Earlier this week, a park visitor tipped off authorities that they’d seen Holly alive, and then she was located and reunited with her family.
The sister of Holly Courtier said it’s a “miracle,” that her sister was found in Zion National Park after being missing for 12 days, but called the whole ordeal “twisted” and added that her sister isn’t in a good mental state. The details of what happened remain murky.
When Courtier, 38, was found after what was initially only supposed to be a one-day hike, she hadn’t eaten and drank very little water, her mom told Good Morning America. Earlier this week, a park visitor tipped off authorities that they’d seen Holly alive in the Utah park, and then she was located and reunited with her family.
Courtier’s older sister, Jamie Strong, told Today on Thursday that she thinks God got her sister through it.
"I think it's a miracle. I truly believe there is no reason she should be alive. It doesn't make sense. She didn't have the proper gear, and she didn't have food or water.”
Strong said Courtier told the family that she hadn’t have anything to drink in those 12 days. Strong told Inside Edition the people who called in a tip had spotted a hammock that Courtier had strung up.
“She was very scared and traumatized, and she wanted to leave the park in my car with me and my husband and her daughter, and we drove her straight to the emergency room, so things have just been twisted," she told Today.
Strong also said her sister wasn’t in a good mental state and that she had entered the park for a “journey of fasting,” but that she had also been fasting for a few days before she entered the park.
"I really think she had a mental breakdown and was not in the right state of mind when she decided to take this journey and not tell people where she was going," Strong said.
When Courtier was found, she’d lost more than 15 pounds and Strong described it as “horrific.” Her family also said Courtier was so dehydrated when she was found that she couldn’t open her mouth and had a concussion.
In a statement released by Zion National Park, though, officials said Courtier left the park with her family and was ”able to leave of her own capability with minimal assistance."
Courtier has since checked into a mental wellness facility, according to her family.
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