Woman survives month lost in woods
Found weak, emaciated and bitten by insects
A woman in Alabama has been reunited with her family after being lost in the woods for a month, sheltering among the trees and surviving on mushrooms and berries.
Lisa Theris, 25, was found on Saturday afternoon after she finally reached a road, and managed to signal to a motorist for help. She had lost 50 lbs. and was covered in scratches and insect bites, but was not severely harmed.
“I’ve been doing this now going on 15 years and I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Chad Faulkner, of the Bullock County sheriff’s office. “Her will to live is incredible. I hate to classify it as a miracle, but it’s a miracle.”
Theris had set off into the woods near Midland with two men, who broke into a hunting lodge in Midway. She told her family that she did not want to be part of the robbery, and so ran away from the pair.
On July 23 her family reported her missing.
The two men, Manley Davis, 31, and Randall Oswald, 36, were arrested and charged following the theft of $40,000 worth of goods, including four-wheel drive cars and chainsaws.
“She’s not familiar with this area and apparently on the night she ran, she went into the woods at night and got lost,” said Raymond Rodgers, sheriff of Bullock county.
Theris told police that she drank water from streams and tried to walk to safety, but ended up disoriented and walking in circles. “We didn’t ask her too many questions,” said Rodgers.
“We want to make sure her health is good so we got her on to the hospital. We did not interrogate her at that time.”
Faulkner said they expect to have more details about her movements in the coming days. Elizabeth Theris, her sister, said the missing woman was now back at home in Louisville, Ala.
“She is severely weakened, she is in pain, she is emaciated,” she said. “There is not an inch of her that has not been affected.
“We are lucky that she is alive, she is so strong and has made it through so much.”
Her brother, Will, said that she was “standing strong and full of jokes as ever.” He added: “The next few weeks will be rough, but she is handling it all like a trooper.”