SUPERIOR, COLORADO — A woman struck by lightning on a suburban walking path in Superior, Colorado, on Thursday evening remained in critical condition at a Denver hospital on Friday, and authorities were asking the public for help identifying her. The woman was not carrying identification when she was found, and her phone was severely damaged in the strike, according to the sheriff's office.

Bystanders found her unresponsive and performed CPR until emergency workers arrived. "They witnessed or heard a loud boom and then went outside to see what they could see based on that loud noise – and that is when they saw her," public information officer Carrie Haverfield said. The sheriff's office responded to the call at approximately 5:39 p.m. local time.

When first responders reached the scene, the woman had no detectable pulse and was not breathing. After continued resuscitation efforts, she regained a faint pulse and began breathing on her own but remained unconscious. She was airlifted to a hospital in Denver. By mid-morning on Friday, she had regained a regular heart rate and was breathing independently but remained in critical condition, according to the sheriff's office.

The woman is believed to be between 20 and 30 years old, according to the sheriff's office. She is described as white, 5 feet 5 inches tall and weighing 120 pounds (54 kilograms), with red or auburn-colored hair. She has three butterfly tattoos on her upper right arm. At the time she was found, she was wearing a green running shirt, black running shorts with white stripes, white or pink running shoes, and a grey or black windbreaker-style jacket.

Authorities have reviewed missing persons reports but have found no matches for the victim, according to the sheriff's office. They are not releasing a photo of the woman because she sustained trauma and does not look like herself.

Superior is located on Colorado's Front Range, in an area of prairie and foothills rather than in the mountains, Haverfield said. Colorado sees an estimated 500,000 lightning strikes to ground per year, according to the National Weather Service. Between 2006 and 2024, the state ranked third in the U.S. in lightning fatalities, behind Florida and Texas, according to the Lightning Safety Council. About 40 million lightning strikes hit the ground in the U.S. annually, and the odds of being struck by lightning are less than one in a million in a given year, according to the Centers for Disease Control.