Woman with autism missing after family trip to state park, rescue efforts underway

AITKIN COUNTY, Minnesota — Authorities say they hope to find the body of a 23-year-old woman with autism and type 1 diabetes who disappeared from a Minnesota state park last week.

Tonya Yarmakov’s family said they last saw her around noon on Sept. 4, when they went fishing at Savanna Portage State Park. She was alone on the dock and they saw her get up and run away, the Aitkin County Sheriff’s Office said.

As of Tuesday, volunteers had spent more than 2,200 hours searching.

On Friday morning, the sheriff’s office announced that they had downgraded the rescue mission to a recovery mission.

Yarmakov is described as 5 feet 2 inches tall with dark brown hair. She was last seen wearing a rainbow tie dye shirt, athletic shorts, black shoes and black headphones.