A coroner in Pennsylvania has determined that 64-year-old grandmother Elizabeth Pollard died of head and torso injuries after she fell into a sinkhole last week, according to a report published on TribLIVE.com.
Pittsburgh station KDKA similarly reported that Pollard was found to have blunt force trauma to those parts of her body following the incident in Marguerite. It’s unclear if Pollard died instantly in the fall or afterward, and toxicology results are still pending, the two outlets said.
Pollard was last seen Dec. 2 while searching for her cat roughly half a mile from her residence. When she didn’t return home, her family reported her missing in the early hours of the following day.
Authorities found her car about 20 feet away from the sinkhole on Dec. 3, with Pollard’s young granddaughter safely inside.
Trooper Steve Limani, a Pennsylvania State Police spokesperson, reportedly said it seemed as though the hole “opened up with her [Pollard] standing on top of it.” The woman is then thought to have fallen into a 30-foot chasm left over from an abandoned coal mine.
After a frantic search-and-rescue effort failed to locate Pollard, authorities said they no longer believed she’d be found alive. Limani noted that crews were dealing with low oxygen levels and other treacherous conditions below ground.
“We did get, you know, where we wanted, where we thought that she was at. We’ve been to that spot,” John Bacha, the chief of the Pleasant Unity Volunteer Fire Department, said Dec. 4. “What happened at that point, I don’t know, maybe the slurry of mud pushed her one direction.”
Pollard’s body was recovered Friday, about 12 feet laterally from where she fell.
Axel Hayes, Pollard’s son, said that his mother was “a great person” who loved cats, according to The Associated Press.
“Every cat that she’s ever come in contact with, she has a close bond with them,” he said.