A Pennsylvania woman who was left for dead after disappearing decades ago is found alive in Puerto Rico

By Antonio Planas and The Associated Press

A Pennsylvania woman who disappeared more than three decades ago and was declared legally dead has been found alive in a Puerto Rico nursing home, her family and police said.

Patricia Kopta disappeared in 1992, and over the years, investigators had followed leads into her disappearance, Ross Township Deputy Police Chief Brian Kohlhepp said Friday.

Patricia Kopta, in an image taken in the early 1990s, shortly before her disappearance.Family photo

Before disappearing from her home north of Pittsburgh, Kopta was known as an "eccentric" street preacher who called herself the Sparrow.

Seven years after she was last seen in Pennsylvania, the woman was found wandering in northern Puerto Rico and taken to a nursing home as a "person in need," Kohlhepp said at a press conference.

At first she kept details of her life a secret, but over the years the woman divulged information about who she was.

[They remove a carcinoma from Biden.

The first lady recently underwent a similar procedure]

Last year, Kopta had revealed enough information that a social worker at the nursing home decided to contact Pennsylvania authorities and try to find out his identity.

A DNA test confirmed that she was the woman who had disappeared in 1992, Kohlhepp said.

“She was worried that she was going to be hospitalized,” the police chief said, “which is what we believe led her to decide to flee the country.”

Before her disappearance, Kopta was briefly admitted to a facility after doctors diagnosed her with "delusions of grandeur" and said she showed signs of schizophrenia.

She was released and continued to preach until she was not seen again, according to her family.

Patricia Kopta at the Puerto Rico nursing home Ross Township PD

In Puerto Rico, he wandered through the towns of Naranjito, Corozal and Toa Alta, located southwest of the capital, San Juan.

When she was first taken to the adult residence, she had hinted that she had come to Puerto Rico on a cruise ship from Europe, Kohlhepp said.

Her family never stopped looking for her.

Her husband, Bob Kopta, who is 86 and still lives in Pittsburgh, explained that they had been married for 20 years when he disappeared.

She suspected that she might be in Puerto Rico, so she went so far as to place an ad in a local newspaper in case anyone had seen her.

She also consulted with a seer about her whereabouts.

[Prison ordered without bail for man arrested at airport for attempting to travel with explosives]

The woman, who now has dementia, was presumed dead 25 years ago, explained her husband, a retired electrician.

"It's a relief to know that she's not lying in a ditch somewhere, or [was] murdered," she acknowledged.

Throughout these years, every time the local police found a body, he feared that it might be his wife's.

During this time he has experienced all kinds of emotions, but he said he feels satisfied knowing that Patricia is alive and cared for by professionals.

“After 30 years, you try to forget it.

Now I can forget it.

We know what happened and now she is well cared for”, she affirms.

Patricia Kopta had two sisters: a twin who died six years ago, and a younger one, who was relieved to find out she was still alive, Bob Kopta said.

Three doctors are arrested for organ trafficking in Guatemala.

A woman accuses them of removing a kidney

March 4, 202300:27

The woman worked as an elevator operator at the Pittsburgh Art Institute before she disappeared, according to her husband.

She had been an outstanding student who had gone on to become a model and dance instructor.

After graduating high school, she worked in finance at a Pittsburgh plate glass company and attended weekly ballroom dance events, according to her family.

Patricia Kopta's younger sister, Gloria Smith, now 78, told The Associated Press news agency that she often vacationed in Puerto Rico with friends before getting married.

"She loved the ocean, the beach, the warm sun," she said.

Smith said he looks forward to visiting his sister, even if he is in a low state of mind.

"She knows me or not, I still want to see her and give her a hug and tell her that I love her," he confessed.

"I thought that maybe she had died."