In March 2003, Rosemary Cosgrove, a 51-year-old woman from Edinburgh, Scotland, traveled to New York City with the intention of watching the St. Patrick's Day parade. Despite concerns from her family due to her suffering from a rare degenerative brain condition known as frontotemporal dementia or Pick's Disease, she made the journey alone. This condition is characterized by personality changes, poor judgment, and forgetfulness.
She arrived at Newark International Airport on March 13, 2003, and checked into the Belvedere Hotel on West 48th Street in Manhattan.
Cosgrove's trip took a difficult turn on the day of her arrival when she lost her travel bag containing her passport and return plane ticket. Throughout her stay in New York, she exhibited signs of disorientation and confusion, at times forgetting the name of her hotel and even entering the wrong one. The last confirmed sighting of Rosemary Cosgrove was on March 18, 2003, as she was leaving the Belvedere Hotel. She had mentioned her intention to go to the airport to report her lost bag.
Concerns for her well-being grew when she failed to board her return flight to Scotland. Her family officially reported her missing on March 21, the day she was expected to arrive home. An investigation into her disappearance revealed that the credit card she used to check into the hotel had not been used since her arrival, and there had been no withdrawals from her bank account. It is believed she had approximately $600 in cash with her at the time she went missing. Some of her belongings were found in her hotel room, but they offered no clues as to her whereabouts.
A peculiar development in the case occurred eight months after her disappearance when her missing passport was mailed from the British embassy in Washington, D.C., to a passport office in Peterborough, England, which then forwarded it to her home in Scotland. It remains unknown who initially found the passport or where it was discovered. While authorities have stated that foul play is not suspected in her disappearance, what happened to Rosemary Cosgrove remains a mystery. Her family in the United Kingdom believes she may either be homeless or deceased.Last Seen: Mar 18, 2003
