Runner Finds Missing Idaho Woman and Dog Who Have Been Gone for a Week in Valley

An ultrarunner did more than his usual training routine when he helped find a missing Idaho woman and her dog, who have been gone over a week, along his trail.

Jeremy Humphrey, 41, of McCall, Idaho, found the unnamed woman and her dog as he was out on a run.

When he learned of the missing woman and her dog on the night of July 9, he alerted police that he was familiar with the area they were searching. Early the next morning, as cops deployed search and rescue teams, he was on foot running the trails trying to help find the woman.

“I just had this strange, maybe spiritual, feeling from the moment I heard about it that I could see the entire thing and how it would play out if I went out,” he told Runner’s World. “I’ve been in the mountains my whole life, and I’ve helped search and rescue before. I lost my dad and his twin brother when they fell climbing Denali. The mountains have given a lot to me and taken a lot from me, and some energy told me I had to do this.”

He packed enough supplies for a 40-mile run and more than halfway through the ordeal and with daylight closing, he found the woman.

“I’m calling out, and it shocked me, I heard a female voice call back though I couldn’t see her,” he said. “I could sense the direction, so I cross this drainage, a little dip in the topography. I’m jumping over rocks and logs, and I see someone, and again when I’m about 300 yards away, that’s when I see her dog, so that’s a good sign. My adrenaline is up as I’m bounding down this hill, full sprint, until I finally reach her.”

He said the woman had no serious injuries despite a bad sunburn and said she had not eaten for more than four days. Humphrey gave the energy bars and water he had to her and the dog.

The woman and dog were airlifted from the scene and she reportedly refused hospital care, but were taken to a nearby fire house where they were given food.

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