigation. Detectives deliberately withhold certain forensic details about items recovered near the remains to test the veracity of any future confessions or leads.
Investigators maintain that someone alive today holds the final piece of the puzzle: a person who saw the blue vehicle on Matt Highway, someone who recognizes the circumstances, or an individual who was told what happened.
Have Information? How to Submit a Tip
If you have any information regarding the abduction of Patrice Endres, the identity of her killer, or the whereabouts of her missing wedding ring:
GBI Tip Line: 1-800-597-TIPS (8477)
Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office: (770) 781-3087
GBI Cleveland Office: (706) 348-4866
Online Tip Portal: Submit a Confidential Tip via GBI
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