MONROE — Green County Sheriff Cody Kanable said last weekend’s false report of a vicious attack on a female victim at Cadiz Springs State Park put a strain on resources and frightened the public unnecessarily.

“There’s definitely an impact there,” said Kanable, during an interview with the Times on Monday. “We put a lot of resources into that effort.”

And for nearly 24 hours, the public thought there might be an attacker with a knife in the area. Kanable said extra officers were called in to assist early in the search, even as detectives started going over every detail of the would-be victim’s story for clues. At one point, deputies used a drone with thermal-imaging technology to assist in the search.

The ordeal began on Saturday, August 29, at 8:50 p.m., when sheriff’s deputies responded to a 911 call at Cadiz Springs State Park, in the Town of Cadiz, about 1.25 miles east of Browntown.

“The 911 Dispatcher reported hearing a person crying but could not gather any further information,” said a Sheriff’s office statement. “Deputies located a female in the park that was breathing but not responding to deputies.”

The female initially reported to the emergency dispatcher that she was confronted by a man who attacked her with a knife and strangled her. She was transported by EMS to the SSM Health Monroe Hospital emergency department for care of non-life-threatening injuries.

Despite their search from the air and on the ground, however, first-responders were unable to locate any physical evidence of an attack. Then the next day, Sunday, August 30, skeptical sheriff’s detectives met again with the alleged victim, whom police identified as 43-year-old Sarah Bruner of Monroe.

“During this time, it was determined that the female…had provided significant false information,” said the sheriff’s office statement. “The attack never occurred, the injury was self-inflicted and the information provided the night prior intentionally misled investigators.”

As a result, Bruner was arrested and booked into the Green County Jail for Obstructing an Officer. She was released pending a future court appearance. Information on bond and a future court date was unavailable as of the newspaper’s deadline late Monday.

Kanable praised sheriff’s office detectives and other officers for treating the case with urgency from the start; and for ultimately determining the truth — that there was never any threat to the public.

“They followed out regular investigatory process,” Kanable said. “And they were able to get a full confession.”