Patricia Kopta Wiki – Patricia Kopta Biography

“She just drifted away,” Bob Kopta said of his wife Patricia Kopta who had become a well-known street preacher in their Pennsylvania town before she disappeared in 1992. More than three decades after she was reported missing, he found a Pennsylvania street preacher known as “The Sparrow” living in a nursing home in Puerto Rico.

According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Ross Township police announced this week that 83-year-old Patricia Kopta had been found after a decades-long search. Patricia’s husband had reported her missing in 1992 and her loved ones have not seen her since, according to CBS News.

Police had no leads until Ross Municipality Deputy Police Chief Brian Kohlhepp received information from an Interpol agent and social worker in Puerto Rico. Those contacts told officials they believed they had found Patricia alive and living at the facility 1,700 miles away.

During a news conference Thursday, Ross Township police said Patricia was found to need care in 1999 and she was later taken to the adult home. Her sister, Gloria Smith, expressed her gratitude for finally solving a 31-year mystery. “We are very grateful to know that Patty is alive and well,” Smith said, according to the Post-Gazette. “You wouldn’t believe what we’ve been through,” added Patricia’s husband, Bob Kopta. “It’s a great relief to know that she is alive.”

Patricia Kopta Age

The age of Patricia Kopta is 83 years.

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Patricia Kopta  now alive

Patricia has since been diagnosed with dementia, according to the outlet. Bob explained that Patricia lived a typical life during the early years of her marriage in Ross Township. She liked ballroom dancing and she worked various jobs in Pittsburgh, including working as an elevator operator. The couple had no children and Patricia was a devout Roman Catholic who attended church on Sundays, he added.

Over time, Bob said he noticed his wife’s passion for religion became irrational and she ranted. She claimed that the mother of God warned of a nuclear Armageddon, Bob said, according to the Post-Gazette. And Smith also remembered her sister talking about seeing an angel, the Associated Press reported. When Patricia lost her job, she began spending time in parking lots and on the busy roads of her city, warning passersby of the end of the world, according to AP.

She became a familiar presence to the residents, who nicknamed her local street preacher “The Sparrow”. Some even wondered what happened to her years after she disappeared, a Post-Gazette writer noted in 1998. “She was always hanging out in Pittsburgh where things were happening. When there was a baseball game, when there was a concert, she would talk to people,” Bob said. Seven years after her disappearance, Bob had his wife declared legally dead. He never remarried.

“It’s sad. I’ve been through a lot, believe me. Every time they found a body somewhere, (I’d wonder) ‘Is it Patricia? Is it Patricia?'” Bob said, according to Trib Live. “I came home one night, and she was gone, and no one knew where she was. I don’t understand. I didn’t kick her out. She just walked away from her. She didn’t say goodbye or anything.” Staff at the adult residence where Patricia was found said she initially refused to share her personal life. Years later, as the dementia progressed, she began divulging details. According to CBS News, police said that Patricia finally revealed that she arrived in Puerto Rico on a European cruise ship.

According to reports, Patricia has told her caregivers that she wants to stay in Puerto Rico and that there are no plans to bring her back to Pennsylvania. “She could have been home at any time,” Bob said. According to the AP, he is not interested in visiting Patricia, although he is happy to know that people are taking care of her.

However, Smith would like to travel to the island and visit his sister. “Whether she knows me or not, I still want to see her and give her a hug and tell her that I love her,” Smith told the AP. “We really thought she was dead all those years. We didn’t expect it. It was a huge shock to find out she was still alive,” Smith said, according to ABC affiliate WPVI. “We are very happy and I hope I can go down to see her.”Read More…..