Identity of elderly woman left at Sunshine Coast hospital still a mystery

For nearly a month, a mystery elderly woman has lived in a Sunshine Coast hospital bed.

No name. No family. And no clues to her past.  

Is this how her life plays out?

There's now nothing more police can do.

"We're not treating this as a criminal investigation," Acting Inspector Matt Robertson told media last week.

"We're just trying to reunite her with her family."

But no-one has answered that call - not a relative, not a friend, nor a neighbour.

At Mooloolah Valley - her last known location - a subtle poster hangs on the community notice board.

Emblazoned over a photograph of the frail woman in hospital, the words: "please help find her family."

The problem is, not a single person in the tiny town of 3000 has ever seen her before.

"Been here a decade," butcher Dean Hume said.

"And I've honestly never seen her."

The same goes for the IGA's Diana Van Jole.

"I couldn't foresee anyone not wanting to look after their own blood," she said.

"It's just gut-wrenching."

On September 6, security cameras captured a man leaving the woman at Nambour Hospital.

The man was an apparent stranger who later came forward to police, telling them he didn't know her and simply found her walking along a Mooloolah Valley road.

Investigators have no reason to suspect him of any wrongdoing.

As for the woman, she speaks only occasionally to nurses - never police.

In her feeble state, her faculties diminished, she'd swallowed her ring.

Police hope someone will recognise the ring, because it seems her face isn't enough.

They've ruled out several missing person cases, and a DNA test is impossible without the woman's verbal permission.

If no-one comes forward, it's likely she'll be given a public guardian - meaning Queensland's mystery woman should get the care she needs.

But she won't have a friend, or a family.

Or a name.