‘A ton of weight has been lifted’: Missing camper found alive after nearly a month 

By Lindsay Weber

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    MONO HOT SPRINGS, California (KCRA) — A woman who has been missing for weeks in a remote part of Central California has been found alive.

Tiffany Slaton, 28, was found safe near Lake Edison on Wednesday afternoon after she sought shelter in a cabin within Vermilion Valley Resort, according to the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office.

Slaton was initially reported missing by her family across the country in Georgia on April 29. The report came after she went camping alone in the Shaver Lake and Huntington Lake area. The sheriff’s office said she regularly stayed in touch with family members on her trip, but they stopped hearing from her after April 20.

On May 10, the sheriff’s office said it had to scale back the search for Slaton, after its Search and Rescue team spent five straight days and nights combing the mountain region for her or her belongings. The department noted the search spanned nearly 600 square miles.

But on Wednesday, officials said the owner of the resort found Slaton while checking his property. Luckily, he was aware of the search for her and noticed she matched the description of the missing woman, so he called the sheriff’s office.

He said Slaton popped out of the cabin, ran up to him, and without saying a word, just wanted a hug.

“It was a pretty surreal moment,” the owner said. “One of [her] first questions was ‘what day is it?'”

He said they had just made a grocery run so were able to offer her peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

The sheriff’s office said Slaton was dehydrated but otherwise in good condition. She was taken to an area hospital for further treatment and observation.

Officials said the resort owner’s forward thinking could have helped her survival.

“The road from Kaiser Pass back to Lake Edison was impassable due to the snowpack. Snowplows cleared the road on Wednesday, which allowed the resort owner to access his property so he could begin preparations to open it up to the public for the summer season. The owner said he had left a cabin unlocked as a precaution for this exact situation, where someone who is lost could seek shelter and increase their chances of surviving the outdoor elements and harsh weather,” the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office wrote in a news release.

“This has to be the third or fourth best day of our lives after our children’s births,” Tiffany’s father, Bobby Slaton, said in a press conference. “We are more happy that she is safe than anything else because a ton of weight has been lifted.”

Bobby Slaton said he and Tiffany’s mother, Fredrina Slaton, were out shopping before they made the trip to Fresno when they got the call they’ve been hoping for.

“To get a phone call that Tiffany is doing fine, it’s hard to contain your tears and your excitement in the middle of clothes shopping,” Bobby Slaton said.

“Bobby was crying and I didn’t know what was going on and I just grabbed somebody and said, ‘Can I hug you?'” Fredrina Slaton said.

Bobby said he heard from his daughter as soon as she got within cell signal on the way down the mountain.

“I just thank God for that moment,” he said. “Prayers were answered, and I promise you, a lot of prayers went up.”

Fredrina said Tiffany missing during Mother’s Day was hard, but people from Fresno and across the world offered her words of comfort.

Her parents said Tiffany’s birthday was on Thursday.

The sheriff’s office said they are still trying to piece together the events during her disappearance.

“She’s obviously relentless. We’re blown away. We don’t know how she got from where she was last seen to where she ended up,” said Tony Botti, spokesperson for the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office. “She’s going to have an amazing story to tell.”

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