Photo: CBS News
In a scene straight out of Stephen King’s Misery, Sheryl Donovan, a 54-year-old grandmother, was on her way to work when she made a wrong turn, driving a mile or more down a snowbound road near Camptonville in remote, and mountainous, Sierra County before becoming stranded as she ran out of gas. “We’ve spoken with my mom, and her story, she’s given us a little bit at a time,” said Ashley Erhart, who is now caring for her mother following her release from the hospital, and like everyone else, trying to figure out what went wrong. “I’m sure everyone can understand that this has been extremely traumatic.”
Donovan apparently survived off a single bottle of water and used extra clothes in her car to keep warm–which authorities said is still stuck in deep snow. The storm in California was severe so one can surmise that it was difficult to know where to go and a lack of cell phone coverage in the remote region only hampered authorities’ search efforts. Police and rescue personnel were focused on other routes, according to reports. On the tenth day of her mishap, Donovan finally walked a mile down the road and was able to flag down a good Samaritan.
