Kimberly Pushard, 51, and Angela Bussell, 50, were finally found on Sunday after state officials had pursued a desperate search for the two women who are easily disoriented, and have trouble “processing information and are prone to being confused by directions,” NBC Boston had reported.
When they left South Portland on Tuesday they ended up in the state of Massachusetts and called their family at around 5 p.m. local time. They then traveled to Exter, New Hampshire, that same day and called police for help.
On Wednesday, they were tracked traveling through Candia and Raymond, New Hampshire before getting gas in Springfield, Maine—about 167 miles north of their home in Wiscasset—at 10 a.m. They then headed west and traveled to Lincoln before ending up at Nicatous Lake on Sunday where they were eventually found.
They were discovered by Game Warden Brad Richard who had been searching a trail near Nicatous Lake in Hancock County on his snowmobile. He discovered their 2012 Jeep Compass covered in snow and sitting undisturbed about half of a mile off of a remote snowmobile trail. The two women had been hiding in their vehicle---which had run out of gas on Saturday---after the temperature had dropped 15 degrees below zero on Saturday night.
“They only saw that one day in those extremely cold temperatures,” said Lt. Dan Menard of the Warden Service. “Had they run out of gas the first day it might have been a different story.”
Richard, fearing the worst, knocked on the door of the vehicle. The door swung open and revealed Pushard and Bussell who were both cold and hungry, but “alive and well,” according to the Portland Press Herald. Richard gave them some snacks he had on hand and then said, “I need to go and make contact with some people so that I can help get you out of here.”
“Well,” said Pushard, who didn’t appear to understand the danger she was in. “Would you hurry up?”
Bussell was treated for frostbite at Penobscot Valley Hospital in Lincoln, and was discharged on Sunday evening, a family member said. Pushard experienced some bruising and muscle pulls and spent the night at the hospital watching movies and talking to her family members.