Update: Read more about how Holly Suzanne Courtier survived here.
Holly Suzanne Courtier was found alive in Zion National Park, officials say.
Courtier, 38, was dropped off by a private shuttle bus at the Grotto park area on Oct. 6. She was scheduled to be picked up at 4:40 p.m., but never returned.
Search and rescue crews found Courtier on Sunday after a park visitor told rangers that they had seen her in the park.
A Zion official told The Salt Lake Tribune that Courtier was able to leave the park with her family, but offered no other details on her condition or where she was found.
Courtier remained hospitalized Monday morning, her sister told ABC’s “Good Morning America." She had lost a lot of weight and had “bruises all over her body,” said Jillian Courtier-Oliver.
“She hasn’t [eaten] since then at all,” Courtier-Oliver said. "She’s had very little water, we found out.
An update on a GoFundMe page started by another of Courtier’s sisters advised that Courtier “will need medical care in the days moving forward.” As of Monday morning, the page had raised more than $10,000 of its $15,000 goal.
“We are overjoyed that she was found safely today,” Courtier’s family said in a statement released by the park. “We would like to thank the rangers and search teams who relentlessly looked for her day and night and never gave up hope. We are also so grateful to the countless volunteers who were generous with their time, resources and support. This wouldn’t have been possible without the network of people who came together.”
Data for missing persons on federal public land in the United States is notoriously unreliable, but the total number could exceed 1,600 people, according to some reports.
The National Park Service maintains a cold-case roster of people who have gone missing in national parks and have never been found. The web page currently has information about 23 missing persons and several unsolved homicides dating back to 1967.
The park service also posts announcements about ongoing search and rescue work, including five recent updates about Courtier. The last, announcing that she’s alive, thanked K-9 units from the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources and Utah Search Dogs Search and Rescue Teams, Grand Canyon National Park Emergency Service Team, as well as the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, Grand Canyon National Park Emergency Service Team, Bryce Canyon National Park and Lake Mead National Recreation Area Park Rangers for helping with the search.
