Abby Lynn Patterson

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 dead women were found naked and in various stages 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.


According to the Find Abby Facebook Page, Abby told her mother that she was going to hang out with friends from high school, that she would be back in an hour. When she did not come back after an hour, her family tried to call her, but their calls went straight to voicemail. In the evening, around 6:00 p.m. her mother called the police to report her missing. Abby is described to be 5 feet 7 inches tall, weighing 140 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. She has a tattoo of 3 black birds on her back, right shoulder. She was last seen wearing a white blouse with brown shorts.

“We talk or text every day,” said Samantha Lovette, Patterson’s mother, to Fox. “When she didn’t come home after an hour, I called her cell phone and it went straight to voicemail.”

The mother added to Fox: “We just want her home,” describing Patterson, her youngest child, as “bubbly and free-spirited.”

“We talk or text every day,” said Samantha Lovette, Patterson’s mother, to Fox. “When she didn’t come home after an hour, I called her cell phone and it went straight to voicemail.”

The mother added to Fox: “We just want her home,” describing Patterson, her youngest child, as “bubbly and free-spirited.

The other young women from Lumberton who were found dead are Christina Bennett, 32, Rhonda Jones, 36, and Megan Oxendine, 28. According to People Magazine, they “vanished from the same town in separate incidents.” However, People also says that investigators in the Patterson case don’t suspect a connection at this point. Oxendine’s family told WPDE that they believe she was murdered. Her body was found near an abandoned home in the same area as the other deaths. “There’s already been two other people that have been murdered down there and it’s only been nine weeks, and now a third one, our Megan,” Megan’s sister, Taylor, told the television station.

Oxendine was friends with another of the victims, Rhonda Jones, according to WNCN, which reported, “Bennett’s and Jones’ bodies were found April 18. Oxendine was alive at the time, and was interviewed by CBS North Carolina about the death of her friend, Jones. Oxendine’s body was found June 3.” Bennett’s body was found in a house. Jones’ body was in a trash can. And Oxendine’s body was behind a house.

Christina was 32 years old when her body was discovered on April 18th, 2017 inside a home on Peachtree Street in Lumberton, North Carolina. Another woman, Rhonda Jones, was found dead with her legs sticking out of a trash can within the same vicinity on the same day. 

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