A 58-year-old Felton woman who went missing last week was found Saturday, Dec. 4, off an unmarked trail in Fall Creek State Park in Felton after she slipped down an embankment and spent six nights curled up in the park.
Debra Collins was reported missing from her home on Hihn Road in Felton by her boss on Nov. 30, and a sheriff’s investigation found that she had left without her pet, keys and purse. Sheriff’s deputies spread the word of a missing person to media outlets Thursday, Dec. 2, but chose not to conduct an immediate search, saying they had no idea where to start.
However, the sheriff’s office asked park staff to look for Collins, and a number of neighbors walked trails on their own in private searches.
Collins is known by neighbors to be an avid hiker, and friends said she often would walk or ride her bike in Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park or in nearby Fall Creek.
She was discovered by Joachim Deguara and his 7-year-old son, Dylan, who had gone for a hike in Fall Creek on Saturday with the idea of looking for Collins after neighbors told the family she was missing.
Degaura spotted Collins’ blue jacket poking out from underneath a fallen tree at about 11:30 that morning.
The Felton Fire Protection District responded to a 9-1-1 call from Deguara and hiked nearly 3 miles to the remote spot where Collins was found.
“She was conscious and alert, just weak,” Chief Ron Rickabaugh said.
About 10 firefighters reached her, started giving her intravenous fluids and carried her on a stretcher out of the park, Rickabaugh said. The rescue took about four hours.
Collins was taken to Dominican Hospital in Santa Cruz, where she was treated for hypothermia and potential frostbite. Her toes were cold, but she said at a press conference that they were not frostbitten. She had no other injuries — her legs were simply too weak to move in the days before she was found.
What happened?
Collins, wearing four layers of clothing, including a jacket with a hood, walked Nov. 28 from her home in Felton into Fall Creek and hiked close to 3 miles to Lost Camp, a remote, unmarked trail in the park.
She said during a press conference at Dominican Hospital on Dec. 7 that she had planned to hike for 2½ hours, but she slipped off the trail into a ravine and was unable to lift herself up, because she was too weak.
She was found there by Deguara after spending six days in the park without food. She drank water from a nearby stream.
During the time alone, she called out into the forest for help and drifted in and out of consciousness, losing track of time. She said the nights were cold and lonely.
She crawled under a fallen tree and wrapped herself in a ball to stay warm. Temperatures at night were close to freezing for several nights before cloud cover warmed the area slightly.
“Those things — having some water and to be able to crawl herself under a tree,” Rickabaugh said. “Those helped her out a bit.”
To comment, e-mail pb******@*********er.com, call 438-2500 or visit www.pressbanner.com.
