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Patricia Kopta, who went missing for more than three decades, was found last Thursday in Puerto Rico, according to an announcement made by the Ross Township police.
Kopta was a street preacher in Pittsburgh who went by the name "The Sparrow". Bob Kopta, her husband, said:
“I come home one night, and she’s just gone, and nobody knows where she’s at."
Bob Kopta reported her missing in 1992 from North Hills. Brian Kohlhepp, the deputy police chief of Ross Township, reported that he had just been contacted by an Interpol agent and a social worker. They believed they had found Kopta alive, 1,700 miles away, at an adult care home.
Police said the people who contacted them told them that Kopta was found in need of care and taken to an adult care home in June 1999.
Patricia Kopta was allegedly struggling with mental health issues
Ross Township police claimed that missing Patricia Kopta refused to talk about her personal life with anyone. She claimed to have taken a cruise ship from Europe when she arrived in Puerto Rico. Investigators haven't found any evidence of her in Europe whatsoever.
Kohlhepp said that as The Sparrow aged, she began to open up to the people around her. People in Puerto Rico made the connection and contacted his police department. In a statement, Kohlhepp said:
“We were contacted by an agent from Interpol as well as a social worker from Puerto Rico who believed they had her in an adult care home in Puerto Rico. 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."
He continued:
"As she asked and spoke more, she leaked enough details about her identity that they were able to connect enough dots to contact us."
DNA samples were used to confirm that the woman was, in fact, Patricia Kopta herself. Her family said that she was a beloved wife and sister. But one day, she just left. Patricia Kopta was declared legally dead.
More than three decades later, they received news they never thought they'd hear.
Kopta's sister, Gloria Smith, said:
"Shock. I didn't believe it. Total shock."
Smith was afraid that she'd hear that her beloved sister was found deceased somewhere. In her words:
“We really thought she was dead all those years. We didn’t expect it and it was a very big shock to find out she was alive, and we are so happy, and I hope I can get down to see her."
When asked about her experience waiting so long to find her sister, she said:
"It was hard on all of us because my mother, her sister and myself worried about her constantly."
Patricia Kopta's husband said that they wed for almost 20 years before she went up and left without a trace.
"She could have come home at any time. She always said she wanted to go to a warm climate."
Patricia Kopta, better known to her family as Patty, preached all over the city as "The Sparrow" on the street. Allegedly struggling with mental health issues, she reportedly lived in constant terror of being institutionalized.
Robert Kopta said:
"She would always hang out down in Pittsburgh where things were going on. When there was a baseball game going on, when a concert was going on, she would be talking to people."
Patricia Kopta, 83, was at last reunited with her family. Even though she has dementia, they are still trying to visit her after 31 years.
