People who are mentally ill just do not make rational decisions in many cases. I can understand why it might be deemed pertinent to the story.

Most reporting these days suffers from both political correctness and a desire to gloss over the details, while remotely mentioning the critical things.

If the woman was nuts and that contributed or led to the situation, they should just say so flat out. If not, it does not seem like it needed to be in the story at all.

Telling people you are going to FL and ending up in NM wandering around in the desert without appropriate gear does not seem like something a person acting in a rational way would do.That leads me to believe the mental illness aspect may well have been a very significant factor. The report may not have delved into that side of it much out of a misguided desire to avoid embarrassment to the victim.

In any case, delving into the thinking of someone who is in the clutches of mental illness really won't provide much of an answer. If someone is not acting rationally, there is just no way to "get" it.