In the summer of 1992, Patricia Kopta, now 83, disappeared from her home in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She was apparently a "well-known street preacher.. who would approach strangers and tell them she had a vision of the Virgin Mary, and the world was about to end," according to a missing person flier. Patricia was known to have mental health challenges and her husband Bill Kopta said she was known to "drop out of sight for short periods." After several months though, Bill reported Patricia missing. Thirty years later, it turns out, she's been living in a nursing home in Puerto Rico. From CNN:
Her husband said that his wife had talked about wanting to go to Puerto Rico to live in a tropical environment[…]
"What [INTERPOL] reported to us was 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.
INTERPOL and the social worker said Patricia was found wandering the streets and through the years she had "refused to ever discuss her private life or where she came from," Kohlhepp said.In her advanced age, Patricia started revealing nuggets that would eventually spur those around her to contact Ross [Township police in Pennsylvania], Kohlhepp said.
Unfortunately, she suffers from dementia but DNA evidence confirmed her identity.
