A Woman Disappeared From A Group Hike And Was Never Seen Again

October 2, 2010 was the last time anybody saw Patricia “Patti” Ann Krieger alive.

The 65-year-old was hiking the Sauk Mountain trail in northwest Washington State with her fiancé, 42-year-old Jason Lee Pressley, and five of his friends and family members with plans to scatter the ashes of Pressley’s parents at the mountain’s peak.

The hikers told authorities that Patricia and her rottweiler, Bear, headed down a different trail as they descended the mountain. According to the The Charley Project, the group called to Patti to tell her she was headed the wrong way, but she didn’t answer and they didn’t follow her, instead assuming that the path would meet back up with the main trail later on.

At the bottom of the mountain, there was no sign of Patti.

According to a website dedicated to finding Patti, Pressley waited for several hours before reporting Patti missing. Authorities searched for the woman, but the woman had seemingly vanished without a trace. Search dogs were able to follow Patti’s scent down the mountain and into the parking lot where it disappeared.

Patti’s dog was found malnourished, but alive, several weeks after her disappearance.

At the time of her disappearance, Patti was wearing jeans, a long sleeved white shirt with a blue shirt over it. She was also carrying a black sweatshirt that said OLD NAVY on it. There was a gold ring on her right hand, a cross necklace around her neck, and she used hearing aids.

According to NamUs (National Missing and Unidentified Persons System), Pressley’s friends and family members were seen driving Patti’s vehicles following her disappearance.

Police never charged Pressley in Patti’s disappearance, but he was arrested on federal weapons charges and then sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2013. Records from the United States Bureau of Prisons note that Pressley was released from custody in January 2018.

Patti’s family has always suspected that Pressley played a role in her disappearance. In a 2013 interview after Pressley was sentenced on the weapon’s charges, Patti’s son told KING 5 News in Seattle that he hoped Pressley’s imprisonment would make witnesses in the case feel like they could come forward.

There has been nothing new reported about Patti or her case in several years.

At the time she disappeared, Patti Krieger was between 5’2” and 5’6” and weighed between 105 and 115 pounds. If she is still alive, she would be 77 years old. If you have any information about her disappearance, call the Skagit County Sheriff’s Department at (360) 416-1911.