Toronto police ID amnesiac woman

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TORONTO, Dec. 17 (UPI) -- Toronto police say they believe they have identified a woman with amnesia who turned up at a homeless shelter only knowing her name was "Linda."

Police don't know how the woman arrived in Toronto. A search of facial recognition software at points of entry into the country turned up blank, as did a finger print search and similar efforts by the FBI. When she arrived at the shelter, police told the Toronto Star Linda was neatly dressed, carrying a tote bag filled with random scraps of paper, a bottle of water, a bus route map and a Canadian $20 bill. She had no ID and couldn't tell detectives her last name, how she'd gotten to the shelter or where she lived.

The other half of the mystery appears to have been solved in Newark, Del., where a woman named Linda Hegg who suffers from "fugue amnesia" was reported missing from an apartment building that's home to several mentally ill adults.

Hegg's father said the woman, 55, was reported missing Nov. 5 after her mailman noticed mail piling up and inquired with neighbors who said they hadn't seen her for weeks.

Hegg's illness is characterized by a mental trauma that prompts physical flight, the Star said. They have not officially told Linda of her true identity though they expect to do so Tuesday. Detectives still don't know how she got from Delaware to Toronto, the Star said.

Hegg's father said Linda served in the Navy until 1986, when she retired as a lieutenant. She never married and suffered a mental breakdown after a failed pregnancy.