A missing Florida woman was rescued after she was found naked in a storm drain
A Florida woman was rescued naked and weak from a storm drain Tuesday.
She told police officers she had been down there 20 days after she got lost swimming in the canal.
A police spokesman said officers were skeptical about how long she had actually been down there.
A 43-year-old woman is recovering in the hospital after she was found naked and trapped in a Delray Beach sewer system, three weeks after her boyfriend reported her missing from a different Florida county.
-WEAR ABC 3 (@weartv) March 24, 2021
The woman told police officers she went swimming in a flood canal on March 3, the same day her boyfriend reported her missing. While swimming, she said she came across a doorway in a shallow part of the canal which took her into the sewer system, according to a police incident report released Wednesday.
She told police she was curious where the tunnel led and continued to follow it and other tunnels, until she eventually became lost.
The woman told police she had wandered the tunnels, lost, for 20 days, until she saw light and walked toward it. She said she noticed people walking by and decided to sit, according to the incident report, which Insider reviewed. It was unclear how long it took for someone to notice her.
Eventually she yelled at a passerby for help who called the police.
"There's somebody stuck in the sewer over here," the passerby said in a 911 call reviewed by Insider. "She is stuck and can't get out and is screaming for help."
Delray Beach police and fire department responded to the scene Tuesday morning and responders were able to extract the woman who was immediately taken to the hospital for medical attention, the incident report said.
Post by Delray Beach Fire Rescue.
The report said the woman seemed "very lucid" when talking to police after her rescue, though the officer noted her rendition of events was "unusual."
Ted White, public information manager for Delray Beach Police Department, said there was some skepticism among the police department that she was actually down in the sewer system for as long as she said she was.
"The health officials don't believe that she was down there for that long," White told Insider. "From their perspective, they think maybe days, but certainly not weeks."
Officers told media outlets that they don't believe there was any foul play involved, nor do they believe any crime was committed.
The police report noted that the woman has a history of mental illness and drug use. The woman's mother said her daughter has a history of "doing odd things and making bad decisions when she is high on drugs."
Read the original article on Insider
