73-Year-Old Paterson Woman Missing For 2 Weeks Found After CBS2 Report, Police Say
PATERSON, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- A 73-year-old woman who was reported missing from her home in Paterson, New Jersey, nearly two weeks ago has been found following a CBS2 report, Paterson police told CBS2's Christine Sloan.
Gloria Briggs was located Wednesday at Harlem Hospital following Sloan's report about her on Tuesday night.
A tipster told Paterson police they recognized Briggs as a woman they had seen at a bus stop in Washington Heights, and that Briggs had even given her name to the tipster.
Paterson police then reached out to New Jersey State Police who contacted emergency services in New York asking if a woman matching Briggs' description was found in the area.
As a result, police were able to find out Briggs had been treated by EMTs and taken to Harlem Hospital.
She was then identified and has since been released to her pastor Rev. Richard Campbell, Paterson police told Sloan. She's in good health, police said.
Briggs was caught on security camera video going into her building two weeks ago but wasn't spotted coming out.
Police searched every corner of the Freedom Village complex.
Briggs was first reported missing by her choir at the First Seventh Day Adventist Church of Paterson on Friday, Aug. 12.
"We know she has some measure of dementia," Campbell told Sloan Tuesday. "It has been a very anxiety-ridden two weeks for our church members here."
Campbell said the last time Briggs was seen in church was Saturday, Aug. 6. Cameras that night show her walking into her building on Straight Street with a friend – and nothing afterward.
Briggs has no family in the area – just a daughter in Jamaica – but she is beloved by her neighbors, who were searching for her in groups.
