Solved… The mystery ‘English’ woman who turned up in Croatia is actually a homeless Slovakian who used to live in the US and make jewellery for Brigitte Bardot and Barbra Streisand
- Daniela Adamcová, 57, spoke perfect English but could not remember her name
- She previously worked in the US making jewellery for celebrities and TV shows
- She was identified after police received numerous tips from her friends
A mystery woman found bloodied and bruised on a rocky coastline in Croatia is a former jewellery designer for celebrities including Barbara Streisand, Diana Ross and Brigitte Bardot.
The injured woman who speaks perfect English was unable to remember her name, where she was from or how she came to be hurt after being rescued on September 12.
Police in Croatia released pictures of her in a bid to identify her and find out how she ended up with apparent memory loss on a craggy outcrop at a remote spot on the island of Krk.
The woman has now been named by Croatian police as Daniela Adamcová, 57, who was born in Slovakia, but lived for many years in the United States, before possibly moving to Ireland and the UK.
She is said to have been identified after police received ‘numerous tips’ from Croatia and abroad.
A mystery woman found bloodied and bruised on a rocky coastline in Croatia is a former jewellery designer for celebrities
The woman has now been named by Croatian police as Daniela Adamcová, 57, who was born in Slovakia
Ms Adamcová reportedly made handmade jewellery which was seen on the hit TV show Friends and worn by high profile customers including actress Barbara Streisand, singer Diana Ross and former French supermodel turned animal rights activist Brigitte Bardot.
Former friends who recognised her from the pictures released by police in Croatia said they believed that she had landed up homeless for a spell in Los Angeles after falling on hard times.
She is thought to have later got her life back on track and started working again for a jewellery company in Los Angeles, before moving to Ireland in 2015.
Her ex-friends in the United States are said to be baffled about how she landed up alone and injured in Croatia, and suffering from apparent memory loss.
But Czech tourists claim to have spotted her in the Croatian coastal village of Drvenik, near Makarska, on September 9 – three days before she was found 185 miles away on the island of Krk.
Ms Adamcová made handmade jewellery worn by actress Barbara Streisand (left), singer Diana Ross and former French supermodel turned animal rights activist Brigitte Bardot (right)
Nina Smidt (centre) recognised Daniela after the police appeal from when they worked together in 2015
A woman travelling with her husband told Czech news site tn.nova.cz that she also recognised the woman from the published picture.
The unidentified tourist said: ‘She told us about how she travels and that she is retired, and her friends are still working. So she went on the trip alone.
‘Because she was afraid of a 14-day quarantine upon her return to Slovakia, she turned off her phone and removed her SIM card.
‘She also wanted to go to Lika, which is still far from the island of Krk. She was very intelligent, she told us that she had been in England for some time, so she spoke English well.’
Ms Adamcová is said to have been first spotted on rocks by a fisherman in a boat near Rudine beach on Krk on the evening of September 11.
He raised the alarm when he saw her at the same spot early the next morning and heard her yelling, ‘Please help’ in English.
The injured woman who speaks perfect English was unable to remember her name
A lifeboat crew attempted to reach the woman who was wearing a striped top and a pink hat, but were unable to get close enough due to the shallow water.
A team of 12 volunteers from the Rijeka Mountain Rescue team walked two miles across scrubland where they were unable to drive their 4 X 4 vehicles, and found her severely dehydrated and disorientated with no identification on her.
She was given first aid treatment for injuries including cuts to her face before being carried to an ambulance and driven to hospital in Rijeka where she remains in a stable condition.
A member of the rescue team said she had no passport or any other identification and was not wearing the correct clothing to have been hiking in the area.
The team member added: ‘The woman had minor injuries, she also had a few scratches and was extremely dehydrated and emaciated. She could barely take a few sips of water.
‘We placed her on a stretcher because she was unable to walk and transported her to the hospital.’
Ms Adamcová is reported born in Tren?ín, Czechoslovakia, but moved to the United States in 1984 when she was aged 19 to escape her drab life under Communist rule in the former Soviet-led Eastern Bloc country.
In a rags to riches story, she worked in childcare and did housework before getting a job at an estate agents and deciding to put herself through college, studying at the Fashion Institute of Design and Trade in Santa Monica, California.
An article about her life published in 2008 on the Slovakian website mytrencin.sme.sk told how she later got a job in a jewellery store before branching out into her own making her own jewellery, specialising in placing pearls with gold, silver and precious stones.
Rescuers were called by fishermen who heard the woman calling for help around 9am on September 12 – having spotted her the previous evening without realising she was stuck
She was quoted in the article, saying: ‘My friend at the time was a music producer and was in touch with people from the film industry. Through him, I got into film studios and lent jewellery to make movies and series.’
An early success was having a necklace of small stones in the shape of flowers featured being worn by one of the stars of Sabrina, the Teenage Witch.
She also was said to have had her work exhibited in Japan, New York and Hong Kong.
The article said that Ms Adamcová returned to Slovakia in 2000 to be closer to her family, but was hankering to return to the United States as she missed the sun and the sea.
It appears that her landed up homeless after she returned to Los Angeles and she was unable to pick up again on the gilded lifestyle that she had earlier enjoyed.
The news website Total Croatia News said it had been contacted by a woman called Nina Smidt who believed the injured woman was her former work colleague Ms Adamcová.
The woman was found with cuts and bruises and was so weak that she was unable to walk or take more than a few sips of water, so had to be carried to safety
Ms Smidt said she had seen news reports featuring the picture of the injured woman in Croatia, and ‘immediately’ recognised her as being Ms Adamcová who worked with her at a jewellery company in Los Angeles in 2015.
She told Total Croatia News: ‘The company had hired her through a non profit organisation that helps people transitioning out of homelessness. Daniela had been in and out of Women’s transitional housing and shelters.
‘At the time, the company was working out of Second Space in downtown LA where owner Tyler Madsen has a long history of helping the homeless community.
‘Daniela had told us that she wanted to go to Ireland where she had a good friend that she could stay with. Tyler generously let her move into Second Space rent free so she could save up the money to get off of Skid Row. In July 2015 she left for Ireland and that was the last we heard from her.
‘The second I saw her picture, I sent it to Tyler to confirm that it was her, which he confirmed.
‘I contacted the police in Krk right away and sent an email to the local Croatian police stations with her name, email and photos.
‘Daniela had run into hard times and bad luck. But she was a really good worker, smart and she has a wonderful heart. Tyler and I are concerned about her well being and are hopeful that now that her identity has been confirmed by the embassy, her family will be able to help find out what happened to her.’
Another woman called Laura Nowak contacted Total Croatia News to say that she had identified Ms Adamcová after using facial recognition software to compare photographs of her with the picture of the injured woman in Croatia. ends
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