Octogenarian found alive in Puerto Rico 31 years after disappearing in US

Patricia Gupta, now 83, was last seen in her hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1992.

An American from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, who had been missing for 31 years, has been found alive in Puerto Rico, police announced Friday, according to multiple English-speaking sources, including a local newspaper. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and TV channel Heavenly message.

Patricia Gupta, 83, was last seen in her hometown in 1992. Her husband Bob Gupta, 86, said shortly before she disappeared that her partner must have been brainwashed by someone. “.

He still remembers saying, “She lost her job and was walking downtown by herself. When there was a baseball game, a concert, she would tell everyone to go home because the world was going to end.”

A clairvoyant advised

In 1992, Patricia Gupta suddenly disappeared and her husband reported her missing to the police. Not long ago, doctors diagnosed her with symptoms of megalomania and schizophrenia.

Brian Kohlhepp, the police chief, clarified during a press conference that police believed the American had left the country because he “may have been institutionalized.”

The search lasted for years, during which Bob Gupta received a letter from his wife in which she explained that someone had been following her. In 1997, police consulted a clairvoyant who said Patricia Gupta was no longer of this world.

In a nursing home

Patricia Copta, now suffering from dementia, was in a nursing home in Puerto Rico. She entered it in 1999, seven years after her disappearance. Her family suspected that she might have traveled to the country because she loved “the sea, the beach and the sun” and frequented the place.

Police Chief Brian Kohlhepp said he was contacted by an Interpol agent last year and was led by social workers in Puerto Rico to believe the woman might be Patricia Gupta. For nine months, law enforcement officials tried to confirm his identity with the help of DNA from one of his sisters, Gloria Smith, and a nephew.

Bob Gupta, who finally declared his wife dead after years without news, never remarried. Along with his wife’s sister, they expressed a desire to bring him back to America.

But Patricia, who is in critical physical and mental condition, told her caregivers that she wanted to stay where she was. Gloria Smith plans to go there now, even though her sister doesn’t recognize her.