Search and rescue teams gain access to mine where Unity woman fell down sinkhole, fresh crew arrives

The search for a woman suspected of falling down a sinkhole in Unity on Monday evening continued under floodlights late Tuesday, with authorities vowing to keep looking for her underground until she is found.

Search and rescue personnel gained access to a mine believed to have caused the sinkhole Tuesday evening.

Pennsylvania State Police spokesman Steve Limani said the search and rescue teams are looking underground via that access point for Elizabeth Pollard, 64, of Unity. Rescuers dug a separate entrance to where they believe she is because the ground around the sinkhole is unstable.

The site is a few miles off Route 30 east, between the Inn at Mountain View and the Arnold Palmer Regional Airport.

A fresh crew, from Pennsylvania Urban Search & Rescue, arrived at the scene at about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday to relieve crews who had been there since early Tuesday.

“We were called just before 1 a.m. and the family said Ms. Pollard was missing,” Limani said. “They were concerned after she’d gone out to look for her cat, named Pepper, and hadn’t come home.”

Police began searching the area and discovered the sinkhole when a trooper nearly fell into it, Limani said.

Shortly before 3 a.m. Tuesday, troopers discovered Pollard’s 5-year-old granddaughter inside a vehicle parked behind a garage at the rear of the restaurant. Limani said Pollard’s granddaughter was alone for hours but did not require medical treatment. The vehicle was spotted by a trooper searching the property.

“The last time someone is known to have seen (Pollard) is 5 p.m. (Monday),” Limani said. “She gave the folks at the restaurant a description of the cat.”

A camera dropped into the sinkhole revealed a shoe about 25 feet below ground level.

John Bacha, Pleasant Unity Volunteer fire chief, said warmer temperatures deep in the hole, combined with normal oxygen levels, make a potential rescue possible. He confirmed that a shoe was found but said there have been no signs of life.

“We are pretty confident we are in the right place,” Bacha said. “We’re hoping there is still a void she could be in.”

“We are still in rescue mode,” Marguerite Fire Chief Scot Graham said.

Unity emergency management coordinator Tom Schultheis indicated that crews were hoping the excavation would reach a point where they could do thermal imaging.

Work crews continue to dig in search of missing Unity woman. pic.twitter.com/UngGQ9jIP1

— Rich Cholodofsky (@RichCholodofsky) December 3, 2024

Officials from the state Bureau of Mine Safety are assisting state police in the search, as are as many as 100 people from multiple agencies working together.

The sinkhole opened up in a grassy area behind Monday’s Union Restaurant.

Investigators believe Pollard drove to the parking lot behind the restaurant, spoke with two hunters, handed them a flyer about her missing cat and walked into in the adjacent field when a manhole-sized sinkhole opened up beneath her.

Rescue crews have been working nonstop since about 3:30 a.m. Tuesday.

By mid-morning heavy equipment, including a vacuum truck and excavators, were removing soil and debris and digging out an area to access where Pollard is believed to have fallen. That work continued as of 8:30 p.m.

Marguerite Road was closed to traffic at about that time between Lemon Road and Coke Oven Hill Road to facilitate staging of equipment and a safe area for crews to operate. The fire bureau asked motorists to avoid the area until further notice.

Search and rescue is expected to continue into the night and won’t end until Pollard is found, Limani said.

Unity Supervisor Mike O’Barto said the township declared a disaster emergency, which allows for private entities to participate in the search. Equipment from the Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County and Ligonier Construction Co. is among those being used.

‘I can only imagine what it would be like’

Speaking on behalf of the family, Tabitha Pollard told TribLive her aunt and uncle, Elizabeth and Kenny Pollard, have multiple cats at their home in the small coal patch town of Marguerite in Unity.

“They definitely love their cats,” Pollard said. “They have inside ones and they have outside ones. All of their cats mean a lot. Those are their babies.”

Pollard said she was shocked when she learned through a social media message about the search underway for her aunt and her 5-year-old relative’s long ordeal.

“I have children myself,” she said. “I can only imagine what it would be like.”

She came to her aunt’s home Tuesday afternoon to check on the search for her aunt and on her uncle’s welfare.

“It is very hard for him,” she said.

She asked for continued prayers for her family.

“This community is family,” she said. “They reach out. Growing up, I’ve watched everybody come together at tough times.”

Anita Iannuzzo, owner of Monday’s Union, said it’s not unusual to see a stray cat running into the woods behind her business.

“The cats always end up here,” Iannuzzo said.

The restaurant has been in the Iannuzzo family for nearly a century in Marguerite, where about a half dozen homes sit across the two lane road.

“It’s a tight community,” Iannuzzo said. “Everyone helps everyone.”

Patrick Varine,Rich Cholodofsky and Jeff Himler are TribLive staff writers. They can be reached at pvarine@triblive.com, rcholodofsky@triblive.com and jhimler@triblive.com