Patty Williams was the youngest child of the Williams family. Her father, Carl, was a police detective; her mother, Mary, involved in the church; brother Todd away becoming a priest; and brother Steve a reporter; but she was closest to her brother Paul. Paul once saved Patty from drowning in a neighbor's swimming pool, and became her protector from that point on.

In the early 1980s, a very young and innocent Patty fell in love with Jabot heir and playboy, Jack Abbott, much to her parents' disapproval. A jealous Jill Foster then confessed to Patty that she and Jack had been secret lovers. A furious Jack fired Jill from Jabot. Patty then started dating Danny Romalotti in an attempt to forget Jack. Patty eventually broke up with Danny and, much to her parents' horror, began dating Jack.

Diane Jenkins had been having an affair with Jack and hoping to become Jabot's top model. She fell hopelessly in love with Jack, and began to delude herself that she would end up Mrs. Jack Abbott. But Jack decided to marry young and innocent Patty in an effort to show his father he'd finally "grown up." But Jack's sister Ashley found him in bed with Diane when he didn't show up for his wedding to Patty. Diane and Jack continued their affair even after his marriage, and Diane threatened to tell Patty about it, if she didn't get the top model job at Jabot. So Jack gave her the job for the summer, but by fall, Julia Newman was instead appointed spokesperson for Jabot's new line of products.

When the scheming Jill prompted a pregnant Patty to visit Jack at his office, she found him making love to Diane. She was so traumatized that she tripped over a plant in the lobby, and later miscarried. After her recovery, Patty told Jack she wanted another baby, and to move out of the Abbott Mansion into their own house. When she later overheard Jack making plans for a vasectomy, and telling Jill he only married Patty so John would make him president of Jabot, Patty showed up at Jack's office ready to kill herself in front of him. Jack admitted how cruel he had been to her, begged her not to, and to shoot him instead.

She shot Jack three times. The shooting left Jack temporarily paralyzed, but he eventually recovered after surgery. Patty's father, Carl, was the detective working the case, and was convinced Jill was the shooter. Patty had lost any memory of the shooting or what led to it until Jack and her psychiatrist forced her to remember by re-enacting the shooting. Once she remembered, she divorced Jack and headed for Steve's in Washington, DC, and Carl used his clout to get her criminal record sealed.

Patty returned to town about a year later and dated Danny again, but after he agreed to marry his friend, Traci, who was pregnant by a married man, Patty left town again.

First seen in Victor Newman's office without exposing her face, Mary Jane Benson accepted his proposition to have plastic surgery to infiltrate Jabot Cosmetics as a part of Victor's plot for revenge against Jack. Mary Jane apparently knew Jack years before and, for reasons of her own, wanted to get close to Jack without being recognized. She presented a good case to Jack for why he needed her to restore his tarnished image, and was hired. But once Jill regained control of Jabot, she fired the Abbotts and Mary Jane; however, she lost Jabot when Katherine was declared alive. With Mary Jane's help and the information supplied to her by Victor, Jack convinced Kay to rehire him as CEO of Jabot and Mary Jane as head of public relations, and also to restore Ashley and Billy to their Jabot positions. Mary Jane seduced Jack, and Jack was falling for her. While attending Katherine and Murphy's wedding with Jack, she met Paul Williams, who found something familiar about her.

Sharon told Doris she was pregnant and there were three possible fathers. Later Cassie appeared to Sharon in a dream, saying the baby girl she foresaw on her deathbed was Summer. Sharon tried to tell Nick that she was pregnant but was interrupted, then told Jack, who confided in Billy, not realizing that Billy was the third potential father. Jack told Sharon that he wanted her back and would accept the baby, whoever the father was, so they reconciled. Jack had to dump Mary Jane, but she connived to get him back by getting Sharon involved with Nick again.

Mary Jane appeared to have some mental problems, confiding in a taxidermal cat she called "Mr. Kitty," and building a scrapbook of those who had wronged her. After several evasive meetings, Paul ordered a background check on Mary Jane. Then after Mary Jane spotted Paul and Nikki talking with Paul's brother Father Todd, she panicked and ran to Victor for support. Victor paid her off and terminated her services. After Paul confronted Mary Jane with the knowledge that she was going by an alias, she reported him to the police for stalking, and slapped a restraining order on him. Victor talked Mary Jane into dropping the restraining order, then she had a hallucination of a confrontation with Paul and their shared past.

Mary Jane befriended Phyllis, and once she had Phyllis' trust, she kissed Phyllis' daughter, Summer, with peanut butter on her lips, which caused the girl to have an allergic reaction that resulted in a coma. This led Heather to believe that Phyllis did it to her own child intentionally. After seeing Nick so distraught over his daughter, Summer, being in a coma, Sharon realized that he needed to be there for Summer and Phyllis, and he couldn't run off with her like he had run off after Cassie died, so she told everyone her baby was Jack's.

Mary Jane was revealed to be Patty Williams on the anniversary of her marriage to Jack. She mixed fantasy with memories of when she had caught Jack with Diane, and Patty had shot him three times. Victor became suspicious of Mary Jane's sanity and arranged for her to leave town. Instead, she ended up on his ranch, and Adam stashed her in the garden shed. Victor surprised Ashley by suggesting they get married. Adam got Mary Jane to walk by the window, dressed as Victor's dead wife, Sabrina, after the ceremony, which caused Ashley to faint.

Afterward, Mary Jane called Jack to meet her at Crimson Lights. He accused her of hurting Summer, and all she could do was tell him how much she cared about him. Her gushing over him, and spotting her stuffed cat in the carrier, made Jack play along, but she disappeared when he turned his back. Jack called Heather to get her arrested, but when she refused to for lack of evidence, Jack assured her he would get it. Victor called a press conference and named Mary Jane as the person who had hurt his granddaughter, and the entire city was looking for her. Mackenzie Browning discovered Mary Jane in an alley, and thinking she was just a homeless person, Mackenzie befriended her and gave her food, blankets, and a place to stay in the back room at her bar. Meanwhile Jack and Paul banded together to find Mary Jane themselves.

After Victor asked for his son-in-law J.T.'s resignation, Paul talked J.T. into joining him in a new detective partnership. J.T. became involved in the Mary Jane Benson investigation. J.T. discovered through Mac that Mary Jane had been hiding out at Mac's bar, and had stolen from Mac and disappeared, leaving a note that claimed Victor knew all about Mary Jane. Meanwhile a mystery woman took confession with Paul's brother Father Todd, who told Paul he recognized her as their sister Patty. Paul spotted a woman in a blonde wig at the Athletic Club, recognized her as Mary Jane, and followed her. When he confronted her, she pleaded with him not to turn her in, and confessed that she was Patty. Paul was shocked, but took her to the convent for sanctuary, and called his Assistant D.A. daughter, Heather, hoping to get Patty some help and not jail.

Meanwhile Gloria and Jeff found out where Patty was, and, hoping to steal her away to blackmail Victor, Gloria got inside dressed as a nun. Jack saw the standoff at the convent on TV and showed up there. Paul let him inside. He, too, was shocked to discover that Mary Jane was Patty, and talked to her. Patty, with a kitten in her arms, had reverted to the young girl Paul and Jack both knew and called "Pattycake," She said she knew that Jack and her big brother Paul would rescue her. Before she would surrender, she insisted Jack marry her, telling him she was pregnant by him.

Another assistant D.A. was assigned to the standoff once Heather reported, and Detective Chancellor was put in charge. Suddenly the lights went out, and Patty was taken away by Gloria. Paul and Jack figured out that Victor was responsible for Patty's new identity, all the havoc she caused, and her current mental state. Jack told Phyllis the truth about Mary Jane, and she confronted Victor, asking if he brought Patty in and set her up to get back at Jack, causing Patty/Mary Jane to hurt Summer. Victor avoided the question, claiming he would never intentionally hurt a member of his family. Jack offered a two million dollar award, hoping to outbid Victor. Jeff and Gloria heard it on the radio as they were driving Patty to hide out at the Abbott cabin, and ended up making deals with both Victor and Jack, but each had booby-trapped their briefcases with blue dye that blew up in Gloria and Jeff's faces, with no money inside. Meanwhile, Paul charged into the ranch and demanded to know how his friend Victor could have done this to his sister, and to him, but Victor just denied it and sent him away.

Colleen lost a job prospect teaching at GCU when they saw the video online, so after confronting Victor about his part in it, she went out to the Abbott cabin to get over it. She arrived to find a woman unknown to her tied to a chair and let her loose. It was Patty Williams who had been held there by Gloria and Jeff while they awaited the arrival of Victor and Jack for the ransoms they paid. Patty turned on Colleen and kidnapped her at gunpoint, taking her to Camp Cheveyo, and tied her to a tree. After Patty used Colleen's phone to call Jack, and Colleen hollered "cow.." (because the camp slogan was "Cowabunga", and she and Jack had both gone there as kids) before she was disconnected. Jack, J.T., and Paul searched for her, convincing even Victoria that Victor had set this all in motion by bringing Patty back to Genoa City to get back at Jack.

Meanwhile Patty was bitten by a spider and had a bad reaction, Colleen got loose, and held the gun on Patty, unsure what to do as Patty begged her for help. When Colleen tried to help her, Patty grabbed the gun away, but Colleen was able to convince her that she would get help and return, and left in a canoe. Colleen fell out, and hit her head on the bottom of the boat as she surfaced, which sent her down again. Colleen was clearly drowning in the same lake as her father, with an eerie sequence of visions she was visited by the people who loved her who begged her to fight and come back to them. She even visited her best friend Lily giving her final advice. Colleen saw her dead father and grandfather, ready to take her to the beyond. Jack realized where Colleen was, raced to the camp, and pulled her out of the lake. But as he tried to administer CPR, Patty was there holding the gun on him. Victor arrived and tried to convince Patty to drop the gun and let Jack save Colleen. Patty shot Victor three times instead and ran into the woods. Paul followed her, and J.T. stayed to help Victor. Colleen's mother Traci and step-father Steve, along with Billy and Abby were at the hospital when Colleen was brought in, with Nick and Victoria there for Victor.

Meanwhile, Ashley was packing to leave Victor and writing him a goodbye note after she found out how he used Patty to get back at Jack, when Billy showed up to tell her that Patty had shot Victor, and he was in critical condition. Paul caught up with Patty and talked her into turning herself in, promising he would not abandon her, and she would be taken to a psychiatric hospital. Victor was in critical condition, and had surgery to remove a bullet from his heart. Ashley confronted Victor about all that he had caused and sent him into heart arrhythmia. Victor's heart was too far gone, and only a heart transplant could save him. Tests confirmed Colleen was brain dead, and Traci finally made the heart-breaking decision to take her off life-support and donate her heart to Victor.

Paul visited Patty in a state facility for the criminally insane and found her believing she was still 16 and married to Jack. Paul was able to relocate Patty to a nearby institution and returned to Genoa City with Dr. Emily Peterson who was on sabbatical from the University of Minnesota Medical School. Emily had met Patty when Patty was living in a shelter and working as a janitor at the University. Patty had been her patient for quite some time, then disappeared. Patty had obviously used Emily as a model for her plastic surgery, because Emily looked exactly like Patty. Paul and Emily confronted Jack and Victor in Victor's hospital room about all they had both done to contribute to Patty's dangerous instability. Victor offered to arrange for Patty's care, and Paul told him to forget it, and they stormed out.

After a lot of resistance, Dr. Peterson accepted a GCU Medical School psychologist position that Jack recommended her for so that Patty could continue her therapy at the institution. Jack began to be romantically drawn to Emily, and Emily's distain for Jack eased as she came to believe he was genuinely regretful of his part in Patty's condition. New Year's Eve 2009, Jack surprised Emily with a ring and they became engaged. Meanwhile Patty appeared to be improving and enjoyed her visits from her brother Paul, but she believed that she was still married to Jack. Paul asked Emily to visit Patty because was she was so out of control, not realizing that hearing of Jack and Emily's engagement was the cause. Patty knocked Emily out and drugged her, changed Emily's hair color, and switched places with her. Patty married Jack as Emily, with Patty's brother Father Todd officiating. Later Paul visited "Patty" and found her in a coma and not expected to live. Comatose Emily became frantic, having put together what happened to her from things she heard from conversations between Patty's brothers Paul and Father Todd. Meanwhile Patty honeymooned with Jack, hoping to get pregnant. Patty convinced everyone she was Emily, and even Jack noticed only that she was more exuberant and suddenly willing to go along with his plans against Victor. To Patty's surprise, Diane had been asked by Emily to return to Genoa City to bring Jack's son Kyle for a visit. Diane and Patty clashed immediately once Jack left them alone. Patty had a hard time maintaining the Emily persona while Diane went on about what a nutcase Patty had been back when Diane was Jack's mistress, and his wife Patty a mere child. After a short confrontation with Phyllis, Diane and Kyle returned to Toronto, Canada, where they lived. Paul called "Emily" when "Patty" showed signs of coming out of her coma, then left them alone together. Emily awoke, and Patty threatened to kill her if she didn't keep her mouth shut. Emily tried to tell Paul who she was, but Patty was always claiming to be Emily in her delusions, so he tossed in the trash the blood sample she gave him to test. In time, Jack finally began noticing "Emily's" unusually manic behavior, and confided in Phyllis, wondering if he had really known Emily well enough to marry her. Patty would follow them and jealously plotted to get rid of Phyllis.

After Newmans and Abbotts found out that Adam Newman had caused the death of Ashley's baby and given her Sharon's instead, Adam was hospitalized after falling down a ravine. Adam was arrested claiming insanity and that he had been kidnapped by the Newmans and Abbotts. "Emily" was assigned to give Adam a psychiatric evaluation. Since she was really Patty Williams, she knew that Adam was a major manipulator, always managing to escape detection, so she declared him fit to stand trial. But Adam saw through her guise, let her know that he knew she was really Patty, and threatened to expose her if she didn't help him escape. Patty arrived to give him a sedative for transport, but he used it on the guard and then on Patty. While Patty lay on the floor unconscious, Adam showed up in Sharon's room at the Athletic Club in costume while the annual charity masquerade ball went on in the dining room below. Sharon got him to admit to accidentally causing Ashley's miscarriage and getting Dr. Taylor to switch their babies, then Nick arrived, and Adam escaped out the window. "Emily" arrived late to the ball and spotted Adam among the crowd, blasting him for using the same syringe on her and the guard. Adam again threatened her with exposing her as Patty. As Sharon and Nick rushed in to the ball telling the police that Adam was just there, Sharon got a call from Adam demanding to meet her in the basement or "people would get hurt".

Victor, Nick, Jack, Rafe, Heather, Paul, Ashley and Patty went to the basement in search of Adam. Then an explosion rocked the building sending everyone running out to the street. Victor and Jack rescued Jill and Kay who were trapped in the restroom. Nick rescued Phyllis, then Sharon and Faith who had gone back upstairs. Police revealed that a gas line had been cut and a body burned beyond recognition found nearby. The body was later identified as Adam by DNA, and lack of smoke in the lungs proved that he had been murdered before the fire. Suspects were Nick, Jack, Victor, Phyllis, Sharon, Victoria, "Emily", Ashley, Rafe, Heather, Billy, and Nikki. Heather got suspended from the DA's office for her involvement in the incident at the cabin. Evidence collected by District Attorney Owen Pomerantz included Jack Abbott's monogrammed handkerchief found in the victim's mouth, blood on Nick's suit coat (which Phyllis and Sharon connived to hide from the police), and Victor's broken watch stained with Adam's blood. Victor told Pomerantz that he backslapped Adam in the basement after Adam taunted him about losing another child in Faith, which sent his watch flying, but he did not kill Adam. Nick cautioned Victor that they were "both involved in what happened" when he neglected mention that Nick was there too. A homeless person found Nick's suit coat in a dumpster, Billy and Mac got him to give it up, and Mac turned it over to the police. Because a fancy European pen found at the crime scene was determined to be the murder weapon that stabbed Adam in the heart and was traced to Victoria, she was arrested for the murder of Adam. Meanwhile, J.T. was granted full custody of Reed when she Victoria did not show up for the custody hearing. Victor and Nikki were about to fly Adam's remains to be buried next to Hope in Kansas. But after Pomerantz revealed the contents of Adams's computer hard drive contained video from the spy camera he planted at the ranch and voice clips of Sabrina, Victor instead shoved the casket out the cargo door of the plane. At Victoria's arraignment, Billy interrupted as he proclaimed her innocence because she was in his hotel room at the time of the murder, but Victoria refused to admit it was true. Meanwhile Jill was reporting this latest Newman scandal on the Restless Style website, and was Twittering updates, for which Billy later fired her. Charges were dropped against Victoria when Nick's coat was found, and he was arrested. Nick explained the blood on his coat by admitting he was there when Victor struck Adam. But Victor intervened and confessed to killing his son.

"Emily" claimed to be pregnant by Jack to keep him, but Jack checked with her doctor and realized she was faking. Lauren Fenmore disappeared for a few days, but her husband Michael's joy at her return was dashed when "Lauren" told him she had awakened that morning in a strange man's bed, then began acting very abnormally. Michael got her an appointment with Psychologist "Emily". When Sarah Smythe, passing as Lauren, met "Emily" she recognized her immediately as Patty Williams. Sarah had been Patty's nurse at the surgical center in Argentina where they both had their plastic surgeries, where they had vowed to keep each other's secrets and help each other should the need arise. After confronting Phyllis, "Emily" faked a miscarriage and tried to blame it on Phyllis, but Jack let her know that he was onto her lies, wanted out of their marriage, and had arranged for Emily's brother Jamie to come to see her. Meanwhile at the institution, the real Emily was visited by Paul and Heather. Emily managed to slip Heather another DNA sample and begged Heather to help her prove who she was. Patty visited Emily in the institution for information on Jamie, and was told that they were very close, he was an antique dealer, and owned his own business. But Emily was apparently estranged from her ne'er-do-well brother, and Patty's comments to him made him realize that something was amiss, so Patty paid him off to go away and never return.

Sarah made a deal with Patty who was tired of Jack continually going to Phyllis for solace, that Sarah would kill Phyllis if Patty would kill Michael. But the attempt on Phyllis failed, and Patty was too busy dealing with Jack's suspicions. Jack, with Ashley's help, realized that "Emily" was Patty, but she was pretty convincing when he confronted her. After Jack left, Patty flipped out and hacked up Emily's portrait over the mantel. Knowing Emily was allergic to and avoided cats, Jack adopted a cat and let it loose at the door so Patty who loved cats would take it in and prove who she really was. Patty took the cat in and told Jack she named it "Cat". Jack did not tip off Patty, but she knew he was going to see Emily in the hospital. One step ahead of him, Patty bleached her hair and took Emily's place after she drugged Emily and put her in a morgue drawer with a Jane Doe toe tag. On the way, Jack broke the news to Paul who had just learned from Heather that the DNA test proved Heather and "Patty" were not related. While Jack thought he was reuniting with the real Emily, Paul and Heather found a note left by Patty below the slashed painting of Emily at the Abbott mansion that said Patty was running away. Meanwhile, Emily in the morgue drawer, knew what was going on but was unable to move or speak. Paul then discovered that Patty had signed in to the hospital as Emily an hour before they got there, so started searching for her. Jack dogged Patty to "Emily" until she flipped out. Proving she was Patty, Jack demanded to know where Emily was, saying, "If you love me, tell me where Emily is so I can help her." Patty's answer, "She's gone", sent Jack rushing to the morgue where he found Emily. Sobbing over her body, Jack noticed a tear in her eye, and realized Emily was still alive. He got a doctor to give her an adrenaline injection to her heart, and Emily began coming around. Ever the dedicated doctor, Emily accompanied Jack via wheelchair to help Paul talk Patty out of killing herself with a syringe. Patty was arrested and committed to a facility for criminally insane. Prior to her transfer Patty admitted to Police Detective Chance that she had helped Adam escape the hospital. Michael realized that Adam may have coerced Patty to help for which she killed him. Paul later got Patty to admit that she had gotten Adam his costume for the ball and the drug for the guard because Adam knew she was Patty and would tell Jack. When Patty saw Adam at the ball, he asked her to get something of Jack's, so she had given him Jack's monogrammed handkerchief which was found in the mouth of the dead body in the basement.

Once Jack and Emily were finally alone together, Jack was shocked when Emily decided not to pursue their relationship, saying that if Jack did not realize Patty was not Emily for four months, they did not know each other well enough to be married. Emily began feeling very paranoid, that someone was getting into her car and room while she was not there. Jack tried to reassure her, and suggested that maybe someone was trying to get back at her for something Patty had done, and tried to convince her to move back to the Abbott mansion. Then Emily received notice that a patient was suing for malpractice, and she admitted that her being involved with her patient Patty's ex-husband was breach of trust. Emily was given twelve month's probation, then was arrested for conspiracy to sell controlled substances later that same day. Paul did some investigating, and he and Emily realized that the prescriptions were being written by Emily's brother Jamie from a pad that Patty had given him. Paul tracked down Jamie and Emily convinced him that he needed help for his drug addiction, and he turned himself in to the police.

Nick went on trial for the murder of Adam, with Michael as his lawyer. They hoped to prove that Adam was still alive and had faked his own death by killing a man named Richard Hightower and setting up Nick. Victor interrupted Nick's trial, expecting Adam to confess like Victor had coerced him after finding Adam alive, but instead Adam faked a mental breakdown and was taken to the same mental facility as Patty. She was unaware that Adam was there or even still alive. He tormented Patty by entering her room through the air ducts and made her believe that she had killed Hightower. Patty confessed to the staff. In his room down the hall, Adam was arrested for conspiracy to commit murder. Patty, realizing that Adam gotten her to confess, told Paul that she "killed the other Adam." In court, Paul got Patty to rave about how she did other things that were impossible, so she was declared unfit to stand trial and returned to the state facility.

When Adam found out that Patty was telling everyone she was sure that she did not murder Hightower, he helped her escape through the air ducts, and sent her in a nun's habit to Canada. Paul was sure that Adam helped her escape, but Skye had arranged an air-tight alibi. Adam discovered that Sharon took Faith to get away to the Abbott cabin. He attempted to get in, scared her, and she shot him in the arm with a gun that Nick had left for her protection. Nick arrived, called an ambulance, and Adam was taken to the hospital where he recovered and exonerated Sharon as having been understandably scared, not knowing it was him. Paul later received a call from a red-headed, black cat-tattooed Patty in a bar in South America. She told him that she was fine but would never return, as she twisted the rosary beads in her hand and necked with a guy and asked him if she could call him Jack.

In October 2011, Patty turned up in Genoa City again as Myrna Murdock, working as housekeeper to Genevieve Atkinson, and was severely burned in an explosion at the mansion. She had apparently been in town at least since the murder of Diane Jenkins, and had since been tormenting the suspects with information she gleaned from the stolen park surveillance tapes. She had gathered the suspects at a warehouse to view the tape on the night of the explosion which had kept her from joining them. Genevieve, who was Jack's current lover, took Myrna home from the hospital wearing a veil to hide her burns. Jack tried to console Myrna, but she fled from him without speaking so he would not recognize her voice. Jack asked Genevieve to help him convince Myrna to speak at the annual charity event fund raiser which Jabot and Beauty of Nature were co-sponsoring to benefit burn victims.

Patty continued to stalk Jack, now wearing winter hoods and scarves to cover her face, even letting herself into Abbott manor with her key. Patty continued to stalk Jack, now wearing winter hoods and scarves to cover her face, even letting herself into Abbott manor with her key. Adam caught her in the park one day and warned her to get out of town or end up back in the asylum. Patty countered telling Adam to leave her alone or everyone would find out "what he did". Adam accused Patty of being Diane's murderer. Patty disclosed only that she had been there and had evidence that the police didn't have.

Patty, posing as Myrna, cooked Thanksgiving dinner for Genevieve and Jack, including something that knocked them out. Patty shoved a limp Genevieve out of the way while she made out with the unconscious Jack. Adam arrived and discovered them, and Adam again told Patty to leave town or he was calling the police. With fingers crossed behind her back, Patty promised that she would on the grave of Mr. Kitty. Patty then went to Newman and planted a zippered case containing a syringe and a drug in Adam's desk, and tipped Ronan with an anonymous phone call that the murder weapon could be found at Newman. Not trusting Patty, Adam had followed her to Newman, found the case, and had put it in Victor's office safe. Ronan found it, and Victor was taken to the police station for questioning.

A week later, Emily Petersen showed up in Genoa City for a visit saying that it was unsettling to be back, but long over-due. She ran into Paul and assured him that she was not Patty. Paul filled her in on Patty's escape, and that she had been tracked to South America, but there had been no sign of her since. Later Emily showed up at Jack's and they shared their regrets while Patty lurked outside watching.

Just prior to Christmas 2011, Jack proposed to Genevieve and she accepted, while Myrna (Patty) listened and realized they had just made love on the couch in her absence. After they left to tell the Abbotts the news, Patty threw a fit on the couch. After hearing that Victor had been sentenced for Diane's murder, Patty then made another pillow with the saying "Alcohol doesn't get you Drunk, Bartenders Do", apparently referring to Deacon. Then she threw it into the fireplace, and watched it burn.

On New Year's Eve 2011, Jack and Genevieve celebrated at Gloworm while Patty lurked around watching. Patty spiked Genevieve's drink, but Jack drank it instead, knocking him out by the time Genevieve got him home. Patty, as Myrna, called Genevieve to come home due to a short in the alarm system. After Genevieve left, sneaked in on Jack lying unconscious in his bed, Jack awoke at bit, looked at her, and called her Patty. Later Jack woke up from a dream with only 'Dave the cat' in his bed. Meanwhile, Genevieve hired Ronan to investigate what had happened that night, suspecting Colin. Ronan assured Genevieve that Colin was still in a maximum security prison in Australia, but that he would look into it.

Patty rigged a step on the stairs so that Genevieve would fall, but Jack arrived just in time to catch her. Genevieve called in Ronan to investigate. Paul and Ronan decided to team up to work on Ronan's investigations. Meanwhile Genevieve moved in with Jack for her own safety. Meanwhile Myra stayed at Genevieve's muttering that Genevieve would never be Jack's wife.

Another page from Diane's diary written the day before she died was left by Patty on Ronan's windshield. It told about the sexual encounter she'd had a few days before her murder. Meanwhile Nikki found a video on Deacon's laptop, which turned out to be of Deacon and Diane having sex, and then Patty saw Deacon hide something behind a dumpster in the alley behind Gloworm.

Ronan subpoenaed the original suspects, and he and the DA questioned them about the evidence that still did not add up. Deacon arrived in handcuffs saying that Diane had come to him when no one would help her, wanting to back out of framing Victor with Adam because of Kyle, so she asked him to videotape that night in the park. Deacon admitted that after he witnessed Nikki kill Diane in self-defense, he had hit her more times to make it look like someone bigger and stronger than Nikki had killed her, and he was the one who put Diane's body in the creek. Deacon said he had taken the syringe, Ashley's cell phone, and the security camera from the tree, and had hidden them in the alley behind Gloworm, but they had disappeared later. When no one would confess to taking Deacon's stash or the embroidered pillows, the DA arrested them all for obstruction of justice.

At Genevieve's invitation, Paul went to her mansion to interview Myrna about the strange goings-on there. But Patty heard him arrive and grabbed a bag and disappeared to her old hideout, the Newman potting shed. Paul searched Myrna's room for clues to why she had left, and took her computer. Later Paul found a photo from the park surveillance camera on it. When Paul wasn't looking, Ricky copied the hard drive to a memory stick. Paul started putting the clues together and realized that his sister Patty may have been posing as Myrna. Then Deacon identified Patty's photo as being the person who was there in the park helping him clean up after Diane's death.

Patty, posing as Emily, approached Jack and told him that she still loved him and couldn't let him marry Genevieve. When Jack told her no, that he had moved on, she feigned embarrassment, kissed him and left. On his wedding day morning, she showed up as Emily again at Abbott manor, and bared her feelings, requesting that they reconcile. When Jack turned her down, she left angry, leaving Jack amazed at how much Emily had changed.

While Jack continued to prepare for his wedding, with Billy as best man, Lily matron of honor, and Cane giving Genevieve away, Adam found Patty hiding in the Newman potting shed, and tried to stop her from going to the wedding to shoot Genevieve. Patty threw insecticide in Adams's face burning his eyes and blinding him again, then clubbed him over the head with a board. Sharon later found Adam, called the police and they got him to the hospital.

Meanwhile Cane confronted Genevieve, saying that he was ashamed of her that she had bought Beauty of Nature but had not told Jack before their marriage, and Cane told her he was no longer her son. Nikki found out that Genevieve was the buyer from Victor and congratulated Jack on his marriage and craftily getting Beauty of Nature through Genevieve. Nikki left Jack shocked and broken-hearted, but he went on to the church.

Patty sneaked in at Genevieve's and overheard her reading a note to Jack backing out of the wedding. Patty intercepted the note, and walked down the aisle in Genevieve's stolen wedding gown. Jack pulled the veil from her face, ready to confront Genevieve, and said, "Emily?" Patty replied, "It's Patty, you bastard," and shot Jack. Patty left as the horrified Abbotts rushed to Jack. Jack was taken away by ambulance in critical condition.

Eager reporter, Ricky Williams, found out what his aunt Patty had done and went to his uncle Father Todd's church, because Patty always went to Todd when she was on the run. Patty was already holed up in the church bell tower, and Ricky found her there, regressed to a childlike state. Ricky's probing made Patty mad, but not before she disclosed that Adam been the one who helped her escape the mental institution years before. Ronan and Paul arrived, and Paul and Todd talked Patty into giving herself up.

Meanwhile the doctors told the Abbotts that Jack had a lacerated kidney, and the bullet was lodged next to his lower spine as he was taken into surgery. Jack's heart stopped during surgery, he survived, but was left paralyzed, just as he had been when Patty had shot him before in 1983.

At the police station Patty admitted to making the pillows for each person who had been in the park, and Paul and Father Todd helped them get her into a cell. Emily arrived and Genevieve, but Patty didn't seem to recognize them. When it was discovered that Patti had been the missing link in the Diane Jenkins murder, charges were dropped against all the suspects, including Nikki, once Ronan was able to convince the DA that Nikki was not responsible. Deacon remained in jail. Patty was sent to a maximum security prison hospital.

Ricky got a pass to see Patty at the prison hospital, but Paul found out and got him banned, and took his place. Patty told Paul that Adam had been the one who helped her escape from Windcliff. Meanwhile Ricky took the story to Phyllis who bought it. She published it in Restless Style with no credit to Ricky, the cover featuring a red-faced, devil horned Adam with "Satan's Understudy hits the big time." Paul confronted Phyllis and Ricky for exploiting Patty, saying they were as bad as Adam. Adam ran into Paul who was so angry that he nearly punched out a blind man, but yelled at Adam instead for Patty ending up incarcerated rather than in the sanitarium where she had been getting psychiatric help. Adam told Paul that he was sorry for Patty, the people she hurt, and for enabling her, but that he was now paying for what he did. Paul and Jack alerted the police, who took Adam in for questioning.

In September 2012, Paul arranged for Patty to be transferred to Fairview Sanitarium in Genoa City for her medications to be checked. Then Paul visited her to get her to help him to see Daisy Carter who was also a patient there. But although Patty knew him, she appeared to be in her own fantasy world. Then when her doctor came by to check on them, Patty went into a panic looking for imaginary kitties, allowing Paul to get away to see Daisy while everyone else tried to get Patty under control.

In September 2015, Sharon Newman was surprised to run into Patty when she voluntarily checked herself into Fairview. Patty had apparently spent some time in prison, then was returned to Fairview. Patty overheard Sharon admit to lying about her pregnancy, and told their mutual doctor. But the doctor secretly ran a pregnancy test which showed that Sharon was indeed pregnant. Patty met her nephew Dylan for the first time while he was visiting Sharon at Fairview. Patty told him that she was concerned about the drugs Sharon was being given. Considering that Patty was a patient there herself, Dylan didn't take much stock in it. But the next time he saw Sharon she was having memory problems and seemed spaced out. Sharon said she was just tired. But then Dylan was suddenly banned from visiting Sharon. Dr. Anderson showed him the paperwork Sharon had signed, and Sharon confirmed it by phone. Dr. Anderson kept Patty from talking with her brother Paul about Sharon, and it became obvious that the doctor was over-medicating Sharon for some unknown reason.

Patty escaped from Fairview once again, showing up at Newman Towers looking for Dylan. A fire broke out in the building trapping Jack and Phyllis inside. Patty found them and they agreed to follow her back out. But when Phyllis called her a wacko, Patty flipped out and attacked her. Jack tried to convince Patty that he still cared, until Phyllis finally just slugged Patty and knocked her out. Then gas line exploded, trapping Patty under the rubble. Jack found no pulse, so they left her for dead, and got out the way she had come in. But later Patty showed up in time to rescue Ian Ward, who had started the fire. Both were declared dead, but no bodies were ever found.

Ian and Patty were holed up at the Genoa City Motor Arms. They were obviously very smitten with each other. Ian gave Patty a Swiss bank account, a ticket to Paris, and a fake passport in the name Jean Lodge to start a new life and to thank her for saving his life. Ian told her that revenge was not the life for her, but Patty said she wanted to stay.

A couple months later Patty was found living in the streets by the Racine police, and turned over to Paul. Paul was appalled to think that she had been eating out of dumpsters since her escape from the fire at Newman Towers. Patty admitted that she had helped Ian Ward escape the fire, that he had given her money and told her to start a new life. Patty told Paul that Dr. Anderson was evil, but he returned her to Fairview. Paul did warn the doctor that he had his eye on her since Patty had escaped while under her care. Patty managed to turn up in Sage Newman's room and told her and her husband Nick that she knew all of Dr. Anderson's secrets, which was exactly what they were looking for.

Later Dr. Sandra Anderson was found dead on the floor of her office, a syringe sticking out of her back. Patty recalled to herself how she had confronted the doctor with the knowledge that Sharon had not been pregnant, asked where the baby had come from, and if it was Sage's. Dr. Anderson accused Patty of having paranoid delusions. Patty told her, "Crackerhouse Kitty will expose the truth with a DNA test." Dr. Anderson admitted she had wanted to break Nick's heart, but instead had fallen for him again. The doctor came after Patty with a syringe. Patty knocked it out of her hand, and when Sandra turned to call for help, Patty stabbed her in the back. Paul came to Patty's room and found her hugging her stuffed kitty, rocking, and singing. Dylan asked Patty why she had warned him about Dr. Anderson, and why Patty had killed her. Patty said she didn't remember, and that she was not a murderer.

Paul visited Patty six months later in Stonevale, a higher security institution, her jumpsuit indicated "Inmate". He questioned her some more about what had happened at Fairview, and took her metaphoric answers as still being delusions. Sharon remembered Nurse Stevens who had helped her with Sully at Fairview after his birth, and Sage realized that she was the same nurse who had delivered the news to her and Nick that Christian had died. They began digging into Nurse Stevens' background and discovered that she had once been a patient of Dr. Sandy Anderson, and Sandy had helped her find a job at Genoa City Memorial. Sharon went to see Patty to see if she could shed any light on the nurse and the birth. Although Patty talked again in metaphors, Patty confirmed that Sharon had not been pregnant while at Fairview.

About a year later, Sharon and Dylan began receiving hang-up phone calls. When Sharon demanded to know who was calling, Patty revealed herself, admitting that she had also sent a baby boy doll to Faith for her birthday. Patty threatened to reveal the truth about Sully's real parentage. Sharon visited Patty and promised to help her get out of Rivercrest in exchange for her silence. But when that didn't happen, Patty phoned Nick, telling him, "Christian is alive, Sharon has him." GC Buzz got the story from Patty and announced it to the world, causing Sharon to be arrested for kidnapping.