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Washington woman missing for a week found safe in woods

By Associated Press
Published: August 3, 2020, 7:28am

SEATTLE — A Washington woman was found alive more than a week after she went missing in a wooded area, authorities said.

Gia Fuda, 18, of Maple Valley was located by search and rescue crews in the Cascade foothills Saturday afternoon, The Seattle Times reported.

Fuda was in stable condition in a Monroe hospital Sunday afternoon and deputies had not yet spoken with her, said Sgt. Ryan Abbott of the King County Sheriff’s Office.

Rescuers found Fuda sitting on a rock next to a creek in a steep, wooded ravine about 1.2 miles (1.9 kilometers) from her car, which was parked 10 miles (16 kilometers) east of Skykomish.

She was unable to immediately speak at length to the rescuers, Abbott said.

“All she said was, ‘I don’t know where I am,'” Abbott said. “She hadn’t eaten in so long that she wasn’t making a lot of sense, so we just rushed her off to the hospital to get her some treatment.”

Search and rescue teams used helicopters and Bloodhound dogs to search the area for days. The dogs tracked her scent 1.75 miles (2.8 kilometers) west from her vehicle, but then “for some reason she turned into the woods,” Abbott said.

Rescuers found Fuda’s car keys, some clothing and a Bible along the creek before a mountain rescue team ultimately located her.

Fuda may have become lost while searching for gas for her car, Abbott said.

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