SAN MARCOS, Texas (KXAN) – A 76-year-old woman who went missing in San Marcos on Tuesday has been found in Austin.

According to police, Sandra Etheredge, who is diagnosed with dementia, disappeared on Tuesday while she was following her son as they drove near downtown San Marcos. The woman was separated from her son by a train.

“By the time the train cleared, they had lost contact with one another and she essentially went missing at that time,” said San Marcos Police Chief Chase Stapp.

Stapp say family searched for the woman, and filed a police report a few hours later. Police sent out alerts and posted to social media.

“Lots of folks shared it, and we had confidence that she would be found last night, but she wasn’t said Stapp. “But then, through the night we had, I believe it was two hits on the system called LPR in the Austin area, so we had a pretty good idea that that’s where she was.”

LPR cameras found the woman’s car, giving police a better idea of where she was. Then, Thursday morning, a couple of concerned citizens found Sandra Etheredge walking through a parking lot near Manor. They say her car had run out of gas and that they recognized her from the picture on KXAN news. They contacted police and she was reunited with family.

“I regret the fact that she was out all night long, it was cold last night, but she was safe and I’m glad it didn’t go longer than it did,” said Stapp.

The city of San Marcos purchased license plate scanners earlier this year to help parking enforcement officers downtown. Business owners wanted to free up more parking spaces for customers by increasing turnover and discouraging Texas State students from parking at the square and walking to class.

The city says the readers do not scan for warrants, and data it collects that does not lead to a ticket or prosecution is only held for 180 days.