Mildred Louise Butterworth Roche

• Missing Since 05/31/1976
• Missing From Eagle Lake, Minnesota
• Classification Endangered Missing
• Sex Female
• Race White
• Date of Birth 04/17/1938 (87)
• Age 38 years old
• Height and Weight 5'6, 115 pounds
• Medical Conditions Mildred suffers from a mild case of epilepsy and takes a small dose of prescription phenobarbital to control her condition. She was tapering off the medication at the time of her disappearance and hadn't seen a neurologist in two years. Mildred is classified as disabled.
• Distinguishing Characteristics White female. Brown hair, brown eyes. Mildred has a mole on her right cheek.

Details of Disappearance

Mildred was last seen by her parents at their farm in Eagle Lake, Minnesota on May 31, 1976. She and her husband, Ronald Roche, left to drive five and a half hours back to their own home in the 1400 block of University Drive in Fargo, North Dakota, and she has never been heard from again.

Ronald said that during the drive back to Fargo, he told Mildred he wanted a divorce, and they argued all the way home and late into the evening after arriving home. The next day, Ronald stated, he heard Mildred on the phone getting information about buses leaving town. On June 2, he said, Mildred packed two suitcases, an overnight bag, some cash, and some traveler's checks totaling three to four thousand dollars, and left while Ronald was at work.

It was Mildred's parents who reported her missing, on June 23, after getting a letter from Ronald about the pending divorce on June 16. They were shocked because they hadn't heard from Mildred and had no idea where she was. Initially they hired an attorney and had Mildred's father named as her guardian in her absence, and also hired a private investigator to look for her.

The private investigator contacted the police, and on June 25, the police contacted Ronald. He gave them a photo of Mildred but told them he didn't want a missing persons bulletin issued because he thought Mildred would return when she was ready.

A week later, Mildred's parents authorized a missing persons broadcast. They also continued to search for their daughter on their own, and found some of her best clothing for sale at a Salvation Army store in Fargo. Mildred's parents also noted that the suitcase she had packed to visit them in Minnesota had been left behind at her residence in Fargo, and that Ronald had sold the car they used on the trip less than a week later.

The police had initially treated Mildred as a voluntary missing person, but in late September 1976, when Mildred's parents contacted them to say she had still not gotten in touch and that they'd found her clothes at the Salvation Army, they began looking into other theories.

Ronald stated she called him three times after her disappearance, from Minneapolis, Minnesota and Boston, Massachusetts. He said he thought she might be living in Boston, but police could find no evidence to support this. In fact, investigators could find no method of transportation Mildred might have used to leave home. No cabs had gone to her address, there was no bus service in the vicinity, and they couldn't find anyone who said they'd given her a ride anywhere.

She was a very religious Christian and involved with feminist causes at the time of her disappearance. She was active in the American Association of University Women, was part of a group supporting the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment, and helped start a chapter of the Epilepsy Foundation in Fargo. Authorities looked into the possibility that she joined a religious group or a women's activist group after her disappearance, but found no evidence to support this theory. Mildred never renewed her memberships in any of the organizations she was part of after she went missing.

Since her disappearance, Mildred hasn't had her phenobarbital prescription refilled. The police flagged the traveler's checks that disappeared with her, but none of them were ever cashed. Mildred's Social Security number has also been inactive since 1976.

Ronald was questioned multiple times about Mildred's disappearance. He was asked to take a polygraph but refused and hired an attorney. He remarried in 1977 and had two sons with his second wife. They lived in the same home in Fargo he had shared with Mildred. In 1996 the police dug up the backyard, but found nothing of interest and charges have never been filed against anyone in Mildred's case. Ronald died in 2018.

Mildred graduated from Mantako State College with a degree in elementary education in 1960, and married Ronald, a former high school classmate, less than a month later. Her case remains unsolved and foul play is suspected. Fargo police are investigating.