SWEETWATER, Tx. (EYT) – A local woman who has been missing for over 2 months has been spotted in Texas.
Susan Bachman’s family says they have spoken with a truck driver who gave her a ride from Sweetwater, Texas to Ahoka, Texas on August 21.
According to the truck driver, Susan appeared to be clean and in good physical health. However, he also described her as “lucid, but delusional.”
Susan told the driver that she works for the government and was “patrolling the health conditions on that area of the highway,” according to the family.
The remarks are very similar to what she told a security guard at the Pilot Flying J in Gary, Indiana on July 11.
“We believe that Susan has been hitching rides with truck drivers continuously, and surviving on the generosity of strangers,” the family said via a release today.
The incident began around 8:30 a.m. on July 4, when the 37-year-old Bachman, of Centre County, jumped out of a car near mile marker 77 on Interstate 80 West.
Authorities say the car was travelling approximately 65 MPH. She survived the bail-out and disappeared into the woods next to the highway.
She was being driven by her father, William Bachman, to an appointment at the Clarion Psychiatric Hospital.
According to sources, Ms. Bachman was experiencing a psychotic episode and was possibly suicidal or at risk of hurting herself.
The State Police responded with numerous search teams including firefighters from Jefferson County, bloodhounds, search and rescue teams, and a police helicopter. The search continued for five hours but she was not found.
On July 7, more than 60 volunteers, including the members of Track & Trail Search and Rescue, participated in a noon search for Susan. The search was unsuccessful.
On July 12-13, the family of Susan Bachman engaged Sarah Platts, Director of VK9SAR, an organization that provides Scent Specific K9 Search Support.
The team of Sarah Platts and her trailing dog Sam was able to trail Susan’s path from her last known location, the barn where she dropped her cellphone and wallet, to Route 28 Southbound, heading towards Pittsburgh.
It is believed that after she jumped out of the moving car, she hitched a ride on 322 westbound in Brookville, and that the vehicle turned south on Route 994 and then south on Route 28.
For safety reasons, the search effort was stopped in Kittanning, where Route 28 becomes a divided highway.
The family is asking everyone to help out by distributing the missing person flyer. It can be downloaded here.
Anyone with information related to Susan’s whereabouts is asked to contact the Pennsylvania State Police or call 530-FIND-SUE.
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