Oregon woman vanishes after running out of gas in rural area despite knowing family was on their way

An Oregon woman who disappeared Saturday after accepting a ride from another driver when her car ran out of gas has been found safe and unharmed, state police said Friday, after her family publicly pleaded for help in locating her.

“Something is not adding up,” Amber Brecht, the woman’s stepmother, told KATU Wednesday. “We realize something is wrong here. Something might have happened that she doesn’t want to tell us about, which is fine, absolutely. We don’t need to know what’s happened. We just want to know that she is safe and alive.”

Police released no details Friday about the disappearance of 28-year-old Maria Linda Jade Kilmer, offering only thanks to those who provided tips and to law enforcement partners who assisted in the investigation.

Kilmer was last seen on Highway 22 near milepost 15, east of Salem, Oregon State Police prevously said. Investigators say Kilmer had been traveling from Lyons to Salem with a passenger, stopping near Stayton when they ran out of fuel around 9 p.m. Kilmer called her stepmother and sister for help and shared her location on her phone so they could find her, her mother, Carmen Bitzer of Washington, told Oregon Live. But when they arrived, Kilmer was gone, leaving the passenger alone.

The passenger, whom Kilmer’s family says authorities have asked them not to identify, told them Kilmer left with a person passing by who stopped to offer help.

Her sister added that Kilmer left behind her phone, wallet, keys, glasses and medications – items her family says she would never normally abandon.

“It doesn’t make any sense,” her sister Jasmine Humeland told Oregon Live Thursday. “My sister’s not the kind of person to just leave somebody on the side of the road, and I don’t think she would have just gotten into a stranger’s car.”

Adding to the confusion, Brecht said she has received a series of text messages from unknown numbers claiming to be Kilmer, but the messages do not sound like her daughter.

Kilmer is described as 5-feet 8-inches tall, weighing about 180 pounds, with dark hair, blue eyes and a piercing in the center of her lower lip. Family members say she is often dressed in black and is known to spend time throughout the Willamette Valley, including Salem and Portland.

“We’re not looking to blame anybody or anything,” Brecht told KATU. “We just would like to hear from our daughter and make sure that she’s OK.”