'Confused' Missing Woman Found on Side of Calif. Highway

Laura Lynne Stacy picked up by cops 3 days after she disappeared
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 26, 2017 7:33 AM CST
Missing Woman Found Wandering Calif. Highway
This undated image provided by the Los Angeles Police Department shows a now-found Laura Lynne Stacy.   (Los Angeles Police Department via AP)

She vanished from her apartment over the weekend, police confirmed her car had been discovered Tuesday, and on Wednesday, Laura Lynne Stacy herself was found, wandering along the side of a California highway "confused" and "somewhat disoriented," LAPD Detective Tim O'Quinn tells KTLA. Now law enforcement officials are trying to piece together what caused the 28-year-old Hollywood Hills woman to disappear, with O'Quinn noting there are "a lot of unknowns." Per an LAPD press release, Stacy was last seen on Barham Boulevard in Los Angeles on Sunday, when Fox News reports she left her apartment. Her cellphone was found lying in a puddle the next day in Santa Clarita's Golden Valley Park, about 30 miles away from her home; her locked 2005 Acura was found in Lancaster on Tuesday night, which is another 30 miles or so from Santa Clarita.

Police officers searching for the real estate agent saw her walking along Route 14 Wednesday and confirmed it was her; officials say she was suffering from exposure and dehydration, per the Los Angeles Daily News. As cops continue to investigate—and so far there's no sign of foul play, they say—Stacy's mom, Marcy, has her own theory, telling Fox that her daughter, a photo enthusiast, probably went to the park to take pictures, dropped her phone in the puddle while there, then got lost and ran out of gas after not having the phone's GPS to guide her home during inclement weather. "You can tell she was in the car for a while," Marcy Stacy says. Her daughter, who recently moved to the LA area from Denver, was taken to the hospital for precautionary measures, police officials say. (The strange story of a missing jogger found alive three weeks after she disappeared.)

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