.Student found 2 weeks after her disappearance
Pratistha Budhathoki told cops she left so she could skip work
By Felix Doligosa Jr. & Ivan Moreno, Rocky Mountain News
July 4, 2006
ESTES PARK - A missing Nepalese exchange student who drank only water and slept on rocks in the wilderness for the past two weeks told police Monday she went away because she didn't want to go to work.
Pratistha Budhathoki, 20, was found by police Monday afternoon near the Marys Lake Lodge after a resident recognized her from a missing-person flier, said Cmdr. Wes Kufeld, spokesman for the Estes Park police. The lodge is north of Prospect Mountain, destination of the Estes Park tramway.
The resident called police about 1:30 p.m. and told them Budhathoki had run from her door after asking to use the phone, Kufeld said.
Budhathoki appeared happy when police arrived and picked her up in a nearby field, he said.
"She seemed relieved," said Kufeld, who added that Budhathoki was very hungry. "We fed her right away" food from McDonald's.
Budhathoki told police she had gone without food for days and had been sleeping under trees. She said she had been wandering around Prospect Mountain.
Budhathoki was reported missing June 19, a day after she failed to show up for her shift at an Estes Park ice cream parlor.
Budhathoki was reunited with her parents later in the day at the Estes Park police station. They arrived Monday afternoon in Denver after a 28-hour flight from Nepal then received word that their daughter was safe.
"I'm so happy," Budhathoki's mother, Sarita Budhathoki, 43, said in English to reporters gathered Monday night outside the Estes Park Medical Center, where her daughter had been taken for evaluation.
"Things like this, when you're a 20-year-old, can happen," she said through a translator. She said her daughter would be staying in Estes Park with her and her father after the medical evaluation.
She said her daughter is fine and that it would be up to her whether she returns to St. Cloud State, in Minnesota, where she is studying finance.
Sarita Budhathoki said the long plane ride was an agonizing journey as she worried about her daughter's fate and that it wasn't until the second or third phone call telling her that her daughter was safe that she dared to believe it.
"We're just extremely happy we found her," Kufeld said. "Our main concern was to get her back safe and sound."
"She's crying; she's a little bit skinny right now," said Shiva Shrestha, 28, a friend who said he has known Budhathoki for a couple of years. "It doesn't look like her face is happy."
Budhathoki was working two jobs in Estes Park to help pay for school. It was her second summer working in the tourist town.
Budhathoki was last seen by friends when she left her apartment June 18 to go to work at the Munchin' House, an ice cream parlor in downtown Estes Park.
On June 22, Budhathoki reportedly was seen eating at a deli atop Prospect Mountain, an 8,700-foot peak that overlooks the Estes Valley and borders the southern part of town. Search teams combed the steep slopes of the mountain last week looking for the woman.
Budhathoki's work uniform was found neatly folded near the top of the mountain Thursday.
Police said throughout the search that they did not suspect foul play in the woman's disappearance.
When Sandhya Khakurel was told Monday that her friend had been found, she yelled, "Thank God. It's been killing all of us."
A co-worker at the Munchin' House, Avishek Uprety, said he was relieved Budhathoki had been found, but he remains confused as to why she disappeared.
Police said they do not plan to file charges against the woman.
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_4821154,00.html
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