UNITY TOWNSHIP, Pa. (KDKA) — The body of Elizabeth Pollard, the missing 64-year-old woman who fell through a sinkhole while looking for her cat in Unity Township, Pennsylvania, has been found, authorities announced on Friday.
Pollard fell about 30 feet below the surface of where the mine would have sat and was about 12 feet away from where the original sinkhole opened up, Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Steve Limani said in a press conference Friday.
Pollard went missing around 5 p.m. on Monday and since Tuesday, crews have been digging, shoring up and searching an abandoned coal mine behind Monday’s Restaurant on Marguerite Road. The massive effort took about 80 hours and involved more than two dozen fire departments, several other groups and a construction company.
Pennsylvania State Police
Rescuers held out hope she’d be found alive, but on Wednesday night, they informed Pollard’s family that the operation was moved into a recovery phase. Authorities on Friday said they wanted a better outcome but were relieved they could at least provide some closure to the family after finding Pollard’s body.
“I couldn’t have been more happy for the family that we were able to find her because that was the only thing that they were concerned with after yesterday was if they can have her so they can do what’s right when it comes to a memorialized service and having a viewing and everything that everyone deserves to have if that’s what your faith believes,” Limani said.
As of right now, it’s unclear whether the 30-foot fall killed Pollard, but Limani hopes an autopsy will reveal more answers.
Crews work to shore up abandoned mine
As the search for Pollard progressed, there were fears that the abandoned mine could collapse as they moved “a tremendous amount” of dirt, Limani said. Incident commander Scott Graham said rather than sending people down, they used machinery to retrieve Pollard’s body, because even Friday, parts of the roof and sides were collapsing.
Now Limani said engineers from the mining division will work on shoring up the mine.
“They’re going to put the dirt back and then they’re going to talk about putting a grout in there eventually and shoring up the entire area,” Limani said.
Pennsylvania State Police
He called the abandoned mine complex, saying, “It’s almost like a mini town underneath this town, which is wild.” Crews had to use hand-drawn maps from the 1940s to help navigate the recovery.
Marguerite is an old coal patch town, and authorities said they’ve heard from residents who are concerned about other collapses. Anyone who sees any kind of depression in the ground or sinkhole opening can call the Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation at 814-472-1800.
As for Pollard’s cat, Pepper hasn’t been found.