The drivers driving along the AP-7 near Altafulla on Friday, March 1 at around 6 p.m. did not give credit. A middle-aged woman was walking along the sidewalk, beckoning them. By chance, a Mossos d'Esquadra patrol passed through the area at that moment, which spotted her and approached her to assist her. The latter, completely disoriented, could only express herself in French and could not explain how she had gotten there. He had no money, no documentation, so the agents had no strings to pull. At that time, and for medical reasons, they decided to transfer her to the Santa Tecla hospital (Tarragona).
Unbeknownst to him, his integrity had surely been in jeopardy. "He was signaling to the vehicles. She ran the risk of being run over", sub-inspector Marc Bayon, head of the Tarragona investigation unit of the Mossos, explained in a press conference. The first thing the Catalan police did was to check if there was a missing person complaint that matched the woman found. negative However, and soon after, they found a detail that began to shed some light on the case. On the inside of the clothes he was wearing, they detected "what appeared to be coding associated with a QR code", in Bayon's words. They already had a clue to work on.
The code led 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 in AP-7. The family had reported his disappearance after he did not return to the health center where he was supposed to enter. In addition, 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 learn that we had found her in a state of disorientation, but in an acceptable state of health, despite the hospital admission she required due to the situation she was in. They feared the worst", said Bayon. The relatives traveled to the Santa Tecla hospital and on Wednesday the happy reunion took place.
The question now is to know how he was able, "without carrying money, nor documentation, nor any personal effects that would allow his identification", to travel the 700 kilometers that separate Grenoble from Altafulla in just one day. That's why the investigation remains open: the police want to reconstruct the exact route he took. "The Gendarmerie suspects that he could have boarded a bus at some point," said Bayon. In any case, they do not treat the fact under a criminal assumption. On the contrary It is clear that the woman became disoriented and ended her journey in Altafulla. Now we need to know where it happened.
