ALEXANDER, Maine — The Maine Warden Service found a man dead and his wife severely hypothermic over a mile away from their home in Alexander Thursday.
Game Warden Jake Voter and K-9 Koda located the 72-year-old woman at 2:30 p.m. Thursday in a forested area, Maine Warden Service spokesperson Mark Latti said Thursday in a news release. She was alert with her dog by her side, but her body temperature was 90.7 degrees. Emergency crews took her to Calais Community Hospital for observation.
Game Warden Kayle Hamilton and K-9 Ash found 82-year-old John Helmstadter dead about 200 yards away from his wife, Latti said in the press release.
The couple went for a walk with their dogs in the woods behind their home, where there is a network of trails. They went off one of the trails, and John fell and was unable to get up, Latti said.
Neither John nor his wife had their cell phones with them. She went for help, became disoriented in the woods, and couldn't find her way home.
"She said she had given up hope of being found, but today heard the Warden Service Airplane circling over her five different times and it gave her hope that she would be found," the press release read.
A neighbor who checks on them had seen a package on their porch, and brought it inside their house on Tuesday. The same neighbor called the sheriff's office Wednesday when she saw the package in the same place where she had put it, Latti said.
Game wardens, along with the Washington County Sheriff's Office, began searching Wednesday night. They were also joined by members of the Maine Forest Service and Maine Search and Rescue Dogs.
