Overview

Last seen/contact: February 1–2, 1979
Location: Buffalo, Wyoming
Age: 29
Status: Endangered missing
NamUs: MP14857
Investigating agency: Buffalo Police Department

Patricia Margaret Phillips disappeared from Buffalo, Wyoming, in February 1979 after her sister last heard from her. Available records indicate Patricia was associated with a blue Ford at the time. She never contacted her family again, and her whereabouts remain unknown. Public sources differ by one day on her recorded date of disappearance or last contact, with February 1 and February 2, 1979 both appearing in case records.

Detailed Case Breakdown

Patricia Margaret Phillips Missing Person Case: Disappearance from Buffalo, Wyoming in 1979

Brief Case Summary

Last seen/contact: February 1–2, 1979
Location: Buffalo, Wyoming
Age: 29
Status: Endangered missing
NamUs: MP14857
Investigating agency: Buffalo Police Department

Patricia Margaret Phillips disappeared from Buffalo, Wyoming, in February 1979 after her sister last heard from her. Available records indicate Patricia was associated with a blue Ford at the time. She never contacted her family again, and her whereabouts remain unknown. Public sources differ by one day on her recorded date of disappearance or last contact, with February 1 and February 2, 1979 both appearing in case records.

The Disappearance of Patricia Margaret Phillips

Patricia Margaret Phillips was 29 years old when she vanished from Buffalo, a community in northern Wyoming, in early February 1979. More than four decades later, remarkably little information about the circumstances preceding her disappearance has been made public.

According to the most detailed publicly available case summary, Patricia last contacted her sister on February 2, 1979. She was reportedly in Buffalo at the time and was driving a blue Ford. After that contact, Patricia did not communicate with her family again.

What Is Known About Patricia Phillips?

Patricia is described as a white woman with blonde hair and blue eyes. Current case information lists her at approximately 5 feet 5 inches tall and 150 pounds. She wore eyeglasses with very thick lenses and may also have used the surname Lawrence.

The Charley Project reports that Patricia was hearing-impaired and had a history of mental illness, factors that contribute to her classification as an endangered missing person. These circumstances may have made her especially vulnerable after losing contact with her family.

Conflicting Dates in the Patricia Phillips Case

One of the most noticeable problems surrounding Patricia’s case is the inconsistency in older and secondary records.

NamUs-derived sources have listed February 1, 1979 as the date of last contact or disappearance. The Charley Project currently lists Patricia as missing since February 2, 1979 and states that her sister last heard from her on February 2. A recent Wyoming missing-person compilation likewise displays February 1 as the formal date of last contact while its narrative says Patricia contacted her sister on February 2.

An older Doe Network listing also generated discussion because earlier versions of online records reportedly contained different dates and an apparently incorrect height. A 2020 discussion comparing Doe Network, NamUs and The Charley Project documented those discrepancies. Current Charley Project information now gives Patricia’s height as 5 feet 5 inches, matching NamUs-derived records.

Because the original police documentation is not publicly reproduced in full, the safest description is that Patricia disappeared from Buffalo, Wyoming, in early February 1979, with February 1 and February 2 appearing in public records.

The Blue Ford

One of the few potentially significant details associated with Patricia’s disappearance is a blue Ford.

The publicly available narrative says Patricia was driving the vehicle when she was last in contact with her sister. There is little public information explaining the Ford’s model, year, license plate, ownership, where it was ultimately located, or whether investigators ever recovered it.

Those unanswered questions are important because determining what happened to the vehicle could potentially help establish Patricia’s movements after her final known family contact. No publicly available source located for this article provides enough information to establish what became of the Ford.

Why So Little Is Known

Patricia disappeared in 1979, decades before modern national missing-person databases, widespread digital recordkeeping, cell-phone location information and many forensic technologies routinely used in contemporary investigations.

Public summaries of her case are unusually brief. There is no publicly identified suspect, confirmed crime scene, publicly disclosed destination, established travel route or verified account explaining why Patricia disappeared.

There is also no reliable public evidence that Patricia was the victim of a homicide. Her case should therefore be described as an endangered missing-person case, not as a confirmed murder.

Latest Publicly Available Investigation Information

As of August 21, 2026, Patricia’s NamUs case page remains publicly accessible under MP14857, and current publicly available sources continue to describe her whereabouts as unknown. A recent 2026 Wyoming missing-person compilation also continues to include Patricia and identifies her as missing from Buffalo.

A review of current publicly accessible sources did not locate an announced recovery of Patricia, an arrest, a publicly named suspect, a confirmed identification of remains, or another publicly announced resolution of the case.

The Buffalo Police Department continues to be identified as the investigating agency in the available case material. Wyoming’s Division of Criminal Investigation also maintains a statewide missing-person program and states that Wyoming agencies cooperate on unresolved missing-person cases. DCI cautions that its public missing-person database is not real-time, meaning absence of a newly posted detail should not be interpreted as proof that investigators are not actively working a lead.

Main Circumstances of the Case

Patricia was 29 years old when she disappeared from Buffalo, Wyoming, in early February 1979. Her sister was apparently the last family member known to have had contact with her. Patricia was reportedly driving a blue Ford, and after that final contact she never communicated with her family again.

Her hearing impairment and reported mental-health history are relevant to her endangered classification. The absence of a detailed public narrative, combined with conflicting dates found in different databases, has made Patricia’s case especially difficult for members of the public to reconstruct.

No publicly established explanation has determined whether Patricia left Buffalo voluntarily, experienced an accident, encountered someone who harmed her, or disappeared under some other circumstances.

More Than Four Decades Without Answers

Patricia Margaret Phillips has now been missing for more than 47 years.

Although the surviving public case record is small, Patricia’s disappearance remains significant. The basic unanswered question has not changed since 1979: after contacting her sister from Buffalo and apparently traveling in a blue Ford, where did Patricia go?

Anyone with firsthand information about Patricia Margaret Phillips, the blue Ford she reportedly drove, people she associated with in Buffalo in early 1979, or circumstances surrounding her disappearance should provide that information directly to law enforcement rather than attempting to independently investigate individuals connected to the case.