Husband Discovered Dead During Search for Missing Maine Couple

A pair reported missing early Thursday has been located.

Maine Game Wardens discovered Pamela Helmstadter, 72, and John Helmstadter, 82, at about 2:30 p.m., according to Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife spokesperson Mark Latti.

Pamela Helmstadter, together with one of the Helmstadters’ dogs, was discovered more than a mile away from their Alexander home. John Helmstadter’s body was discovered about 200 yards distant from where wardens found Pamela.

According to Pamela Helmstadter, the couple went for a walk with their dogs in the woods behind their home on Sunday. The couple had wandered off the route when John Helmstadter fell and was unable to get up.

Neither Pamela nor John Helmstadter carried telephones with them on the walk. Pamela Helmstadter informed wardens that she tried to walk back to the house to obtain help but became disoriented and was unable to return home.

According to a neighbor who had informed Maine wardens about the Helmstadters’ absence, one of the couple’s two dogs had returned to the house, but Pamela and John Helmstadter had not been seen since Wednesday.

The Maine Game Wardens began their search for the pair on Wednesday night.

According to Latti, when planes began flying over Pamela Helmstadter’s location, she expressed renewed hope that she would be located.

Pamela Helmstadter, who was hypothermic when she was found, was sent to Calais Community Hospital. Details about her condition were not immediately available.

It was not immediately obvious whether John Helmstadter’s body would be autopsied. An email sent to Maine DIFW spokesperson Mark Latti was not immediately returned.

On Thursday evening, no further information was available.