A 27-year-old woman who went missing more than two weeks ago during a blizzard in the California mountains was found alive.
Tiffany Slaton of Jeffersonville, Georgia, was found safe in a cabin at the Vermilion Valley Resort near Lake Edison in the Sierra Nevada, the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday.
The resort's owner, Christopher Gutierrez, found Slaton after snowplows cleared the road for him to access and open his property for the summer, authorities said in press release.
Gutierrez told authorities that he kept his cabin unlocked in the rare event that someone would get stranded in the mountains and need to seek shelter.
His hunch appears to have paid off.
Speaking at a press conference Wednesday, Gutierrez said that when he realized a woman was in the cabin, he recognized Slaton from her missing person's report.
"She pops out, didn’t say a word, just ran up, and all she wanted was a hug. And it was, it was a pretty surreal moment," he said. "And that’s when I knew. That’s when I realized who this was."
He added that Slaton did not know how many days she had been missing or that people were searching for her. She did not appear to have enough supplies or equipment to endure a blizzard,
Slaton's parents reported her missing April 29 after not hearing from her for nine days, authorities said. She was last seen alive at a general convenience store in the area April 24.
The sheriff's office said it conducted a full-scale operation in the mountains looking for her from May 6 to May 10, spanning 600 square miles and included the use of a helicopter.
Slaton was found dehydrated, "but otherwise in good condition," authorities said. She was transported to a nearby hospital for further observation, they added.
At the press conference Wednesday, Slaton's parents were elated.
“This has to be the third or fourth best day of our lives after our children’s birth,” Slaton’s father said. “We are extremely excited and happy to hear the news that my daughter is now safe.”
He added that when he first spoke with his daughter over the phone, she said: "'Dad, I'm alive, and I'm sorry.'"
