CLINTON — A Connecticut woman last seen in a parked car outside a small market in Clinton was reported missing by police on Thursday, and no one knows what compelled her to drive to Maine.
According to a post on the department’s Facebook Page, Kimberly Piccolo, 31, of Connecticut, was discovered sleeping in her car at 7 p.m. Sunday at the Tradewinds Market on Hinckley Road. An officer and rescue personnel spoke with Piccolo, who reportedly said that she had fallen asleep and was waiting for friends to pick her up. She appeared to be in good condition and refused medical care. There was no probable cause to make her go for a medical evaluation.
Piccolo drives a silver Mazda 3 with Connecticut license plate number 926YOV.
Barbara Piccolo, Kimberly Piccolo’s mother, said the family has no idea why Piccolo would drive the nearly 350 miles from her home in Westport, Connecticut, to Clinton. She said they’ve talked to her daughter’s friends, and they can’t find anyone she would have driven up to Maine to see.
“She just got in her car and drove,” Barbara Piccolo said.
Piccolo’s mother said she had just gotten into Portland around 2 p.m. Thursday, and they were searching for Kimberly. She said her apparent spur-of-the-moment drive to Maine was not at all something Kimberly would do.
“It’s not in her character at all,” her mother said.
Barbara Piccolo described her daughter as a “very professional, brilliant young lady,” an educated person who usually kept everything together. But the mother said her daughter’s behavior had been unusual last week. Kimberly Piccolo had been staying at her mother’s for the previous three days and had been acting “paranoid” lately. While Kimberly has suffered anxiety in the past that she had taken medication for, Barbara Piccolo said that anxiety was nothing compared to the way her daughter had been acting.
“She was acting like she thinks somebody’s watching her,” Barbara Piccolo said, adding that the behavior included constantly checking to make sure doors were locked and window shades were drawn.
Barbara Piccolo said her daughter had a friend who lived in Portland at one time, but that friend moved away some time ago.
“I’m just thinking maybe she was distraught, got in her car and drove,” she said. “It doesn’t make sense, and that’s what makes it worse.”
While Kimberly Piccolo was not taking medication at the time, Barbara Piccolo thought maybe she should have been.
“Even her anxiety in the past was nothing like this past week,” she said.
Barbara Piccolo said her daughter left her house at 7 a.m. Sunday, taking only her pocketbook and the car she drove away in. She left all her clothes behind and didn’t have much money.
“It’s so weird that she would just drive up here and sleep in her car,” Barbara said. “None of it makes sense.”
Clinton police Chief Rusty Bell said his agency has been in contact with the Police Department in the Piccolos’ area. He said Clinton police have reviewed surveillance video from the Tradewinds store and have a complete timeline from when police spoke with Piccolo to when she left around 8:40 p.m.
Bell said Connecticut police are working to “ping” Piccolo’s phone to determine its location. This can mean sending a phone a message, and having it respond with requested data. It also might mean locating the phone by identifying the cell tower that received the last signal from the phone. Piccolo’s phone is currently off, but pinging it will determine where she last used it.
When Piccolo left the market, Bell said, she turned right, which leads police to believe she was heading toward Interstate 95. They have no way of knowing yet if she went north or south, but Bell said police don’t have any reason to believe she is still in Clinton.
“She has no connection to Clinton,” Bell said.
In the video, Piccolo was last seen wearing a green and white jacket. Bell said she appeared healthy in the video, getting out of the car a few times and going into the store. No one came to meet Piccolo during the length of the video. When she was checked out by the officer and rescue team, she appeared all right. At the time an officer met with her, Piccolo had not been reported missing.
Bell said another cause for concern was that Piccolo is supposed to be in a wedding party Friday, and no one in the party had heard from her.
Colin Ellis — 861-9253
cellis@centralmaine.com
Twitter: @colinoellis
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