I just saw the Patricia Viola episode. She was the Bogota, NJ, wife and mother who disappeared in 2001 (I think). The postscript to the show said that some of her bones were found near a New York beach and were identified by DNA. Is anyone else familiar with this case? The first time I saw it her remains hadn't been found. This is a very strange case. I can't imagine what happened to her.
shareI've seen that episode twice--it's really a sad story.
The bones were actually found back in 2002, but it wasn't until many years later that DNA testing on them proved they were Viola's.
Do you think her disappearance had anything to do with the home invasion/murder case that was being tried at the time?
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Yes, Grace, that's exactly what I was thinking - that the home invasion earlier in the day had something to do with this sad case. It's just too much of a coincidence. I think that maybe the intruders were still in the house when she came home from her job at the school library.
shareRight. I agree there's just too much coincidence in all this!
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Ugh, isn't that just the scariest thing to think about? Someone hiding IN YOUR OWN HOME when you return to it?
shareUgh, isn't that just the scariest thing to think about? Someone hiding IN YOUR OWN HOME when you return to it?I know! Even though I have ADT, when I come home there's always a moment when I've just opened the door and I pause...I'm waiting to hear the alarm's warning beep. Once I hear it, it confirms that no one can be inside [unless they know my code, and disarmed it when they came in, AND turned it back on to wait for me to come back--which is all pretty unlikely!].
Okay, Grace, I need your help with the alarm thing! :P
I re-watched the episode yesterday and I don't understand the impact of the husband coming home and noticing something was off about the alarm. We know that at 1:00-something Pat came home from the school, talked with her mom on the phone, and then RESET THE ALARM. Right? So when the husband came home...was the alarm disarmed again? Or was it that the alarm was activated and "going off"? If that was the case, wouldn't the police have been notified like they were earlier in the day?
Let me know if that is unclear, and I will clarify. I am just so baffled by this whole case, and I have been from the first time I watched the episode. My theory, though, is that the husband's sister is in some way involved. The timing of everything just seems too coincidental for it to be anything else except some freak seizure/amnesia incident.
I think that Pat knew something dark and sinister about the husband's sister, and about the people the sister associated with. I'm thinking that the secret was so bad (prostitution, drugs, child porn ring) that Pat felt she couldn't even tell her husband because it would destroy him. So her secret, paired with the cigarette burns and all the stress the sister was causing, led Pat to made a decision that terrified her but that she knew was right: she had to confront her husband's sister and get her to leave.
Then comes the big blowout Disappeared mentioned. As far as I could tell, we don't know if anyone was present for the fight except the sister and Pat herself. The husband and friend TALK about it like they were there, but I don't think they were present. Maybe Pat steels herself for a nasty confrontation and goes a LITTLE overboard in her approach. Lets slip about the "dirty secret" and maybe even threatens to go to the authorities.
That's what perhaps put a target on her back.
The earlier alarm incident could have been to make it seem like a random break-in, as the sister presumably had a house key and wouldn't have tripped the alarm. Then she or her cohorts hid in the house and waited for Pat to get home, and then abducted her from there. Maybe drove her up to those cliffs and pushed her over.
p.s. I can't remember whether the cryptic, private conversation at the party with her best friend happened before or after the blowout with the sister. Either way, it could have been Pat's way of saying, "Look, I'm going to do something potentially dangerous for me, and I need to clue you in to what's going on in case there is violence."
Right about now I'm wishing I had paid better attention to the details in this episode!
I re-watched the episode yesterday and I don't understand the impact of the husband coming home and noticing something was off about the alarm. We know that at 1:00-something Pat came home from the school, talked with her mom on the phone, and then RESET THE ALARM. Right? So when the husband came home...was the alarm disarmed again? Or was it that the alarm was activated and "going off"? If that was the case, wouldn't the police have been notified like they were earlier in the day?I honestly don't know the answer(s) at this point, at least regarding the status of the alarm. Yes, if it had been 'going off' the police would've been called--but only after following the notification protocol for that alarm system and the homeowners. I have ADT now, and before that I had Brinks. With both, there's a sequence they follow when the alarm is tripped. In general terms: first they call the house; if no one answers, or someone answers but can't provide the secret code word, they call the first contact person; if that person doesn't answer, or they can't provide any info, they call the police. I know that if a house has a history of false alarms, notifying the police can result in fines. So if the alarm went off a second time in one day, it's possible the police were NOT called. But like I said, I honestly don't recall the details about the alarm in this episode...so I will make it a point to watch it again the next time it's on!
I appreciate you bringing any clarity to the alarm issue, so thank you! :) I would be interested to hear your thoughts on anything after a re-viewing. I really have no idea what to make of the alarm thing still.
shareYou're very welcome, nfmolly.
I promise I'll pay better attention the next time this episode is on!
UPDATE: I just checked the schedule and it's going to be on again on a date I can't easily forget, March 11. That's the second anniversary of my mom's death.
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I am very sorry for your loss. 😔
shareThanks. It's hard to believe two years have gone by already.
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Just a heads-up, everyone! This episode is set to air again, on ID, on March 11. How about if we all make it a point to watch it again, and then freshen up this discussion? I'm going to pay particular attention to the details about the house alarm.
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I re-watched this one yesterday. I have a question: was there any evidence or cause of death with the discovery of her remains?
sharewas there any evidence or cause of death with the discovery of her remains?As far as I know, no there wasn't. Just bones, which were identified via DNA testing.
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Thank you for the response. This was such a sad episode. I've watched it a few times. I've always hoped the family would be able to get some answers and closure.
Hey, look what I just found over at Websleuths!
"The alarm was triggered since pat left the door ajar when setting it as she had done before.
Pat's husband,
jim"
So maybe the husband mentioned it on the Disappeared episode because it made him realize, hey, Pat must not be home, since the alarm was triggered?"
Good find, bpitt311! I was just on WebSleuths a few minutes ago looking at the Amy Bradley case.
Okay, so now we have this:
"The alarm was triggered since pat left the door ajar when setting it as she had done before.
Pat's husband,
jim"
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This is befuddling! Thanks for taking a stab at analysis. I mean for that first round of alarm activation, could an intruder have slipped in through the same door Pat left ajar, closed it quick as the alarm went off, and then hid in the house? Making it seem as though nothing was amiss?
shareI mean for that first round of alarm activation, could an intruder have slipped in through the same door Pat left ajar, closed it quick as the alarm went off, and then hid in the house? Making it seem as though nothing was amiss?I have major issues with the idea that the door was left open by Pat. She set the alarm before going out, so she not only knew from DOING it that the alarm was set, but it also would've been doing its warning beep. You can have that "get out of the house" beep set to whatever you want; in my current house, it's 45 seconds, in my previous house, it was 30 seconds. It beeps to remind you that you've now set the alarm and you need to get out AND shut the door before it stops beeping, otherwise the alarm will go off. So if Patricia set the alarm and then headed out, leaving the door open...WHY? Why didn't she shut the door? And depending on how long, well, short the warning period was, the alarm could've been triggered before she even got off the property--and she probably would've heard it. No, the "Pat left the door ajar" theory doesn't cut it for me, regardless of what Jim says.
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I just missed the rerun of this episode a few days ago. But I will go from my thoughts on it from the first two times I watched it. Part of me thinks she commitited suicide, I think she may have just gone to that spot not knowing if she would do it and either got to close to the edge and fell or just became upset and jumped. Her yelling at the sister to me was a sign of her stress and depression and her talking to her friend but then not wanting to talk. Also didn't she just walk right by a neghibor without saying anything. I really doubt this has anything to do with a conspiracy with the husbands sister or a break in. The thing that makes it so I'm not positive though is she was buying a gift for the husband and that there was no note.
share"The thing that makes it so I'm not positive though is she was buying a gift for the husband and that there was no note."
Also, with no means to drive, how did she get to the remote cliff location? I have read that it would be extremely difficult to get there without a car. And I doubt there is a bus route up to the cliffs above town (although crazier things have happened). If she called a cab, you would think that person would have stepped forward by now.
It's weird that you posted this, because today I was thinking about how a lot of factors in Pat's case DO point toward suicide. I would not be shocked if that's what the truth ended up being in this case. I think a lot of missing persons situations are probably suicides that the families of the missing just cannot fathom, and so they imagine every possible scenario except that their loved one killed his/herself.
The thing that gets me with Patricia's case is the logistics of how she would have gotten to those cliffs.
Yeah that is a mystery, how did she get to the cliffs. But If you watch other true crime shows, which I'm guessing you do, there are often times odd little things that don't make sense but it's as simple as she took a cab and the driver never came forward. I think it's sad when people don't leave a note when they do something like this. That's what makes me think that maybe she was not sure she was going to do it. Who knows, it's such a sad thing for that family though!
shareI agree, how sad that her family has some answers now but also a ton more questions. I think it's safe to say that the factors are such that while some things point toward suicide, others don't and the actual events leading up to her death are perhaps forever going to be a mystery.
shareThe suicide angle doesn't do it for me. She went to the trouble--without her own transportation--of going to that particular shop to get that specific toy monkey...and then went and killed herself in a remote place? Yeah, no...I don't think so. I have zero idea what might have actually happened, but suicide? No, I don't believe that.
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What about her emotional state before she went missing? Also why wouldn't she end up at a remote area that is known for being a place to commit suicide. I don't know why she bought a v-day gift if she was going to kill herself but I don't think she was sure of what she was doing. Didn't a neghibor say they saw her walking down the street and she seemed off, and didn't say hi to him, which was very odd for her? To me it makes more sense that she killed herself than someone snatched her up and killed her and than dumped her at a place known for suicides. If that happened it's a little odd that her behavior was so different right before this random crime.
shareFrom what I know, her emotional state may not have been the best, but it doesn't seem anywhere CLOSE to suicidal. Let me say that I have been suicidally depressed, and I've lost two people extremely close to me [a best friend and then my brother] to suicide, and Pat's mental condition doesn't even come close to what I've seen. Sure, she was upset with her sister-in-law over the smoking issue, but suicidal? No. She was unhappy--as anyone would be--with not being able to drive, but suicidal? Geesh, if not being able to drive led to suicide, I'd be dead many times over! I'm not being glib here at all, just factual. I've had MULTIPLE long periods of time where I could not drive due to illness, injury, or surgery. The most recent lasted six months after having a brain tumor removed. It's MISERABLE not having the freedom you're used to, but suicidally miserable? No. Pat's license was simply suspended for another three months, not permanently revoked. I cannot imagine that being a factor AT ALL.
What else was there? The sister-in-law and driving. What else? We don't know what the big important thing was that she wanted to talk to Toinette about--could there have been infidelity on Jim's part? Or gambling debt? Or alcoholism? Or some other big-time issue? We'll likely never know. But could ANY of those things drive her to suicide? I don't think so--infidelity, perhaps, but even that's a stretch.
So we're to believe that she went to the trouble of getting to that shop to buy that specific monkey and then went off and killed herself? No...I don't see it.
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I think her behavior showed that she was depressed and you never really know what is going on in someone's mind. It doesn't have to be a big thing to make someone kill themselves. I don't really think she was that upset over the smoking it was obviously other stuff going on that she didn't share with anyone. I think it's way more likley that she killed herself than someone came into her home and grabbed her, but that's just my opinion.
shareI am watching this episode right now...and the new episode is on in 2 hours!
shareI watched it again! I've been deleting all the reruns without watching them, but not this one. I was left, again, with all the question marks I've already expressed in this thread. SO MUCH just doesn't make sense.
Something that really gets to me is how her remains were actually found a short time after her disappearance--but they weren't identified as such for a decade. ALL THAT TIME her family and friends had hope that she'd come back, but she was already dead. I don't know why, but that just hits me for some reason.
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they checked every bus and checked the log of every cab from that day...they said you couldn't just flag down a cab in that area, you had to call in the order for one.....they determined she never ordered one.
The name of the episode is "Missing Valentine". I reside very close to Bogota, NJ and vaguely remember reading about it in the local newspaper. Does anyone remember newspapers?
The disappearance of Pat Viola is obviously very sad. I wish more missing persons cases had happy endings. I thawt 'da Noo Joisey accents were awwsome becawse I tawk 'da same way.
Please click on
http://www.northjersey.com/news/remains-identified-as-those-of-bogota-woman-who-vanished-11-years-ago-1.1224462
for more information.
so my question is...do cabbies ever break the rules, and would there be time to sneak in an extra ride in between the scheduled ones......and wouldn't a cabbie fess up to giving an unscheduled ride after all this time??
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