After Five Years, an Internet Mystery Is Solved

It was such a seemingly simple challenge: Identify the stylized faces of several celebrities that appeared on a piece of fabric. All but one were were identified quickly. The last one, however, vexed internet sleuths for five years and spawned an entire Reddit community devoted to the mystery of "Celebrity Number Six." Until now: The face belongs to Leticia Sarda, a former model who lives in Spain, reports ComicBook. And Sarda, now 43, says she's been nearly overwhelmed by the sudden attention to her quiet life. Coverage:

• The challenge: Five years ago, a Reddit user posted an image of the faces, depicted in pop-art style, and asked for help in identifying them. Those identified included Josh Holloway, Jessica Alba, Travis Fimmel, Ian Somerhalder, Orlando Bloom, and Adriana Lima, per news.com.au.

• The solve: The last face stumped everyone, with a common guess being River Phoenix, per USA Today. But within the last week, Reddit user StefanMorse wrote that he edited the photo to make it look more like a photo than an illustration, then came up with Sarda's name and the original photo thanks to facial-recognition and reverse-image searches. Another user, IndigoRoom, contacted the photographer who took the original image and confirmed it.
• Stunned: Sarda, who quit modeling in 2009, tells the New York Times that she "can't count" the number of people who have reached out to her since the discovery. She lives on the Spanish island of Tenerife in the Canary Islands, where she is raising her two children. "It's been too much for me for the last few days," she says. "I'm trying to enjoy it because after reading all the comments, nobody's, like, hating me or saying anything wrong, you know?" She is, however, wondering "how this is going to change my life."
• Then and now: Sarda also created an Instagram account and posted a photo of herself holding the original image, which was shot during a routine magazine feature in 2006.

(More Reddit stories.)