Woman found alive in desert

Friday, May 7, 2004 | 11:13 a.m.

Dehydrated, clothes torn and with a few scratches, a woman who got lost looking for a missing dog was rescued shortly before 10 a.m. today after being lost in the wilderness of Red Rock Canyon since Sunday.

"She told us she had been in the same area for the last eight days -- of course, that was the dehydration from being in the elements and losing track of time," Metro Police Search and Rescue Sgt. Clint Bassett said. "She's fine."

Christine Asleson, 45, a former Boy Scout troop leader who was an experienced hiker, caught the attention of visitors at Bonnie Springs Ranch today by yelling from a cliff three quarters of a mile away.

"At first we thought it was a stranded searcher, but a citizen was able to get to her and confirm it was her," Bassett said. "We brought her down (by rope) from there and got her into an ambulance to take her to the University Medical Center."

Rescuers don't know how she got up there.

Bassett said that while Asleson told authorities she had been in the same area for several days, he doubted that account because Metro and volunteers had scoured the area since Monday. It is doubtful that between the helicopter, mounted police and so many searchers the rescuers missed her, he said.

Still, Bassett said, it was apparent that Asleson used her survival skills, staying quiet and not moving around too much. While the days were hot, she was fortunate that the nights were not so cold, about 65 degrees, he said.

It did not appear she had access to water, Bassett said. She was found in a T-shirt, pants and shoes, but no other hiking-type gear, he said.

Asleson left her northwest Las Vegas home Sunday morning to look for her friend's dog that had run away nine days earlier. Asleson searched the area at First Creek Canyon near Spring Mountain Ranch State Park, Metro Police said.

On Thursday Laicka, a white pit bull mix, was found in the parking lot of the Bonnie Springs Hotel, two miles from where Asleson, a stay-at-home mother of two, was last seen, Metro Police spokesman Officer Jose Montoya said.