AUTISTIC MAN SURVIVES 3 WEEKS IN THE DESERT - RESCUE TEAM

rescue team helping William out of the rescue helicopter

Though the hospital said it could not release any information on his condition,A man living with Autism, William Martin LaFever, 28, told rescuers that,

"in addition to the bits of food he scavenged, including a few frogs he caught, he drank water from the Escalante River while attempting to walk from Boulder, Utah, to Page, Arizona, a distance of approximately 90 miles or more by the route he appeared to be taking."

Garfield County Sheriff's Department said he had traveled about 40 miles over at least three weeks before he was found Thursday.

"It is some of the most rugged, unforgiving terrain you will find anywhere on Earth, jagged cliffs, stone ledges, sandstone, sagebrush, juniper," sheriff's spokeswoman Becki Bronson said.

"Where William was hiking, there just isn't anyone out there," she said. "There are no people. There are no towns."

"it is remarkable that searchers aboard a helicopter were able to find LaFever at all, much less alive."

Deputy Ray Gardner, who had recently completed training in search and rescue operations for people with autism and was aboard the helicopter, said LaFever would not have survived another 24 hours.

LaFever was trying to get to Page because his father, John LaFever told him he would wire money to him in there, the sheriff's department said in a written release.

William LaFever had called his father on June 6 or 7 to say he was hiking in the Boulder area with his dog, and that someone had stolen some of his hiking gear and he had run out of money. John LaFever told his son to catch a ride to Page to collect the money.

His father, William LaFever apparently decided to hike down the Escalante River and then hitch a boat ride along Lake Powell to Page, rather than try to catch a ride, LaFever set out along the river but ran out of food. His dog left him, and LaFever began abandoning his gear until all he had was the clothing and shoes he was wearing when he was found, the sheriff's department said.

The dog hasn't been seen since.

The early June phone call was the last time the family heard from LaFever, and his sister reported him missing on Monday, the sheriff's department said.

Gardner's training in searching for people with autism taught him they are naturally drawn to water, so the helicopter search focused on the Escalante River, the department said.

The helicopter team spotted LaFever Thursday afternoon, sitting in the Escalante River about five miles from Lake Powell, weakly waving at the aircraft.

Gardner was dumbfounded justpfped this by saying:

"In all my career I have never seen someone so emaciated," Gardner was quoted as saying in the sheriff's department release. "I could not believe that he was alive, and feel certain that in another 24 hours he would not have been alive."