Skier who went missing from New York mountain slopes ends up six days later in California still wearing ski clothes
Constantinos 'Danny' Filippidis tells police he 'couldn't remember' how he got there
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Your support makes all the difference.A firefighter who went missing from the slopes of a ski resort in New York and sparked a massive search was found six days later on the opposite side of the country, still wearing his ski suit.
Constantinos "Danny" Filippidis had been out on an annual trip with friends and colleagues in Whiteface Mountain in the Adirondacks in New York state when he disappeared.
He turned up in warmer weather in Sacramento, California, nearly 3,000 miles away, where he contacted the police and gave his name, saying he had been missing from New York.
Deputies who turned up found the father-of-two dressed in his snow trousers, a ski jacket and winter boots, and carrying a ski helmet after he had called them on an mobile phone he had just bought.
One of the officers told the Post-Standard of Syracuse that Mr Filippidis thought he had suffered a head injury, had been a passenger in a truck and slept a lot. He got a haircut and bought the phone to call his wife.
"When we asked him how he got here, he couldn't remember much," Sergeant Shaun Hampton told the Canadian Press. "He was skiing and that's what he last remembered. He had a significant amount of trouble remembering what occurred over the last few days."
The 48-year-old told the officers: "It's a bit chilly here, but it's not that cold."
Mr Hampton said the police were initially suspicious of Mr Filippidis’ story until they checked a national database of missing people and found he had gone missing from New York six days earlier.
After verifying his claim, he told the officers he remembered being dropped off in Sacramento carrying a credit card which he used to withdraw cash but had no formal identification on him.
The officers who spoke with him were confident he had not taken drugs or alcohol but told him he would have to be seen by doctors at a hospital where he was later transported.
He was discharged with no reported sign of any injuries and his family are organising for him to be returned home to Toronto.
John Tibbits, of the New York State Police, said in a news conference that Mr Filippidis has told the authorities he will return to New York to help investigators piece together how he vanished and turned up on the other side of the US.
"At this point we want to assist Danny in getting back the last six days of his life and we ask that no one jump to any conclusions," he added, according to a report by CTV News.
Additional reporting by the Associated Press
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