An “active search” effort was called off Thursday for a woman who disappeared under the ice of a frozen Anchorage, Alaska-area river last weekend while trying to save her dog, officials said. The woman has not been found.
Amanda Richmond, 45, was walking with her husband, Brian Rogers, along the North Fork Eagle River Trail on Saturday afternoon when one of their dogs went into the water, Alaska State Troopers said in a statement Monday.
Both entered the water to help the dog, the statement said. Rogers was uninjured, but Richmond went under and did not resurface.
“That was the last she was seen by the adult male that was with her,” Austin McDaniel, the Alaska State Troopers’ communication director, said Monday. The dog has also not been recovered.
Troopers searched for Richmond for four days with the help of a search-and rescue-team, search dogs and Anchorage police. Rescue efforts included the use of drones and helicopters, as well as divers and sonar technology.
“Search teams have determined that there are no further areas of interest that are accessible to search at this time,” troopers said in a statement Thursday. “If new information or evidence is received by law enforcement, that evidence will be reviewed and a determination on additional search efforts will be made at that time.”
Police have entered Richmond into the system as a missing person, the statement said, and her relatives have been notified.
Rogers said in a statement provided to NBC affiliate KTUU of Anchorage by Richmond’s sister, Jennifer Richmond, that Richmond was an emergency room nurse “trained to help and save people” who, in this instance, was determined to help and save their dog.
“Amanda loved her dogs nearly as much as our kids, they were our family,” Rogers said, adding that they had tattoos of their dog’s paws and that the majority of photos on Richmond’s phone were of their dogs. “She did not jump in to save ‘just a dog,’ it was a family member. To me and our 4 boys she died a hero.”
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
