The anonymous woman dressed all in black who was spotted walking along the highways of several states is no longer anonymous. The woman, who was seen in Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio and Virginia, has been identified by family as Elizabeth Poles, and police say she plans to stay in Winchester, Va.
According to Poles' brother, Raymond Poles, his sister is a U.S. Army veteran, mother of two children and widow. Poles was undergoing treatment at Veterans Affairs hospitals to deal with the death of her husband and her father, the brother said in a Reuters interview.
"Her and my dad were really close," he said.
Raymond said that Poles moved to Alabama to be closer to her family but soon started showing signs of erratic behavior.
"She got to where she started walking from the [hospital] about a mile away," he said. "She then started just popping up at my house, and then one night she came over and just started cursing."
Police in Winchester told its residents that Poles wants to be left alone and are hoping that people who come in contact with her will respect her wishes.
Yesha Callahan is editor of The Grapevine and a staff writer at The Root. Follow her on Twitter.
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