In the quiet community of New Haven, Michigan, 55-year-old Judith Ann Mattise was last seen on the afternoon of May 19, 2003. A neighbor noted that she was unusually quiet in the days leading up to her disappearance. Known as Judy to her friends and family, she was a mother with an injured ankle at the time she vanished. Her daughter reported her missing two days later, on May 21, after she couldn't be contacted.
At the time she went missing, she was driving her silver 2003 Chevrolet Impala with dark tinted windows. This seemingly ordinary day would mark the beginning of a complex and tragic series of events, leaving her loved ones with unanswered questions that persist for years to come.
The investigation into Judith's disappearance took a dark turn just three days after she was last seen. On May 22, 2003, her estranged husband, James 'Jim' Mattise Sr., was found deceased in his pickup truck in downtown New Haven. He had taken his own life and left behind a suicide note addressed to his children. The note's wording implied his involvement in his wife's disappearance, suggesting she might be found in a 'large pile.' This led investigators to search a local landfill, but their efforts yielded no evidence of Judith. The couple, married for thirty-four years, had been experiencing significant turmoil. James had filed for divorce in March of that year, accusing Judith of hiding joint funds and having a relationship with a prisoner to whom she had been sending money.
Months later, in September 2003, Judith's Chevrolet Impala was found abandoned in Detroit near Comerica Park. The car had a parking ticket dated July 3, suggesting it had been left there for a considerable time. Inside the vehicle, which had become infested with bees, police found her purse containing cash and other personal belongings, but no clues as to her whereabouts. Despite the grim circumstances and the strong suspicion of foul play, Judith's case remained unsolved. In August 2004, fifteen months after she vanished, a judge declared Judith legally dead, with authorities believing her husband had murdered her before his suicide. The children of Judith and James have their own theories, suspecting their father may have disposed of her remains in their family business's dumpster. The case remains a poignant mystery, a story of a family fractured by conflict and a woman who disappeared without a trace, leaving a legacy of sorrow and unresolved questions.
Judith Ann “Judy” Mattise was a 55-year-old woman living in New Haven, Michigan, when she vanished on May 19, 2003. The mother of three was last seen that afternoon in the area of Main Street and Haven Ridge Road, driving her silver 2003 Chevrolet Impala with dark-tinted windows and Michigan license plate 3AQW95. Judith, a white woman with short blond hair and blue eyes, stood approximately five feet seven inches tall and weighed about 145 pounds. She was also dealing with an injured ankle at the time, a condition that may have limited her mobility. A neighbor who had seen her two days earlier later recalled that Judith seemed unusually quiet. After she disappeared without contacting her family, her daughter reported her missing on May 21.
The disappearance occurred during a deeply troubled period in Judith’s marriage. She and her estranged husband, James David “Jim” Mattise Sr., had been married for approximately 34 years and had raised their children while operating an optical supply business called Unlimited Services. They also owned a residence in Las Vegas. In March 2003, only two months before Judith disappeared, James filed for divorce and accused her of concealing money that belonged to them jointly. Reports also indicated that the couple was experiencing conflict over Judith’s relationship with a prisoner at a nearby state correctional facility where she volunteered. Judith had reportedly sent company funds to the prisoner to help finance his legal appeal. Whatever conversations or confrontations occurred within the family during those final weeks, Judith’s sudden silence on May 19 marked the beginning of a tragedy that would quickly grow even darker.
On the morning of May 22, three days after Judith was last seen, James was found dead inside his Ford pickup truck in downtown New Haven. The truck was parked between two church vans. Authorities determined that he had taken his own life using a plastic zip tie. Inside the vehicle was a note addressed to the couple’s children. Although the note reportedly did not plainly describe what had happened to Judith, its wording implied that James had been involved in her disappearance and suggested that she might be found in a “large pile.” Before his death, James had not formally been considered a suspect. The contents of his note, however, caused investigators to begin viewing Judith’s disappearance as a possible murder-suicide rather than a voluntary absence.
The reference to a pile led authorities to search the Pine Tree Acres landfill, but no trace of Judith was recovered. Her children later expressed concern that the landfill search had not been extensive enough. They developed their own theory about what may have happened during the night Judith disappeared. According to information they provided, one of Judith’s sons entered the family’s business at approximately 4:30 on the morning of May 20 and noticed a strong odor of cleaning products. A similar smell was reportedly detected in the company’s trash bin the following day. Because the dumpster was normally emptied early each morning, family members feared that Judith may have been killed and that her remains could have been placed inside it before the trash was collected. That theory has never been conclusively proven, and Judith’s remains have never been found.
Another disturbing clue emerged through a vehicle kept at the family’s Las Vegas property. Judith’s son reportedly looked in the trunk and found a tarp and rope, objects the family believed might have been used to move or conceal a body. The presence of those items was suspicious to them, but the publicly available record does not establish that forensic evidence connected them directly to Judith’s disappearance. Investigators nonetheless came to believe James was responsible. Judith’s children also publicly stated that they believed their father had killed their mother. The absence of a body, a confirmed crime scene or definitive physical evidence left the family with a painful conclusion but no complete account of Judith’s final hours.
For several months, Judith’s silver Impala was also missing. In September 2003, it was discovered abandoned outside a vacant house on Adelaide Street near Comerica Park in downtown Detroit, more than 30 miles from New Haven. The vehicle appeared to have been sitting there for an extended period and had become infested with bees. A parking ticket dated July 3 remained on the windshield, suggesting the car had not been moved after it was cited. Police found Judith’s purse, cash and other personal property inside the passenger compartment. Investigators announced that evidence related to the case had been recovered from the vehicle, but nothing inside it revealed where Judith had gone or where her remains might have been placed.
In March 2004, investigators examined the possibility that a woman’s body found along the shore of Pigeon Lake in Port Sheldon Township might be Judith. Forensic testing ultimately excluded her, returning the family to the same uncertainty they had endured from the beginning. In August 2004, approximately 15 months after Judith vanished, a court declared her legally dead. Authorities reportedly persuaded the judge that James had killed Judith before ending his own life, and police stated that, had James survived, they believed there was sufficient reason to arrest him for her murder even without recovering her body. The legal declaration brought recognition of what investigators believed had occurred, but it did not locate Judith or provide her loved ones with the chance to lay her to rest.
Judith’s NamUs case remains published, and her disappearance is still considered unresolved because her remains have not been recovered and the precise events surrounding her death have never been established through a criminal prosecution. The New Haven Police Department and Macomb County authorities have continued to be identified with the investigation. At its heart, Judith’s case is the story of a woman who left behind her home, her possessions, her vehicle and a family desperate to understand what happened. The evidence and James Mattise’s final message led authorities to suspect that she was killed by the man with whom she had shared more than three decades of her life, yet the location of her remains remains unknown. More than twenty years later, the case endures as an unresolved suspected homicide—one defined by an abandoned car near downtown Detroit, a troubling farewell note, a landfill search that found nothing and a family still missing the final answers that could bring Judith home.Last Seen: May 19, 2003
