Missing Tioga County woman identified eight months since remains were found

WESTFIELD, Pa. ( WETM ) — A missing Westfield woman has been identified months after searchers located her vehicle and remains nearby.

According to an obituary from Kenyon Funeral Home , 85-year-old Phyllis C. Potter was found in Westfield, Pennsylvania, on October 29, 2023.

Potter was born in Westfield on February 8, 1938. She was married for 59 years to her husband Benjamin Potter and she enjoyed playing cards, doing word searches, chatting with friends and family, and always had a snack bag ready when people would stop by her house.

Private services will be held at the convenience of the family before being buried with her husband in Champlin Cemetery.

In the obituary the family thanks everyone involved in the search for Potter over the months, from the searchers to the fire departments, churches, and the Pennsylvania State Police.

According to Detective Todd Wagaman from the Tioga County District Attorney’s Office, the cause of death is undetermined but there were no signs of foul play. Wagaman said that the condition of the remains made it almost impossible to pinpoint the actual cause of death.

Prior reports state that Potter was reported missing in July 2023, after she was last seen on camera at a gas station in Harrison Valley, on July 20th, before going to a friend’s house. It’s reported she left the friend’s house early July 21st in her car but was never seen again.

Thousands of people banded together to search hundreds of miles of area to try and find Potter. Groups would meet weekly at a local church and then go and search roads, paths, waterways, and other areas for any trace of Potter or her white Subaru Outback.

The months went on and summer turned to fall and as the leaves changed and fell off the trees, areas of brush became much easier to search. On October 28, 2023, a driver spotted something shining in the brush while driving along North Fork Road, after a few days of seeing it shine, they finally went to see what it was and located a white Subaru Outback just off the road.

Police were contacted and the car was searched and no body was found, but 50 yards away were human remains.

At the time, the remains were sent to the Lehigh Valley Medical Center for autopsy.

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