Missing woman returns safely
A Spokane Valley woman missing for five days returned home safely Friday, her family said Saturday.
Joyce M. Stookey, 59, had not been taking prescribed medication for depression when she disappeared Monday morning, according to her husband, Miles Stookey.
“That is why I was panicked,” he said.
Joyce Stookey apparently spent her time sleeping in her car, going to the park and visiting the Immaculate Conception Church in Post Falls, her husband said.
She was last seen Monday by a nephew as he left for camp. Joyce Stookey dropped off her husband at a bus stop but failed to return at the end of the day. She had left her purse by the front door of their home.
That’s when Miles Stookey contacted the Spokane County Sheriff’s Department. Department officials on Saturday confirmed that Joyce Stookey had returned.
Miles Stookey said there were no family problems that might have prompted his wife to leave.
“She just took off,” he said. “She said she wanted to be alone.”