An American woman was found emaciated and chained to a tree in an Indian forest, but the unsettling discovery took an unexpected turn as the situation developed.

The woman was identified as Lalita Kayi, a 50-year-old United States citizen from Massachusetts.

The incident began when a cowherder in the Sindhudurg district of Maharashtra heard screaming from inside a dense forest when he took his cattle to graze there on July 27.

“The sound was coming from the forest on the side of the mountain,” the cowherd who found the woman said, according to the BBC. “When I went there, I saw that one of her legs was tied to a tree. She was screaming like an animal.”

The man called other villagers and police.

When officers arrived, the chains holding Kayi to the tree were cut. Authorities found her unable to speak and at first she used a notepad to communicate.

She was found to have an American passport, a phone, tablet and 31,000 rupees — roughly equivalent to $370.

According to the U.K. Independent, a local police superintendent claimed the American was suffering from psychosis and hallucinating at the time of her rescue.

Kayi was taken to a hospital in Goa, and soon improved enough to be transferred to a psychiatric facility. There, she wrote a statement on the situation.

She claimed her husband brought her to the forest, chained her to the tree without food or water, and left her to die alone. Part of Kayi’s statement says she was abandoned in the forest for “40 days without food.”

Police questioned the reality of her narrative, specifically how she was able to survive for a month in the wilderness with no food or water.

Eventually, the story began to unravel.

Kayi admitted she was not married, and that she had bound herself to the tree after buying the chains and lock.

She reportedly told police that an expired visa and dwindling savings caused serious distress, leading to her actions.

Kayi’s family was found and put in contact with the woman. Although her saga in India is not yet over, her physical and mental conditions appear to be improving.

“She eats, walks and also exercises,” an administrator at the Goa psychiatric hospital said. “She is under treatment and we are also giving her some nutrients that her body was lacking.”

It’s unclear what or if Kayi will face charges in India over the incident before her return to the United States.

Assignment Editor