Car found stuck in forest leads rescuers to body of missing grandma, Michigan cops say
The body of a missing Michigan grandmother was found in a national forest following a days-long search effort, officials said.
Karen Adams, 77, was reported missing on May 3 after she was seen driving away from a family member’s home in a Chevrolet Cruze, according to a May 9 news release from the state Department of Natural Resources.
Adams, a resident of Kimball — located about 60 miles northeast of Detroit — lived with dementia, officials said.
Several days after she was reported missing, a group of people on off-road vehicles spotted her Chevrolet Cruze stuck on a snowmobile trail in Huron National Forest.
A conservation officer and local sheriff’s deputies responded to the area, but were unable to find Adams in the vicinity of the car.
A broader search was then initiated using a helicopter and canine units, officials said.
Personnel from multiple agencies, including the U.S. Forest Service and the American Red Cross, assisted, according to a statement from All County Search and Rescue, a non-profit.
Family members and friends also took to social media to ask for assistance in locating Adams, including one woman who stated that Adams had no phone and was not familiar with the area.
After several days of searching, Adams’ body was located on May 7 less than a mile from her car.
She is believed to have died from “exposure to the elements,” officials said, adding that they do not suspect there was foul play.
“Sometimes it takes a village, or in this case a plethora of first responders...and sometimes all we can give the family of a missing loved one, is closure,” the statement from All County Search states in part.
Adams had three children, 10 grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren, according to a GoFundMe page raising money for funeral expenses.
“RIP Grandma…it still feels so surreal,” one of Adams’ grandchildren wrote in a Facebook post.
People with dementia regularly wander off to the point of going missing, according to a study published in 2021 in the journal Innovation in Aging. Recognizing potential risk factors can help prevent this “critical wandering,” the study said.
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