'Tremendous team effort': Harrowing rescue of Stoughton, Massachusetts, woman stuck in mud

EASTON — One week after her family reported her missing, 31-year-old Emma Tetewsky of Stoughton was rescued by police and fire from a muddy swamp in Borderland State Park where she was estimated to have been stuck for upwards of three days.

"This is a great story for everyone," said Stoughton Police Chief Donna McNamara at a press conference Wednesday at the Easton public safety building to talk about the rescue effort.

Two hikers on a narrow, beaten path in the park heard Tetewsky screaming for help. Around 6 p.m. on Monday the hikers called the police, who found her stuck in the swamp roughly 50 feet from the hiking trail.

Tetewsky went missing from her home in Stoughton on June 25, and was reported missing the next day. Stoughton Police began searching for her on the morning of June 28 near Pinewood Pond and Massapoag Lake in Sharon. She didn't have a cell phone or a vehicle.

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How long had she been stuck in the swamp and how did she get there?

Officers from the Easton Police Department said it's currently unknown exactly how she ended up in the swamp at Borderland State Park or how long she had been stuck. But based on her disheveled, dehydrated state they estimated she'd been there for three days.

Police describe the dramatic rescue effort

When Stoughton Police officers Corey McLaughlin, Andrew Stanton and Jason Wheeler arrived at the park, they didn't know she was the missing woman from Stoughton. The officers said that the mud was so thick and sticky that they each fell into the mud at least once while trying to pull her out.

Tetewsky was lying in a shallow area of the swamp in a fetal position, but officers were able to move her to her side. They pulled her to shore before Easton firefighters loaded her onto an orange plastic gurney to move Tetewsky from the narrow trail to their vehicles. She was then transferred to Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton.

"It was a tremendous team effort," McLaughlin said. "Extremely incredible."

Was Emma Tetewsky injured and how is she doing?

Police said she has sustained multiple injuries to her upper body including her shoulder. She also was dehydrated, sunburnt and had an imbalance in her electrolytes.

The officers said when they first tried to pull her out, while standing knee-deep in mud, Tetewsky's weight on top of their own made them sink further into the swamp. They also tried to throw a rope to her, but were unable to pull her in.

"It was clear to see how someone could be stuck there," McLaughlin said.

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As the patrolmen carried her out of the mud, Tetewsky was telling them her name, which made it clear she was the missing woman from Stoughton.

Wheeler said that "lots of people" get lost in the park. Tetewsky's family said she frequently prays in the woods near Sharon and has a history of mental health concerns.

McNamara said that hikers, especially in Borderland State Park, should bring water and snacks as well as a cell phone in case of an emergency.

This article originally appeared on The Enterprise: Missing woman rescued from mud at Borderline State Park: What happened