Pittsburgh woman missing since 1992 and declared dead found alive in Puerto Rico
A missing 82-year-old woman last seen by her Pennsylvania family in 1992 — and later declared dead — was identified in a Puerto Rico assisted living facility.
A social worker figured out the mystery woman’s identity, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Patricia Kopta, who suffers from dementia, reportedly showed up at an adult care home 1,700 miles from her house, claiming she’d arrived to the island on a European cruise ship. She suffered from psychological issues prior to her disappearance.
“You wouldn’t believe what we’ve been through,” her husband Bob Kopta and sister Gloria Smith said during a Thursday media briefing. “It’s such a relief to know she’s alive.”
According to her husband, Kopta was a typical, church-going suburban woman who became increasingly zealous about her faith before her disappearance. She began going into downtown Pittsburgh to tell people the end was nigh.
“Something must have happened,” her husband said. “Somebody got to her because she started on this whole ‘the world is going to end’ thing.”
Because of her small physique and unusual walk, Kopta became known as “The Sparrow” by those who saw her making the rounds.
At some point around early 1992, Kopta started having runs-ins with law enforcement, the Post-Gazette reported. After she was once arrested in Monroeville, “doctors said she was having delusions of grandeur.” A short time later, she disappeared.
Kopta’s spouse filed a missing persons report with Ross Township police in 1992. He eventually had Kopta declared dead, but never again married.
According to Ross deputy police chief Brian Kohlhepp, he got word in 2022 from an Interpol agent and social worker in Puerto Rico that a woman wandering through several towns roughly 20 miles southwest of San Juan might be the missing woman. The more they spoke with her, the more it became clear she might be Kopta. DNA testing proved that to be the case.
Kohlhepp said Kopta is “alive and well for her advanced age and condition,” the Post-Gazette reported.
Kopta’s husband and sister want to bring the missing woman back to the Pennsylvania suburb she left decades ago, however she told caregivers at the assisted living facility she wishes to remain in Puerto Rico. Smith said she’s considering booking a flight to be reunited with her sister.
