A family in New Zealand is hoping to be reunited with a long lost relative after a remarkable international tale unfolded this week involving an elderly homeless woman in Hawaii, Interpol in Washington and inquisitive US social workers.
The woman at the centre of the identity riddle is an elderly lady known to locals in the Hawaiian capital of Honolulu as ‘Josie May’, who had been living off the streets in Waikiki until last August when she fell ill.
She was taken to the city’s Queen Medical centre where she recuperated for ten months, but because she had no documentation, suffers from dementia and has no idea who she is, staff had no way of identifying her.
However the woman, who is estimated to be around 70 years old, told stories of how she had originally travelled to Hawaii from New Zealand as a tourist ten years ago and kept asking staff to take her home.
Keen to reunite the unknown lady with her family, social workers set about trying to discover her real identity.
Advertisement
“It’s pretty certain she’s from New Zealand because she has a slight accent and talks about many places there,” said Hawaiian social worker Teri Kalama.
“She mentions things, she talks about people who went off to war, we think World War Two.”
Ms Kalama described ‘Josie May’ as “very pleasant and peaceful”.
“She’s basically a little old lady who needs someone to look after her, but without being able to verify her identity, she can’t get any kind of insurance coverage. She has no money that we know of.”
The woman was released from hospital after 300 days and placed in a foster home with a government-appointed guardian. Her guardian, Roger Petticord, said ‘Josie May’ had not been identified for so many years because she had gone undetected among Waikiki’s sizeable homeless population, often surviving on handouts from locals.
Advertisement
“Some of them become quite like landmarks in the neighbourhood, they’re just there,” Mr Petticord told a NZ radio station.
“I didn’t know her but she seemed to be quite comfortable in that area, as comfortable as you can be under those circumstances.”
Government and hospital authorities became involved in the plight of ‘Josie May’ and asked the local police department to assist to help their quest to establish her real identity.
Honolulu police sent her fingerprints to Interpol offices in Washington, while checks were being made with the New Zealand Consul in Honululu and the department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Wellington to determine if she is in fact a New Zealand citizen.
Then, finally there was a breakthrough. After local New Zealand media broadcast the story this week, complete with a photograph of ‘Josie May’, she was identified by members of her long-lost family.
Advertisement
It is believed her real name is Ethel and, according to family members, she had left New Zealand for Alaska 20 years ago before losing contact.
They claim she is from a large and widespread family, but because of her age, as other members of her generation passed away the rest of the family lost contact with her.
The family, who has requested privacy, also said the woman’s father was a decorated soldier in the 28th Maori Battalion, an infantry battalion that served with the New Zealand Army during the Second World War.
They have now been in contact with New Zealand officials who are making efforts to confirm her identity and reunite her with her family.
“We want to bring her home,” her niece told the news website Stuff.co.nz.