A woman who went missing from a remote campground in California’s White Mountains after she says she was confronted by a man with a knife is back home and reunited with her family.
Sheryl Powell, 60, detailed what it was like to be missing for three days at the campsite and what she remembers of the man who pulled a knife on her during an appearance Tuesday on NBC’s “Today” show.
Powell described the man as a burley, bald “big guy” with tanned skin. She said she was told to do what he said and he would refrain from using the knife on her and her dog.
She was able to run away from the man Friday, and search and rescue teams found her and her dog Monday.
“Yesterday I was saddest man on the planet and today I’m the happiest man on the planet,” her husband, Joseph Powell, said Tuesday. “It’s a miracle. I got my wife back.”
Joseph Powell said he was moving their Jeep while Powell walked their small dog, Miley, when they both disappeared without a trace. He searched for nearly an hour for them, and then contacted authorities.
There has been no sign of the man and the sheriff’s office later released another statement saying it was “actively investigating the circumstances surrounding her disappearance. We have no further information at this time.”
The White Mountains lie east of the Sierra Nevada range and northwest of Death Valley National Park. Grandview Campground is at an elevation of 8,600 feet (2,621 meters) near the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest, 230 miles (370 kilometers) north of Los Angeles.
It is prized by star gazers for sky vistas far from city lights, according to the Inyo National Forest. The nearest civilization is a 16-mile (25.8-kilometer) drive to the town of Big Pine down in Owens Valley.
The Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest has trees that are more than 4,000 years old, the oldest in the world.
