A woman who has been missing for the past three weeks has been rescued from inside a storm drain.
Lyndsey Kennedy was found naked, dirty with superficial wounds after members of the public heard her screaming in Delray Beach, Florida.
"A passerby heard something coming from the storm drain. She heard a woman yelling," Delray Beach Fire Rescue spokesperson Dani Moschella told Local10.
"To think of a person down there for any amount of time; it is terrifying."
Moschella added: "[Kennedy] was unable to stand up. She didn’t have any clothes on. She was very dirty. She had some superficial wounds. Her knees were all scraped up."
Kennedy, who has a history of drug addiction and mental illness, was first reported missing in Florida by her boyfriend after she vanished without explanation.
A pedestrian later heard Kennedy shouting for help from inside an eight-foot-deep drain built into the pavement near the intersection of Atlantic Boulevard and Southwest 11th Avenue in the early hours of Tuesday, March 23.
The emergency services were summoned, and the Special Operations Team of the Delray Beach Fire Department removed the storm grate, lowered a ladder and hoisted Kennedy out of the hole.
Kennedy was reportedly lucid upon being rescued and despite only having superficial wounds, was hospitalized as a precaution.
Explaining the mystery around her disappearance, Kennedy later told police investigators that she'd gone swimming in a canal near her boyfriend's home.
During her swim, she claims she found a doorway that led down into a tunnel, which she followed it until she'd gotten stuck there.
However, Police are doubtful that she spent the full period of three weeks in the drain.
Commenting on the case, Delray Beach Police Department Public Information Officer Ted White later told Local 10 News:
"This was by far one of the most bizarre incidents that our officers have responded to.
"It appears she may have been in that storm drain for at least a couple of days, perhaps longer.
"For her to say she was in the storm drain system for weeks is kind of hard to believe. We're trying to piece this story together to find out what is fact and what is not fact."
