Madeline Alioudor. (Pawtucket Police)
PAWTUCKET, Rhode Island (WBZ NewsRadio) — Police in Rhode Island have a mystery on their hands after an elegantly dressed elderly woman from Brooklyn, New York was found lost and confused on a Pawtucket street corner.
Madeline Alioudor, 78, will soon be reunited with her children. But it was no easy task identifying her, because she couldn't remember her full name—only that her first name is Madeline.
Alioudor, who has dementia, was found wandering at an intersection in Pawtucket New Year's Day, disoriented and having trouble walking. It took Pawtucket Police a week to identify her and contact relatives.
They were able to track down her son in New York, Pawtucket Det. Sgt. Christopher LeFort told WBZ NewsRadio's Kim Tunnicliffe.
"The son was elated," LeFort said. "It looks like at some point his mother was living with a friend. The son had left the state for a short period of time. He returned, found out that the woman that his mother was living with had moved out, and he basically lost contact. None of the other family had heard from the mother."
Now, authorities are trying to figure out all the lingering questions. Nobody knows what she was doing in Rhode Island, or who she's been living with for the last few years.
"Still curious too, as well as the son, how his mother actually got here, where was she living, who she was living with, if she is living with this friend that maybe moved from New York here," Det. Sgt. LeFort said.
He stressed that nobody is in trouble, and police are just trying to find out how Alioudor came to be out on the street.
"Maybe somebody's a little bit nervous that she was wandering about, think they're gonna get in trouble or arrested," he said. "But that's not why we're here. We just want to learn more about her so we can provide the information to the social worker, to the hospital, and to the son."
WBZ NewsRadio's Kim Tunnicliffe (@KimWBZ) reports
Follow WBZ NewsRadio: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | iHeartmedia App