Woman's Long-Lost Dad Is Face-Eating Victim

Janice Poppo DiBello had never met her father, Ronald Poppo
By Dustin Lushing,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 1, 2012 5:13 PM CDT
Woman's Long-Lost Dad Is Face-Eating Victim
Rudy Eugene, left, and Ronald Poppo, his victim, right   (AP Photo/Miami-Dade Police Dept.)

The estranged daughter of the homeless man whose face was eaten in that horrific Miami crime was astonished to find that her long-lost father was the victim. New Jersey's Janice Poppo DiBello, 44, had never met her biological father, Ronald Poppo, 65, who is now hospitalized with most of his face gone, reports the New York Daily News. “Since I was 2 years old, him and my mom got divorced… I didn't know if he was alive or dead," said Poppo DiBello.

“It was a complete shock, because like I said, I’ve never had a relationship with my biological father,” said Poppo DiBello, now an IT analyst in New Jersey. “I have never heard from him. I have no idea what happened to him.” Her mother said they were divorced around 1970, and no one had heard from his since. Poppo had graduated from the prestigious Stuyvesant High School in New York City before spiraling down an alcohol- and crime-filled path that left him homeless in Florida for decades. (More miami zombie stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X