Missing Hempfield woman found safe

A Hempfield woman reported missing on Wednesday morning was found safe later in the day, according to state police.

Troopers issued the alert for Kathleen Savasta, 33.

Her mother Barbara Savasta had last seen her nearly two months ago after Kathleen borrowed her pickup truck on Jan. 19, saying she was going to buy cigarettes.

“I’m just worried sick about her,” Barbara Savasta said Wednesday before her daughter was found. “Kathleen’s had some mental health issues … been in and out of halfway houses … but she’s never been gone like this in her life. She’s supposed to be on medication because of her health issues and has been without that for a long time. It just worries you sick.”

The truck Kathleen was driving was found near Tarentum in February.

The pair lived together on Browntown Road in Hempfield.

“I was upset back then that she took off with my truck, but now I just want to hear from her and won’t be mad,” Barbara Savasta said. “Like I said, I’m worried sick about her and praying every day that she’s OK.”

Savasta said she bought a car in early February — 3¹⁄₂ weeks after her daughter and her vehicle had gone missing — “and, wouldn’t you know it, that same night I got a call from police that the truck was found abandoned along Route 366 near Tarentum.”

“It was locked up with the keys inside, out of gas and the battery was dead,” Savasta said. “It was just sitting along the road. … I don’t know if she left it there or someone else drove it there and left it.”