STOW, Maine – After a lengthy search through the night, a volunteer searcher working with the Maine Warden Service discovered the body of a missing 78-year-old Maryland woman early this morning.
Barbara Goldberg, age 78 of Potomac, Maryland had gone missing during the middle of the day, yesterday, August 6, while on a hike on Blueberry Mountain in Stow. Her partner, Steven Plotkin, had dropped her off earlier that morning at 9:00, and had talked to her via walkie talkie at 11:00 a.m. Barbara told him she was almost to the summit and expected to be back to the Stone House Road Parking lot around noon. When Barbara didn’t appear at the designated meeting area by 2:30 p.m., Steven contacted 911 and reported her missing.
Game wardens began searching the area shortly after 3:00 p.m. yesterday. A warden service airplane searched from the air, and the warden service expanded the search quickly bringing in volunteers from MESARD (Maine Search and Rescue Dogs), Saco Valley Fire Department, Lovell Fire Department, Fryeburg Fire Department, Fryeburg Rescue, Mahoosuc Search and Rescue, Center Conway Fire Department, and Denmark Fire Department.
After searching alongside and over all area trails and nearby roads, a MESARD K9 located Barbara’s walkie talkie during the night near a ledge near the summit on Blueberry Mountain. Using Barbara’s Ipad that her partner had retrieved that night from their rented cabin, Wardens were then able to locate her Iphone coordinates utilizing the “find phone” feature. After searching the rough terrain and strewn boulders at the base of the ledges, at approximately 3:00 a.m. this morning, a MESARD volunteer recovered her body by calling her Iphone, the following the faint sound of her phone. She was located at the base of the ledges deceased. Her body was transported to Woods Funeral Home in Fryeburg where she will be examined by the State Medical Examiner. The death is not considered suspicious.
No further information is available at this time.
UPDATE | Skydiving instructor’s body found
[MDIFW NEWS: Lebanon, Maine – September 28, 2018] The body of 41-year-old Brett Bickford was located moments ago by ground searchers. The search team comprised of four game wardens, a State Trooper and two members of MASAR located Bickford’s body about 750 feet southwest of the Lebanon Airport runway shortly before 5:30. The team located Bickford while completing one of the few remaining grid searches for the day. The investigation continues to determine what caused this fatal skydiving incident. The family and first responders wish to thank all those involved and who offered their support during this difficult recovery operations.
