Ronald Poppo, best known as the victim of a brazen cannibalistic attack , which left the nation questioning the existence of zombies , has a long-lost daughter, who has not seen him since she was two-years-old.
CBS News reports that Poppo’s daughter, Janice Poppo DiBello, 44, did not even know her father was alive until The New York Daily News tracked her down to ask. DiBello told them that:
“Since I was 2 years old, him and my mom got divorced and there was no — like how normal divorces are, where you see your father. Nobody ever heard anything from him, so I’ve never met him.”
She called up her mother, who confirmed that the man she saw on the news was indeed her father. Poppo dropped out of college in 1966, according to The New York Daily News , about two years before his daughter was born. His ex-wife stated about him that:
“I have nothing to say. We were divorced, probably in 1970. And nobody’s heard from him since then.”
Ronald Poppo’s daughter is still in shock at finding her father alive, especially after she enlisted the help of a police officer friend and looked through public records to search for him about 15 years ago, according to CBS News . She stated:
“It was a complete shock, because like I said, I’ve never had a relationship with my biological father. I have never heard from him. I have no idea what happened to him.”
Poppo’s life after the divorce spiraled out of control quickly with heavy drinking and arrests. In 1976, he found himself homeless and was treated for a gunshot wound at the same hospital where he is now trying to recover from his face-eating attack. CBS News reports that about 80% of his face is now gone, thanks to Rudy Eugene, the man who was shot to death after refusing to stop his gruesome attack.
When her mother relocated the two to New Jersey and remarried, Janice Poppo DiBello was 5, and considers her step-father to be her real father. When The New York Daily News asked if she would make the trip down south to see her father, Ronald Poppo, she stated that she wasn’t sure, and that, “I’m still in shock about everything.”