Police Still Combing Area for Mentally Disabled Woman

Police were still searching Tuesday for a 45-year-old mentally disabled woman who apparently walked away from a Pacoima church grounds nearly two weeks ago and was last seen at Farmers Market in the Fairfax area last weekend.

The woman, Bertha Mae Pierro, arrived in Pacoima on Aug. 31 with her brother and sister from the Delano area in Central California to visit relatives and attend a revival at the Church of God in Pacoima.

She was staying in a bungalow on the church grounds in the 12300 block of Osborne Place on Sept. 16 when she apparently walked away during the night.

She is described as being between 4 feet 8 inches and 4 feet 10 inches and weighing about 90 pounds. She was wearing a dark blue or black jumper, a white sweater, a brown coat and a white turban on her head.

She has a burn mark on the left side of her jaw and a dark birth mark on her right hand that also looks like a burn mark.

“We’re scared stiff,” said Josephine Pierro, the missing woman’s sister. “She’s not from this area so she has no idea where she is or where she is going.”

Leona Pierro, the woman’s sister-in-law, said the woman had walked off at other times but she was always found.

“She has never been gone this long,” said Leona Pierro.

Police Detective Raynette Sincosky said an RTD bus driver recalled taking the woman to the Farmers Market in the Fairfax area last Saturday. The driver told police he had given the woman $5 to buy food.

“She’s apparently able to communicate, but not real well,” Sincosky said. “Because of her size and what she was wearing, she should stick out in a crowd.”

The family is offering a $100 reward for information leading to the woman’s return.