The drivers who were driving on the AP-7 near Altafulla last Friday, March 1, around 6 p.m., couldn't believe it. A middle-aged woman was walking along the shoulder, waving at them. By chance, at that moment a Mossos d'Esquadra patrol passed through the area, detected her and approached her to help her. The woman, totally disoriented, only spoke in French and she did not know how to explain how she had gotten there. She had no money or documentation, so the agents had no thread to pull. At that moment, and for medical reasons, they decided to transfer her to the Santa Tecla hospital (Tarragona).
Without probably being aware, his integrity had been in danger. “He signaled to the vehicles. She ran the risk of being run over,” explained sub-inspector Marc Bayon, head of the Tarragona investigation unit of the Mossos, at a press conference. The first thing the Catalan police did was look to see if there was any disappearance report that matched the woman found. Negative. However, shortly after, they found a detail that began to shed some light on the case. On the inside of the clothing she was wearing they detected “what appeared to be coding associated with a QR code,” in Bayon's words. They already had a lead to work on.
The code took them to a health center in the French town of Saint-Laurent-du-Pont, near Grenoble. After contacting the French Gendarmerie, they learned of the disappearance on February 29 and in the same area of a 55-year-old woman, who fully matched the physical description of the person found on the AP-7. The family had reported her disappearance after not returning to the health center where she was supposed to be admitted. Furthermore, and reviewing the local press in Grenoble, the Mossos saw that the media had echoed the news by publishing a photograph of the victim. This circumstance allowed them to confirm unequivocally that it was the same person.
Once identified, the Catalan police were able to contact the family. “They were pleasantly surprised to know that we had found her in conditions of disorientation but in an acceptable state of health, despite the hospital admission that she required due to the situation in which she was. “They feared the worst,” Bayon said. The relatives traveled to the Santa Tecla hospital and last Wednesday the happy reunion took place.
The question now is to know how he was able, “without carrying money, documentation, or any personal effects that would allow his identification” to travel the 700 kilometers that separate Grenoble from Altafulla in just one day. Hence the investigation remains open: the police want to reconstruct the exact route he took. “The Gendarmerie suspects that he may have boarded a bus at some point,” Bayon said. In any case, they do not treat the incident under a criminal assumption. Quite the opposite. They are clear that he became disoriented and ended his journey in Altafulla. Now we need to know where he went.
The case of this woman, who was listed as missing in France, took place a few days before today, which marks the day of persons missing without apparent cause. In this sense, the Mossos d'Esquadra investigated 3,748 disappearances in Catalonia last year, which represents an average of ten missing people per day and an increase of 3.5% compared to the previous year, when 3,620 were registered.
It should be taken into account, however, that of the total number of missing people, 2,167 (58%) were repeat offenders, that is, they disappeared on more than one occasion. A significant percentage of them (40%) are people who are admitted to a mental health center, who leave after having a permit and later do not return, although they end up doing so voluntarily.
According to Mossos figures, the resolution rate of all cases investigated during 2023 was 98%, leaving only 75 open as the missing person had not been located.
There were only four criminal disappearances. A first occurred in Torrelles de Foix (Barcelona), where a 76-year-old man was arrested last October as the alleged perpetrator of the homicide and concealment of the body of his partner. In March 2023, a 39-year-old individual was arrested in Tarragona as allegedly responsible for the murder of another. The victim appeared with signs of violence hiding in a well located in Tarragona where the detainee and several accessories, who were also arrested, had allegedly thrown her.
Likewise, in May 2023, a report was made regarding the disappearance of a man within the scope of drug trafficking, while two months later, in July, a woman disappeared in La Morera de Montsant (Tarragona) in a case related to violence. of genre. Both events are under secrecy.
