BOULDER COUNTY, Colo. — A lightning strike along a walking path in Superior injured a woman and temporarily left her without a heartbeat. As she recovers in a hospital, authorities are now asking for the public's help identifying her.
On Thursday just before 5:45 p.m., deputies with the Boulder County Sheriff's Office responded to the 1000 block of Lasalle Street just south of Superior Elementary School after receiving a report that a woman had been struck by lightning.
When they arrived, they found that the woman did not have a detectable pulse, the sheriff's office said. She was not breathing. After first responders began resuscitation efforts, they found a light pulse and she started breathing again, however she was still unconscious.
Mountain View Fire Rescue, which also responded, provided advanced medical care, the sheriff's office said. The woman was then transported to a local hospital and later airlifted to a Denver hospital.
Bystanders at the scene told emergency personnel that they heard a loud boom and then found the woman lying beneath a tree that had been struck by lightning on a walking path behind Lasalle Street. They started CPR and called 911.
As of 9:30 a.m. Friday, the sheriff's office said she has a regular heartbeat and is breathing on her own. She remains in critical condition.
The sheriff's office is now asking the public for help identifying her, as she did not have identification with her at the time of the lightning strike and her phone was heavily damaged and no longer works. Authorities have used her fingerprints and missing person reports in Boulder County to try to identify her, but that has not yet been successful.
She is described as a white woman between 20 and 30 years, standing 5 feet, 5 inches tall, and weighing 120 pounds. She has red or auburn hair. At the time, she was wearing a green running shirt and black striped running shorts, the sheriff's office said.
Anybody with information on her identity is asked to contact the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office at 303-441-4444.
Lightning in Colorado
Severe storm season tends to roll into Colorado in April and May. In an average year, lightning strikes the ground in Colorado about 500,000 times.
According to the National Weather Service, lightning typically kills and injures more people in Colorado than any other thunderstorm-related hazard. Since 1980, 101 people in Colorado have been killed by lightning and 490 have been injured, the NWS reported.
In 2025, Denver7 reported on two prominent cases where people were struck by lightning: In June, two men were hit by lightning on the 14,300-foot Torreys Peak and were rescued via helicopter. And in September, two young hunters in Conejos County were found dead after a lightning strike.
If you are caught outside in lightning, the best course of action is to get inside a fully enclosed building or a vehicle. If you are in a car, do not touch any metal objects inside. The NWS recommends waiting about 30 minutes after the last thunder rumble to go back outside.
Do not seek shelter under picnic shelters, sports dugouts, trees, porches, carports or tents, the NWS warns.
This story will be updated with any new information Friday.
