COLLEGE PARK, Md. (7News) — A 22-year-old University of Maryland (UMD) student who disappeared from campus for nearly a week was found alive Wednesday night after spending six days in the woods.

Dilan Ashar was found around 7:30 p.m., dehydrated, disoriented and extremely hungry, UMD Police Chief David Mitchell said during a news conference Thursday.

“Dilan came out of the woods and he knocked on the driver’s side window of Howard County Search and Rescue and said, ‘Are you looking for me?'” Mitchell said.

Ashar was immediately treated by emergency crews before being taken to the hospital.

The search began Oct. 2 after Prince George’s County police received a missing-person report near Knox Road in College Park. Investigators became particularly concerned after learning Ashar had left behind his cellphone, identification and wallet.

“We had reason to believe that [Ashar] could be in grave danger,” Mitchell said.

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University of Maryland Police give an update on Dilan Ashar on Oct. 8, 2026. (7News)

Surveillance footage showed Ashar at the Terrapin Trail Parking Garage around 2:30 a.m. on Oct. 2, near the Xfinity Center. Police determined he left the garage and headed northeast toward a wooded area of campus.

Over the next six days, investigators searched hundreds of acres, repeatedly checking campus buildings, parking garages and surrounding wooded areas. Police also reviewed footage from more than 1,000 cameras and brought in K-9 teams, including bloodhounds, to help with the search.

“We have basins of water. We have a lake in Artemesia. We didn’t have any reason to believe that Dylan went to the North and west over toward the metro tracks and so forth. Our next step was to do a grid search north and west and pull our resources together, including of all of our canines,” Mitchell said.

Mitchell added the investigation was especially challenging because Ashar did not have his cellphone or another electronic device that police could use to track his location.

READ | Missing University of Maryland student found alive after days-long search

Following his discovery Wednesday night, Ashar was reunited with his parents and older brother. Chief Mitchell described the emotional moment when Ashar saw his family again.

“It’s hard to put into words,” Mitchell said.

Police have not yet determined what led to Ashar’s disappearance or exactly what happened during the six days he was missing.

“I can’t say or pinpoint one exact thing that caused Dylan to walk out of the woods,” Mitchell said. “I like to think that the statement that was released by Dylan’s mom, his father and his brother, very tearfully, pleading for his return, had something to do with that.”

Mitchell said investigators plan to speak with Ashar once he is medically ready.

University of Maryland President Darryll Pines described the past week as difficult for the campus community but said he was proud of how students, faculty and staff came together to help find Ashar.

“As you can imagine, I was overjoyed to learn this news and truly happy for our entire University of Maryland community, and particularly for the Asher family,” Pines said.

He also thanked law enforcement, first responders, students and the media for their efforts throughout the six-day search.