Patricia Kopta was reported missing by her family more than 30 years ago, and her whereabouts remained a mystery until now. WPXI’s Nicole Ford reports.
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#NBCNews #PuertoRico #Missing
I am glad that they found her alive and well even after so many years. But I think what is disturbing is that she got in a plane and because PR is an American territory. Authorities didn’t even check ID. She didn’t need a passport to enter. But could they have checked ID? This may have made it easier to find her. Security needs to be tighten to prevent cases like this. I truly have so many questions. How she was able to live undetected.
What’s wrong with her eyes? It looks like someone put her eyes out.
The comment I was looking for
Please support/donate to your local alizemers association,your love one could be next or you.
“I hope I can get down to see her…”
Well,yeah… 30 years
Did she have her eyes removed?
That’s the saddest “happy” I ever heard tell of…
Where are her eyes?
True .. they look black .. sort of eerie
This doesn’t add up. So someome with dementia gives details about their life?? And the U.S. gives some official to see that case? It doesn’t add up.
I read dementia patients can sometimes speak with more clarity of the distant past, childhood. Her relationship, sister was the past, 30+ years. They used DNA of her sister, nephew so she may spoken of her.
she aged so fast her face is unrecognizable. I am 40 and I still look as young as I was in 1993.
Oh, honey, I can guarantee you look nothing like you did when you were 10 🤣🤣🤣
How long have you been delusional.
The Blood stop eating it
Trenton was here
I get it, she just wanted to get away from it all. Can’t blame her, sometimes I feel like that lol
I wonder why she ran away.
Jesus Christ man
She was cheating
“I hope I can get down to she her”
She ain’t going
Mental health or just refused to stay in Pennsylvania.
So what was she really running from
no she wasnt missing she was just on vacation lol
Maybe he says she is mental, but she might just have wanted to escape him. You never know.
Which one was special? The one who spent 30 years where she said she wanted to be, or the one who couldn’t find her for 30 years right where she said she would be?
Wow, he’s moved on !
I’d like to hear her story
Wow didn’t think you could survive 31 years with dementia.
Couldn’t they track her when she flew to Puerto Rico. I mean I’m sure she didn’t walk there
She hopes…
Great job reporting useless news nbc.People if you are interested in all the news effecting America try CBS.
Thats so sad
Lol she ran off and didn’t want to be found. I work with people with disabilities of all kinds and they are a lot smart than ppl give them credit. She did what she wanted.
That poor man.
Poor man. Probably was a suspect all these years.
Poor Bob
Am I the only one who feels weird about this? I mean she purposefully kept her past a secret until she just couldn’t anymore. She didn’t want to be found for whatever reason…
What is probably not clear… but should be obvious… The “Care Home” has now found people they can STICK WITH HER BILL!!..
Now, I bet that poor husband.. who has probably spent the last nearly 40 years under the suspicion that he was a murderer.. will get victimized all over again.
Puerto rican prices are not like the rest of the US
Terrorism at its finest. They ALWAYS BLAME Mental Health.
Who’s they?
@bakerd99 your people.
@bakerd99 if the Lady was not in Terror then it’s not Terrorism, since she encountered Terror in the process then its Terrorism. Wtf is a lady from Pennsylvania doing in Puerto Rico?.. i was born and raised in Miami, a place where I grew up thinking Pennsylvania was a place similar to London. High standard place. However, I was wrong.
@Johnathan Fabian Do you know who my people are?
@Johnathan Fabian What is a lady from PA doing in P.R.? What kind of question is that?
This sounds like it good movie to me ❤
Sis sounds like she wished she stayed missing. 🤣😂🤣😂
If she wanted to be found in glad
But if that’s not the case I hope safety and peace for her.
We all know she was not getting good D
One of the few instances where finding a long lost loved one is a sadder story than if she had remained forever missing.
this is also what happened to 2pac and biggie 😀
Wow, after all these years, she looks great!
Why did she run away though?
No plane records etc? That’s a bit odd…I feel bad for her family but glad they found her.
What company keeps records for 30 years? Not airports
They didn’t mention the rest of the story but the guy mailed her back to Puerto Rico, due to not being in the same condition she was in when she left.
And I don’t blame him
Disgusting comment
Glad her husband was believed and not one of those thrown in jail for 30 + years, saying that he was “innocent” the whole time, and not believed!
Sounds like she enjoyed her time down there in the warm climate. They must have been looking for someone to start paying her bills.
What a wonderful husband
Wow, she didn’t age well 😬
Let’s see your selfie when you are elderly with dementia
“A family reconnected” they never said they reconnected
Was she with Carole baskins husband?
Wow… sucks she is in PR. Nobody cares about themselves let alone other people in that country. Hope she does better.
Seems to me me they could have found her pretty easily. “She always talked about going to Puerto Rico”
And? She doesn’t disclose her real name shes just some brunette lady who came from the US to PR
If my wife went missing and in fact was in Puerto Rico. Trust me I would find her. And fast.
Sounds a lot like she was in a Fugue State.. I m pretty sure it;s not to common but in this story it fits the bill.
One lucky man.
Can you imagine what it would be like to be related to this woman like this sister of hers who had been looking for her for over 30 years that is so sad
Wow!
I’ll bet that family accused the s#!t out of that husband. I hope he gets to enjoy a whole bunch of I told you sos. And they better take it while apologizing the whole time.
This man is precious
Weird … She lived there all this time with no ID …
Who said she had no ID?
I have so many questions.
Huu bucetiva to the insane asylum to the old Americans you don’t know what you are doing and Romanians from there and Europeans from there in Romania think they are all constitutionalized by the state AND now they depend on it!
I feel for the husband, was he a suspect her missing person case? Was there a police investigation? I feel for her too, but mainly him if family and friends suspected he did something to her.
Maybe she didn’t want to be found… She may have dementia now, but that doesn’t mean she was mentally ill when she left.
I can only imagine.. she was sick of being cold.
Was she even allowed to have a bank account? I know my grandma wasn’t when she was young, such was the state of America.
Do not report these stories unless you have rge facts. There are massive gaps in the story . They always do in these reports. Many people who have “mental
Issues” so that they need adult care yet they’re well enough to be married and have sexual intercourse. Usually something is done to these peoppe for them to have a bad episode and wind up so far from home, it’s not just “suddenly” wandering off.
Well…she has been warm for 31 years..
I never understood why they call them a “missing person”. Ive been a lot of places, move around when and where I want. Ive always known where I was. First of all WHO is my master? And how often do I need to check-in with them before Im “missing”.
🙄
@iii___iii rolling your eyes because you don’t realise this is actually very common with abuse victims? The abuser makes out they’ve gone missing when they haven’t, the police look for them nowadays their face would be all over social media. Another way of complete humiliation for someone trying to be independent.
Man o man aging sucks .
💜🙏🏿
If the sister meets her in person, she should ask her why did she do this? How could she do this to her loving husband?
We do not know he is loving. Only she could answer that and now probably won’t. Assuming someone is loving because they seem nice in front of others is how abuse happens right under everybody’s noses.
I don’t know there’s a reason she ra
If you go to San Juan, you will find a bunch of homeless people that don’t speak Spanish and are clearly not Puerto Rican.
Some dump by family some kind of just lost, some are really nice and some are really hostile. They don’t have any kind of ID or paper work so it takes a really caring social worker to try and get them any kind of help. I’m glad this lady found her way home.
Very happy she’s alive.🙏👍💐🌺
Que bueno la encontraron que la deben en Puerto Rico que su Esposito se mude aya con Ella alla esta Bien con Gente de Buen corazon
I remember this woman . I would see her on the bus. She would be telling everyone about jesus. I am glad they found her.
Really 😒
This to me is the saddest story I’ve seen in decades. This poor man loved his wife, so sad for him to suffer. Family must have rights returned to them so they can protect and provide for thier families properly. We must challenge ‘The Right to Self Determination’ how on earth is it humane to let the mentally ill and addicted languish on the streets. It’s barbaric, the laws do not protect our most vulnerable people, many in the field of these diseases call it ‘The Right To Fail’ this is the best we can do, seriously.
Incredibly sad for her family.
What was the situation at home?? Violence? There was a reason the woman left.
@iii___iii pretentious much you are the type of person who is obnoxious and think others opinion need to be incorrect and you are right get a life I bet you don’t have many friends because of your attitude.
@isabelle baerga “Pretentious”, says the person whining and and indulging in senseless personal abuses after their ignorance of the spectrum of mental illnesses was revealed. Get over yourself, sweetheart. Opinions without evidence are but a trifle.
@iii___iii ptsd from abuse is a mental health issue, just because someone claimed someone to have mental health issues it’s not always true. If your not aware of it look into narcissists smear campaigning they do to their victims. Many husbands,wives and children are thought to be awful struggling with many things when in reality they are just on the verge of a mental breakdown because they are walking on eggshells around their family all the time.
@iii___iii A doctor you are not so you must be the person with mental issues!! Never argue with a crazy
@isabelle baerga Don’t be using crazy or mental health conditions as an insult. Or say ‘dont listen to a crazy’. We actually need to encourage patience, listening to people with mental health problems. What if she wasn’t listened to when she needed help and ran away?
More to the story.. she had schizophrenia and her husband said he would ignore her rants. She wasn’t important enough to him to report missing until 5 months later. She did previously go away. Did she feel listened to? Her sister said some of the public would treat her poorly. Was it because she was thought of as ‘crazy’. She was robbed in 91/92. Felt, spoke of being followed. Was she considered less important to investigate thoroughly early on because she was too ‘crazy’. It’s dangerous to be dismissive of those with mental health conditions and use it to bully, belittle, disempower, they are sometimes vulnerable and need help to have a voice, ask for help, not feel judged. It’s a medical condition, she did not ask to be unwell.
Wow so sad and happy at the same time. God bless her and hope she lives longer to spend time w family💕
I wonder if he ever remarried ? I think after 7 yrs you can presume death & go on. She looked terrible.
Alexa play Darude Sandstorm
Did she come back speaking Spanish? I’m just curious 👀
How many people said that he murdered her?
He didn’t report her missing for five months
Family reconnected a lil too late. Looks like she is going to die any second.
Sounds like she wanted out.
He probably abused her and she was escaping him
Poor old lady. Thank God she will be back with her family. 🙏🏾
She is a crazy heartless woman. I would not want to reconnect with her if I was a family member
Her husband said she suffered from paranoid schizophrenia. It’s a genetic and environmental serious mental health condition. Do you need to use the term crazy it’s medical. An injury to the brain, 25% of brain shows physical changes. Symptoms include delusions. She was also robbed in 91/92 and would preach on sidewalks with injured feet. Husband explained she often said she felt followed. Sounds scary?? Sister said some members of public would treat her poorly. Others described her as the church woman. Who also went onto have dementia. Did she ask to have a serious mental health condition? Unlikely. There’s increased chance of having schizophrenia if other family members also had the condition or if coeliac disease in family genes aswell as less likely to have rheumatoid arthritis genetically. Also here in UK statistics say 1 in 100 people will have an episode (she wasn’t showing symptoms earlier in marriage) and it accounts for 30% of mental health treatment here. It also is expensive to treat, moreso than heart disease and only 10% of diagnosed schizophrenia will be in any work. Now what quality of care and funds would she have had upto 1992 in US. She was fired from her job for stopping the lift at the art institute to discuss her beliefs / delusions. She was trying to work. Free health care ??? Do you know she left because she is heartless ? She felt followed, husband said he would ignore her rants, public unkind, maybe early on set dementia. Her reasoning, choices, behaviour would have been effected by her injured brain, most likely not her fault. She could have been attacked and ran away, felt followed again. Being robbed would have made her symptoms worse. Mental health conditions, trauma can include amnesia and starting entirely new life. Dementia patients like my uncle or nan will travel to old haunts, revert to childhood, go missing. Husband could be mean. You don’t know. Heartless may well be you!
Maybe if she weren’t called ‘crazy’, ignored or shamed, treated poorly for being poorly she would have not ran away, if she did. How do you think you would have treated her? Heartlessly?
@leafy She was probably part of a cult. Probably an ex Jehova”s witness.
* Would add husband did not report her missing for five months. Strange? She was in a care home since 1999. Had schizophrenia, injured and 52 when missing. Why did sister not contact social services or send pictures to elderly or mental health hospitals, services. Husband said she spoke of wanting to go to PR. PR population now is around 3 million it’s relatively small.
lmao
Heart breaking. Hope they can all reconnect and give her the help she needs
Sad😭
Down to see her… Shouldn’t she have said, “excited for her to come home’ ?
Mid
Mama said Marriage is like a box of chocolates…….
Blessings upon Blessings
Was she on Unsolved Mysteries?
Weird!
What happens in regards to her death now? Like insurance and inheritance that was payed out? Does her family suddenly have to pay back? What about her care? A lot of information missing in this news article. Really sloppy.