Published: July 09, 2008 11:59 am      

Searchers find missing Garrett couple

83-year-old husband found alive with wife dead at his side

FORT HILL, Pa. - A missing Garrett County man was found Tuesday afternoon with his wife dead at his side about one mile from where their vehicle was parked in the Mount Davis Road area of Addison Township.

Everett Mahlon McClintock, 83, was suffering from dehydration and hypothermia and was flown by Maryland State Police Medevac helicopter Trooper 5 to Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown, W.Va.

May Alene McClintock, 80, was pronounced dead at the scene and is believed to have died from exposure to the elements and dehydration, according to Maryland State Police. The Somerset County Coroner's Office will make an official report on the cause of death.

The couple were found by search and rescue teams shortly after noon Tuesday in an area of steep terrain and dense foliage. Police don't know if they had gotten lost on the mountain, since Everett McClintock's condition prevented him from talking.

"He really wasn't able to tell us much," Sgt. W.L. Mowbray, with MSP at McHenry, said. Authorities hope to learn more after McClintock improves and he feels like talking.

The McClintocks were last seen Saturday by their grandson when they left their residence on Pigs Ear Road in Grantsville.

The family filed a missing persons report with Maryland State Police at McHenry shortly before 1 p.m. Monday, about an hour before the couple's 2000 Ford Taurus was found abandoned by family members near 1113 Mount Davis Road in the Fort Hill area of Somerset County.

The initial search Monday afternoon included Maryland State Police and its Medevac helicopter, Pennsylvania State Police, Salisbury and Grantsville volunteer fire companies, and numerous concerned citizens.

Police said the vehicle was located near land that McClintock, a logger and dairy farmer, purchased recently.

Police also said May McClintock suffered from Alzheimer's disease.

Geraldine Budzina, 911 dispatcher at the Somerset County Control emergency center, said searchers were gathered at about 8 a.m. Tuesday to resume efforts to locate the missing logger and his ailing wife.

"We have fire companies, searchers, dogs, and we are taking help from the public," she said.

A command post manned by Pennsylvania State Police was established on Mount Davis Road to coordinate the search efforts.

The Salvation Army was notified to provide assistance to the searchers, who navigated the steep, hilly terrain in their efforts to locate the missing couple.

Additional resources were called from Westmoreland and Cambria counties to supplement those already on site from Somerset, Bedford, Fayette and Garrett counties, according to Alan Baumgardner at Somerset County Control.