Homeless Woman Featured in 'What Would You Do?' Found

March 19, 2009— -- After a long search, ABC News finally found the woman whose heroism touched so many viewers on a recent segment of "What Would You Do?"

On the day we first met Linda Hamilton, producers did an interview with her there on the street, and offered her food, which she courteously declined. We tried to contact her the next day but the telephone number she gave us was out of service, and the Newark, N.J., street she told us she lived on didn't exist.

We visited homeless shelters, soup kitchens, train stations, all to no avail. But by showing video to other homeless people and various agencies, we gradually zeroed in on one neighborhood, and a number of locations where she sometimes showed up. And, finally, Wednesday, a bodega owner called us excitedly: "She's here!"

That same day, John Quinones was finally able to show Hamilton the segment that had moved so many to tears. He read her some of the e-mails viewers had sent in, which caused a shy smile to flit across her face, and he gave her a pre-paid cell phone so that we could keep in contact with her. When the 42-year-old saw the cell phone, her face lit up like that of a little girl on Christmas day: "My own cell phone! I got my own cell phone! And it comes with a charger!"

Until last summer, she had been living in a homeless shelter, but recently dropped completely off the grid. For at least the past few days, she has been sleeping at night at an aunt's apartment in very crowded conditions.

We took her to New Jersey Emergency Services, where executive director Genia Philip and her staff began the process of getting her enrolled in programs that could cover her medical costs, housing and food.