Allegations are emerging that a radiography student who emerged from the Alabama woods naked and suffering from exposure may have been high on methamphetamine and was unable to rescue herself despite being only a mile from civilization, according to news reports.
Authorities are beginning to release new details on the saga of Lisa Theris, a radiography student at Wallace Community College in southeastern Alabama. Theris was found naked on a country road by a passing motorist on August 12; she told authorities and news media that she had spent more than three weeks wandering in the woods and survived by eating berries and mushrooms.
But investigators and news reports have raised questions about certain parts of her tale almost from the moment she was found. Police believe she may have gotten lost because she allegedly had been using methamphetamine, which made her disoriented and led to her stumbling in circles, despite being only a mile away from the nearest road, according to an article published August 22 on DailyMail.com.
On the night she disappeared, Theris had been with two men who police believe intended to rob a backwoods hunting lodge, but she told police she jumped out of their vehicle and fled as they attempted to ram the compound's entry gate. When she failed to return, each of the men accused the other of murdering her, leading police initially to conduct a recovery operation with cadaver dogs on the lodge's property.
When she was rescued, Theris told police and news media that she remembered little of her ordeal in the woods. However, authorities noted that it's about one mile from where she disappeared to where she was found, and that traffic sounds can be heard from the area of the hunting lodge. Bullock County Sheriff Raymond Rodgers told DailyMail.com that he believes she was indeed lost in the woods, but that she may have been disoriented from drug use.
The article also noted that prior to her disappearance, Theris had been jailed briefly and charged with disorderly conduct for her behavior during a friend's court hearing on June 8. Authorities dropped the charge when Theris disappeared and was presumed dead; she reappeared two days later.
As investigators continue to sort out the bizarre tale, the two men Theris was with on the night of her disappearance remain in Bullock County Jail on a $250,000 bond for charges related to the burglary of the hunting lodge.
