Brigham City Woman Speaks Exclusively About Surviving A Week Stuck In The Mud

BOX ELDER COUNTY, Utah – One week after her disappearance, Michelle Richan is now back with family. She thanks her longtime habit of keeping a survival kit in her trunk for keeping herself alive.

“I’ve always thought something like this could happen,” Richan said. It’s because I like going out in the middle of nowhere, so yeah I always figure this possibility could happen. So yeah, that’s why I carry all of that stuff with me.”

Richan started driving back home to Brigham City, from Eureka, Nevada last Tuesday. Family members became concerned after they learned she never showed up for work the next morning. Richan’s daughter, Leslie Richan, says the past week was difficult for her and her family. Many of them spent their days, searching remote areas of Nevada. By Monday, Leslie says it seemed they had little left to go on.

“Kind of started feeling a little defeated, because I just wasn’t sure at that point what kind of an outcome we were going to have,” Leslie said. “I didn’t know how I was going to tell my kid that her favorite person in the whole wide world was missing, and that she might not come home. And this morning when I got up, I was preparing to tell him. And I’m so glad I don’t have to now.”

Michelle Richan says she spent her days, gathering fire wood, hoping for someone to come by and find her. Tuesday morning, she says she noticed a plane flying overhead, and not soon after, a plow, coming her way.

“Once the plane went over, I guess the snow plow guy said he’d seen the plane, and the fire, so then he knew something was up,” Richan explained. She was relieved to see the county plow operator show up.

“He told me, he goes, ‘I have to pull you out. you’re in my way,'” Richan said, laughing. “‘I gotta plow the road!’ I’m like, ‘cool! Okay!'”

Richan says she still had about a week’s worth of food left in her trunk, and that she was prepared to start walking if no one had shown up today. Going through Richan’s trunk, some of her adult children appeared astounded at the collection of survival tools she had with her, including a shovel, electric blanket, and multiple pairs of extra boots. Daughter, Kaylee Vaughan was relieved to finally have her mother back.

“It’s been insane. It’s been terrifying and exciting,” Vaughan said with a heavy sigh. “I think we took for granted a lot of the things between us as a family, and just the security of like cellphones, and all that stuff. We took that all for granted.”