A massive search was initiated in the vicinity of Portland, Oregon after Allyson Watterson and Benjamin Garland went missing in the woods on Sunday.
The 20-year-old woman and her boyfriend decided to go hiking in the secluded area at about 18 miles outside the city.
However, Garland was discovered at some point later during the day by a resident who found the 21-year-old sound asleep in his vehicle.
After that, Garland, accompanied by his father, reportedly returned to the wooded area in an unsuccessful effort to find Watterson and contacted her family.
The young woman was reported missing on Monday, and as a result, search and rescue teams had been dispatched to look for her.
WCSO Detective Mark Povolny stated: “We are still working on confirming whether or not she stayed this area or may have left the area. By the time she was reported missing into Monday night gives us that gap of those 30 hours, and so that brings in lots of possibilities that we just we don’t want to speculate.”
The action continued even during the holidays, but unfortunately, Watterson was still not found.
Meanwhile, Garland was taken into custody by authorities based on charges which allegedly were not connected with the case of his missing girlfriend.
Garland pleaded guilty to charges of theft, fraudulent use of a credit card, unauthorized use of a vehicle, and possession of a stolen vehicle after his arrest on Tuesday. The boyfriend remains in jail.
According to his version of the story, he and Watterson were hiking in the woods, when at some point he realized she was not with him anymore.
Since then, it appears that the search parties have found a new piece of evidence related to the case on Thursday, because in an official press conference, Deputy Tony Morris, from Washington County Sheriff’s Office, stated that some interesting items and clues were discovered.
They were going to try to find out more information with a new approach.
Morris did not reveal anything more about the discovery and claimed he was not allowed to tell anything more.
On Saturday, authorities said that the active search was suspended. Search and Rescue commander Morris stated: “If I believed she was in an area I could find her, this wouldn’t be getting suspended. We’ve just chased everything we had.”
Misty Watterson, who is Watterson’s mother, replied: “Allyson, I’ll never stop searching for you — never.”
Authorities say there is no evidence that the missing woman went hiking and her mother said that Garland and Watterson were going to see a friend when their car broke down.
Officials were not able to confirm the veracity of the mom’s statement.
