Lost woman who survived on pie slices, rainwater is ‘on path to recovery’

A 68-year-old woman lost in a remote area of northern San Diego County for two weeks “appears to be on a path to recovery,” her attorney, Gloria Allred, said Monday.

Dianna Bedwell Knutson, who disappeared May 10, is at an “undisclosed location in the Palm Springs area for rehabilitation,” Allred said.

The attorney did not indicate that litigation is being considered but said she plans to visit her client Tuesday afternoon “and I will have further updates after my visit.”

Bedwell and her husband, Cecil Knutson, 79, became lost in their car while trying to find a shortcut from to their son’s home in La Quinta in Riverside County.

Their car was found stuck in the soft sand of what a sheriff’s lieutenant called a “road to nowhere.” Knutson was dead.

Bedwell survived in her disabled car on fruit, pie slices and rainwater.

Bedwell was airlifted to Palomar Medical Center in Escondido. Last week she transferred to Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs to be closer to her family.

After that, she was transferred to Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, Allred said.

“Dianna has no plans to do any interviews until she has recovered from her ordeal,” Allred said, “and would also like to make clear that neither she nor her family is affiliated with any websites, Facebook, Twitter, or GoFundMe accounts.”

Bedwell was severely dehydrated and only semiconscious when she was found by a group of off-road vehicle enthusiasts May 24. She did not realize her husband was dead although his body was close to their car.

The couple had spent the morning of Mother’s Day at a casino in northern San Diego County and planned to drive to their son’s home for dinner before returning to their home in Fullerton.

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