Robyn Renee Bodine, 46, and Tracie Shoe, 52, were discovered safe "in an extremely remote area" of Catron County.
An Ohio woman who went missing during a birthday trip to New Mexico says she's grateful to be alive after she had gotten stranded in their rental vehicle with a friend and travel partner. Robyn Renee Bodine, 46, and Tracie Shoe, 52, were discovered safe "in an extremely remote area" of Catron County, according to the Brookville Police Department in Ohio.
Bodine said in a statement that she still has "fatigue and some dehydration to overcome" but is "thankful" to be home after the harrowing experience, per PEOPLE. “I am so overwhelmed with the magnitude of the situation, the outpouring of love, and especially the amazing actions of law enforcement to help us,” Bodine said. The Brookville woman added, “Right now my priority is to get home and hug my family. We are safe. We are coming home. Most of all we are thankful.”
Taylor Moberly, Bodine's daughter, earlier told WHIO-TV that her mother and Shoe went to visit Riverbend Hot Springs in the Truth or Consequences area of New Mexico. The two ladies checked out of a hotel around 11 a.m. on March 28. They did not, however, take their flight to Cincinnati later that day. The ladies were then "supposed to be heading in their rental car toward Phoenix/Mesa airport in Arizona" to fly home, according to police. However, the white Toyota sedan they leased was never returned.
Deputies in Catron County eventually found the women "alive and well." The women were discovered in their car, which was stuck in mud near Snow Lake in the Gila National Forest, the Chief of Police, Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, Luis Tavizon told CBS affiliate WHIO-TV.
Before the women were found, a family note was shared by the Truth or Consequences Police Department on March 29, where family members claimed that neither woman had "been in contact with anyone in the last 24 hours."
"We're not sure if a battery has gone dead or what has happened," Jennifer Lightcap, a friend of the two women told WHIO-TV, adding that "they are not responding, not answering on social media."
Tavizon later informed the outlet that cell phone service can be difficult to come by in parts of the Gila National Forest. "It's probably a good 28 miles in — you have zero cell phone service," he said, per the report. "When you go out there, to go fishing or recreational type stuff, you're off the grid. No cell phone service, no nothing. So you just don't expect to contact anybody."
References:
https://people.com/human-interest/ohio-women-missing-birthday-trip-found-safe-heading-home/
Cover Image Source: Facebook | Montgomery County Sheriff's Office Dayton Ohio
