Abandoned "Jane Doe" Identified. She was a JW.

betterdaze

Now we know her name: Elba.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
BY SUSAN K. LIVIO
Star-Ledger Staff

A security guard found her on Nov. 2, 1994, wandering through the Woodbridge Center mall, well-dressed and clean but lost and disoriented. She carried no identification in her purse, and in broken English explained she couldn't remember who she was or how she had gotten there.

For years, a private room at the Senator Garrett W. Hagedorn Psychiatric Hospital in Hunterdon County has been her home, where she has remained a Jane Doe unknown to herself and the world -- missed, it seemed, by no one. All the while, Hagedorn's mystery woman drifted deeper into Alzheimer's, losing her ability to speak.

But through the diligence of a Human Services police officer who made her case his own special mission for six years, she now has her name back and some of her past.

She is Elba Leonor Diaz Soccarras.

She will turn 75 in five days.

She left behind six brothers and sisters and a poor farming community in northern Colombia when she came to the United States in 1969.

Although she never finished the process of becoming a U.S. citizen, she entered the country legally. She is entitled to Medicaid and care at a nursing home, a more fitting home for an elderly woman than a psychiatric hospital.

"Now at least she will have the dignity of dying as a human being and not as an unknown," said Human Services Police Lt. Eduardo Ojeda.

Ojeda hasn't unraveled the more disturbing aspects of her story: how a sick and vulnerable woman wound up in the mall alone, and why no one ever reported her missing. He suspects she was abandoned in Woodbridge as she grew sicker and more difficult to manage.

He said he plans to turn the file over to the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office to determine whether a criminal investigation is warranted.

"The fact that she was deprived of her IDs" tells him "whoever left her at the mall didn't want her to be identified and didn't want to be found themselves," Ojeda said.
But clearly people remembered Elba.

When The Star-Ledger and other newspapers reported details of her plight and published photographs in September, the tips poured in, Ojeda said.

"The vast majority of these people wanted to remain anonymous, but they said she had a daughter living in Brooklyn," he said. He pulled the daughter's birth certificate, which lists Elba Soccarras as her mother.

"Elba Leonor Soccarras" was the same name she uttered once to a staffer in Marlboro Psychiatric Hospital, her first home after she was found at the shopping mall. But because of her deteriorating condition, authorities could never be sure it was her real name; they could find no records for Elba Leonor Soccarras. And she told someone else her name was Alba.

At Hagedorn she was "Jane Doe," and that was the name written on masking tape on her door.

PAINSTAKING PROGRESS

The tips last fall led Ojeda to the Colombia consulate's office, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and New York state and city officials.

Through records and anecdotes from people who came forward, Ojeda pieced together fragments of information amounting to minor victories and major disappointments.

She had worked at various factory jobs making dolls, dresses and blouses, and was a member of the Toy and Novelty Workers of America Local 2233, Ojeda said.

She had a boyfriend, but he abandoned her after she became pregnant with their daughter. She never married.

She enthusiastically practiced her faith as a Jehovah's Witness. One woman told Ojeda she had seen Soccarras handing out religious literature numerous times in the Brooklyn subway station, and that they became so friendly she invited Elba to her home.
"She said: 'I remembered she was having some tough times. I used to give her money for her daughter,'" Ojeda said. "She paid for Soccarras' daughter's class trips and a winter coat."

Mother and daughter fought a lot, Ojeda said, citing reports from people who came forward last fall. Their relationship suffered in the girl's late teens and early 20s because Soccarras disapproved of her boyfriend.Ojeda says that when he interviewed the daughter on Feb. 27, the 36-year-old woman told him she had lost touch with her mother years ago and assumed her mother had moved back to Colombia.

The Star-Ledger obtained her name and contact information through public records. She lives in Brooklyn's Flatbush section, in a tidy, well-preserved six-story brick building on a busy thoroughfare adjacent to a school and a church.

Approached by a reporter outside her apartment Friday night, the daughter refused to comment.

"I told you no," she said and slammed the door.

WANDERING OFF

In the late 1980s and early'90s, Elba Soccarras' life began to unravel. Her health declined. She got evicted.

"She was taken in by another family for about eight months, but they couldn't handle her because she was wandering off," Ojeda said. "A couple of times they had to call the police to find her. They indicated to me she attempted to walk across the Verrazano Bridge on foot. She would wander the streets and call out her daughter's name."

There must have been a period of time when someone was driving Soccarras to Woodbridge and leaving her there during the day, Ojeda says. Or maybe she lived with someone temporarily in Woodbridge.

Tipsters told Ojeda there were frequent Elba sightings at the Pathmark supermarket in the Avenel section of Woodbridge, as well as the mall about five miles away. He learned she was a frequent Burger King customer, ordering a cheeseburger and a coffee every time.

Marla Kentos, 34, of Edison recognized Soccarras right away from the newspaper photos as the well-dressed woman she frequently saw at the supermarket or the nearby bagel shop. Nearly every time Kentos went shopping with her mother, they would notice the woman walking alone with two large shopping bags.

"She was there all the time," Kentos said. "He hair was always up, her face done, but you could tell she was misplaced. It was so sad. She was very quiet and to herself."

When Soccarras' friends at church or from the neighborhood in Brooklyn stopped seeing her around, they assumed she had moved away or even returned to Colombia.
"Like most immigrants, she came to this country looking for a better life, looking to improve her quality of life," Ojeda said. "Unfortunately she's one of many immigrants who life dealt a bum hand."

But by confirming her legal residence, Ojeda has done her a favor.

Although she received quality care at Hagedorn, Soccarras didn't belong there, state officials agreed. She was living at a psychiatric hospital only because, as a suspected illegal immigrant, she did not qualify for Medicaid, the pool of state and federal money that subsidizes nursing home placements.

Now, with her legal status established, her guardian is searching for a room at a nursing home.

"This is very exciting. It's good news for her because it means she would be able to be in a better placement," said Susan Hollander Whitman, Elba's legal representative at the state Office of the Public Guardian for Elderly Adults. "Being in a nursing home will provide her with the kind of care she deserves. ... She doesn't have psychiatric needs."

Debbie Smith, the chief executive officer at Hagedorn hospital, said the staff's happiness for Elba is tinged with a little sadness. Employees over the years have brought Elba teddy bears and blankets to comfort her. She will be missed.

"The bottom line is she does not need this level of service," Smith said. "But she has been here for a while. The staff loves her."

Susan K. Livio may be reached at [email protected] or (609) 989-0802.

StAnn

OMG. You have to wonder if her daughter is disfellowshipped and that's why they had no contact. Also, if a family took her in but couldn't deal with her, you wonder if that was a family of JWs. I hate to say it, but I do hope this is a case of neglect by the JWs who ignored a woman with Alzheimer's who had been cutoff from her daughter by the Borg because of DFing. It would bring national attention to the problems in the Borg and what they do to families.

StAnn

betterdaze

You have to wonder if her daughter is disfellowshipped and that's why they had no contact.

Exactly. "Wordly" people just don't get that and are blaming the daughter. It is my fervent hope that the Middlesex County Prosecutor decides to investigate, and they trace this back to Sister Socarras' negligent elders in Brooklyn.

~Sue

StAnn

I doubt I'll hear back from her but I called the reporter and left her a detailed message about disfellowshipping, etc., and asked her to speak with the daughter about it and asked her to look into why Jane Doe's bookstudy conductor didn't know where she was. I doubt I'll hear back from her but it never hurts to fan the flames.

StAnn

wha happened?

Reminds me of a meeting some years ago on caring for the elderly. The CO at the time asked the question if we are obligated to care for our parents as their health deteriorates. Most raised then hand and asnswered yes. The CO went on to relate how if the parents are unbelivers or opposed to the truth, then we are not obligated to care for them. I was floored. And this story fits that mold

StAnn

Geez, I could "proof text" them with the ten commandments. Remember honor thy mother and father? That attitude is pathetic and disgraceful.

StAnn

Snoozy

Wha happened..I remember hearing something about that too. Funny thing..back in the 60's we had a older lady that was getting on in years and going blind and deaf..she lived alone. One day we found out she left the gas on and almost burned her house down because she forgot the stove was on.

A lot of us "Sisters" got together and took turns watching her in shifts and her daughter would watch her at night..her daughter was NOT a believer at all but she did accept our help. Well eventually she found a place that would take her mom. Funny thing..she was never mentioned again ..like she dropped off the face of the earth. I bet she was shoved in a state run nursing home and left to die ..if I am not mistaken I think she was also one of the remnant..

Snoozy..who remembered her reading this story..Mrs. Matlock was her name..or as we knew her "Sister Matlock".

asilentone

I think it is about time they get exposed!

Warlock

Of course she was a JW.

SHE'S JOHN DOE'S WIFE!

Warlock

wha happened?

Yea I was quite upset after that study and as usual maked myself by making my opinion known.

I hope there is follow up on this story. This woman was clearly dumped by her daughter.

Abandoned "Jane Doe" Identified. She was a JW.

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