In 1992, Patricia Kopta disappeared, leaving her family in a state of uncertainty that lasted for over three decades. However, in a remarkable turn of events 31 years later, she was discovered — 1,700 miles away in a nursing home in Puerto Rico.
A social worker at the care home recognized the now-83-year-old Kopta after she disclosed fragments of her past. The specifics of what she revealed or how she ended up in the nursing home remain unclear. Nonetheless, the three-decade-long mystery surrounding Patricia Kopta's disappearance has finally been resolved.
"You wouldn't believe what we've been through," her husband, Bob Kopta, shared with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "It's such a relief to know she's alive."
Kopta portrayed his wife as a typical Roman Catholic suburbanite, particularly in the early years of their marriage. She commuted to work in Pittsburgh during the week and dedicated her weekends to church worship and ballroom dancing events.
However, as time passed, Bob Kopta noticed a shift in her behavior. She became increasingly fervent in her religious convictions, eventually spiraling into irrational outbursts and claims of divine visitations warning of an impending nuclear apocalypse.
"Something must have happened. Somebody got to her because she started on this whole 'the world is going to end' thing," Bob Kopta remarked. "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."
Kopta, a petite woman with a brisk stride, earned the nickname "The Sparrow" among those who encountered her downtown.
As detailed in a 1998 Post-Gazette article, "The Sparrow was a fixture at Gateway Center, on the streets of Oakland, outside Three Rivers [Stadium] and sometimes in the middle of McKnight Road, where she'd lean into open car windows at traffic lights and inform startled drivers of God's impending wrath… Her absence has been noted incrementally in the city."
Sometime around 1991 or 1992, a group of girls robbed Patricia Kopta and took her wedding and engagement rings. Kopta herself had several encounters with law enforcement, including being arrested in Monroeville, where doctors diagnosed her with symptoms of schizophrenia and "delusions of grandeur."
Then, in 1992, Bob Kopta came home to find his wife missing.
"She had made statements to other family individuals that she was leaving, that she was concerned that she was going to be placed into a care facility here," Ross Township Police Chief Brian Kohlhepp mentioned, according to The New York Times.
"It was hard on all of us because we — my mother, my sister, and myself — we worried about her constantly," said Kopta's younger sister, Gloria Smith."
Authorities eventually declared Patricia Kopta legally dead, and her husband never remarried.
Meanwhile, in 1999, staff at a nursing home discovered Kopta wandering the streets of Puerto Rico. She refused to share any details about her life, simply stating that she had arrived on the island via a cruise ship from Europe. However, this claim could not be verified.
Then, as Kopta aged and developed dementia, she started disclosing more about her past. Eventually, she "leaked enough details about her identity that [her caretakers] were able to connect enough dots to contact us," Kohlhepp said.
Ross police then initiated a nine-month forensic process to verify her identity. Puerto Rican authorities provided a sample of Kopta's DNA, her dental records were located, and Kopta's sister and nephew provided cheek swabs for DNA comparison.
"These were processed and revealed that the woman in Puerto Rico is indeed Patricia Kopta, alive and coping with her advanced age and condition," Kohlhepp concluded.
"After 30 years, you try to forget about it," Bob Kopta shared. "Now, I can forget about it. We know what happened, and she is taken care of now."
Bob Kopta and Gloria Smith expressed their desire to bring Patricia Kopta back home and reunite the family. However, Patricia's deteriorating health presents challenges in fulfilling this wish. Smith also mentioned contemplating a trip to Puerto Rico to visit her sister, even though Patricia might not recognize her due to her dementia.
"She could have come home any time," Bob Kopta said. "But… that's what she wanted. She always said she wanted to go to a warm climate."
