Missing Thai Woman Returns Home Unhurt

A 30-year-old woman whose disappearance Sunday from an affluent north Glendale neighborhood triggered an intense police search returned home unharmed Friday morning, authorities said.

Somsri Saisunee, who is visiting from Thailand and speaks no English, told officers she became lost during an evening walk and took refuge in Verdugo Park. Through an interpreter, she told police she climbed trees and slept in the limbs because she feared for her safety, investigator John McKillop said.

Saisunee ate food given to her by people barbecuing in the park and took daily walks, trying to get back to her employer’s house in the 1600 block of Country Club Drive, McKillop said. She was not injured during her five nights outdoors and was finally able to find her way home Friday morning.

She has been caring for a Glendale family’s children. Her disappearance prompted police to check the neighborhood and search the nearby hills with a helicopter. But the woman said she concealed herself among the park trees because she was confused and fearful, McKillop said.