Her Lunch Was Still Warm. Then Police Found the 13-Minute Window Where Patrice Endres Vanished

At first, it looked like Patrice Endres had only stepped away for a moment.

Her purse and keys were still inside Tamber’s Trim ‘n Tan Salon. Her lunch was still warm in the microwave. Her car was parked outside, but not where she normally left it. Then two regular customers noticed something else that made their stomachs drop: the cash drawer was empty.

By noon on April 15, 2004, Patrice was gone.

What started as concern quickly became a full-blown missing person investigation in Forsyth County, Georgia. Patrice was not the type of person to abandon her business, miss appointments, or leave behind the everyday items she would have taken with her. To the people who loved her, the scene inside the salon felt deeply wrong from the beginning.

Patrice had built that salon into her dream. Owning Tamber’s Trim ‘n Tan was more than a job for her. It was independence, pride, and proof that she had created something of her own. Her husband, Rob Endres, had helped her buy and remodel the business, and after Patrice disappeared, he publicly described himself as devastated.

But not everyone in Patrice’s life saw their marriage the same way.

According to Patrice’s son, family, and friends, her relationship with Rob was strained. Some described him as jealous, possessive, and controlling. They also claimed Patrice was preparing to leave him. Rob has denied those claims and has maintained that he loved Patrice deeply and that they were happy together.

That tension became one of the most talked-about parts of the case, especially because Patrice’s son, Pistol, already had a difficult relationship with Rob. After Patrice vanished, that relationship completely fell apart.

Still, investigators had a major problem: Rob had an alibi.

Police eventually narrowed Patrice’s disappearance down to a chillingly small window of time. Based on customer appointments, phone records, and activity at the salon, investigators believe Patrice was taken sometime within a 13-minute period.

Thirteen minutes.

That is all it may have taken for someone to walk into her salon, confront her, and make her disappear.

For weeks, police, relatives, and volunteers searched for Patrice. Her family held onto hope that she might still be alive, but the scene at the salon suggested something much darker. Her personal belongings were left behind. Her lunch was untouched. Her car was oddly parked. And the missing cash suggested either a robbery, a staged robbery, or something else entirely.

Then the case took another strange turn.

Months after Patrice vanished, convicted killer Jeremy Jones reportedly confessed to abducting and killing her. Investigators said he appeared to know certain details that were not widely publicized. But Jones later recanted his confession, and some investigators stopped viewing him as a strong suspect.

Others were not so sure.

At least one detective reportedly believed Jones was responsible for Patrice’s death. The problem was the same problem that has haunted this case for years: suspicion is not enough. Investigators needed evidence.

Nearly two years after Patrice disappeared, her skeletal remains were found behind a church in Dawson Forest, roughly 11 miles from her salon.

By then, the hope of finding her alive was gone. What her family needed now was the truth.

The location where Patrice was found only added another layer of mystery. Dawson Forest later became known in connection with serial killer Gary Hilton, who disposed of another victim’s body in the area. Because of that, Hilton became another person investigators looked at closely. But again, evidence did not connect him to Patrice’s murder.

That is what makes this case so frustrating.

There are multiple people who have drawn suspicion. There are theories involving a stranger, a robbery, a serial killer, a false confession, and someone close to Patrice. There is the bizarre 13-minute window. There is the salon scene that still feels staged or interrupted. There is the warm lunch in the microwave.

But after all these years, no one has been charged with killing Patrice Endres.

Her case remains one of those haunting true crime mysteries where every answer seems to open another question.

Was Patrice targeted by someone she knew? Did a stranger walk into the salon at exactly the wrong moment? Was the empty cash drawer part of the motive, or was it meant to mislead investigators? And how did someone manage to take her in such a short amount of time without leaving enough evidence behind?

Someone out there may still know what happened inside Tamber’s Trim ‘n Tan Salon on April 15, 2004.

And for Patrice’s family, one piece of information could finally be the difference between decades of unanswered questions and justice.

What do you think happened to Patrice Endres? Was this a crime of opportunity, or do you think someone planned it around that 13-minute window?