A Pennsylvania grandmother who fell into a massive sinkhole while searching for her cat has been found dead after days of searching.
Elizabeth Pollard, 64, was reported missing at around 1am on December 3, a day after she was last seen.
Concerned family members said they believe she disappeared while searching for her cat, Pepper, in Unity Township in Westmoreland County.
Troopers soon found her car parked behind Monday’s Union Restaurant with her five-year-old granddaughter still inside a little over an hour after the alarm was raised.
A sinkhole was then located just feet away, leading more than 100 people to look for Pollard inside the abandoned mine.
Over the past four days, crews have been digging in the area to find Pollard despite losing hope with each passing day.
Earlier on Friday, Sean Hribal, a deputy coroner in Westmoreland County, announced that Pollard’s body had been found.
After discovering her body, State Police Trooper Steve Limani told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that there was widespread relief among the search team.
Elizabeth Pollard, 64, a Pennsylvania grandmother who fell through a massive sinkhole while looking for her cat, has been found dead after days of searching
Over the past four days, crews had been digging in the area to find Pollard
‘We were running out of options, time and resources,’ Limani told the paper. ‘I was getting worried we weren’t gonna find her.’
On Thursday, Limani said that the sinkhole had become dangerous and could potentially make the ground shift, leading to another mine subsidence.
He added that the water that engineers and experts have been using to help clear dirt out of the mine is also causing more damage.
‘We have to be very careful with the water issues we’ve been experiencing,’ he said, adding that experts said the mine was already in bad shape before the horrific accident.
‘We’re gonna continue. We’re not stopping. We just might have to switch gears, so it might be a little slower than people might think,’ he said at the time.
Pollard’s young granddaughter was unharmed and is now back with her parents, despite sitting in nearly below-freezing temperatures for nearly 12 hours.
‘She was just a five-year-old girl that was waiting in the car for her grandmother to come back,’ Limani said.
The sinkhole is similar to the size of a manhole on the surface but gets much wider below ground, posing greater challenges for search efforts.
On Thursday, officials said that the sinkhole had become dangerous and could potentially make the ground shift
After discovering her body, State Police Trooper Steve Limani said there was widespread relief among the search team
The area is dotted with old coal mines, leading troopers to believe that it was most likely created when Pollard was walking around
Rescue workers are seen working to find Pollard overnight. They utilized cameras and listening devices that were dropped into the hole
Troopers found Pollard’s car parked behind a restaurant with her five-year-old granddaughter still inside
The area is dotted with old coal mines, leading troopers to believe that it was not there before Pollard began searching for Pepper and was most likely created when she was walking around.
Officers noted how she may have gone missing as early as 5pm – the last time she was seen by customers at the restaurant.
An initial look into the hole consisted of using a ladder and a harness, but there were no signs of Pollard.
‘You couldn’t even get close enough to the hole because of the way it was undermined,’ John Bacha, the Pleasant Valley Volunteer Fire Company Chief, told CNN.
The massive search that followed utilized cameras and listening devices that were dropped into the hole as well as more than 100 people working together to search for the missing grandmother.