LUMBERTON — The FBI has entered the search for a missing 20-year-old Lumberton woman, according to the woman’s mother.

FBI agents interviewed her a couple weeks ago, said Samantha Lovette, mother of Abby Patterson. They asked the same type of questions local law enforcement officers asked after Patterson went missing in September. She does not know how or why the FBI became involved.

“They give me updates every once and a while, but they’re not giving me any information,” Lovette said.

Nor has Lovette heard from Patterson.

“Not a word,” Lovette said.

Lovette has tied yellow ribbons onto the missing-person posters placed around Lumberton.

“It may or may not help find her, but I felt like I had to do something to honor her and keep her name out there,” Lovette said.

There is a $10,000 reward for information that leads to Patterson’s return home. It started out as $5,000, but Mountaire Farms added $5,000 to the reward in October.

Patterson was last seen on East Ninth Street at 11:30 a.m. on Sept. 5.

Her mother said Abby had battled substance-abuse programs and had successfully completely a program in Charlotte before spending two months in transitional housing in Florida before returning to Lumberton. She disappeared soon afterward.

Lovette addressed rumors that Abby is simply hiding away and is with people she knows, saying she is either being held against or will or has been harmed. She said if someone has seen Abby or thinks they know where she is, they should call Lumberton police at 910-374-3845.

Patterson is white, has brown hair, brown eyes, is about 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighs 140 pounds. She has a bird tattoo on her shoulder and a dark birthmark on the back of her left thigh. She was last seen wearing a white shirt and brown shorts.

A photo of Patterson and information about her case can be seen on the FBI’s website. She has two sisters, Sandy and Katy.

There had been speculation early on that Patterson’s disappearance might be connected to the deaths of three women whose decomposing bodies were found in East Lumberton in the spring. Those women were known drug users and prostitutes. The Robesonian has been told by multiple people involved in that investigation that police do not believe the cases are related.

A yellow ribbon adorns a missing-person poster of Abby Lynn Patterson.
https://www.robesonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/web1_Patterson-Poster_1-1.jpgA yellow ribbon adorns a missing-person poster of Abby Lynn Patterson.

Staff report