A missing Rhode Island woman was found alive inside a parked car on Sunday and has been taken to a hospital for an evaluation.
Linda DaLomba, who has autism and is nonverbal, was last seen on Wednesday afternoon, as CrimeOnline reported. The investigation became a criminal probe on Friday when investigators found descrepancies in statements given by the 45-year-old woman’s caregiver, who has now been arrested, WPRI reports.
The caregiver, 43-year-old Roberta Gerard, has been charged with abuse, neglect or exploitation of an adult with severe impairment, and obstruction of an officer while in the execution of their duty.
Gerard reportedly told police that DaLomba disappeared while she was in the restroom at Burlington Coat Factory, but when police viewed surveillance footage from inside the store, they found that neither woman had been there.
DaLomba was found by a Cranston Fire Department mechanic in a car belonging to a friend of his family that had been parked in front of his house, unlocked, for two weeks. Savong Sam told WPRI he had gone out to jump start the car.
“I opened the back door, put the jump box down, I looked back and noticed there was a person sleeping, laying down in the back of the vehicle,” Sam said.
Police Chief Col. Michael Winquist said investigators are now trying to determine how DaLomba ended up in the vehicle, which was parked a few blocks from where DaLomba was last seen.
Seven Hills Rhode Island, which owns the group home where DaLomba lives, said in a statement it was “so deeply relieved that Linda is safe.”
