OSCODA COUNTY (WWJ) - The search for a missing St. Clair County woman has come to a tragic end after authorities recovered her body less than a mile from where her vehicle was found stuck on a snowmobile trail in Northern Michigan.
According to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Karen Adams, 77, of Kimball Township, was discovered deceased on Sunday, May 7 in Big Creek Township in Northern Michigan's Oscoda County.
Adams, who lived with dementia, was reported missing on May 3 to the Montmorency County Sheriff’s Office. She was last seen leaving a family member's home in a silver 2018 Chevrolet Cruze on Schmallers Road in Loud Township at 1:41 p.m.
Loud Township is about 41 miles southwest of Alpena and 40 miles southeast of Gaylord.
While deputies were searching for Adams, authorities in neighboring Oscoda County were tipped off Saturday, May 6, after a group of off-road vehicle riders found Adams' car.
According to the DNR, the vehicle was reported stuck on a snowmobile trail in the Huron National Forest, just south of Mio in the area of the Deyarmond Valley Road and Union Corners Road intersection.
A DNR conservation officer and deputies from the Oscoda County Sheriff's Office were dispatched to the scene where they came across Adams' disabled Chevy on Trail LP 968, but were unable to find the 77-year-old.
A wider, more extensive search was launched with the help of K-9 units and a helicopter from the Michigan State Police.
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"The Michigan Department of Natural Resources Law Enforcement Division coordinated the search into Saturday night and early Sunday morning with assistance from numerous agencies," the DNR said in a prepared statement. "The search was suspended for a short time due to inclement weather Sunday; ground crews resumed searching by late morning."
Around 1 p.m., a search crew came across Adams, deceased, less than a mile from where her vehicle was found.
The DNR said that they do not suspect foul play in her death and believe the 77-year-old succumbed to exposure to the elements. An official cause of death has not yet been released, pending a medical examiner's report.
The addition to MSP, the DNR received assistance from the United States Forest Service, Oscoda County Sheriff’s Office, Montmorency County Sheriff’s Office, Tri Town Fire Department, American Red Cross, Alpena County Search and Rescue, search members from Oakland County, and Community Emergency Response Teams from Oscoda, Ogemaw, Lapeer, Roscommon and Crawford Counties.
No other details have been released.