People have their theories.
By Bernadette Giacomazzo — Written on Jul 10, 2020
On April 15, 2004, Pistol Black's mother, Patrice Endres, dropped him off in front of his high school in Cumming, GA, where he was a sophomore. That would be the last time he would ever see his mother alive.
He wouldn't see his mother again until December 6, 2005, when her remains were found in the woods in Dawson County, GA.
These are the only definitive facts that can be stated in the second episode of Unsolved Mysteries, the latest reboot by the streaming giant Netflix. Though the show had a very successful run in the 1980s — and featured Robert Stack as a host — today's version of the show is much more gritty and realistic, with a documentary-style depiction of the crimes at hand, more first-hand testimony from both the witnesses and investigators, and a much more sinister version of the infamous theme song.
And, of course, lots of pressing, unsolved questions.
Who killed Patrice Endres?
The last day of Patrice Endres' life was suspicious, to say the least.
While much of the second episode entitled "13 Minutes" features testimony from Patrice Endres' son, Pistol Black, there's a segment of the show that's dedicated to the final day of her life. After Patrice Endres dropped Pistol Black off at school, she went to the hair salon where she worked to begin her day. She saw her first appointment, Pam Sheppard, at 8:50 a.m., and Sheppard later said that she thought Patrice Endres wasn't 'all there' during her appointment. Her next appointment, at 11:10 a.m., was with Paul Cantor — and it was a brief appointment, because he'd left by 11:30 a.m.
At 11:35 a.m., a customer calls and changes her appointment. The customer would later testify that Patrice Endres was very short on the phone, and this was very unusual. Additionally, Patrice Endres' car — a pick-up truck — was parked at a very unusual angle, and this is another thing that customers had noticed as they pulled up to the salon. The 11:35 a.m. phone call was the last time anyone had seen or heard from Patrice Endres because by the time lunchtime rolled around, Patrice Endres was gone, the cash register at the hair salon was empty, her warmed-up lunch remained uneaten, and investigators were concerned.
Was her son Pistol Black ever a suspect?
Investigators who are assigned to a murder case are often tasked with ruling out possibilities as well as finding them. One of the first places they look is in the victim's close circle of family and friends — which means that husbands/wives, boyfriends/girlfriends, siblings, parents, and children are looked at first. And there's a reason for that: the vast majority of homicides — especially homicides against women — are committed by close family members and/or friends. However, Pistol Black, Patrice Endres' teen son at the time, was never a suspect in the murder of his mother as he was in school at the time of her abduction. They were clearly very close, her death still haunts him to this day, and there was no physical possibility that he was anywhere near the hair salon where his mother was abducted from at the time of her disappearance.
Killer Gary Michael Hilton was the first to come forward and claim responsibility.
One of the first people to come forward and claim responsibility for the murder of Patrice Endres was a serial killer by the name of Gary Michael Hilton. Between 2005 and 2008, he murdered four women in Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina before he was ultimately sentenced to life in prison in January 2008 for the murder of Georgia native Meredith Emerson (whose murder was mentioned in Unsolved Mysteries). However, even though Hilton is suspected in the murders of other people — including Rossana Miliani, 26 and Michael Scot Louis, 27 — he was ultimately ruled out as a possibility in the Patrice Endres murder case. (Interestingly, in 1995, Gary Michael Hilton helped develop the hit film, Deadly Run, which was about a serial killer.)
Another serial killer, Jeremy Jones of Mobile, Alabama, came forward and claimed responsibility.
Shortly before he was convicted of capital murder in Mobile, AL, serial killer Jeremy Jones stepped forward and claimed responsibility for the murder of Patrice Enders. However, after checking out his claims, investigators could find no proof of his claims and ultimately, Jones recanted his confession. As of this writing, he sits on death row at the Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, AL.
What about Rob Endres — did Patrice's husband kill her?
There are, however, more than plenty of reasons to suspect that Patrice Endres' husband, Robert Endres, had something to do with her murder. As a man who was 20 years her senior, investigators were already suspicious of his motives. Robert Endres, who says on-camera that he has a degree in criminology, also seemed to know very minute details of his interactions and alibi on the day his wife went missing (for example, he seemed to remember what the clock read when he went to pay for gas at a small gas station in Woodstock, GA — which seems awfully suspicious, considering most people don't pay attention to such minor details when they're getting gas).
It was also, ultimately, revealed that Robert Endres and Pistol Black didn't get along, and Robert Endres told Unsolved Mysteries that he couldn't see how he and his wife would be able to save their relationship if her son continued to remain in the picture. Ultimately, too, it was revealed that Patrice Endres was trying to divorce Robert Endres at the time of her disappearance, and when her remains were found in the woods in Dawson County, GA, her rings — both her engagement ring and wedding ring — weren't found on her body. And Twitter seems to agree with the theory that Patrice's husband killed her:
Her murder remains unsolved.
As of this writing, the murder of Patrice Endres remains unsolved. Anyone with any information about her case, however, is asked to call the Georgia Bureau of Investigation immediately with details about what they know. Your calls can remain anonymous at your request.
Bernadette Giacomazzo is an editor, writer, publicist, and photographer whose work has appeared in Teen Vogue, People, Us Weekly, The Source, XXL, HipHopDX, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Post, BET.com, and more.