Patricia Bernadette Meehan

Status:

Open

Jurisdiction:

Mccone County Sheriff Coroners Office (MT)

Missing From:

Circle, Montana

Summary:

Patricia Bernadette Meehan disappeared following a car accident on Montana Highway 200 near Circle, Montana on April 20, 1989, at age 37. She crawled out of the wreckage, looked blankly at the driver of the other vehicle, then climbed over a fence near the road and disappeared into the countryside. Over 5,000 alleged sightings of Meehan were reported in the months and years after her disappearance, several of which were confirmed by police, but none of which led to her discovery.

Vital Statistics

Circumstances of Disappearance:

At 8:15pm on the night of April 20, Peggy Bueller and her father were traveling west on Montana Highway 200 near Circle, Montana, when they witnessed a vehicle heading east driving on the wrong side of the road. Bueller managed to swerve onto the shoulder, avoiding a head-on collision, but the vehicle crashed into the car traveling behind her, driven by off-duty police dispatcher Carol Heitz. Meehan crawled out of the wreckage, looked blankly at the driver of the other vehicle, then climbed over a fence near the road and disappeared into the countryside. She appeared to be disoriented at the time. On April 19, 1989—the day before her disappearance—Meehan spoke with her father in Pittsburgh over the phone, telling him she was under stress and wanted to come home. She had been distressed and made an appointment to see a psychologist on the morning of April 21. She had asked to move back in with her parents in Pennsylvania, and they agreed that she could come to them after she spoke to the psychologist.

Additional Details:

Several searches were conducted over the course of the day by two different pilots, but they found no evidence that Patty was hiding in any of the fields nearby. A large-scale ground search was conducted by the Montana Highway Patrol, the Circle Police Department, and ambulance crews. They were assisted by local ranchers and an area work crew, but the search turned up nothing. On May 25, 1989, Patty's parents arrived to join in the search, along with their son, Terry. Tom and Dolly were devastated by the situation, but were also cautiously optimistic that they would be able to find their daughter. There had been a large number of sightings reported, and they intended to follow up on each one. They brought a number of pictures and video of Patty, hoping it would help people verify if they had seen her or not. Her disappearance was featured on the NBC series Unsolved Mysteries in the fall of 1989. On 4th May 1989 – in Luverne, Minnesota, a police officer reported seeing a woman who they believed to be Patricia Meehan sitting in a restaurant on her own for 5 hours drinking water. According to a June 5, 1989, article in the Billings Gazette, a waitress and another employee at a Perkins restaurant in Bozeman reported seeing a woman they believed was Meehan eating breakfast. The report is considered one of the first credible sightings of Meehan following her disappearance. Her family later found Meehan's camera with a roll of undeveloped film still in it. Once processed, they saw that Meehan had taken a rather chilling self-portrait in a mirror—it was a photo that solidified for them just how troubled Meehan may have been at the time. In September 1990, police were unable to determine whether a woman who identified herself as Morning Star was Patricia Meehan, although a former longtime boyfriend told police there was a strong resemblance and the voice was similar. The investigation remains active. The McCone County Sheriff's Office still lists the case as an active investigation, and renewed attention from true-crime podcasts and local newspapers has brought the mystery back into public view over the past year.

Case Last Updated:

Aug 04, 2026