A family in a nearby village claimed that the woman was their daughter Rochom P'ngieng (born 1981) who had disappeared 18 or 19 years previously; the story was covered in most media as one of a feral child who lived in the jungle for most of her life.
[citation needed] She came to international attention after emerging filthy, naked and scarred from the dense jungle of Ratanakiri province in remote northeastern Cambodia on January 13, 2007.
After a villager noticed food missing from a lunch box, he staked out the area, spotted the woman, gathered some friends and caught her.
After hearing about the incident, 45-year-old Sal Lou[4] (or Sar Yo[5]), member of the Pnong ethnic minority[3] and Oyadao village policeman, traveled to the area and claimed that the woman was his long-lost daughter.
[7] A visiting Guardian reporter observed that the woman had deep scars on her left wrist and ankle, possibly from being held in captivity, and that her feet did not look as if she had lived in the jungle for a long time.
A Spanish psychologist who visited the woman reported that she "made some words and smiled in response to a game involving toy animals and a mirror".
Penn Bunna, an official at ADHOC, another Cambodian human rights group, said the constant flow of visitors likely caused stress for the woman.
[8] On 25 September 2007, Deutsche Presse-Agentur reported that the woman, who had never been able to adjust to village life, had vanished back into the jungle without leaving a trace.
[11] In October 2009, Agence France Press reported that the woman had refused to eat rice for a month and was admitted to a hospital, where a nervous condition was diagnosed.
[14] In early June she was found in a latrine about 100 m (330 ft) from her home after a neighbour heard her crying, Sal Lou, the man who claims to be her father, said.
He claimed that she had disappeared in 2006 at age 23, following a mental breakdown, indicating that she had survived in the jungle for approximately one year as opposed to the 18–19 previously thought.
Pel was able to identify a spot on her lip, the scar on her wrist, and an ear condition, in addition to bringing nine relatives and documentation about Tak's birth details and disappearance to support his claim.