Patty Hoyle was an unseen villainess and murder victim from "The Crank in the Shaft," episode 4.06 of Bones (airdate October 1, 2008). She was an office manager at Ziff-Young.
Patty's decomposed remains were found in an elevator shaft, though the investigation into her murder revealed that she had died of a ruptured aneurysm before she was dumped in the shaft. While other employees spoke fondly of Patty, it was a cover for their true feelings of bitterness towards her, as she antagonized many at the office.One such employee was Dave Farfield, who lost his job due to Patty reporting him for vandalizing her car--he wrote the word "BITCH" on her car after she parked so badly that he couldn't get out.
After it was discovered that Patty had been using a credit card belonging to her boss, Gary Flannery, it was suspected that Patty and Gary (the latter being married) were having an affair, and Gary killed Patty to cover it up Gary was brought in for interrogation, where the truth was revealed: Patty was running an expendables audit and found out that Gary was ordering extra supplies and selling them online. Instead of reporting her findings, Patty turned heel and decided to blackmail Gary, forcing Gary to allow her to use his credit card in exchange for her silence. As the credit card statements revealed, the evil Patty spent Gary's money on room service, a massage, and $300 worth of lingerie (among other things).
Though Gary remained a suspect after the blackmail was revealed, it turned out that employee Christine Gertin was Patty's true killer. Patty caught Christine and co-worker Chip Yap making love in the coffee room and threatened to report them, after which an angry Christine tossed a stapler at Patty, which caused the aneurysm to rupture and killed Patty. With Chip's help, Christine tossed Patty's body in the shaft where she was discovered.