Missing 74-year-old woman survived on granola bars and soda during month in the woods

LEESBURG, Fla., June 4 (UPI) -- A 74-year-old woman who went missing in Florida was able to live on granola bars, rain water and what was left in discarded sodas for a month while she survived in the woods.

Traute Rankin wandered away from her senior apartment building in Leesburg on May 2 and ended up setting up a campsite in the woods about 30 yards away from a major roadway.

Rankin ate granola bars that she had stashed in her purse and drank soda out of bottles she was able to find near the road.

"When she couldn't find anymore of those, she tried to walk to Walmart, but she was so dehydrated, she collapsed before she got there," daughter Renee Shelley told WKMG.

When Rankin was found lying in the bushes at the edge of a parking lot Saturday she was brought to a hospital. Rankin appeared to be in good health overall, but she is being treated for dehydration and bug bites.

The spot were Rankin was found is about a mile away from her apartment.