Missing woman found naked in ditch two days after crash

A 53-year-old woman reported missing in Florida was found alive and unclothed in a ditch two days after her crashed vehicle was discovered in a canal.

The St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office identified her as Jennifer Fisher of Jacksonville.

She was located on Thursday morning near the 4400 block of Johnston Road after several 911 calls reported a woman lying in a ditch.

The sheriff’s office said callers believed she matched a widely circulated missing person alert. “Your participation directly contributed to Ms. Fisher being located safely,” it wrote in a Facebook post thanking the public and social media users.

Authorities had earlier found Fisher’s white 2018 Acura MDX partially submerged in a canal near Indrio Road and Johnston Road, north of Fort Pierce.

Following that discovery, deputies deployed aviation, drone, dive and K-9 units in an extensive search but were unable to locate her.

Detectives later learned Fisher had booked an Airbnb stay for two nights, though the location was unknown. They also noted that she left Jacksonville with a teal electric bicycle attached to her vehicle, which was not recovered at the crash site.

Investigators suggested she may have used it to leave the area.

When found on Thursday, Fisher told deputies she had crashed her vehicle, removed her clothes, and walked into the woods intending to stay there for days. She also complained of irritation caused by fire ant bites.

St. Lucie County Sheriff Richard Del Toro expressed relief to local media: “I’m very relieved that she’s alive and she’s going be on her way to recovery.”

Lieutenant Andrew Bolonka, describing the area of the crash, told CBS12, “It’s a very narrow path and even to access the path, unless you know where it is and where to turn, you don’t even see it.”

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Fisher was transported by St. Lucie County Fire Rescue to Lawnwood Regional Medical Center for medical evaluation. The sheriff’s office Criminal Investigations Division is probing the incident.