CRANSTON, R.I. (WLNE) — Cranston police said surveillance video captured 45-year-old Linda DaLomba, who is nonverbal and autistic, walking alone before getting into a parked car. Now questions are being raised about why her caregiver didn’t provide accurate information. According to police, s urveillance footage from March 19 shows DaLomba walking unattended on Pond Road before entering a car that had been parked for weeks. DaLomba’s caregiver, Roberta Gerard, admitted to police that she left DaLomba alone in her car while visiting a nail salon about 475 feet from where DaLomba was found. Gerard arrived at the salon at 12:48 p.m. and left at 2:32 p.m. then returned to her home on North Clarendon Street. Police said she drove around the area before reporting DaLomba missing from the Burlington Coat Factory at 3:58 p.m. Police said that based on the evidence, DaLomba got out of Gerard’s car in the nail salon parking lot before traveling to Pond Street and entering the parked car. “This raises a lot of questions. Why wouldn’t someone give us the right information? We probably could’ve found her within hours,” said Cranston Police Chief Colonel Michael Winquist DaLomba was found five days later, curled up in the back hatch area of that same parked car. The car had tinted windows, making it hard to see inside. Police credit Savong Sam, a Cranston Fire Department mechanic, for discovering her. Now, Cranston’s mayor, Ken Hopkins is pushing for a new statewide bill called the “Linda Alert” to improve search efforts for vulnerable adults. Detectives believe that no one but Gerard was involved in DaLomba’s disappearance. Gerard is facing multiple charges, including abuse of an adult with severe impairments, which is a felony and is due back in court in June. DaLomba remains in the hospital and police said her health is improving. The state attorney general’s office has taken over the investigation. Categories: Cranston, News, Rhode Island ...read more read less