The case of a couple from El Paso, Texas, ranks among the greatest mysteries of the 20th century. The husband and wife disappeared without a trace, leaving behind all their belongings, including valuables.

On August 15, 1957, a friend of the Patterson's, Cecil Ward, called the police and reported the couple, whom he had last seen on March 5, missing. Law enforcers searched their home and concluded that William and Margaret had left in a hurry: there were still unwashed dishes in the kitchen sink, clothes were spread out on the bed and chairs. In addition, the couple had left all communications turned on, the mail was still being delivered on schedule, and Margaret had not even picked up her expensive fur coat from the dry cleaners.

In El Paso, the Patterson's owned a photography supply store that brought them a good income. The family had a fancy Cadillac, a boat, a boat company investment package and a small property in Guaymas, Mexico. The couple were always well dressed, William wore an expensive Rolex watch, which, by the way, the police found in his jeans - all that was valuable to the couple, left at home. Along with expensive property and documents, Margaret and William left their cat - Tommy. At the same time, as neighbors claimed, the owner loved the pet very much and would never leave him to his fate.

Neighbors described William and Margaret as a withdrawn couple: both had a difficult childhood, so they did not like to remember the past. Presumably, before moving to El Paso, William worked as a greeter at fairs. He had no contact with his family. It took the police a while to track down Margaret's relatives - her six brothers and sisters who had traveled all over the Midwest. It turned out that Margaret's family did not approve of her marriage to William, so that the relationship was badly damaged. The woman led an extremely private lifestyle and never told anyone anything about herself, not even her friends. Reportedly, they did not even know her date of birth or how she met her husband.

During the investigation, detectives were able to reach another family friend and rival store owner, Doyle Kirkland, who said William called him in the early morning hours of March 6. "We're leaving," he said. - I'm going to have to get Margaret out of here for a while." He asked a buddy to keep an eye on the business and named a place to pick up his car. Nine days later, Doyle received a telegram with instructions: "Sorry to have to leave so suddenly. Sell the trailer and use the money for business. License both cars." And it went on to say, "Keep as quiet as possible with all this. It's important. I'm sure you understand." Sheriff Jimmy Hicks later found out that the telegram had been sent anonymously to a Western Union address in Dallas, from where it was delivered to the addressee. On March 15, Herbert Roth, an accountant for the Patterson's, received a telegram briefly signed "Pat" (William's nickname) stating that Kirkland was to take over as manager of his company. However, the police were never able to find out who sent the message.

When questioned, William's 75-year-old father, Luther Patterson, said he was not surprised by the sudden disappearance of his son and daughter-in-law. "I always knew Pat and Margaret would snap out of it like that someday, but I figured it would be about four years later," he explained. Luther didn't seem concerned. He believed the Patterson's were alive but in hiding, and mentioned that his son had done this before when he "did sleight-of-hand tricks for a living." Truth be told, several years later, having never heard from William, Luther concluded that his son and daughter-in-law were no longer alive.

Cecil Ward, a friend of the Patterson's and owner of a local auto repair shop, had been to their home just before the disappearance, but noticed nothing suspicious. According to Ward, Pat was in good spirits and even asked Ward to come over and repair his boat later in the week. Cecil didn't believe that Margaret and William could have just gone on vacation like that, as their mutual friends claimed, because he had personally discussed current plans with Patterson, and he hadn't said anything about the trip.

Reynaldo Nangaray, the janitor who looks after the Patterson's' home, suggested that trouble might have befallen the family. He said he found bloodstains in the garage and a piece of human scalp on a boat propeller. He also claimed that he saw a stranger take bloody sheets out of the house and put them in the trunk of the car. However, he dared to report it only years after the couple disappeared, because he was an illegal immigrant and was afraid of deportation. And, by the way, that day Reynaldo just silently removed the bloody footprints without telling anyone about the find.

Later in the case, another unusual figure emerged - a 20-year-old girl, Estefana Arroyo Marfin, who lived in the Mexican city of Juarez. She claimed to have entered into a relationship with the married William and that she had seen him just before his disappearance. He allegedly told her at the time: "When they come for me, I'm going to have to run." William wanted to tell her "a very important thing" but didn't have time, and Estefana never knew what he meant. Later, the girl completely retracted her statement.

One of the most popular theories was that the Patterson's may have been spies. Some claimed to have seen William Patterson conducting suspicious activity near Fort Bliss, a U.S. Army post in New Mexico and Texas. In a 2005 interview with the El Paso Times, county Sheriff Leo Samaniego said: "They got up and just walked away, leaving everything behind - probably the Russians or whoever sent them there told them to drop everything and go back. Some people said they saw [William] taking pictures of Fort Bliss and military supplies on the trains that were coming here." But no substantial evidence has been found to support the couple's involvement in spying activities.