Phoenix-area mother missing since March mysteriously turns up in NY
Jun 6, 2018, 11:45 AM | Updated: 12:02 pm
Amanda Hanover (Screengrab)
(Screengrab)
PHOENIX — A Valley mother who had been missing for months was located on the other side of the country, but the mystery about how she got there remains unsolved.
All that’s known for now is her route to New York might have included a detour into Canada.
“It’s a very unique case that we’re trying to answer some questions with,” Niskayuna Police Deputy Chief Michael Stevens told KTAR News 92.3 FM on Wednesday.
Amanda Hanover, 38, of Gilbert, Arizona, was being treated in an upstate New York hospital and hasn’t yet been questioned by authorities, Stevens said.
“There’s a lot of people that are interested to know how you make it across possibly two countries with no belongings,” Stevens said. “That’s what we’re trying to figure out.”
Until turning up in Niskayuna, north of Albany, Hanover had last been seen by her family in Arizona in March.
Niskayuna police responded to calls Saturday morning about a woman trying to flag down traffic. Officers located her in a distressed state, and she agreed to go to the station.
“She told us that she couldn’t remember her name, and the officers believed her. … They didn’t think she was being evasive,” Stevens said.
Hanover was carrying two Amtrak train tickets in the name of an unidentified man and a Post-It note with three phone numbers on it.
One of the numbers was for an uncle who lived about an hour from where she was found. He helped police figure out her identity.
“When we found her, it was clear to the officers that she had been outside at least overnight, if not for a couple of days based on what she was wearing. It had rained there that night, so she was wet,” Stevens said.
The uncle said he had been planning to meet Hanover at an area train station Friday, but he didn’t make it there on time because a large fire in Rensselaer created traffic issues.
Police discovered that not only was Hanover missing from Gilbert, but there were signs she may have been in Canada.
“Apparently her vehicle was located in the middle of April on the University of Calgary campus,” Steven said.
A missing persons case was opened in Calgary in May, according to CTV News.
The TV station interviewed Hanover’s mother at the time, when Patricia Schachtner said her daughter, an accountant who has a son and a daughter, was suffering from the effects of a violent attack.
“We knew she was struggling with PTSD and we had actually signed her in for 72 hours of observation because she was telling us that people were stalking her and she was seeing people that weren’t there,” Schachtner told the station.
KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Paul Ihander contributed to this report.
