Forsyth County missing woman case still seeks answers, wedding ring missing

Patrice Endres vanished from her Cumming salon in broad daylight, and Forsyth County has never stopped living with the questions. Endres was 38, a wife and mother, when she disappeared from Tamber’s Trim ‘N Tan on Matt Highway, a case that still sits in the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s unsolved homicide files and still unsettles residents who remember how ordinary the day looked before it turned into a missing-person mystery.

Authorities say Endres was last seen just before 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, April 15, 2004, at 6195 Matt Highway, also known as Highway 369. When the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office responded, investigators found that money had been taken from the salon, her lunch was uneaten, her car keys were still there and her vehicle had been moved from its normal spot. By noon, Endres was missing.

The most persistent clue investigators still mention is the ring she wore. The GBI says Endres’ wedding ring was never recovered. It was described as two soldered bands with a marquis diamond center stone, and the agency says it hopes someone will recognize it and come forward with information. Anyone with a tip can call 800-597-8477.

Endres’ case did not end with her disappearance. On December 6, 2005, skeletal remains were found behind a church off Kelly Bridge Road in Dawson County, about ten miles from the salon. The GBI says those remains were Endres. The case remains listed as an unsolved homicide, and investigators have not brought a charge in her death. One public case summary says authorities believe Endres was most likely murdered and that investigators have a suspect who is incarcerated for unrelated crimes.

The reason the case still resonates in Forsyth County is simple: it happened in the middle of an ordinary workday, at a familiar local business on a busy corridor that many residents still drive every day. Tamber’s Trim ‘N Tan is gone from the local memory only in name. The unanswered questions around Endres, her family and the missing ring have made the case part of the county’s shared history, even as Forsyth has grown dramatically since 2004. Two decades later, the enduring absence is not just a cold case detail. It remains a public-safety wound that has never fully closed.