Patricia Zentner Missing Person Case

Mar 29, 2011

Jan 29, 2019

Patricia

Zentner

63

2

36 inches

31 lbs

White / Caucasian

Female

In the late summer of 1964, in the quiet town of Garden City, Michigan, a young mother and her daughter disappeared without a trace, leaving behind a story with few answers. Two-year-old Patricia Louise Zentner, a little girl with blonde hair and blue eyes, was last seen on August 28, 1964. On that day, she and her 28-year-old mother, Mildred Patricia Zentner, vanished, their lives seemingly frozen in a moment of domestic turmoil. The only account of their last moments came from Patricia’s father and Mildred’s husband of six years, Jesse Zentner Jr. He told authorities that he and his wife had argued after he spanked young Patricia. According to Jesse, he left the house after the argument and returned to find them both gone. The details surrounding their disappearance are as sparse as they are unsettling. Jesse Zentner claimed that Mildred had left a typewritten note, which he tore up, leaving its contents unknown forever. While a few personal items were missing, including Patricia's potty chair, the majority of their belongings, including their clothing, were left behind in their home on Deering Street. It wasn't until two weeks after they were last seen that any official action was taken. Jesse drove to Pennsylvania to ask Mildred's parents if they had seen his wife and daughter. Having heard nothing, Mildred's parents were the ones to report them missing to the police. Decades have passed since Patricia and Mildred Zentner were last seen, and their case has grown cold, yet not entirely forgotten. The Garden City Police Department reopened the investigation in 2004, and in 2006, they excavated the property where the Zentner's home once stood, but the search yielded no evidence. Mildred's parents passed away in the 1980s without ever learning what happened to their daughter and granddaughter, but Mildred's sister continues to search for them. Jesse Zentner Jr. later retired and moved to Florida, where he passed away in 2007, taking any potential secrets with him. The disappearance of Patricia and Mildred remains an unsolved mystery, a vague and sorrowful narrative with foul play suspected but never proven. The case is a haunting reminder of two lives interrupted, leaving behind only questions and a lingering sense of loss for the family left to wonder.

Aug 28, 1964

Garden City

Michigan

Wayne County

48135

3891

Garden City Police Department

Garden City

Michigan

Wayne County

48135

6000 Middlebelt, Michigan

7347931700

Local

Law Enforcement

06400000197

Garden City Police Department

Blond/Strawberry

Blue

Blue

07/10/2026