The Pennsylvania State Medical Examiner's Office announced Friday that investigators believe they have found the body of a woman last seen four days ago near a sinkhole above a closed coal mine.
Westmoreland County Deputy Coroner Sean Fribble said searchers believe they have found the body of 64-year-old Elizabeth Pollard.
Shortly after 11 a.m., law enforcement dispatched a coroner to Unity Township, where crews were excavating an abandoned coal mine to locate Pollard.
Search for missing Pennsylvania grandma intensifies after crew encounters unstable mineshaft
Elizabeth Pollard, 64, may have fallen into a giant sinkhole while searching for her lost pet. (KDKA/Pennsylvania State Police, via AP)
State Police Officer Steve Limani told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that finding Pollard was a huge relief to the search team.
“We were running out of options, time and resources,” Limani told the paper. “I'm starting to worry that I won't be able to find her.”
Pollard's son, Axel Hayes, said in a brief phone interview Friday that he had not heard anything from authorities and said he planned to call his father, Kenny Pollard, to let him know.
Rescuers believe Elizabeth Pollard went missing while looking for her cat in debris removed from a sinkhole on Dec. 5, 2024 in Margaret, Pennsylvania. Rescue dog searching for. (AP Photo/Matt Freed)
Elizabeth Pollard was last seen searching for her cat, Pepper, on Monday night near a restaurant half a mile from her home. Pollard's family reported her missing around 1 a.m. Tuesday as temperatures in the area dropped below freezing.
The search focused on a sinkhole with a manhole-sized gap in the surface that appeared to have recently formed in the village of Marguerite, where coal was mined until about 70 years ago.
Police said they found Pollard's car parked about 20 feet from the sinkhole. Pollard's 5-year-old granddaughter was found safe inside the car.
Search intensifies for missing Pennsylvania grandmother suspected of falling into sinkhole (KDKA/NNS)
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Hunters and restaurant workers who were in the area in the hours before Pollard disappeared told police they did not notice the sinkhole.
The effort to find Pollard included lowering a pole camera with sensitive eavesdropping equipment into the hole, but nothing was detected. Crews removed large amounts of dirt and rocks and attempted to reach the area where the wreck appeared to have fallen into the approximately 30-foot-deep fissure.
Pollard grew up in Janet, about 19 miles from Unity Township, and spent most of his adult life there. She previously worked at Walmart and was married for over 40 years.
