Why Did She Leave? Woman Found 30 Years After Disappearance

Patricia Kopta left her Pennsylvania home in 1992. Her husband of 20 years, Bob, figured she was just going for a walk, maybe to get some fresh air, perhaps stop at a convenience store for a snack.

But she never came home.

“I come home one night, and she’s just gone,” Bob Kopta told the AP.

Patricia had shown signs of mental instability in the weeks before her disappearance, with doctors diagnosing her with “delusions of grandeur” and said she had signs of schizophrenia. But Bob said he never expected her to just disappear.

“I went through a lot,” said Bob Kopta, a retired truck driver. “Every time they’d find a body somewhere (I wondered), ‘Is it Patricia? Is it Patricia?’”

Bob was a suspect for awhile in Patricia's disappearance and he said some people never stopped suspecting him of foul play.

As it turns out, there never was any foul play, by anyone.

Patricia Kopta was found living in a care center in Puerto Rico this past week, a full 31 years after she went missing.

The woman, known as the "street preacher" in her hometown of Ross Township, Pennsylvania, has been living in the care center for the past 24 years after she was swept off the street by mental health professionals.

Patricia is 83-years-old now and mentally is mostly vacant. Bob, who never remarried, says he has no plans to go to Puerto Rico to meet with his former (?) wife, but said he's glad she is safe and taken care of, in an interview with ABC News.

“It’s a sad thing, but it’s a relief off my mind,” Bob said. “When your wife goes missing, you’re a suspect.”

Bob Kopta recalled his wife once mentioned she would like to go to Puerto Rico because of its balmy weather. So he published ads in Puerto Rican newspapers back in the 1990s, but never got a response.

For now, Patricia will remain in Puerto Rico.

Screenshots courtesy CNN and WPXI