An elderly woman was found dead and her disabled adult daughter alive after they got lost and their car broke down in Idaho’s Panhandle National Forest while on their way from Oregon to Utah.
Elderly woman dead, disabled daughter found alive after getting lost in forest
The mother was first found by a hunter who called 911, the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office said. That call came in on Friday around 11:45 a.m. Sheriff’s deputies and Forest Service police responded, and the hunter led them to the body.
“During an additional search of the area, a disabled vehicle was located with a second female in the vehicle, alive,” Kootenai County Sheriff Robert B. Norris said in a statement.
They are Dorothy Turner and her daughter Heidi Turner, according to the Pendleton Police Department in Oregon.
The mother-daughter pair had been reported missing Wednesday after leaving Pendleton, Oregon, and failed to show up when expected in Utah. Their last known contact had been by phone, when they told a relative they were on an “unusual route” in Idaho, Pendleton police said in a statement.
They had not answered the phone since.
Kootenai authorities surmised that the two had apparently gotten confused while following a GPS direction system.
“It appears that the two women got lost and ended up in the National Forest where their vehicle broke down,” the sheriff’s office said.
“However, the elderly mother who attempted to go out to get help died as a result of exposure to the elements. The daughter, who is mentally disabled, remained in the vehicle and survived the elements. The family has been notified and is coming to the area to reunite with the daughter.”
