After more than a day of searching, police found former UCLA student Nancy Salas alive and well in central California on Thursday at around 2:30 p.m. She has been brought back to her hometown by Glendale police for questioning.
Salas, 22, disappeared when she left her home in Glendale for a jog in the Chevy Chase Canyon at 6:30 a.m. on Wednesday, according to Sgt. Tom Lorenz of the Glendale Police Department.
Investigators found her in custody of Merced police, 275 miles northwest of the canyon. Salas is in good condition and police do not suspect any crime.
Salas, a former sociology student at UCLA, was enrolled at the university in fall 2008, according to records from the UCLA Registrar’s Office.
However, friends said Salas told them she is currently a part-time student and will graduate from UCLA next month. Her family had been planning her graduation party before she went missing.
Friends said she had been taking a UCLA science course on Mondays at La Kretz Hall, said Andy Mendonca, Salas’ friend from church.
“It’s hard to believe that she is not enrolled,” Mendonca said.
In 2009, Salas was active in Destino, a Christian organization at UCLA that serves the Latino community through service projects, said Stephanie Hammons, a third-year sociology student.
She had left her keys, cell phone and car at her Glendale home when she disappeared. Lorenz said it was unclear why she ended up in Merced and how she got there.
Before her reappearance, a group of Salas’ friends had distributed fliers both at UCLA and near her home Thursday afternoon. Salas’ cousin, Natalie Gonzalez, who graduated from UCLA in 2009, created a Facebook event to aid in the search.
Gonzalez said she has not spoken to Salas since a family event more than a year ago.
Salas and her immediate family members were unable to be reached for comment.