Mystery American dementia sufferer Roger Curry found wandering English village ‘was dumped by OWN wife and son’ in a car park without any ID
BBC Panarama investigation reveals Roger Curry, 76, was identified after a viewer responded to a police appeal
AN AMERICAN man with dementia was flown to Britain and dumped in a car park by his OWN family, according to US court documents.
Roger Curry, 76, was mysteriously discovered outside the bus station in Hereford in November 2015 after being abandoned by his wife Mary and son Kevin.
The case baffled cops after Mr Curry was found in the picturesque hamlet with two men.
One was younger and also had an American accent and the second was a local man who answered a police appeal for information.
But as soon as the paramedics stopped the younger American disappeared – fuelling suspicions that he was a relative who was trying to abandon the frail OAP.
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Mr Curry was cared for at a nursing home in Britain for eight months before being flown back to Los Angeles.
Police spent months trying to work out who he was, despite contacting local care homes, hospitals and even international embassies.
According to tonight's BBC Panarama investigation, court papers filed in LA state: "In late 2015 Mr Curry was taken surreptitiously to England by his wife Mary Curry and his son Kevin Curry and abandoned there."
Mr Curry appeared to have been cared for and was found wearing new clothes.
He lived in a care home run by Herefordshire Council for months but was identified after a viewer responded to a police appeal on BBC Midlands last March.
Debbie Cocker found an old picture from a 1958 yearbook for Edmonds High School in Washington State which appeared to show Mr Curry in his younger days, as reported .
Roger Curry was then tracked down by investigators to a a burnt-out house following a fire at his home in 2014 in an affluent suburb of Los Angeles.
Neighbours identified the mystery man as Mr Curry, a former nurse married with two children.
Son Kevin told Panorama that he had nothing to do with the abandonment of his dad in England.
The high cost of care in America means that elderly people are sometimes abandoned in hospitals.
When releasing picture of Mr Curry last year, West Mercia Police spokesman Adam Vanner said: “We checked CCTV in the area where Roger was found to see if we could retrace his steps.
“We contacted nursing homes, care agencies, local authorities and neighbouring police forces.
“We ran his fingerprints through our database and put out a national broadcast to every force to see if he matched with any of their missing people."
Mr Vanner added: “This all happened in the first few hours.
“Roger does not say much but speaks with either an American or Canadian accent, so we contacted both embassies.
“We notified the Missing Persons Bureau and our corporate communications put out an appeal through the local media.
"The man is described as being white, tall and of slim build with grey hair, blue eyes and grey stubble.”
A man in his fifties, from Taunton in Somerset, was arrested last April on suspicion of kidnapping.
He is on bail and has not been charged.