Johnnie Patterson: A Family Man Diagnosed With Dementia

In Media Milwaukee’s attempts to get in contact with the Johnnie Patterson family, a student journalist called over 100 phone numbers without an answer. Soon after Carrie Davis, Patterson’s daughter, called back and agreed to do an interview. 

When the team of student journalists arrived at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Golda Meir Library on the day of the interview, they were expecting a simple interview with Davis. But then they saw four members of the Patterson family walking towards them, and more were on the way.

“We have a very good support system in our family,” said Davis.

Throughout the interview, six more members of the Patterson family arrived and gathered in the small room the student journalists had rented out at our library. Imagine 10 people gathered in a room telling you how much they love one person, how much they miss one person, and how little they’ve heard about one person’s whereabouts.

Johnnie Patterson is a 74-year-old African American man who went missing from Milwaukee on June 9, 2020. He was last seen on security camera footage leaving his apartment at College Court Elderly Housing Community at 3334 West Highland Blvd.

The police reports show there are some clues – a food share card was used after he disappeared, and there was a rumored, but unverified, report of a possible stabbing.

Patterson’s disappearance received a smattering of coverage by local television stations back in 2020 and 2021, but not enough to become a household name, and he hasn’t received national media attention like that given to Gabby Petito or others.

About 32,711 people have gone missing in the City of Milwaukee in the last 10 years, according to the Milwaukee Police Department. At any given time, about 500 people are actively missing in Milwaukee. Many are people of color, yet very few make the news. 

Each year in the past decade, between 2,500 and 3,300 people have been reported missing here. In 2024, 2,466 people have been reported missing from Milwaukee as of Oct. 15. Many are short-term missing cases where people are quickly found, highlighting a crisis of online grooming, group home runaways, and other issues. Stereotypical stranger abductions are exceptionally rare, yet those are the cases that tend to be highlighted in the news. 

A team of 12 student journalists spent three months investigating 18 open missing people cases, most of them people of color in Milwaukee but several from smaller Wisconsin cities. The students spoke with family members, detectives from multiple police departments, and filed open records requests for each case. In the case of Patterson, Milwaukee police declined to answer specific questions on the case, but they did release the full police file to Media Milwaukee, which was over 140 pages.

Patterson is 5’8”, 170 lbs, and bald with a gray goatee and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing a tribal necklace, brown or gray Kangol style hat, brown or gray shirt, blue jean jacket, blue jeans pants, black-framed glasses, dark colored shoes, and was carrying a tree branch carved into a walking stick.

Patterson was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s Disease earlier that year. According to his family, he would go on walks daily and always knew to call them or ask for help if he became disoriented. 

“He would go on walks, and if he got confused he would go into a business like a Walgreens or a CVS,” said Davis. “I remember he went to a Potbelly a month before he went missing, and he told them he was confused and they called the police.”

According to police reports, on April 25, 2020, Patterson walked into the Potbelly Sandwich Shop at 135 W Wisconsin St. and informed the manager that he was lost. The manager called the Milwaukee Police Department, and they escorted Patterson back to his apartment. According to MPD reports, he had been escorted home by the police several times before this incident.

Two months later, he disappeared.

Who was Johnnie Patterson?

According to the Patterson family, Johnnie Patterson was born in Tunica, Mississippi, in 1950 to a family of sharecroppers.

“We missed school about two weeks every year because we had to go out to the field and help on the farm,” said Hattie Nichols, Patterson’s sister.

Black families lived on the plantation and earned a portion of the revenue from the crop in exchange for working on the plantation all year. At the end of the year, families would get their portion of the revenue, but they were rarely paid fairly.

“I don’t know what reason they gave Daddy, they just told him that they didn’t clear anything after we worked your crop for the whole year,” said Nichols. “That’s the way it was.”

After finishing high school, Patterson came to Milwaukee for a better life. He lived with his brother Archie Patterson and took cooking classes at Milwaukee Area Technical College.

According to Davis, chicken was Patterson’s favorite. When Davis was a kid, he would cook smothered chicken and rice in the morning, baked chicken in the afternoon, and fried chicken at night.

“I’m surprised I still like chicken, but chicken seems to be my favorite meat too,” said Davis.

Davis remembered one Thanksgiving where they were going to take a road trip down to Mississippi, and Davis’ sister said that Patterson should smoke the turkey.

“I didn’t think he would do it, but he did,” said Davis. “He had the smoked turkey with rib tips all around it, and they drove it all the way down there. We heated it up in the oven, and enjoyed the smoked turkey.”

Around this time, Patterson met his wife Rose, and they got married some time in the 70s. Rose also became a minister, and Patterson worked with her in their local church.

In 2001, they opened a daycare in their home called Babes in Joyland. Unfortunately, they did not file their annual financial report, and their daycare was closed in 2013.

Rose tried to fight the closure but passed away in 2014. This took a heavy toll on Johnnie, and he retired soon after.

“He started going down, and the bottle helped him a bit which wasn’t any help,” said Nichols.

After Patterson retired, he began to work for himself. He would collect junk, fix it up, and sell it to hardware stores or resale shops. The main thing that he would build was barbecue grills out of old metal barrels.

“He didn’t wanna work for anybody else,” said Nichols. “He wanted to have his own business and run it himself, and he did a pretty decent job. I guess I could think of him like ‘Sanford & Son.’”

According to Davis, Patterson would set up the grills in his front yard, or find a street corner with a lot of traffic and sell them. Smaller ones would sell for $80, medium-size ones would sell for $150 and deluxe ones would sell for $200.

Patterson also enjoyed carving sticks that he would find on his property into walking sticks. He would begin by shaping them into a walking stick, and then he would carve intricate designs into the side.

“He didn’t need it to walk, that was like a part of his attire,” said Jerrica Collins, Patterson’s Granddaughter. “He had one tall stick that would remind you of the biblical stick that Moses carried around,” said Nichols.

Patterson was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in early 2020. Patterson was going through the early stages and, according to his doctor, he was okay to live alone.

“He didn’t need 24-hour care; he just needed people checking in on him, and we did a pretty good job at that,” said Davis.

Davis remembered at one point, Patterson was hospitalized and Davis took him back to her house. Davis suggested that Patterson should just stay with her for a while, and he agreed.

Davis then went to work and left Patterson at home with her husband who was downstairs putting in a load of laundry. By the time he came back upstairs, Patterson was gone. Davis’ husband got in his car and was able to find Patterson walking towards where Archie lived.

According to his family, Patterson would go on walks almost every day. If he ever became disoriented, he always knew to call them or walk into a local business and ask for help.

“This last time, I just don’t know what happened,” said Nichols. “The police tracked him to 35th and Wells and lost sight of him there. We haven’t heard anything since June 9, 2020.”

The Family’s Investigation

“I think we put more effort into trying to find him than the police did,” said Davis. But that was before the family reviewed the police file obtained by Media Milwaukee.

According to Davis, she last saw Patterson on June 4, at 2:30 p.m. when she took him to a follow-up appointment with Dr. Tatiana Petrikova at Aurora Health Center on 1575 N River Center Drive.

According to police reports, Archie Patterson, Johnnie’s older brother, last saw Patterson on June 6, 2020, at a barbecue at his house. At approximately 9 p.m. Archie dropped Patterson off at his apartment and watched him scan his door key at the front door and enter his apartment building.

On June 10, Archie arrived at Patterson’s apartment building at 7 a.m. to take him to another doctor’s appointment. Patterson was not there, so Archie drove around for two hours looking for him but was not able to find him.

On June 12, Archie arrived at Patterson’s apartment building to take him to another doctor’s appointment, but Patterson was not there again. Later that day at 4 p.m. Archie called Davis and told her that he had not seen or spoken to Patterson since June 6 when he dropped him off.

Davis went to MPD and filed a missing person report at 5:30 p.m. Davis stated that he did not have a cell phone, and they did not know if he had any money on his person. Davis also stated that he was not visiting any family members or friends.

According to Davis, the family got together to do a search party on the south side in the area where Patterson went missing. Soon after, they reached out to 101.7 The Truth radio host and community activist Tory Lowe, and his team assisted them in the search. Lowe investigates missing people cases on his own, and he uses his large social media following to help get the word out.

“Tory was amazing,” said Davis. “Once I reached out to him, he got back with me immediately. I would say he did more than the Milwaukee Police Department did.”

The family searched for a month straight, going to places where Patterson used to live, businesses Patterson used to own, and places where Patterson would set up rummage sales. They also asked people in the area if they had any home security systems that may have captured him on video, but nobody did.

On June 13, TMJ4, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and CBS 58 released a bulletin saying that MPD is looking for help from the public in locating a critically missing man. The bulletin included his description and urged the public to contact the police if they have any information on Patterson’s whereabouts. Fox 6 released a similar bulletin on June 17. 

According to police reports, on June 14, Davis received a phone call at 1:31 p.m. from Tammy M. Rodriguez, a security guard at Walgreens at 3522 W. Wisconsin Ave. A customer informed Rodriguez that they saw Patterson at the Veterans Manor at 720 N. 35th St. across the street. The customer stated they recognized the thick black glasses and the necklace he was wearing.

Rodriguez immediately left Walgreens to look for Patterson, but she did not see him at the intersection. Rodriguez believed that he could have gotten on a bus on Route 30.

According to Collins, she immediately ran to the area but did not see Patterson. Davis contacted MCTS, which informed her that they let someone off matching his description at the intersection of N. Sherman Blvd./W. Florist Ave. 

Collins and Davis arrived at the area of N. Sherman Blvd./W. Florist Ave. and some golfers told them that they had seen Patterson walking with a white couple into the woods. The family searched the woods, but were not able to locate Patterson.

“Even when we would put flyers up at the bus stops and different areas, we’d go back to those areas the next day and the flyers are torn down,” said Davis.

According to police reports, on June 15, Lorenzo Taylor, Johnnie’s son, received a tip that Johnny was in the area of 68th and Capitol. Taylor drove to that area but was unable to locate Patterson. 

“When it first happened, we would hear from them weekly for about a month,” said Davis. “Then I would call, and I’d have to wait for someone to return my call. When they returned my call, they would ask, ‘Well have y’all found him yet?’”

On June 20, Archie told MPD that they are offering a $2,500 reward for any information that will help locate Patterson. Archie said that he would be the person to contact with any questions regarding the reward.

According to Davis, on July 14, she received a text message from a random phone number stating that they have Patterson, and they will release him for $7,000. MPD’s watch desk stated the number was a Google Account Number from New York. It’s not uncommon for scammers to try to get money out of families in missing people cases.

On March 29, 2021, Fox 6 aired a full story on Patterson’s case, because MPD released surveillance footage of the last time Patterson was seen leaving his apartment building.

Fox 6 interviewed Davis, Collins, and Officer Keyona Vines who was then assigned Patterson’s case and handled missing person cases in Milwaukee. The story said that the family had recently raised their reward to $5,000, and Vines was urging the public to check their sheds and garages.

“We still post it on social media, and it gets a lot of shares,” said Collins. “But nothing comes of it.”

On June 9, 2021, Fox 6 released another story on Patterson’s case to mark the one-year anniversary but reused most of the material from their previous story on March 29. This is the most thorough coverage that the media has given to Patterson’s case.

“We haven’t done search parties in a while; we actually haven’t in the past two years,” said Davis. “We all still have our eyes open, especially when we visit different areas in the city.”

The Police Investigation

The voluminous police file provides a documented timeline of the efforts MPD has taken to find Johnnie Patterson.

According to police reports, on June 9, Patterson was last seen on security camera footage leaving his apartment building at 4 p.m. wearing a tribal necklace, brown or gray Kangol style hat, brown or gray shirt, blue jean jacket, blue jeans pants, black-framed glasses, dark colored shoes, and carrying a tree branch carved into a walking stick.

MPD contacted local hospitals, mental health facilities, and local jails to see if Patterson had been admitted to any of those facilities. None of the local facilities had admitted Patterson or any John Does that matched his description.

On June 12, MPD arrived at Patterson’s apartment at 5:44 p.m. but he did not answer the door. MPD called public housing, and they sent Housing Authority Officer Michael S. Draper who allowed them to enter Patterson’s apartment. 

Patterson was not observed in his apartment, but they did observe four walking sticks and one cane in the bedroom, a pair of all red Nike Air Force Ones on the bedroom floor, and a leather vest hanging in his closet. MPD also checked all 13 floors of the building and storage rooms.

MPD issued an Endangered Missing Bulletin through the Wisconsin Crime Alert Network. MPD also got in contact with MCTS to view footage from route 30 the day prior, but nobody on the bus matched Patterson’s description. 

On June 18, Archie told MPD that Patterson used Chase Bank on 210 W. Capitol Drive. Archie stated that there has been no activity on Patterson’s account since he went missing, but he did place a flag on the account.

Archie also told MPD that Patterson’s deceased wife Rose Patterson is buried at Graceland Cemetery at 6401 W. Mill Rd. MPD went to Graceland Cemetery but was not able to locate Patterson. 

According to police reports, on June 19, Archie told MPD that a woman from Patterson’s apartment had seen Patterson on June 16, at a Clark Gas Station on 35th and Garfield. She observed two Puerto Rican ladies trying to get Patterson into a vehicle, and he was fighting them with his walking cane. 

MPD went to the gas station to obtain security footage. They were told by the owner that the cameras outside do not work, but the inside cameras work, and they capture anyone entering and exiting the gas station. However, the camera’s storage only went back to the 17th, so MPD was not able to obtain footage.

MPD also went to Midtown Grocery and Beverages at 3420 W. Wells St., a liquor store that Patterson frequented. MPD showed missing flyers to several of the people outside the store, and an anonymous female recognized Patterson.

The woman said she lives with friends at 3334 W Highland Blvd., and heard a rumor that Patterson was stabbed to death on the corner. She said she’d heard the same rumor from 10 or 11 different “crackheads” in the building. 

The woman appeared nervous and was very concerned about people overhearing her. She asked for the detective’s information and said she would call them at a later date with more info.

According to police reports, MPD also searched the area around Patterson’s apartment building with a canine unit. They were able to obtain his scent from his belongings left in the apartment, but they lost the trail almost immediately due to the high foot traffic in the area and the amount of time passed since Patterson went missing.

On June 23, MPD went to the Walgreens at 3522 W. Wisconsin Ave. and flagged Patterson’s information which would alert MPD if anyone filled Patterson’s prescription.

On June 27, MPD contacted the Social Security Administration, and put a flag on Patterson’s Social Security funds which would alert MPD if anyone made a transaction using Patterson’s Social Security funds.

On July 14, MPD entered Patterson’s description into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NaMUS) which would alert MPD if any John Does are reported matching Patterson’s description.

On July 16, MPD contacted Davis and Archie to request a sample of DNA. They both agreed, and their DNA samples were sent to the University of Texas Center for Human Identification (UNTCHI).

On Aug. 16, 2020, Archie notified MPD that he had received a letter regarding Johnnie’s Quest Card getting extra funds placed on it due to COVID-19. On March 24, 2021, Vines was able to receive Patterson’s Food Share records through a confidential source.

There are three cards that are related to Johnny’s food share account. One card was issued to Johnny Patterson. The other two cards were issued to Archie Patterson who is the Power of Attorney of Johnny.

According to the reports, Patterson’s Quest Card 3597 was receiving $16 benefits on the 9th of every month. Patterson’s Quest Card also received extra funds due to COVID-19 on Aug. 8, 2020, and March 20, 2021.

However, Archie’s Quest Card 6069 was used on Feb. 28, 2021, at a Pick N Save located at 1735 W. Silver Spring Dr., Glendale, WI, and on March 10, 2021, at the Capitol Galst Foods located at 4030 N. Teutonia Ave, Milwaukee, WI. 

Vines went to the Pick N Save and met with the Manager of Security and Loss Prevention who was able to provide them with the receipt and surveillance footage of the transaction. They also informed Vines that a Roundy’s Fresh Perk Card was used in the transaction.

According to the police reports, In the footage, at 1:10 p.m. a black heavy set male wearing a blue/white face mask covering the bottom of his face, black knit hat, red/black shirt, a red zip up sweater over the shirt, dark blue jogging pants and black/white shoes brings up a cart full of sodas to be purchased and purchases them with a Quest Card.

Vines also went to Capitol Galst Foods and spoke to the manager who was able to provide her with surveillance footage of the transaction. Media Milwaukee was unable to obtain footage, because it is no longer on file.

According to the police reports, In the footage, at 2:17 p.m. a black female, with individually braided shoulder-length hair, wearing a white/blue mask covering the bottom of her face, blue jeans, a burgundy/white coat, and black furry shoes loads items on the conveyor belt and then walks out of frame.

Then a different black female, heavy set, wearing a black knit hat, black face mask covering the bottom of her face, gray shirt, a dark coat over the shirt, black and white shoes comes and pays for the items.

On July 20, 2021, The UNTCHI notified MPD that Archie and Davis’ DNA had been entered into the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), the Texas Department of Public Safety’s State DNA Index System (SDIS), and the FBI’s National DNA Index System (NDIS).

These databases would be searched periodically for potential associations. If an association is confirmed by UNTCHI, MPD would be notified immediately.

On Jan. 21, 2022, Vines contacted Davis who said that their family has not heard from Patterson since reporting him missing. Davis stated she and other family members have run out of options and hope regarding Patterson.

According to the family, MPD has left them in the dark by withholding details about the investigation for the last four years.

“They never had any information for us, nothing,” said Davis. “You got more information than we got.”

After hearing the information from the police reports, the family has decided to launch their own investigation into the whereabouts of Patterson using this new information.

“With the information that we got today, we could’ve been more proactive in our investigating,” said Davis. “Yes he’s still missing, but we have other leads now. It’s been four years, we have not stopped looking for Dad.”

If you have any information regarding Patterson’s whereabouts please contact MPD’s Sensitive Crimes Division at 414-935-7405 or MPD’s 24-hour non-emergency line at 414-933-4444.

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This story is part of a semester-long investigative reporting project into missing people’s cases in Milwaukee and Wisconsin. It was created by an advanced reporting class in the Journalism, Advertising, and Media Studies program at UW-Milwaukee. Other stories from the project are available here.