Gloria Briggs, 73, was found at Harlem Hospital after someone saw a TV news report about her disappearance on Tuesday and alerted authorities that she recently had been seen around Riverside Drive in Harlem NY, police said.
The tip prompted authorities to check whether she’d been admitted to a Manhattan hospital, officials said.
Briggs had been reported missing on August 12, 2016, by the Rev. Richard Campbell of the 7th Day Adventist Church in Paterson. She had not attended church services recently that she normally attends, police said. She was last seen at the senior complex on August 7, police said.
Investigators believe she had taken a jitney bus to New York, and had spent most of the time she was missing hospitalized, said Capt. Richard Reyes of the Paterson police. But the captain declined to discuss why she had been hospitalized. She was discharged on Wednesday and is in “good health,” he told a source.
People who know her said Briggs is suffering from early stages of dementia.
Police Director Jerry Speziale said he was proud of his investigators’ “tireless detective work” and their efforts working with community members to find Briggs.
The case was handled by detectives Sgt. Tony Lay, Agapito Guzman and Todd Pearl.
Editor’s note: We have to keep a vigilant eye open for our seniors.
