COLD CASE CRACKED

Pittsburgh Preacher Missing for 30 Years Found Alive in Puerto Rico

Patricia Kopta, now 86, resides in a nursing home on the island after vanishing from her residence outside Pittsburgh in 1992.

Patricia Kopta—once a locally-famous street preacher from just outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania—has been found alive in Puerto Rico over 30 years after she mysteriously went missing and was declared legally dead. Kopta, 86, has been living in a nursing home since 1999, when authorities identified her as an adult in need of services while she wandered the northern region of the island. Kopta initially went missing from Ross Township in 1992 after doctors had determined she showed signs of schizophrenia and she was briefly institutionalized, her husband Bob Kopta told the Associated Press. While she hid her identity from authorities in Puerto Rico, Kopta slowly began to reveal enough information as she developed dementia; these clues eventually led them to contact Pittsburgh authorities last year. Kopta’s identity was soon confirmed with a DNA test. “Whether she knows me or not, I still want to see her and give her a hug and tell her I love her,” Kopta’s sister, Gloria Smith, told the AP. “I thought maybe she had died.”