The mystery of a missing woman was partially solved when she was located by the police in 2017, 43 years after her disappearance was reported to the authorities.
However, although the woman, Florence “Flora” Harris, was found alive, no details regarding the reason of her sudden vanishment have been brought to life because she suffers from dementia.
Florence’s discovery was by accident. In fact, the police was alerted of the skeletal remains of a woman who matched Florence’s general description and they further investigated the case. In search of any living relatives, they discovered that someone at the CareOne assisted living facility in Lowell, Massachusetts, was using her social security number, as reported by People.
Staff at the facility confirmed that the number was linked to Flora Harris, who has been residing there since 2001.
She couldn’t recall anything about her past, but her face smiled and she whispered “me” when shown a picture of herself from her younger days when she was working at The Concord resort. When handed a photo of her husband, Robert Stevens, she uttered, “Robert.”
After tracing her medical records for about 30 years, officials learned that she had been in both a nursing home in New Hampshire and St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital in Manhattan
Florence disappeared one day after her husband took her to the doctor’s in Monticello and was supposed to pick her up some two hours later. When he arrived at the location, she was nowhere to be seen.
Sadly, her health condition won’t allow her to share any specifics about her life during the 43 years she had been considered a missing person.
Festus Mbuva, a healthcare worker at the facility where Florence resides, who took care of her for more than a decade, spoke to the Associated Press and said, “To be honest, I don’t think she ever really wanted to be found,” adding: “You can tell something happened in her past that she didn’t want any part of.”
According to him, she rarely spoke of her life but he was still able to piece her story together, at least partially. Mbuva revealed that Florence once confessed her husband Robert, who was already dead at the time she was tracked down, was abusive. She also revealed that she worked as a hairdresser brought up in Yonkers and was one of the attendees at the 1969 Woodstock concert, as per People.
Until this very day, officials haven’t been able to get in touch with any living relatives of Florence.
The great thing is that she’s safe and sound.
Solving a missing person case involving someone who has been missing for over four decades is not something we see every day.