UNITY TOWNSHIP, Pa. (KDKA) – The body of Elizabeth Pollard, the missing 64-year-old woman who fell through a sinkhole while searching for her cat in Unity Township, Pennsylvania, has been found, the Westmoreland County coroner said Friday.
Pollard went missing around 5pm on Monday and crews have been missing since Tuesday dug, fortified and searched an abandoned coal mine behind Monday’s Restaurant on Marguerite Road.
State police hoped she would be found alive, but on Wednesday evening they informed Pollard’s family that the operation had been placed in a recovery phase.
“It’s just a matter of trying to find her and do right by her family,” Steve Limani, a Pennsylvania State Police trooper, said at the time.
The police expect to provide an update later Friday.
Crews feared the abandoned mine would collapse
As of Thursday evening, search teams feared the abandoned mine property was at risk of collapse.
“The goal is to remove the dirt and then come up from the bottom and get that dirt out. We’re going to take that dirt and put it in separate piles. We’re going to have people look at that dirt, look through it, possibly if we have a cell phone or anything that could be meaningful,” Limani said.
Police said Thursday that the excavators reached the spot where they thought Pollard was.
Pennsylvania State Police
At one point, more than 100 people had arrived on the scene to assist in the massive search and rescue effort.
As for Pollard’s cat, Pepper hasn’t been found yet.
