US Woman Missing For Over 30 Years Found Living In Puerto Rico Nursing Home

A woman from Pennsylvania who had been missing for more than 30 years and was believed to be dead by her family has been found, her family and authorities announced during a press conference on Thursday.

Twitter

A missing person flyer for 52-year-old Patricia Kopta was filed with the Pennsylvania Emergency Response Center in the summer of 1992.

Screenshot

Bob Kopta, her husband, discovered she was missing in the autumn after she had been gone for a few months. He told police then that it was normal for his wife to "drop out of sight for short periods," as stated on the flyer.

"I come home one night, and she’s gone, and nobody knew where she was," Kopta said at the news conference with Ross Township Police.

Last year, a social worker and an INTERPOL agent told the police that they had found Patricia at home for seniors in Puerto Rico.

"They reported to us that she came into their care in 1999, when she was found in need in the streets of Puerto Rico,"?Ross Township Deputy Chief Brian Kohlhepp said.

The social worker and INTERPOL both said that Patricia was found homeless and wandering the streets.?

Through the years, she had?"refused ever to discuss her private life or where she came from,"?Kohlhepp said.

Kohlhepp said that when Patricia was old, she started telling little bits of information that made people around her call the police in Ross. According to the missing person flier, Patricia was a "well-known street preacher" in Pittsburgh.?

Twitter

The flyer stated she would tell strangers she had visions of the Virgin Mary and that the world was ending.

Authorities stated that her disappearance wasn't suspicious since they "knew she had a mental health history and she had made statements to other family members that she was leaving and was concerned that she was going to be placed in a care facility here," Kohlhepp said.?

Kohlhepp said cops believed she vanished on her own. Her husband stated she had spoken of moving to Puerto Rico for a tropical lifestyle.

"I even advertised in the paper down in Puerto Rico looking for her," Kopta said at the news conference, adding that he spent a lot of money over the years searching for her.

Kohlhepp told CNN that Patricia and Bob were married for 20 years before she disappeared. Patricia had no Puerto Rican relatives, he noted.

The woman was identified when police compared DNA samples from her sister, Gloria Smith, and her nephew for nine months.

"We really thought she was dead all those years," Smith said at the news conference.

Kohlhepp revealed that the family identified Patricia from her photograph before DNA testing.

Smith said she had called the senior care center in Puerto Rico many times, but because her sister has dementia, she hasn't been able to talk to her.

"We didn’t expect it. It was a very big shock to see – to know that she’s still alive," her sister said. "You know, we’re so happy, and I hope I can get down to see her."

(For more trending stories, follow us on?Telegram.)