A Connecticut woman whose abrupt disappearance and subsequent sighting in Maine confounded her family members has been found.
The Clinton Police Department reported Friday morning that Kimberly Piccolo, 31, has been found, about five days after she suddenly left home in Newtown, Connecticut, seemingly without taking any money, belongings or anxiety medication.
Police did not immediately announce where or under what circumstances Piccolo was located but said in an online update that after stories circulated about her disappearance Thursday, police were able to track her movement away from Clinton, where an officer and rescue personnel last saw her in a market parking lot Sunday night.
Clinton police said that Piccolo used her AAA service in Bangor, and additional sightings were reported in Houlton and then as late as 8 p.m. Thursday in Sherman before authorities announced the woman had been found. A Maine State Police trooper out of Troop F in Houlton identified Piccolo by a tattoo on her wrist, Clinton police said in Friday’s announcement.
Piccolo’s sister, Allie, posted on social media that Kimberly ran out of gas in Bangor, necessitating the AAA call. Allie Piccolo wrote that the wide number of shares of Kimberly’s picture and story on Facebook helped aid in the ultimately successful search.
“We want to thank everyone for all the prayers and shares,” Allie Piccolo wrote. “She would not [have] been found without all of your help, and we are forever grateful for all of you.”
Clinton police previously reported that one of the department’s officers, along with local rescue personnel, responded to a report of an unresponsive female at Tradewind Market on Hinckley Road on Sunday at around 7 p.m. to find a woman later identified as Piccolo in her car there, a nearly six-hour drive away from her hometown of Newtown, Connecticut.
Piccolo allegedly told the officer she fell asleep in her car while waiting to meet up with friends, and “she appeared to be in good condition and she refused medical care,” according to an alert posted on the Clinton police Facebook page, and police had no reason to suspect at the time she was a missing person.
The circumstances surrounding Piccolo’s disappearance and her sighting in Maine perplexed members of the woman’s family, who told reporters earlier this week she has no ties to this state.
The missing woman’s aunt, Fran Chappa, told Portland NBC television affiliate WCSH Piccolo didn’t appear to take any belongings, anxiety medication or money when she abruptly left home.
Her mother, Barbara Piccolo, told the Morning Sentinel that Kimberly left her home in Connecticut around 7 a.m. Sunday, and had been acting “paranoid” in recent days.
“She was acting like she thinks somebody’s watching her,” Barbara Piccolo told the newspaper, saying her daughter was frequently checking to make sure doors were locked and window shades were drawn closed. “Even her anxiety in the past was nothing like this past week.”
