The parents of a Stoughton woman who had been missing for a week before she was rescued Monday in a swampy area of a Massachusetts state park say they still can't believe their daughter was found alive.
"It's miraculous that they found her," Barbara Zinaman told NBC10 Boston on Tuesday. "We were not very hopeful. They kept searching and searching."
"There are so many times that this type of story ends sadly," Avram Tetewsky said.
The woman's parents didn't want their faces shown on camera Tuesday, but their daughter's face has been everywhere since they first reported her missing on June 26.
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Police had appealed to the public for help in finding the 31-year-old. On Monday, officers responded to Borderland State Park in Easton, near Stoughton and about 30 miles south of Boston, after two hikers called 911 and reported hearing a woman's screams deep in the woods.
Police arrived and heard a woman's cries through thick bush, but couldn't see her. Then, three officers waded about 50 feet through the swamp to reach her.
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According to police, she may have been trapped in the mud for at least three days.
"It was traumatic to be stuck in the mud as long as she was," her mother said. "She must have heard the hikers, they couldn’t get to her and she called out for help. She said I need help."
She is severely dehydrated but is expected to be OK.
The miraculous rescue was the talk of the trails Tuesday.
"I'm proud that people were able to find her," Easton resident Lou Ann Falls said. "Sorry it took so long."
"She definitely had someone looking out for her," one man said.
Her parents are grateful to everyone who helped find their daughter, who is now recovering at Good Samaritan Hospital.
"She is her own beautiful soul as usual and we cant be more thankful than we are," Zinaman said.
The woman does have mental health challenges that could make her road to recovery a little longer but her parents hope she'll be able to come home soon.
