Netflix’s reboot series Unsolved Mysteries tells the story of Patrice Enders’s disappearance and murder, but the true-crime documentary leaves out some details — including some pertinent information regarding the victim’s then-husband Rob Endres. An extension of the long-running original series, Netflix’s version focuses each episode on a single story, giving adequate time for those related to the case to describe how the events covered in the episode affected their lives — such as widowed husband Rob, who describes in disturbing detail his bizarre reaction to his wife’s murder. Unsolved Mysteries premiered on the streaming service on July 1, 2020.
The episode, entitled “13 Minutes,” tells the chilling tale of Patrice Enders disappearing without a trace in the short span of just 13 minutes. Over a year after she vanished, her skeletal remains were discovered. To this day, what happened to her, as well as who is responsible, remains a mystery.
Unsolved Mysteries spends a significant amount of time with Rob, allowing the widowed husband time to fully describe what sounds like an unhealthy attachment to his former wife. However, the documentary’s editing does leave out some key background details about how Rob has moved on — and the lingering resentment between him and his former step-son Pistol.
Towards the end of “13 Minutes,” Rob opens up to the camera about his reaction to his wife’s death and funeral. In one of the most disturbing scenes in the entire series (so far), he unabashedly describes how he requested the Funeral Home Director to lay out Enders’s bones and give him a moment alone with her. He goes on to describe how he “picked up her […] head, and carried it around for a while.” He then tell the documentary crew how he used to sleep with Enders’s cremated remains, shrugging off the reveal as though it’s a perfectly normal, sane thing to do.
According to EW, the Unsolved Mysteries episode intentionally obfuscates the fact that Rob has since remarried. The reveal comes in response to criticism that the show’s editing intentionally presents Rob in a biased light. The article quotes series co-creator Terry Dunn Meurer stating “He’s actually remarried now, to a lovely woman, which is one of the things we didn’t talk about in the episode. We didn’t include her in the episode because she wasn’t around [during the time of the events] and didn’t know Patrice.” She goes on to add, “Rob was authentic in his interview, and I believe he spoke his mind. I think his character is portrayed authentically.”
Despite Meurer’s claim to the contrary, it does seem like Unsolved Mysteries presents its stories with a specific narrative in mind. Whether or not Rob was somehow involved in his wife’s disappearance remains to be seen; however, the documentary’s testimonies did indicate that Rob had been investigated and that his alibi ruled him out as a likely suspect. Only time will tell if this is one mystery that will be solved, and if that reveal with involved the former husband.
