Officers' hunch leads to woman who spent 3 days in woods with broken leg, police say

SANFORD, Fla. — A lucky hunch followed up by a pair of Sanford investigators ended in the rescue of a woman who had spent three days in the woods after breaking her leg climbing from her home’s second-story window.

Elizabeth L. Gordon was last seen at about 11:30 p.m. Saturday and her family reported her missing the next afternoon when she didn’t return home, the Sanford Police Department said.

Her family said Gordon frequented public parks in the city, so that is where investigators focused the search, the department said.

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Two investigators, working on a hunch, returned to Gordon’s home and “considered the possibility that Ms. Gordon left her residence through her second story window,” SPD said on its Facebook page. “The investigators considered that Ms. Gordon could have injured herself climbing out of the window and decided to check a nearby heavily wooded area.”

The department did not say why the officers thought Gordon may have climbed out the window.

As the officers looked through the woods, the spotted the woman, who was unresponsive and lying face-down in a ditch, SPD said.

When the officers moved closer, “Ms. Gordon lifted her head and began faintly asking for help.”

The woman told the officers that she had broken her leg jumping from her second-story bedroom window and was unable to move, investigators said.

Details as to why Gordon jumped out the window were not released.

“She stated that she had been in the ditch since Sunday evening and had been drinking rain water to survive,” the SPD post said.

Gordon was taken to the hospital for treatment.

Her condition was not immediately available.

Cox Media Group