Butte County woman went missing for six days. Rescuers found her inside SUV buried in snow - alive

Rescuers load a gurney holding a covered Paula Beth James on to a tracked vehicle after finding her SUV. Photo / Butte County Sheriff's Office

Butte County, California, authorities are puzzled by how a 68-year-old woman was able to survive in icy-cold conditions after being reported missing for nearly a week.

Paula Beth James was found in the back seat of her snow-covered silver Toyota 4Runner wearing jeans and a jacket Wednesday at noon, according to statements from the Butte County Sheriff's Office and Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea.

James was last seen on the evening of January 9 in Oroville, California, causing the Butte County Sheriff's Office to issue a "silver alert" showing a picture of her smiling and an image of her SUV. The 5-foot-tall woman "suffers from dementia and may have become disoriented", an alert stated.

Authorities spent more than 100 hours searching for James with helicopters, snowmobiles and other methods, with a winter storm looming over their efforts.

"We knew if we were going to find her and find her alive, we were going to have to do it really quickly," Captain Dan Newman of Butte County Search and Rescue told KCRA.

Night temperatures were dropping alarmingly low, and heavy snow was falling in the mountains and below, he said.

By Tuesday, mountain snow was causing reduced visibility on roads and slippery commutes, the National Weather Service in Sacramento reported.

James was missing for five days by then, and white-out conditions were expected to hit the area, the Weather Service warned.

Her loved ones were growing worried about her rescue.

Laura Powell, James' stepdaughter, told KTXL she feared James was dead by Wednesday.

"It just felt like we were doomed," she told the station.

Authorities and search crews were also fearing the worst.

Finding James was a challenge for search crews because the silver SUV didn't give much contrast against the snow, according to Newman.

"It really is a needle in the haystack," Newman told the station.

When Sheriff Honea received news from his staff that James' SUV had been found, he thought they were going to find her dead inside, he told reporters.

A search helicopter spotted the vehicle off a roadway which caused the crew to investigate further, he told reporters. The helicopter hovered above the SUV before landing nearby so rescuers could hike toward it, he said.

There was no response to the hovering, which caused searchers to doubt they would find James alive, Honea said.

"It's unusual for someone to be missing this long, especially in an environment like that and survive," he said.

James had survived. With an empty bottle of water near her, James was cold, hungry and had been without food and water for at least a day or two, Honea told reporters. She was keeping herself warm with floor mats, but there were no extra blankets.

She was happy to see rescuers and told them she hoped they had brought a blanket, Powell told KTXL.

The severely dehydrated and frostbitten James was taken to a hospital for treatment, according to the sheriff's statement. She was reported to be in stable condition.

"It was a great day and just a great bit of news," Honea said.