WA GIOVANNA "GIA" FUDA: Missing from Maple Valley, WA - 24 July 2020 - Age 18 Found Alive

GrandmaBear · Aug 2, 2020

I checked the King County SD page and there is not even an announcement of her being found safe. Under an older post, someone mentions it or a few do. I thought maybe there would be more official information there but I did not even see an announcement. Of course, it is a business end of things I guess and just a FB page and it is the weekend...

Can't sleep so checking around a bit on a few cases.

SheWhoMustNotBeNamed · Aug 2, 2020

Nothing on their Facebook but they did post on Twitter. That's also who gave the press conference that was posted/summarized last page.

SheWhoMustNotBeNamed · Aug 2, 2020

Gia Fuda's family says she is doing well after staying overnight at a hospital in Monroe. The 18-year-old was found deep in the woods near Skykomish yesterday. She was missing for 9 days.

Sheriff's Office: Gia Fuda has been found

The King County Sheriff's Office says Gia Fuda has been found alive. She was found deep in the woods, conscious and talking, a few miles from where her car was parked on the side of Hwy 2 east of Skykomish. Medics treated her on scene and she was transported to an area hospital. The sheriff's...

komonews.com

GrandmaBear · Aug 3, 2020

She looks really good considering the length of her ordeal. Happy she is healthy and safe. She definitely was not in Wisconsin woods or that face would be all skeeter bites. My best guess is she was following some trail or something she thought was a driveway hoping to find a home with someone there to help or a phone.

Very relieved she was found. These cases at times--they found this girl in deep woods yet the young woman in Florida they can't find and I would have thought in that case, a day or two tops... Just considering store videos, vehicle descriptions, cell phone or electronic records...

GrandmaBear · Aug 3, 2020

Here is a little more explanation. It still throws me some but I guess and can admit I don't know the area. I know in this area, I think people would be lucky to find tourist rural coffee shops open especially with the Covid rules. It still does not explain why she was packed either. And I guess I am old because I can see one stop for coffee but I never knew there were like trips for different coffee shops. I FREELY admit I am behind the times I suppose...

Bottom line though, she is alive, it was a great outcome rather than a tragedy and that is what matters...

Parents of young woman found alive in woods thank rescuers

Bob and Kristin Fuda were reunited with their 18-year-old daughter, Gia Fuda, Saturday afternoon after she spent eight days alone deep in the woods.

www.kiro7.com

SheWhoMustNotBeNamed · Aug 3, 2020

I do know the area and it still throws me a little bit. But some people really do have no sense of direction...and she's only 18 (as shown by stopping for coffee and not gas).

She has some growing up to do. Thankfully she can do it! <3

SheWhoMustNotBeNamed · Aug 3, 2020

Maple Valley teen recovering in hospital after 9-day disappearance

18-year-old Gia Fuda got lost near Highway 2 after her car ran out of gas over a week ago. She ended up surviving off of berries and water from a nearby creek.

www.king5.com

She told her parents she got out of her car and took her cell phone to call for help, but got lost.

“There’s no reception up there, so she was going to get reception or help. She got down the road and got up into forest the trees, and the woods thinking she could get to a bridge and got turned around up there,” her father, Bob Fuda, explained.

Finally, after more than a week on her own, she was reunited with her family on Saturday.

“It was almost not real, we're crying ‘Gia how are you doing?’ and she's like ‘I'm fine.”.. I'm like are you kidding me?” her mother, Kristin Fuda, explained.

“She's doing amazing, after eight days of no food, eating berries up there... she said she was eating berries. She's an amazingly strong girl," Bob said.

Her family said she was able to drink from a creek and spent much of the time walking around and praying.

Gia is a bit scratched up and dehydrated but didn’t suffer any major medical issues. She told her parents that she didn’t realize she was missing for so long.

“She's like, 'I'm fine nothing's broken.' She's mentally tough and now we've found out she's physically tough," her parents said.

“That was the best thing I heard everyone saying, this is the best news of 2020,” Kristin said. “We kept faith and I kept telling him (Bob), 'She's so stubborn, she'll make it,'” she said.

GrandmaBear · Aug 3, 2020

SheWhoMustNotBeNamed said:
I do know the area and it still throws me a little bit. But some people really do have no sense of direction...and she's only 18 (as shown by stopping for coffee and not gas).

She has some growing up to do. Thankfully she can do it! <3

Yes, I can't judge. Been young and naive and seen many that are or have been.

Just one of those people that like the answers and that shows sometimes. Most cases or events are left without those always answered.

I remember not toooooo many years back, I was hearing of like more rural area type college students heading to "coffee shops" in the middle of the darned night at the drop of a hat to a city say 2 hours away.... I remember thinking huh?

As I admit, both age and more makes it seem somewhat nonsensical to me but the older we get, we forget most of us did are not smartest thing either in our day... I try to remind myself of that.

I am one that told a story of having a kid that thought it safe to drive in winter in flip flops... Yah. It was. She was fine... After all was said and done. Thank goodness. I am famous myself for even these days heading somewhere without a coat... In the winter... That knowledge of having a cell phone has a way of assuring a person. But I generally don't go far and at least have something with in the car somewhere.

I am just glad she is safe. That is always how I feel in any case. This one just leaves me with some questions. Nothing new.

GrandmaBear · Aug 5, 2020

Lost Teenager Found After Spending 9 Days in Washington State Forest (Published 2020)

After Gia Fuda, 18, ran out of gas in rural Washington, a search for her lasted more than a week in rugged mountains.

www.nytimes.com

This article has a bit more and different info than some of the others. It doesn't even sound like she bought coffee, instead she bought a bigfoot keychain... It also still doesn't even sound like the parents know for sure or she has told them all... Odd to me. I also can't believe when you have both dark and daylight you don't know you have been gone a few days. And every single article points out that she likely survived on berries but no one is sure and only huckleberries must exist there... As they keep bringing up huckleberries.

While I am extremely happy she is safe, to me it seems clear she was leaving home for some reason, she was packed, did not answer her brother, etc. Even her parents said she went in a direction not normal when generally she is headed to do online classes at the U...

In this article, it is clear they did seem to have some cell phone activity but do not say where and when or who last was called... Or attempted.

She is also apparently still in the hospital which surprises me as well.

I am treading cautiously as I have no idea and don't want to go further and thank goodness she is safe, I am relieved for her and her family. I will say this one does not close out for me as making sense but some never do. I will say there are a lot of people out there and many of them from her own neck of the woods thinking it does not add up or make sense, her choices based on where she was and more, or how she came to be there. This article actually seems to address the things people are wondering about or some of them. I thought maybe since I don't know the area it was just me but not from what I see in comments all over online.

But I can actually believe she made some of these choices at her young age but all of such choices and explanations of how or why are a bit more difficult to believe. I will just also say if I (or knew of someone who did) brought a bible and journal into the woods (particularly the journal) when I think I am just going on an as soon as possible urgent hunt for assistance and gas that does not make any sense to me whatsoever. That sounds like someone planning to hike, stay in the woods, sit in a nice spot in nature and journal... Or it sounds like someone going into the woods and not planning on coming back... Along with another possibility or two that make far more sense to me than what has been said.

All that said, it is just careful speculation on my part with no judgment or attack. She is safe and that is a HAPPY conclusion and hopefully whatever brought her disappearance about or the packing of bags will be addressed. That's all most parents can hope for, I sense she is or was struggling with something. However, that is just a sense, not knowledge...

There have been a few cases that seem to connect to Covid and maybe more unusual limits than normal. It just makes me wonder if many of these new graduates and college this fall aged kids thought they would have this great summer, go off to college and be away from mom and dad--they have waited through high school for that--and now with Covid, it isn't like they pictured and waited for at all... And they are actually under more limits...

Just thoughts. I wouldn't have even commented if not for a newly published article.

Guess Who · Aug 5, 2020

GrandmaBear said:
Lost Teenager Found After Spending 9 Days in Washington State Forest (Published 2020)

After Gia Fuda, 18, ran out of gas in rural Washington, a search for her lasted more than a week in rugged mountains.

www.nytimes.com

This article has a bit more and different info than some of the others. It doesn't even sound like she bought coffee, instead she bought a bigfoot keychain... It also still doesn't even sound like the parents know for sure or she has told them all... Odd to me. I also can't believe when you have both dark and daylight you don't know you have been gone a few days. And every single article points out that she likely survived on berries but no one is sure and only huckleberries must exist there... As they keep bringing up huckleberries.

While I am extremely happy she is safe, to me it seems clear she was leaving home for some reason, she was packed, did not answer her brother, etc. Even her parents said she went in a direction not normal when generally she is headed to do online classes at the U...

In this article, it is clear they did seem to have some cell phone activity but do not say where and when or who last was called... Or attempted.

She is also apparently still in the hospital which surprises me as well.

I am treading cautiously as I have no idea and don't want to go further and thank goodness she is safe, I am relieved for her and her family. I will say this one does not close out for me as making sense but some never do. I will say there are a lot of people out there and many of them from her own neck of the woods thinking it does not add up or make sense, her choices based on where she was and more, or how she came to be there. This article actually seems to address the things people are wondering about or some of them. I thought maybe since I don't know the area it was just me but not from what I see in comments all over online.

But I can actually believe she made some of these choices at her young age but all of such choices and explanations of how or why are a bit more difficult to believe. I will just also say if I (or knew of someone who did) brought a bible and journal into the woods (particularly the journal) when I think I am just going on an as soon as possible urgent hunt for assistance and gas that does not make any sense to me whatsoever. That sounds like someone planning to hike, stay in the woods, sit in a nice spot in nature and journal... Or it sounds like someone going into the woods and not planning on coming back... Along with another possibility or two that make far more sense to me than what has been said.

All that said, it is just careful speculation on my part with no judgment or attack. She is safe and that is a HAPPY conclusion and hopefully whatever brought her disappearance about or the packing of bags will be addressed. That's all most parents can hope for, I sense she is or was struggling with something. However, that is just a sense, not knowledge...

There have been a few cases that seem to connect to Covid and maybe more unusual limits than normal. It just makes me wonder if many of these new graduates and college this fall aged kids thought they would have this great summer, go off to college and be away from mom and dad--they have waited through high school for that--and now with Covid, it isn't like they pictured and waited for at all... And they are actually under more limits...

Just thoughts. I wouldn't have even commented if not for a newly published article.

teenagers not telling their parents the entire story! :thud:

Color me shocked!

GrandmaBear · Aug 5, 2020

Guess Who said:
teenagers not telling their parents the entire story! Color me shocked!

Lol. Yah, not unusual. Nor are sometimes immature choices as a teenager. Made 'em myself. That is why I lecture myself on trying not to jump to any conclusion...

SheWhoMustNotBeNamed · Aug 5, 2020

I know there has been several people who left a trail while hiking, to pee, and become hopelessly lost. She may have had to use the bathroom and that's why she initially wandered into the woods. But that's not what she said, so who knows. She was "looking for a bridge" into Skykomish. Going the wrong direction. I get that walking on that highway would be dangerous and scary, but certainly you could follow the highway in the woods... And the dogs traced her scent for, what was it, 1.7 miles on the highway? I'm surprised no one reported seeing her walking along the highway that day (at least that we know of). It would have been pretty easy to flag someone down. And like you said, why take the journal and bible but leave your purse? When you're needing to buy gas?

It almost sounds like she was on some hippy journey into the woods. I have to wonder if there are some mental health issues at play here, because this sounds more than just "young ignorant teenager". This is "do everything opposite of what you should do to find help". That along with thinking she was only out there 3 days?

The more I think about this, the more confused I get. But I'm just glad she's alive.

GrandmaBear · Aug 5, 2020

Good points I have thought of just going into pee initially even. I have thought of oh boy, I am out of gas, my folks are going to be upset and wonder what I am doing here, or just being young, and thinking big deal, it is early in the day, and I will take a walk first and take my journal and then decide what to do about no gas later. None of it quite fits for me though.

I entirely agree with you about walking on the road. This was not dark nor midnight and I guess especially nowadays a kid or teen could have been raised to think any stranger on a road is a danger but you also wouldn't advise them to go into deep woods. This was mid morning apparently and I think she would have been far safer on the road. And like you say, stay to the ditch, shoulder, tree line if worried, don't go INTO them. It also does not fit for a child who may be over worried about abduction or taught such to be there in the first place, go out of her normal area, do a coffee shop road trip, run out of gas, etc. If taught to be that worried, you don't take those chances. It doesn't compute. Scared to walk on the road but not scared to take off anywhere low on gas? Going into the forest would fit more with being ultra secure and prepared and never even venturing out and about in such ways for coffee and drives out of the area. OR hikes or even bike rides--plenty of abductions hiking and biking too...

I agree too on the purse although it did cross my mind that she could have stuck a $20 or something in her pocket for money for gas but still... Odd. And with a journal, she could have pulled pages and left notes along the way or at a point when not found anyhow and even at her car before leaving, but I can see her not thinking of that, at least initially. Possibly.

I guess it doesn't matter, it is just one that doesn't compute for me. I also don't think the public needs to be told if she does have issues or anything else, that is pretty confidential stuff and would be very normal for no one to share it, LE nor anyone else with HIPPA laws and such right? I also do not think if this was in any way planned or put on that she deserves to be arrested or anything like that.

I do think though that when major searches are involved and resources and family scared to death probably for days on end not able to even function with the fear, and then the public and even the nation gets worried and many help as well if they can, then all have a right to know what happened and if there is an indication of such and there should be some type of consequence just so others or she would not consider doing it ever or again.

I think bottom line here, the choices along the way are one thing, but I go back to the packed bags and not answering her brother. There was some plan here to begin with and I do think considering how big this story got, national, the searches involved and more, she definitely should be providing some answers to her parents, and honestly I think the public too, than have her mother state she was on like a coffee shop road trip but still clueless on why she was packed, what her plan was or where she was going.

If I had to guess just one of many things, the packed bags, her brother seeing them and her not answering him was meant to cause worry from the outset OR was a reaction to something...

I too though, am nothing but happy she is safe and perhaps it all was just bad choices and if so I feel bad wondering but there has been no real fill in of the blanks here. She needs to fill in the details, why the bags, how this, why that, etc. Imo anyhow. Almost everything that has been said has been assumptions of a parent, an uncle, a newspaper, from eating berries to coffee shop hunts.

And seeing this article today, some days after, the rescue has not ended the questions.

Oh well. Happy ending regardless. That's what matters.

Whatsnext · Aug 5, 2020

Quoting @SheWhoMustNotBeNamed

It almost sounds like she was on some hippy journey into the woods.

This is exactly what I think, some esoteric, religious or whatever experiment gone wrong. Many teens are into some crazy stuff.

Jmo and happy she is safe

WA GIOVANNA "GIA" FUDA: Missing from Maple Valley, WA - 24 July 2020 - Age 18 Found Alive

18-year-old woman missing after running out of gas near Stevens Pass

'It's a nightmare: Missing Maple Valley teen's disappearance called suspicious

Sheriff's Office searching for young woman, her car was found near Stevens Pass

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Sheriff's Office: Gia Fuda has been found

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Parents of young woman found alive in woods thank rescuers

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Maple Valley teen recovering in hospital after 9-day disappearance

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Lost Teenager Found After Spending 9 Days in Washington State Forest (Published 2020)

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