Missing woman found on street

By LEANORA MINAI

© St. Petersburg Times, published May 30, 2000

ST. PETERSBURG -- Missing for nearly three days, Alison Sagese was found Monday night -- her 27th birthday -- sobbing and walking alone near Fossil Park.

She did not know her name or where she lived. She was wearing a white baseball cap, a tank top, shorts and tennis shoes. She did not appear injured but was weary.

"Do you know your name?" asked April Hemby, 44, who found Sagese wandering down Livingston Avenue off Fourth Street N.

"No," Sagese replied. "I don't know anything, only that a dog was chasing me."

Sagese was being examined at Bayfront Medical Center late Monday. Police said she appeared to suffer from a type of amnesia.

Sagese was last with her parents, Linda and Michael Sagese, on Friday night at their Venetian Isles home. Sagese talked with her mother before she went to bed about feeling depressed because she had strep throat. She was taking antibiotics and antihistamines.

She has had disorienting, allergic reactions to medication in the past, her parents said. The next morning, Mrs. Sagese went to check on her daughter in her bedroom. She was gone.

At first, police suspected suicide or foul play.

- Times Staff Writer Ed Quioco and Metro Editor Pat Farnan contributed to this report.

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