Two Maine women, Kimberly Pushard and Angela Bussell, who both have intellectual disabilities, were found alive in their Jeep after being missing for five days in 15 degrees Fahrenheit.
The women were heading to the Maine Mall in South Portland to go bowling but got turned around on the highway on Tuesday, ending up taking a wrong turn into Massachusetts.
They stopped multiple times to phone family members and ask police officers for directions but were unable to get back on track.
Their families filed a missing persons report with the Topsham Police Department on Wednesday after Pushard’s cell phone last pinged near Candia and Raymond, New Hampshire.
Police searched in the area but later learned the women were last seen 300 miles away in Springfield, Maine, where they stopped to get gas and then headed towards Route 6, hoping to head home.
As more tips came in, police discovered the women had also been near Lincoln on Route 155 around 10.30am, which led to an aerial search, but didn’t find anything.
The women found themselves back in Maine near Nicatous Lake, where they pulled off Morrison Ridge Road onto a remote snowmobile trail. Ten miles later, they got stuck in the snow and stayed until they were rescued on Sunday afternoon.
The women’s Jeep ran out of gas on Saturday, leaving them without heat supply in the 15-degree cold.
Game Warden Brad Richard found the women’s Jeep covered in snow and knocked on the door, expecting the worst, but the women opened the door seconds later.
Richard gave them snacks before telling them he had to ‘go and make contact with some people so that I can help get you out of here.’ Bussell had been frostbitten and was released from Penobscot Valley Hospital in Lincoln on Sunday, while Pushard had bruises and muscle pulls and was kept overnight.
Lieutenant Dan Menard of the Warden Service said, ‘Had they run out of gas the first day it might have been a different story.’ He also called it dumb luck that Richard found the women’s Jeep.
The families of the women expressed their relief and happiness that they were found alive and well.
»Two missing women in Maine discovered alive in their Jeep after being trapped in snow for 5 days«
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