On Wednesday, May 14, Tiffany Slaton, a 28-year-old from Jeffersonville, Georgia, was found safe near Lake Edison in Fresno County. The discovery was made by the owner of Vermilion Valley Resort while he was checking his property. He noticed one of his cabins was occupied by a woman matching the description of a missing person and promptly informed the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies met with the resort owner at Kaiser Pass Road, where he had driven Tiffany to the staging point. “The detective handling the investigation immediately reported the good news to Tiffany’s parents who were in Georgia,” according to officials.
Access to Lake Edison had been blocked due to snowpack until Wednesday when snowplows cleared the road. This allowed the resort owner to access his property and prepare for its summer opening. The cabin where Tiffany took shelter had been left unlocked as a precautionary measure for lost individuals seeking refuge.
Tiffany’s family reported her missing on April 29 after not hearing from her for nine days. The Sheriff’s Office launched a search operation and issued public alerts. Several community tips confirmed she was last seen at Huntington Lake on April 20. She reportedly headed toward Mono Hot Springs and considered herself lost by April 22. She reached the cabin on May 13 and stayed there for only eight hours before being found.
From May 6-10, the Sheriff’s Search and Rescue team conducted an extensive search covering nearly 600 square miles from Mono Hot Springs to Wishon Reservoir and Pine Flat Lake to Auberry. Due to snow-filled roads at Kaiser Pass, SAR equipment could not reach certain areas; however, helicopters were deployed over Mono Hot Springs and Lake Edison but found no trace of Tiffany or her belongings.
A press conference featuring Slaton’s family alongside Sheriff John Zanoni is scheduled for Friday.
