A Utah woman who was reported missing by her boyfriend more than two weeks ago after attending a beach bonfire near Santa Cruz, California, has been found safe, authorities said on Sunday.
After Danielle Staley was reported missing on Nov. 6, the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office released a statement, saying she was possibly at-risk due to the nature of her disappearance and that she went missing under suspicious circumstances.
On Sunday, however, the sheriff’s office released an updated statement reporting that the 35-year-old Salt Lake City resident “has been located and is safe and uninjured.”
The sheriff’s office added that “additional details are not available at this time.”
“We want to express our sincere gratitude to the community and to everyone who provided information and assisted in the search for Danielle. We truly appreciate it and are very pleased she was located and is safe,” the sheriff’s office said in its statement.
Staley was last seen with a group of people at a bonfire on Rio Del Mar State Beach in the community of Aptos shortly before midnight on Nov. 6 and was reported missing the following day, according to the sheriff’s office. Her personal belongings were found on the beach and she had not been in contact with her family, according to the sheriff’s office.
Staley had been visiting the area with her boyfriend, Alx Nunez, who told ABC affiliate station KSBW in Monterey that he wasn’t at the bonfire and that he reported her missing when he woke up the following morning and discovered she wasn’t there.
Nunez told the station that he went to the beach to look for Staley and saw her purse and backpack sitting on top of a lifeguard shack.
Nunez and Staley had been staying in a camper van near Rio Del Mar State Beach, according to the sheriff’s office.
The sheriff’s office had previously said Nunez is cooperating with authorities.
When asked directly if he had anything to do with his girlfriend’s disappearance, Nunez told KSBW, “Absolutely not.”
