Woman who went missing since 1975 in New York found alive in Massachusetts

A New York woman who went missing 42-years ago has finally been found alive in Lowell, Boston, by Detectives from Sullivan's County Sheriff's Office, according to Fox News reports.

Flora Harris, who is now 78 years, and used Stevens as her last name at the time, disappeared under mysterious circumstances after her husband dropped her off for a Doctor's appointment. When he came back for her, she was not there. The Hospital was in Monticello, which 75 miles northwest of New York City.

At the time of her disappearance, Stevens was an employee of Catskills Resort in the Catskills Mountains, located near the village of Liberty, New York.

The resort catered to a primarily Jewish clientele and closed down in 1986. She was 36 years of age then.

Missing years

Detectives were not able to establish the details of her disappearance, or where she had been for 42-years, as Stevens was found to be suffering from Dementia. Stevens was traced to an assisted-living facility in Lowell, near Boston, where she has been a resident since 2001.

The facility could also not assist in fitting together the missing pieces of the puzzle, but medical records showed that prior to being admitted at the Lowell facility, she had lived in similar facilities in New York City and New Hampshire.

The resort where she worked shut down, closing any chance of getting additional clues or information regarding her disappearance.

Her husband passed away in 1985, and Stevens has no other known living relatives.

How she was found

In September this year, a New York State Investigator who was working on a different cold case, and who Detectives had mentioned the Stevens case too, informed them of the discovery of remains found in the neighboring Orange County.

According to the Investigator, the remains matched the general description of Stevens.

Investigators then requested Sullivan Sherriff's office to assist them in locating relatives of Stevens, in order to obtain DNA samples and positively identify the remains.

It was during the search for Stevens relatives that Detective Rich Morgan found that Steven's Social Security number was still active, and being used by someone in Massachusetts, during a random record search.

A trace was done, and it led to the assisted-living facility, where staff confirmed the presence of a resident called Flora Harris. On Tuesday, Detectives visited the nursing home and confirmed that Flora Harris, was indeed the same person as Flora Stevens who had vanished in 1975.

On producing her employee card, which the Detectives had, Stevens was able to identify herself.

Although the questions arising from her disappearance may never be known, Sullivan County Sherrif Mike Schiff, in a press release, said it was not every day a 42-year old missing-persons case was solved. He added the Sheriff's Department was happy to finally find Stevens, alive and well.

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