Body found of Pennsylvania grandmother Elizabeth Pollard who ‘fell into sinkhole’
Officials in the US say they believe they have found the remains of a grandmother who went missing after apparently falling into a sinkhole while looking for her cat.
Elizabeth Pollard, 64, was last seen searching for her pet, Pepper, on Monday evening near a restaurant half a mile from her home in the village of Marguerite, about 40 miles east of Pittsburgh.
She was reported missing by her family at about 1am on Tuesday when she had not returned – amid below freezing temperatures.
The top of a sinkhole in the village of Marguerite. Pic: Pennsylvania State Police via AP
The search operation. Pic: AP
Sean Hribal, a deputy coroner in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, said on Friday searchers believe they have found her remains in Unity Township, where workers have been digging out an abandoned coal mine to try to find her.
Ms Pollard’s son, Axel Hayes, said in a phone interview that a state trooper told him and other family members that her body had been found.
He said he had been “hoping for the best. I was hoping she was still alive, maybe in a coma or something. I wasn’t expecting all of this”.
Searchers had concentrated their efforts on a sinkhole with a manhole-sized, surface gap that may have only recently opened up above an area where coal was mined until about 70 years ago.
Crews removed a massive amount of soil and rock to try to reach the area where they believed she fell into the 30ft (9.1m) deep chasm.
Search crews at the site. Pic: AP
Ms Pollard’s car was parked about 20ft (6m) from the site, police said, and her five-year-old granddaughter was found safe inside the vehicle.
People who were in the area in the hours before she disappeared told police they had not noticed the sinkhole.
A pole camera with a sensitive listening device was lowered into the hole, although it found nothing.
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State police Trooper Steve Limani told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that there was massive relief among the search team that Ms Pollard had been found.
“We were running out of options, time and resources. I was getting worried we weren’t gonna find her,” he said.
Mike O’Barto, who chairs the Unity Township Board of Supervisors, said “the people of Unity Township are sad today”.
A pole camera with a sensitive listening device was lowered into the hole, although it found nothing.
Charlie Kirk has been posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Donald Trump.
The USA’s highest civilian honour was received by the conservative activist’s widow, Erika, at the White House.
Mr Kirk, 31, was fatally shot on 10 September while speaking at an event at Utah Valley University.
He founded Turning Point USA and toured American university campuses, debating students about current affairs.
Erika Kirk at the White House. Pic: Reuters
Erika Kirk and Donald Trump. Pic: Reuters
Addressing those attending the ceremony in the White House rose garden, the US president said they were there to “honour and remember a fearless warrior for liberty” and a “beloved leader who galvanised the next generation”.
He said Mr Kirk’s name was being entered “forever into the eternal roster of true American heroes”.
Mr Trump described Charlie Kirk as an “American patriot of the deepest conviction, the finest quality and the highest calibre”.
He said his nation had been “robbed” of an “extraordinary champion”.
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Has Charlie Kirk become a MAGA ‘martyr’?
And Mr Trump said Mr Kirk was assassinated in the “prime of his life for boldly speaking the truth, for living his faith, and relentlessly fighting for a better and stronger America”.
The ceremony coincided with what would have been Mr Kirk’s 32nd birthday.
Mr Trump described Erika Kirk, now head of Turning Point USA, as someone who had “endured unspeakable hardship with unbelievable strength”.
Read more:
What do we know about Erika Kirk?
Charlie Kirk’s movement is growing in wake of his assassination
Charlie Kirk. File pic: AP
A 22-year-old man, Tyler Robinson, from the city of Washington in Utah has been charged with Mr Kirk’s murder. Prosecutors said they would seek the death penalty.
At a memorial event held at a stadium in Arizona, Erika Kirk told an enormous crowd she forgave her husband’s killer.
“The answer to hate is not hate,” she said.
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