Starrlita R. Smith, the missing Livingston County woman, was located Thursday evening, Livingston County Sheriff Thomas Dougherty announced.

Dougherty tweeted at 7:18 p.m. that, "Starr has been located. She is alive and being treated for dehydration and malnutrition."

"She is safe after being located in the garage of her home," according to a tweet from New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services and New York State Office of Victim Services.

The search was conducted as if a child were missing because Smith, 21, who has special needs, is known to operate at about the level of a 6- to 12-year-old.

More:Where was missing woman for 3 days?

The search had been called off for the day, Dougherty said at a media briefing Thursday night at the Leicester Fire Department. He said searchers had returned to the fire hall where authorities had set up their command post and went home to "rest up" before resuming the search Friday.

At 7 p.m., dispatchers advised deputies that family had called in and said Smith had returned to her home. "The family had said that she had walked in from the garage," Daugherty said. He added, "She's currently at the hospital and she's alive and quite well."

Dougherty said Smith told her parents that she was "sleeping for three days, that she had just woken up." It's unclear if she was in the garage for the entire time she was missing, but Dougherty said the investigation is still in its early stages. Dougherty said authorities searched the Smith home and garage.

He said Smith was found in the clothing she was wearing when she went missing, but did say she was wearing different shoes.

Dougherty was extremely candid when briefing the media. He said, "We had no clue where she was. I'll be very forthright with you, when this call came in and she was at the house, that's a huge relief for us, that's she alive and well. She could've been in California in this amount of time. We had no solid leads right up until the moment (that we found out she was home), (leads) that were credible or we felt strongly about."

He said her parents were having a conversation when she went out the side door of her Perry Road home at 7 p.m. Monday.

Dougherty said the Smith family garage was a two-car garage and that it would be difficult to move around in there because "there is so much stuff in the garage." The garage is connected to the house. Smith's mother remained home for the duration of the search.

"So If she has been moving in and out of the garage, she would have to do it at nighttime when people are sleeping," he said. "Those are all things that we are going to investigate until we have a solid answer."

Dougherty described the relief all parties felt when Smith was located.

"Your hopes start diminishing by the minute and your thoughts start leading to, if they find her, will she even be alive," he said. "The family is relieved. We're relieved. I want to thank the community. We have a special county in Livingston."

He pointed to the numerous messages and well wishes searchers received.

"These conditions are tough," Dougherty said. "Not only the terrain, but the weather was cold in the early mornings as they're still showing up to help. The police agencies, the state agencies, the fire department, the firemen and firewomen, again, they showed up and just wanted to help. We have a special community here."

Smith was known to frequent the Genesee Valley Greenway Trail near Mount Morris. Search operations focused on a square mile surrounding the trail.

She has wandered previously but never longer than a few hours, Dougherty said.

She did not have identification, a cellphone, or any devices that are believed to have been used to meet with anyone.

On Tuesday, deputies used unmanned aerial vehicles and K-9 teams. Officials also used a roadblock to ask commuters whether they had seen Smith, but the effort was unsuccessful.

Officials also used Hyper-Reach — an emergency alert sent to cell phones in the area — and spoken with the New York State Missing Persons clearinghouse.

Because of the terrain, searching is "very unsafe" at night, so searches stopped at dark, said Kevin Niedermaier, director of emergency management in Livingston County.

MEFINNERTY@Gannett.com

WCLEVELAND@Gannett.com