Photo: Inyo County Sheriff’s Office
Powell, a Huntington Beach resident, has been described as an experienced hiker — which helped her survive for four days on her own.
“She was described as extremely resilient and her hiking skills came into play,” Carma Roper, a spokesperson for the Inyo County Sheriff’s Office, tells PEOPLE. “She adapted after being lost for more than four days.”
“We are so elated and I am sure her family is thrilled,” Roper says. “It has been a long ordeal for them. Everybody is just elated for this to be a happy conclusion to this four day search. It is fantastic.”
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After Powell and her husband, Joe, picked out a “remote” campsite, she got out of their Jeep to give the dog a bathroom break while Joe repositioned the car.
“Mr. Powell could not locate Mrs. Powell or their dog once he parked the Jeep,” police said in the Facebook post. “After searching for almost an hour, Mr. Powell alerted law enforcement through his satellite device.”
Police have not yet commented on how Powell went missing, but the family says that she was trying to escape a man that was trying to rape her,according to KTLA.
Powell’s son Greg told the outlet that a man “brandishing a knife” came at her while Joe was still in the car, and told her “if she didn’t give him what he wanted he was going to knife the dog.”
Inyo County police have yet to comment on the circumstances of Powell’s disappearance, but said an update to the Facebook post that they are currently “actively investigating.”
The terrain in which Powell was lost is dangerous; police said that “[c]hallenges include multiple gullies, shale slopes, low shade, direct sun, and rattlesnakes.”
“I can’t underscore enough how wonderful it is to have a happy conclusion to this and bring her home safely to her family,” Roper tells PEOPLE.
“SHES ALIVE!!! This is the happiest day of our lives. We can’t thank everyone enough!!!!!!!” Powell’s daughter, Farrah, said in aFacebook poston Monday, including a photo of the family from Powell’s hospital bed.
source: people.com
