The Patterson Express was still in operation as recently as a few years ago, not sure about still today. My Aunt Ellen, Jessie’s Mom, never did have another child, nor re-marry. I’m so glad that Jessie’s murder is getting new police and media attention. I’m hopeful that maybe some new technology or new information will lead police to be able to finally bring closure to this case. <3

I had just seen on the news where a kidnapping & murder from 54 yrs. ago, has just been solved. A 7-year-old Illinois girl named Maria was vindicated when an unused train ticket, a piece of evidence, convicted her killer 54 yrs. after her death. Even when it is delayed, Justice is still justice, and we rejoice. As they say, better late than never.
That news story triggered a memory—- who was that girl who was abducted when I worked in Richmond? Immediately, her name re-surfaced: Jessica Hatch. I did a Google Search, and amazingly, there was a recent web post. It’s hard to believe that it’s been 27 yrs.

In 1983-84, I worked at the Patterson Express, a little “Mom & Pop” grocery store (does it even still exist?) on Patterson Ave. in the near West End, a few blocks past the Boulevard (technically, no longer the Fan District.) I still recall some of my customers: the MCV dentist & his quiet, pretty wife. The little waitress who worked at Friendly’s Restaurant, and her husband. The single woman who always got cravings for a box of Crunch’n'Munch! The woman who fed the stray cat. And there was Jessica Hatch. She and her Mom were regular customers. I ran the store from 4:00pm until midnight, 6 days a week. Jessica and a friend would often stop in after school for candy. But usually, she came in with her mom. They were very close, and it was obvious that Mrs. Hatch adored her daughter. They’d be riding bikes together or walking, and they’d stop in for a treat and to say “Hi”. Jessica was small for her age, polite and sweet, and the one word that would sum her up would be “innocence”. There was not one shred of that pre-teen rebellion so often seen in kids today. She impressed you as being closer to age 9 than age 12, and she & her Mom seemed more like best friends than daughter & mother.

Because I worked until midnight, my fiance’ met me at work, and walked me home. The neighborhood had its bad elements. There were drug dealers, and the Ritz and Tiki Bars, to name just a few.
My fiance’ and I wed in the Fall of 1983. Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years came & went. I believe Mrs. Hatch stopped by my store the same night that Jessica went missing, to ask if Jessie had been in. I told her no, I hadn’t seen her. Mrs. Hatch may have given me her phone # to call if Jessica did come by. She told me that Jessica had left to walk to her grandmother’s for dinner. In February, I was still a newlywed. One day a policeman or detective visited me on Kensington Avenue, where I lived. He asked me questions about Jessica, and was gathering information from everyone who’d known her. Later, it was in the newspaper that her remains had been found. It was so tough to come to grips with the reality that someone you’d seen, talked to, and known, was dead—- especially a child. I visited Mrs. Hatch once after that, on Hanover Avenue. She was attending meetings with the group “Compassionate Friends”, for parents who’ve lost a child. In 1985 when I was pregnant with my own daughter and going to MCV prenatal clinic, I saw Mrs. Hatch in there once. She was wearing an unusual hat, and was discussing her desire to conceive (perfectly normal for a mother who’s lost a beloved child), but the medical person she was talking to was advising her against it because of her age. I hope that she was able to have another daughter, maybe even re-marrying a nice widower who already had a young daughter needing a new mother.

Jessica was so trusting that she may have accepted a ride with a stranger. Or she could have been forcibly pulled into a vehicle. I believe I heard it said that there’s no statute of limitations on murder. I hope that someone’s guilt compels them to come forward. So glad that someone is still working this case. A good girl like Jessica deserves justice. May this case end in victory, as did the Maria Ridulph case.

Hello.  I am not a witness but I did grow up in the Fan and was a couple of years older than Jessica when she was murdered.  I grew up down on Park by Allen Avenue. Times were different and so was the make up of those who lived in our area. More middle America than rich like it is now—> transvestite prostitutes on Allen and Grace, etc (just two blocks away from my house). Any RPD officer from that time has GOT to remember that corner, not to mention Lombardy and Broad.  We were city kids and more ‘street savy’ then our suburban counterparts, and we knew where to stay away from although at times in groups we were a bit of a pain in the butt to local authorities as rowdy, noisy kids.  By the early 80s, VCU was still a young and comparatively smaller university than it is today. Kids did walk alone places but not without parents expecting a call when you got there and all the same advice “don’t talk to anyone”,“don’t dawdle”, “walk in middle of street if no one is around”, “stay away from hedges”,“NO STRAYING”,“don’t get into cars if you don’t know them”,“good grown-ups don’t ask kids for directions” on and on. In our house we had to be home by ‘streetlights on’—no exceptions. After the Hatch murder Pop said “you don’t get into ANYONES car unless I TELL you to. I don’t care what they say I or your mother said! I don’t care if you OR we know them!”

I too had ‘regular routes’ when walking which only changed with the weather, mainly rain. Some streets had more tree cover.  When Jessica was murdered I remember my Pop saying he thought it was someone she must have known because no kid in this neighborhood would have taken a ride from someone they did not know. The Fan was considered a dangerous neighborhood. Those of us that lived there knew it to be true.  Jessica could not have been any different, esp growing up on Grace near the Blvd, not ‘technically’ the Fan (2900 block is I believe just west of Blvd) but still the same neighborhood really. Although maybe she’d moved into the neighborhood recently.  Did not know her.  Her brother, Jason (I think his name was) was to become close friends with my friend Todd who grew up down on Park, too.  Not sure if he ever knew Jessica or if he knew Jason when this tragedy occurred.  We were all just kids really when this happened. It was so scary and so sad. 

The article mentions Sheppard Street.  In those days at the corner of Kensington and Sheppard (behind the Historical Society-which was still just the Battle Abbey) there was a big overgrowth of thick wooded trees on the Southeastern corner and bushes and high hedges on all other corners.  You couldn’t have paid me to walk by it, esp at night by myself.  It was so creepy. I graduated high school in 1987 and my first apt. was on Sheppard between Patterson and Kensington, right on the alley with a view of what was now an old folks home—I was born in that building when it was a hospital. Even then, I did not walk by that intersection. I’ve thought about it and if I’d taken Sheppard as my route to Hanover I still would have taken a right on Patterson (headed from Grace) and walked up to Belmont before turning left to walk up past Benedictine to Hanover. It was just that creepy to me.

I was born in the old Johnston Willis that was right across Kensington from that wooded area.  It had become or was to become an old folks home and later went condo, not sure when.  I do remember some construction-like stuff but not sure if it was at same time all of this was happening.  Also, there were a lot of tough bars on Sheppard across from where that 7-11 is.  If she felt comfortable enough to walk by there she had to have some street smarts although if it was dinnertime they might not have been in full swing mode yet—might have felt safer at dinnertime. That neighborhood has transitioned somewhat since I was born in 1969. I hope you find who did this.  It has haunted many of us since that time.  Thanks for your hard work on it and keep the faith.

A little more information could be helpful, such as, was she wearing the same clothing she left home with when her body was found. In other words, do they think she was killed right away, or taken by someone to keep as their own. Was she sexually assaulted or beaten?, did the family have friends in the area where she was found?