Missing Pittsburgh street preacher known as ‘The Sparrow’ who vanished 30 YEARS ago is found ALIVE and living in Puerto Rico care home where she is suffering from dementia
- Patricia ‘Pat’ Kopta was last seen June 1992 and was discovered nine months ago
- A social worker had identified her in the adult care facility she was in in PR
- Her husband was astonished when he learned that his love was still alive
A Pittsburgh street preacher who vanished 30 years ago has been found alive in a care home in Puerto Rico, where she is suffering from dementia.
Patricia ‘Pat’ Kopta – who was nicknamed the sparrow – was discovered at the memory care facility nine months ago, with her husband Rob sharing the news earlier this week.
Patricia was tracked down after disclosing details about her previous life to a social worker concerned about her wellbeing. That social worker contacted Interpol, who were able to discover Patricia’s real identity.
Rob Kopta says he spent years and considerable sums of money searching for his wife, but was still stunned to discover she is alive.
He last saw Patricia around 1992. She had long battled mental health issues, and would regularly leave home for long stints.
It was only when she failed to reappear that fall that Rob grew worried, and he reported her missing in November 1992.
Rob said: ‘You wouldn’t believe what we’ve been through,’ he said. ‘It’s such a relief to know she’s alive.’
Patricia ‘Pat’ Kopta, known as ‘The Sparrow’ is pictured here at the adult care facility in Puerto Rico where she was found after being missing for nearly 31 years
Robert Kopta standing next to Pat’s sister, Gloria Smith, spoke at a news conference on Thursday held by the Ross Township Police Department to announce that Patricia is ‘alive and well’
Patricia Kopta pictured in an undated photo, had struggled with some mental health issues, her husband said. ‘I come home one night and she’s just gone, and nobody knows where she’s at,’ Robert said
During a press briefing Thursday, Deputy Chief Brian Kohlhepp with Ross Township Police said Patricia began to share some details of her past years after being at the facility.
‘They said she came into their care in 1999 when she was found in need in the streets where she is wandering around. While there, she refused to discuss her private life or where she came from,’ Kohlhepp said.
‘Years later, with dementia, she started to divulge some details that connected the dots back to Ross Township. DNA samples were a match.’
The missing woman’s sister Gloria Smith, who stood alongside her brother-in-law during the news conference was overjoyed by the news.
‘We’re very thankful to know that Patty is alive and well,’ Smith said.
Robert said that his wife had struggled with some mental health issues. At the time of her disappearance the couple, who never had children, were living in Ross, Pennsylvania. She was a religious woman, who’d attend her local Catholic church for mass on Sundays.
But, over the year Robert noticed his wife’s behavior grew more erratic and would go on rants claiming that the mother of God appeared to her and warned of a coming nuclear Armageddon.
‘Something must have happened. Somebody got to her because she started on this whole ‘the world is going to end’ thing,’ Robert told The Pittsburgh-Post Gazette.
‘She lost her job and started hanging around Downtown. When there was a baseball game going on, when a concert was going on, she’d be telling everybody to go home because the world was going to end in three days.’
People on the street who knew her called her ‘The Sparrow’ because of her slight frame.
In the late 1970s, she was a student at the Continental Dance Studio on Wood Street and a downtown elevator operator at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh.
Her dark hair and green eyes made some people think she ‘looked like an airline stewardess from the early 1960s who had arrived in the late ’70s via a time machine.’
In the early 90s, she was robbed and her her wedding ring and engagement ring was stolen.
She later had encounters with the police and was arrested in Monroeville. At the time doctors said she was having delusions of grandeur, the news outlet reported.
Until June 20, 1992 when she vanished.
People on the street who knew her called her ‘The Sparrow’ because of her slight frame
Her dark hair and green eyes made some people think she ‘looked like an airline stewardess from the early 1960s who had arrived in the late ’70s via a time machine’
During Thursday’s press briefing, Deputy Chief Brian Kohlhepp with Ross Township Police said Patricia began to share some details of her past years after being at the facility.
Robert told police that she had a tendency to drop out of sight for short periods and that was the reason why he was initially unconcerned by her absence.
‘I come home one night and she’s just gone, and nobody knows where she’s at,’ Robert said.
But, nearly six months after she vanished he filed a missing person’s report November 27 that same year.
Robert said his wife always liked the warm weather in Puerto Rico and had a hunch that she may be there.
Patricia has since been brought back to Pittsburgh, where she continues to receive care for her dementia.
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