Gianna was reported missing last week after she failed to return home and wasn't answering phone calls, causing her parents to worry.
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After an investigation was started, authorities found security footage of Gia outside a coffee shop in Index, Washington. Her vehicle was found the next day, out of gas and in a remote and very mountainous location.
Searchers, as well as her family, had almost given up hope after searching the mountains for 8 straight days for the young girl. On the ninth day, searchers found a notebook and some articles of clothing which eventually led them to Gia.
Sgt. Ryan Abbott of the King County's Sheriff Office commented on the rescue mission in a statement to the press:
We are absolutely thrilled to know that search and rescue located her alive, she's in stable condition. She is with her parents and being transported to a local hospital.
The materials were found near a stream that was deep in the woods off of a highway road. As the search team followed the stream up a steep embankment, they found Gia about 3 kilometres from the bottom of the ravine.
Abbott continued by saying:
When this all started, Friday was kind of the last day anyone had seen her, we had King County Search and Rescue out for the first several days and we had search and rescue out from all over the state assisting us throughout the week. They are absolutely amazing. They are volunteers. They do this on their own time and, again, to find enough people to come out here, hundreds of volunteers day in and day out, to try and find Gia was amazing.
Some people have started to call it a miracle considering the amount of time the girl had been missing for. While she did have a cellphone it was believed that her phone was off at periods of time but it's also known that the area is a notorious 'dead zone' due to the high mountain peaks blocking cellphone signals.
Abbott praised all those that helped in the search:
It shows that miracles do happen and don't ever quit, and that's what we were doing, they just continued to search and thank god they found her.
