Teleka Patrick has been missing for nearly a month, and while police currently have no leads, YouTube videos she posted last month offer a look into her life before the disappearance.
The New York Daily News reported that the 30-year-old first-year medical resident was last seen on Dec. 5 in Kalamazoo, Mich., where she worked at the Borgess Medical Center. Later that night, her 1997 Lexus was found in a ditch off I-94 in Portage, Ind., with her wallet inside, but no car keys. The car had a flat tire. She had left her cell phone at work.
A couple videos from early November—which are currently unlisted and don’t show up on Patrick’s YouTube page — show her alone on camera, addressing someone as “baby.” In a video posted Nov. 10, titled “Surprise! Final video,” Patrick documents a table for two, covered with an array of breakfast foods. “If you were here, this is what would be your plate,” she says, before panning to the spread. “So here we have an omelet I made … you saw me making it.” It’s not clear if someone else is in the room, but this is the last video she posted.
Patrick’s family did not know her to be in a relationship with anyone, and aren’t sure who this “baby” could be. They hired a private investigator, Carl H. Clatterbuck III, to help with the case. He told the Daily News on Monday that there’s no record of her sending these videos to anyone, and that she hadn’t been diagnosed with any mental disorder.
Clatterbuck added that the night of her disappearance, she attempted to check into a hotel near her apartment, but there was no vacancy. Video surveillance shows Patrick leaving the Radisson and taking a shuttle back to work. The shuttle driver later said she appeared “nervous” and “agitated.”
She borrowed cash from a co-worker to pay for the hotel, and had stopped using credit cards. Clatterbuck thinks she was possibly trying to get “off the grid.” However, according to WZZM 13, she’d purchased a flight home to see her parents in Florida for Christmas.
Of course, it’s not fair to armchair diagnose someone strictly from a few YouTube videos, but so far, this is all investigators have to go on. Indiana police, the Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Office, and the FBI are now involved. A Twitter account, @findteleka, has been created to help with information and leads, as has a Facebook page, and a GoFundMe campaign is currently accepting donations. Anyone with info is encouraged to call the Kalamazoo police.
Photo via Find Teleka/Facebook
