A six-day search for missing University of Maryland student Dilan Shaan Ashar ended after he walked out of woodland near the university’s Xfinity Center and approached a search vehicle.
The 22-year-old knocked on the driver’s side window of a Howard County Search and Rescue patrol car on Wednesday evening and asked: “Are you looking for me?”
Ashar was wearing the same clothes as when he was last seen and appeared dehydrated, dishevelled, frightened and hungry, David Mitchell, the University of Maryland’s police chief and director of public safety, said at a briefing on Thursday.
He was given immediate medical treatment before being taken to a nearby hospital, where he remained on Thursday. The university said he had been reunited with his family.
Police have not yet spoken to Ashar about where he had been or why he emerged from the wooded area near Parking Lot 4. Mr Mitchell said officers were concentrating on his health before seeking further information.
The search had been made more difficult because Ashar did not have a mobile phone or other electronic devices with him. University police had previously said he was also without his wallet and identification.
Ashar was reported missing on October 2 after footage showed him at the Terrapin Trail Garage on campus at about 2.30am. His parents later met officers from the Prince George’s County Police Department and released a video appealing for help.
Investigators initially concentrated on the car park before widening the operation across the University of Maryland campus and surrounding areas. Drones searched woodland and the university golf course, while almost 50 personnel and nine K-9 units covered about 110 acres.
Howard County Search and Rescue crews also joined the operation, including efforts to search bodies of water in the area.
