Indiana woman reported missing after 'suspicious' fire in her house found alive: Sheriff's office
An Indiana woman who was reported missing last week following a "suspicious" fire in her house has been found alive, authorities said.
Britney Gard, 46, last had contact with her family the evening of Sept. 30, according to the Putnam County Sheriff's Office. She was considered a missing endangered person "due to her unknown whereabouts," the sheriff's office said.
Following an extensive investigation, she was found in a wooded area about 2 1/2 miles from her home, the Putnam County Sheriff's Office said Wednesday evening.
Gard called 911 around 5:30 p.m. Wednesday "requesting assistance finding her way out of a wooded area in Hall Woods Nature Preserve," Putnam County Sheriff Jerrod Baugh said in an update on Thursday.
Deputies quickly located her and paramedics checked her at the scene before transporting her to an area hospital for medical evaluation, Baugh said.
Authorities are not looking for any persons of interest in the missing person case and there is no threat to the public, the sheriff said.
"Please continue to keep Britney, her family, and all emergency personnel in your prayers," Baugh said. "As this case is still under active investigation to verify all incident information and bring a closure to this event, we will not be releasing any further details in this case at this time."
Authorities responded to Gard's home on Oct. 1, following a 911 call for a fire at her home in Bainbridge, located about 40 miles west of Indianapolis, the sheriff's office said. Smoke was reported coming from the residence around 7:40 p.m., the office said.
Fire crews extinguished the blaze, which investigators believe is "suspicious in nature," Baugh said in a statement on Friday. The cause of the fire remains under investigation, Baugh said in an update on Wednesday.
No one was found in the fire-damaged home, and attempts by family and friends to contact Gard following the fire have been unsuccessful, the sheriff's office said. She was not located following a drone-assisted search of the area and searches of a pond on the property following the fire, the sheriff's office said.
Gard was supposed to attend her daughter's volleyball game on Oct. 1, but did not show up, her sister, Stephanie Bowen, told Indianapolis ABC affiliate WRTV.
"Her car's at home, her purse is at home. She's nowhere to be found, and the house is on fire. It makes no sense," Bowen told WRTV on Monday.
"I just feel like there's something here bigger that we don’t know," she said.
The search continued this week for the mother of two, with dozens of people, including her sisters, looking through cornfields and wooded areas near Gard's property on Monday, WRTV reported.
Drones were deployed in the area, and conservation officers with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources have been conducting searches of the ponds at the residence and in the surrounding area, the sheriff's office said Wednesday.
Detectives also worked with the FBI and Indiana State Police, "looking for any leads into the current and past locations of any and all devices that could lead investigators to the location of Britney Gard," Baugh said Wednesday.
Amid the search, Bowen urged people to be "vigilant" and to check their home security cameras.
"Britney, we love you," she told WRTV on Monday. "We hope to see you safely return home."
