The Alabama woman who survived 28 days naked and lost in the dense woods is speaking out about her ordeal.
“I’m just so happy to be home and recuperating,” Lisa Theris told NBC-affiliate WSFA. “Just being out of those woods is just the most amazing thing.”
The 25-year-old was recently found along the bushes of a highway by a driver on Aug. 12. She was reported missing by her family on July 23. They saw her last on July 18.
Today, she is recuperating at her home in Barbour County, Ala. gaining back the nearly 50 pounds she lost and healing from the bug bites that cover her body head-to-toe.
Theris says she is grateful to the driver, Judy Garner, for stopping and helping her.
“She was so wonderful,” Theris said on Wednesday, reflecting on her rescue.
“I saw something [on the edge of the road] and it was on all fours and I thought it was a deer,” said Garner. “It was a woman on the side of the road with no clothes on. She was on her knees and her hands. When I got there and went over to her she said, ‘Help me, please.’”
Garner gave Theris some water and clothes and alerted emergency services. She then asked the young woman what happened to her clothes.
“I think she said when she went to sleep they were on, but when she woke up, they weren’t on,” said Garner.
Theris isn’t speaking about the circumstances of her disappearance because they are still under police investigation.
Authorities said Theris was with two men, Randall Oswald and Manly Davis, who were later arrested and charged for allegedly burglarizing a hunting cabin between July 17 and 18. Police said Theris did not want to be involved when she found out the men’s plan.
Oswald and Davis have not been implicated in Theris’ disappearance but have been questioned, said police.
Theris says being lost in the woods was frightening. The woman is also legally blind without glasses or contacts and had a hard time seeing where she was going, reports WSFA.
“You can’t imagine how large of an area it was. I couldn’t believe it,” said Theris. “I kept thinking I would find a person or a house, even if it was empty, but there was nothing. Nothing but nature.”
She said she could hear the sounds of traffic from the highway but it took two days to find her way to it.
“The only thing that kept me going was my family. I just kept thinking about how I had to see my family again,” she said. “There were times I thought I was never going to make it out but I just kept pushing, tried to keep that in the back of my head.”
“I’m just so thankful. I just praise God and I’m so happy to be here right now.”
Comments