FBI ANNOUNCES ARREST IN PATTERSON CASE

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 00149643
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: September 12, 2023
• Document Release Date: June 21, 2023
• Case Number: F-2021-01570
• Publication Date: June 5, 1974

pproved for Release: 2023/05/11 C00149643
pproved for Release: 2023/05/11 C00149643
Approved for Release: 2023/05/11 C00149643
No Fore tits Diss ssem Abroad/Controlled Dissem
FBI Announces Arrest in Patterson Case
On 28 May the FBI announced the arrest of Bobby Joe Keesee,
charging him with attempting to extort $250,000 in connection
with the mysterious dissTpearance in March of John Patterson,
the U.S. Vice-Consul in Hermosillo, Mexico, who is still miss-
ing. (See the issue of 27 March, page 1.) Keesee, who has been
involved in several bizarre international incidents over the
past 12 years, most recently turned up in a group of American
POW's returning from North Vietnam in March 1973. His surprise
appearance appeared to confirm a September 1970 report by a
charter pilot in Bangkok that an unidentified American comman-
deered his plane and forced him to land on a beach in North
Vietnam. Keesee previously had stolen a plane and flown it to
Cuba in 1962, and he was among 57 hostages held and released by
Palestinian guerrillas in Amman, Jordan in 1970.
The FBI stated that tmere is no evidence linking Keesee
with the disappearance of Patterson, who vanished on 22 March
shortly after leaving the consulate in Hermosillo; nevertheless
Keesee has been charged with "causing to bo delivered" to the
consulate a ransom note demanding $250,000. (UNCLASSIFIED)
Approved for Release: 2023/05/11 C00149643