Husband found dead after search for missing Maine couple

A couple that was reported missing earlier Thursday has been located.

Pamela Helmstadter, 72, and the body of John Helmstadter, 82, were located by Maine Game Wardens around 2:30 p.m., according to Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife spokesperson Mark Latti.

Pamela Helmstadter, along with one of the Helmstadter’s dogs, was found more than a mile away from the couple’s Alexander home. John Helmstadter’s body was found around 200 yards away from where wardens located Pamela.

According to Pamela Helmstadter, the couple had gone for a walk with their dogs in the woods behind their house on Sunday. The couple had walked off the trail when John Helmstadter fell and was not able to get up.

Neither Pamela nor John Helmstadter had cellphones with them during the walk. Pamela Helmstadter told wardens that she had attempted to walk back to the house to get help, but got disoriented and was not able to make it home.

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

Maine Game Wardens started their search for the couple on Wednesday night.

When planes started flying over where Pamela Helmstadter was, she said that she regained hope that she would be found, according to Latti.

Pamela Helmstadter, who was hypothermic when she was located, was transported to Calais Community Hospital. Details on her condition were not immediately available.

It was not immediately clear if John Helmstadter’s body will be autopsied. An email to Maine DIFW spokesperson Mark Latti was not immediately returned.

Further information was not available on Thursday evening.