Cambodian Woman Is Reunited With Family

A 38-year-old Cambodian woman is back with her family in Los Angeles after a reader saw a connection between her photo and a missing persons ad.

The woman had been a patient at the Ventura County Mental Health inpatient unit since July 5, authorities said. She was admitted after sheriff’s deputies found her walking along a freeway onramp in Thousand Oaks, said Patricia Kosich, a county psychiatric social worker.

The woman was not able to tell authorities her name or where she was from, Kosich said. She was diagnosed as having elective mutism, a condition common among people who have suffered some form of trauma, said Zhong-Yi Liu, staff psychiatrist with county mental health.

She did write the words “Fat Phn” on a piece of paper. Liu surmised she might have been trying to write her name and simply dropped an “a.”

On Friday, The Times ran a story about the woman, asking for anyone with information about her to contact Ventura County Mental Health.

After reading the story and seeing the woman’s picture, a reader recalled a classified ad the same day about a missing woman named Fat Phan.

The reader called the phone number in the ad, and about 7:15 a.m. Saturday, a brother of Phan contacted the mental health department, said Sandy Higginbotham, a registered nurse on the inpatient unit.

“This is just the best thing that has happened to us here,” Higginbotham said.

Phan left the inpatient unit about noon Saturday with a brother and nephew, Higginbotham said.

“They’re taking her back home with them,” Higginbotham said.