'Traumatized' B.C. woman survives 49 days trapped in wilderness something, Husband, family, border

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'Traumatized' B.C. woman survives 49 days trapped in wilderness
Husband 'unlikely' to be found alive: police


VANCOUVER - Huddled in the family van in remote mountainous terrain near the Idaho-Nevada border, Rita Chretien knew Friday would be her last day in the wild.

The 56-year-old Penticton woman had been missing for seven weeks at that point and had rationed food and eaten snow to stay alive.

On Thursday, she felt something was coming the next day, but didn't know what it would be: Discovery, or death.

"She was prepared and she had a very clear indication there would be something on Friday," her son Raymond Chretien told a news conference in Idaho on Sunday. "She got ready on Thursday for the outcome, and this is what it is."

Rita was found alive in Elko County on Friday by hunters on ATVs seven weeks after the van she and her husband, Albert, were travelling in got stuck in the mud.

Raymond said his parents took a few wrong turns after deciding to take a scenic route. They had no idea the road was impassable, he said.

Albert, 59, left to go find help on March 22 but never returned, leaving his wife stranded in the wilderness with a limited supply of food and water. The search for him continued Sunday.

Family members learned the couple only had a few bananas, wafer cookies, trail mix and some hard candy when they became stranded. Rita has impressed doctors and survival experts with her ability to ration the limited food, hydrate by drinking water from melted snow and stay calm.

Dr. James Westberry at St. Luke's Magic Valley Medical Centre in Twin Falls, Idaho, where Rita is recovering, said it is unusual to see someone not only survive such an ordeal, but to be doing as well as Rita is.

"Very likely, one of the best things that helped her survive was that she was able to ration her supply each day in order to plan for what turned out to be an extremely long time [until she was] rescued," Westberry said.

"She obviously had the mindset of survival."

Rita also kept her mind occupied and passed the time by reading books, including the Bible, and writing in a journal.

The writing, she would later tell family, was a way of letting them know what had happened in case she did not survive.

Westberry said that had Rita not been found Friday, it was unlikely she would have survived much longer.

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"Maybe a few days, maybe not much more than that. She was definitely getting somewhat toward the end when she was found."

The couple was not prepared for winter weather and don't go camping, Raymond said.

Raymond told The Oregonian newspaper the first thing his mother did when they spoke was to apologize for causing him, his two brothers and their other loved ones anguish.

"She felt extremely bad for us all," he told the newspaper. "She was extremely apologetic."

He said his mother's spirits were fairly good, but that she was not optimistic about her husband's fate.

"He didn't have shelter," Raymond said. "It's her belief that he didn't make it."

Raymond said that while the family was happy to celebrate Mother's Day with Rita, they were also hoping to find their father.

He said that whatever the outcome, the family is prepared.

"We were praying for a miracle and boy, did we get one," he said. "We're still praying for another one."

However, hope for a successful rescue has waned with each passing day. On Sunday, police said it is unlikely Albert will be found alive. A detective with the Elko County Sheriff's department told the CBC the chances of Albert surviving in the wilderness for almost two months is quite low.

"The odds of survival without any sort of protection seems real unlikely to me," said Det. Kevin McKinney. "There are a lot of areas there -caves, things like that -where it would be possible [to survive], but without food or water, it would be very difficult."

Elko County, the area where Albert went missing, is fairly mountainous terrain, filled with canyons and -at this time of year -both snow cover and snow melt.

Just north of the abandoned mining town of Rowland, the ranch county's steep, winding and rocky roads are popular with snowmobilers and ATV riders but can be unforgiving for the unprepared.

This time of the year is about the worst.

"For the past month or so we have had snow, rain and more snow," says Gage Smith, a local recreation business owner. "During the mud season the roads are impassable."

On the weekend, volunteers searched on foot and on all-terrain vehicles through the rough country along with two canine units, McKinney said.

Elko County Sheriff's Det. Jim Carpenter said many of the roads and trails leading away from the van have been washed out by melting snow, and that elevation in the area can range from 5,800 to 8,500 feet.

Raymond said his mother had no idea just how big the search was for the missing couple.

Meanwhile, doctors in Idaho continued to introduce food to Rita on Sunday, slowly increasing her liquid diet to avoid setbacks in her recovery. They expect her to make a full recovery. Westberry said it is possible she could leave the hospital in "days, maybe less."

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Rita Chretien, 56, was found Friday in Elko County, Nevada