Search for Missing Grandma Is Now a Recovery Mission as Authorities Fear Mine Could Collapse

“It’s been difficult — I’d be lying to you if I didn’t tell you it feels a little bit like a loss,” a Pennsylvania State Police spokesperson said

• The search continues for Elizabeth Pollard, 64, who went missing on Dec. 2 and is believed to have fallen through a sinkhole and into a mine
• Authorities said that the fragile state of the mine has prompted a shift in rescuers’ search process
• “Unless it’s a miracle, most likely this is recovery,” Pennsylvania State Police spokesperson Trooper Steve Lemani said at a Dec. 4 press conference

Authorities say the search for Elizabeth Pollard, a missing grandmother who is believed to have fallen through a large sinkhole and into an abandoned mine while looking for her pet cat, is now a recovery effort.

“We have not been able to get any type of location of her as of yet,” Pennsylvania State Police spokesperson Trooper Steve Limani said at a press conference on Wednesday, Dec. 4, “other than to know that we are virtually positive she is in the mine. It’s just a matter of trying to find her and do right by her family.”

“Unless it’s a miracle, most likely this is recovery,” the spokesperson added. 

Limani said the difficulty in accessing the mine, as well as its fragile state, led to a shift in the rescuers’ process of finding Pollard. 

“The condition of the mine that we’ve been working through has changed our potential outlook on where we’re probably headed with our investigation,” he shared. 

The spokesperson added that “based off of oxygen levels being a little low, even though we pumped oxygen into the mine, it’s lower than what you want for someone to try to sustain their life.”

“It’s been difficult — I’d be lying to you if I didn’t tell you it feels a little bit like a loss,” Limani said.

Pollard, 64, went missing in Unity Township on Monday, Dec. 2, after she was looking for her cat Pepper around 5 p.m. A relative reported that she disappeared on Tuesday, Dec. 3, just before 1 a.m., Limani previously said, according to ABC News.

Authorities arrived to find Pollard’s 5-year-old granddaughter inside her grandmother’s vehicle, reported The New York Times, parked near a newly formed large sinkhole. It led first responders to suspect Pollard had fallen in.

The girl was reported to have been safe and told authorities she “nodded off in the car and woke up” and “Grandma never came back,” Limani said at the time.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that crews shifted to deploying K-9 units, cameras and other electronic devices on Wednesday, Dec. 4, because of safety concerns surrounding the ground near where Pollard disappeared.

Despite the gravity of the situation, Limani said in his Dec. 4 update that searchers will continue to work through the operation.

“It’s taken longer than we thought,” the spokesperson said. “The mine is just not in good condition. It’s got areas where it’s starting to collapse and decay and buckle a little bit. We were afraid we’re gonna make it worse if we try to continue to plow forward with the techniques we were using. It’s gonna be another day of solid digging.”

Rescuers were scheduled to resume work Thursday morning, Dec. 5, the Associated Press reported.