Woman rescued from Peace River by good Samaritans days after Milton

Reporter: Haley Zarcone Writer: Elyssa Morataya
Published: Updated:

A woman is lucky to be alive after being found two miles off the coast in the Peace River and brought to shore by vigilant good samaritans.

Elenn Perrera was rescued from the Peace River in the days following Hurricane Milton.

A rescue that might not have happened if it wasn’t for her concerned family members.

“This Tuesday night that just passed, my sister went out the sliding door of the facility at nine o’clock,” said Kathleen Hein, Perrera’s sister.

Perrera went missing at night, only to be found two miles out into the Peace River the next morning.

“Her facility let me know she has been missing since nine o’clock Tuesday night, so that’s over almost 12 hours of her being missing,” said Hein. “Anthony knew she had a mental problem, and you gotta watch her, and she’s a diabetic, she’s an insulin dependent. So I rushed home at 100 miles an hour. Don’t tell know nobody.”

The WINK News crew was there that fateful moment when Perrera was found alive.

“I’m standing in the parking lot, and they still screaming, ‘detective, she’s in the water’,” said Hein. “Hearing that…I thought I was gonna die.”

Perrera was pulled out of the water by a boat that just so happened to be in the area.

Perrera is said to have walked from her assisted living facility down Bayshore Road and then into the Peace River.

“Only God saved her, only by the grace of God, she is here,” said Hein. “You know, she’s not clearly, um, she remembers the men pulling her up. She said she went in the dark. She went at night.”

Hein told WINK News that they want to find the people who rescued Perrera to properly thank them.

She also wants to find out how her sister got out of her assisted living facility and hold those people accountable.

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