Missing Riverside Woman Found In Tennessee: Cops

La Grange IL

23 March, 2021

9:49 AM

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RIVERSIDE, IL — Authorities found a missing Riverside woman Monday in a national forest in Tennessee, according to a Riverside police news release. She appeared confused and was taken to the hospital, police said. Lisa Ann Vais, 55, was reported missing to the police March 13, but was believed to have been gone for two weeks at that point, police said. Her phone stopped pinging March 14. On Monday afternoon, police found that Vais' phone started pinging again, indicating she was in a heavily wooded area in the Cherokee National Forest in Tennessee, according to the news release. Riverside police called the Poke County Sheriff's Office in Tennessee and asked it to check the area. After a search, Vais was seen walking out of a wooded area in Turtletown, Tenn. She told officers that she had been in the woods for more than 10 days, police said. As of Monday night, her car had been not been recovered. Riverside detectives notified Vais' husband of her location, and he planned to travel there to help, police said. "My officers, detectives and our consolidated dispatch center employees worked on this case almost around the clock since Lisa Vais was reported missing," Riverside Police Chief Tom Weitzel said in a statement. "I am thankful that she was found alive and is now getting proper medical treatment at a hospital." Last week, police reported Vais converted $20,000 in cash into silver coins before she left home. She was said to have departed with a significant amount of cash. Police also said last week that Vais made a $3,100 grocery purchase at a Food Lion grocery store in Brevard, N.C., which is about a 2½ hour-drive from Turtletown, Tenn. In tracking Vais' movements, Riverside police discovered that she was briefly admitted Thursday into Advent Health Hospital in Fletcher, N.C., police said. She reported having a heart problem and was taken to the hospital by a friend, police said. She was treated and then released from the emergency room, according to a news release.