Mich. police update timeline on missing doctor

KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Police held a news conference Wednesday to update the public and lay out the timeline in the case of Teleka Patrick, a doctor who disappeared from Kalamazoo in December, reports CBS affiliate WWMT.

Patrick, 30, was reported missing on Dec. 6 of last year when she didn't show up for work at Borgess Hospital, Kalamazoo County Sheriff Richard Fuller confirmed. She was a resident at the hospital and Western Michigan University's School of Medicine, pursuing a degree in psychiatry, police said.

Patrick moved to Kalamazoo in July 2013 to be closer to her fiancee, according to her friends.

Fuller said that, on the night she went missing, Patrick got a ride from a co-worker to a local Radisson. The co-worker, who said Patrick was acting strangely during the drive, also gave Patrick $100 when she said she had lost her wallet.

At the Radisson, hotel staff also reported strange behavior from Patrick. The front desk clerk noted that she did not have enough money for a room and ultimately asked employees for a ride back to the Borgess Hospital, Fuller said.

After getting a ride back to the hotel, Patrick reportedly got in a car and drove off. 

"We believe that when she got into the car at Borgess Hospital and left town, she did so on her own free will and was heading to a relative's house in Chicago," Fuller told reporters.

Police in Indiana found a wallet and other items belonging to Patrick 40 feet from highway I-94 in the Porter-Burns Harbor vicinity later that night, after reports of erratic driving and speeds up to 85 MPH, Fuller reported.

Patrick has not been seen since, and Fuller says police have not received any substantial leads to aid in their investigation. He said that police have searched Patrick's apartment and computer but have found no evidence that she was in any distress on the night of her disappearance. Authorities still do not know what accounted for Patrick's strange behavior.

"Whatever happened when her car went off the road, we don't know," Fuller said.