SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A Pennsylvania lady who went lacking greater than 30 years in the past in a case that stumped authorities who later declared her legally lifeless has been discovered residing in a nursing residence in Puerto Rico.
Patricia Kopta left behind a husband and siblings and meandered by means of northern Puerto Rico for some time earlier than she was taken as an individual “in want” to the grownup care residence in 1999, in accordance with particulars introduced at a information convention this week in Ross Township, the place she as soon as lived.
Kopta, as soon as often called a road preacher in her hometown, initially saved her previous secret whereas in Puerto Rico.
However she started to disclose particulars as she suffered progressively from dementia, Ross Township Deputy Police Chief Brian Kohlhepp mentioned.
By final yr, a social employee on the residence had sufficient data to alert authorities again residence concerning the now-83-year-old lady.
A DNA check has confirmed her identification, Kohlhepp mentioned.
Her husband, Bob Kopta, and her surviving sister, 78-year-old Gloria Smith. crammed in particulars of Kopta’s life on the information convention and in phone interviews Friday with The Related Press.
Patricia Kopta had been nicknamed “The Sparrow” due to her slight construct, and infrequently frequented parking tons and busy roads within the largely residential group of about 31,000 north of Pittsburgh, the place she would warning passersby and motorists concerning the finish of the world.
However earlier than she started preaching, Kopta was a straight-A pupil who turned a mannequin and dance teacher. After graduating highschool, she labored in finance at a Pittsburgh plate glass firm and would attend ballroom dancing occasions weekly, in accordance with her household.
She would trip typically in Puerto Rico together with her buddies earlier than she bought married, Smith recalled.
“She simply liked the ocean, the seashore, the nice and cozy sunshine,” Smith instructed the AP.
Smith mentioned her sister stop her job on the glass firm after 10 years due to migraines that docs blamed on stress. She then bought a job as an elevator operator at The Artwork Institute of Pittsburgh.
That’s when relations observed a change in her.
“She mentioned one thing about seeing an angel there,” Smith recalled.
Shortly afterward, Kopta started preaching and was briefly institutionalized after docs recognized her with “delusions of grandeur” and mentioned she had indicators of schizophrenia. Upon her launch, she saved preaching till she vanished in 1992.
“I come residence one night time, and he or she’s simply gone,” Bob Kopta instructed the AP.
They’d been married for 20 years.
Kopta, now 86, recalled how they met close to a river in Pittsburgh the place he had a ship. He gave her and her buddies a trip and fell in love. In 1972, they married.
The disappearance stumped authorities and household alike. Police went so far as to seek the advice of a psychic, whereas Kopta recalled his spouse as soon as talked about she wish to go to Puerto Rico due to its balmy climate. So he printed advertisements in Puerto Rican newspapers, however by no means bought a response.
Years glided by with no signal of her. He obtained a dying declaration about seven years after her disappearance.
“I went by means of lots,” mentioned Bob Kopta, a retired truck driver. “Each time they’d discover a physique someplace (I puzzled), ‘Is it Patricia? Is it Patricia?’”
In the meantime, Patricia Kopta apparently was wandering the island’s northern cities of Naranjito, Corozal and Toa Alta, positioned simply southwest of the capital of San Juan. When she first was taken in on the grownup residence, she had hinted that she had arrived in Puerto Rico by way of a cruise ship from Europe, Kohlhepp mentioned.
After a social employee contacted police in Pennsylvania, it took virtually a yr for DNA samples to verify that the lady was certainly Patricia Kopta.
“It’s a tragic factor, however it’s a aid off my thoughts,” her husband mentioned. “When your spouse goes lacking, you’re a suspect.”
Bob Kopta, who didn’t remarry, mentioned he doesn’t plan to go to, and that he’s now attempting to neglect the previous, although he’s glad to know she’s being taken care of.
Smith, alternatively, needs to go to the island to see her older sister. She says she’s been unable to talk to the elder sibling on the cellphone as a result of she can not maintain a dialog given her dementia. A twin sister of Patricia Kopta died with out figuring out her fellow twin was nonetheless alive.
“Whether or not she is aware of me or not, I nonetheless wish to see her and provides her a hug and inform her I like her,” Smith mentioned. “I assumed possibly she had died.”
AP researcher Rhonda Shafner contributed from New York.