A woman who went missing a year ago has recently reappeared at a gas station... but then found herself immediately arrested.
Tori Milsak, 35, disappeared on June 6, 2024, triggering intense concern from her family and a missing persons investigation by the Hot Springs Police Department, per the Daily Mail.
At the time, officials noted that Milsak might have been experiencing “mental health concerns.”
This theory was echoed by her brother, Jason Hamel, who said she had been struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder and had largely withdrawn from communication with loved ones in 2023.
Then, on June 19, 2025 — more than a year to the day since she vanished — Milsak walked into a gas station in Little Rock, roughly 55 miles from where she went missing.
According to a police report obtained by Newsweek, she told a gas station attendant she was a missing person, prompting them to contact the authorities.
When officers arrived, they confirmed her identity. Milsak told them she had “run away from home” and had recognized herself on the news when she was reported missing.
But instead of a reunion with family, Milsak was arrested due to an outstanding warrant in Garland County. She was booked the following day, and her court date has been set for July 22
In a June 20 Facebook post, the Hot Springs Police Department confirmed the update, simply stating that Milsak had been found and was “safe.”
Her family, while relieved she is alive, is now left with questions.
Speaking to WBRC News, her brother Jason Hamel said the discovery left him in shock.
“I’d been told that she might have been murdered multiple times,” he said. “Hope was lost. I mean, like everybody said, you hold onto that 1 percent that she’d be found alive, and she’s that 1 percent.”
Hamel said his emotions are complex, ranging from gratitude to lingering pain.
“Makes me very angry, not at Tori, but at some people. Now, it’s time to try to start the healing process and rebuild Tori’s life,” he shared. As of now, he has not yet spoken directly with his sister, who remains in custody.
“I’m nervous, and I want to find out what happened. Was she held against her will? It’s been a year. I want to see her, make sure she’s OK,” he said.
The last time the siblings spoke was during a family emergency.
As Hamel and his father debated whether to take another sibling off life support following a tragic motorcycle accident, Milsak called, sounding distressed.
Hamel, preoccupied with the crisis, cut the call short. “She vowed to call in a week and hung up, only to fall off the radar entirely and lose contact,” he recalled.
“That’s haunted me for the last year, thinking that maybe if I took an extra five minutes, things could have been different.”