Pittman, 33, was discovered three states away in Colorado, the Inyo County Sheriff’s Office announced in a statement this week. The department, which had been searching for the woman for months, did not report how Pittman disappeared or where she had spent the last nine months.
“Out of respect for her privacy and that of her family, no further details will be released,” the statement added.
The woman’s mother reported her daughter missing in November of 2024, according to the sheriff’s office, after Pittman had contact with law enforcement in Utah. According to the Inyo department:
On February 9, 2025, the Inyo County Sheriff’s Office was contacted by an individual who reported a suspicious vehicle near “The Pads or Slab City.”Upon arrival, deputies confirmed the vehicle — a 2009 Chevrolet HHR — was registered to Kelsey Pittman. A thorough search of both the vehicle and the surrounding area, however, revealed no sign of Pittman. This led to the initiation of an extensive missing person investigation and search effort.
The search effort involved drone teams, cadaver dogs, and volunteer search and rescue crews, the New York Post reported.
Slab City, or the “Slabs” as it is also known, is an unincorporated area known to be occupied by artists, anarchists, musicians, eccentrics, and aging hippies who have formed a community outside the mainstream society.
Located on public land about 170 miles southeast of Los Angeles, it got its name from the concrete slabs that remained after a World War II Marine training camp was torn down. It’s a popular video destination for YouTube filmmakers:
Its population reportedly swells in the winter to nearly 4000, mainly comprised of snowbirds in RVs, but drops to less than 200 in the scorching summer months.
It has also been the site of illegal crystal meth activity over the years as well as a home base for fugitives running from the law.
Smithsonian Magazine in 2018 referred to the community as a “Squatters’ Paradise” which locals call “one of America’s last free places.”
“There are clearly people there who don’t want to be found, so there’s something about disappearing, and the desert offers that kind of opportunity,” the article reported.
Contributor Lowell Cauffiel spent time in Slab City researching a novel. He is the best-selling author of Below the Line and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more.
Breitbart News
Read the full article .
