There are many questions that have not been answered as to how Joyce Gant, 58, died last weekend, but what is evident is that the Rio Rancho woman tried to save her life, rather than take it.

When Sandoval County Sheriff investigators found the woman on June 25 at 2:45 p.m., she was wearing pink clothes and delicate sandals more dressed for her doctor’s appointment at the New Mexico Cancer Center that morning than for a night walking.

She was lying one mile from where she had abandoned her car in a lonely lane with her pocketbook a short distance from her body. It must have been Friday afternoon on June 20 when she drove her 2005 Nissan automobile on Southern Boulevard where the road turns to dirt. She drove for four miles down narrowing dirt roads until she must have realized she should be driving a four-wheel drive instead of the low carriage vehicle she was driving.

Gant turned around on the road to return down the hill when the undercarriage of her Nissan struck a high point in the road across the Sandoval County line to pass into Bernalillo County. As Sheriff John Paul Trujillo and I traveled the path on Thursday, she took that Friday afternoon, you see a deep hole where her right front tire had spun and become entrapped.

It is not known how long she stayed with her vehicle before determining that she must try to walk back to civilization.

What is known is that sometime that night, a group of young men found her vehicle noting the keys in the ignition and the oxygen left inside the car. They decided to move it further down the road.

They did not see Gant that Friday night on June 20.

They did not know she had gone missing. Later, after seeing the missing woman report and vehicle information in the newspaper, they went to talk to police at the Rio Rancho Police Department. It was 12:30 p.m. on June 25.

It had now been five days since anyone had heard from Gant after she left the smoke shop at the Santa Ana Casino in Bernalillo on NM 528.

Rio Rancho Police investigators referred the case to Sandoval County Sheriff investigators.

They were shown where the Nissan had been moved n a spot two miles from where Gant had left it n parked in the shrubs off the narrow path that was now back in Sandoval County.

It appears that when Gant left her vehicle, she walked one mile without oxygen or water with her cocker spaniel and pocket book before dying from exposure. This was significant. Gant had lung cancer, and had received a treatment that morning.

Gant had walked on a dirt road which followed the power lines running east before turning north on a smaller dirt path.

The autopsy report will reveal how long she had walked that night, or the next morning, before she died. At this time, it is not known.

Until then, many questions are unanswered.

It is the same questions crime investigators are asking.

Why did she travel the bad roads in her vehicle? Was she going to enjoy the scenery, the sense of serenity with her pet? Why did she leave her oxygen in the car? Where was she when her car was moved? Why was her pocketbook a distance from her body, as if flung?

Investigators noticed small scratches and cuts on her legs. Was it coyotes bothering her and the dog? Did she fling her purse in an effort to save herself or her pet?

Though investigators did not find the little cocker spaniel, the young men said they saw a dead dog when moving the car. By this past Wednesday, it was nowhere to be found.

As Joyce Gant struggled to save her life during her many health problems, she tried to save her life when she was faced with the harsh reality of nature.