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Search for missing grandma who may have fallen in sinkhole turns into recovery effort

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Search for missing grandma who may have fallen in sinkhole turns into recovery effort


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The search for a grandmother who apparently fell into a sinkhole while looking for her cat earlier this week in a coal mine town about 40 miles southeast of Pittsburgh is now a recovery mission, state officials announced.

The hunt for Elizabeth Pollard entered day three Thursday with crews, who officials have performed what state troopers called an impressive, grueling effort on the ground, attempting to locate the 64-year-old woman.

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“It’s now a matter of trying to find her and do right by her family,” Pennsylvania State Police spokesperson Trooper Steve Limani said during a news conference Wednesday night, adding there have been no signs of life since she vanished Monday.

Crews search for missing grandma at abandoned mine

Limani said crews had worked “a full two days” pumping water through a long-abandoned underground mine at the site suctioning out dirt, debris and rocks to clear an area and search for Pollard – a process Limani compared to trying to pull a boulder out of a house of stacked cards.

“(Crews) were just busting their butts, covered in mud, everything they could to move debris,” Limani said.

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The abandoned mine is in Marguerite, an unincorporated community and coal town in Westmoreland County.

“During the course of our day today we’ve experienced some difficulty when it came to trying to work on the mine and access to the mine and the fragile state the mine is in,” Limani said, adding there is a good chance the mine may collapse.

Limani said troopers met with her family Wednesday night to update them on the search.

Crews had to switch gears due to unstable mine

At the risk of the safety of people who are in there, the compromised condition of the mine, and the potential for inclement incoming weather including snow, Limani said, crews have had to switch gears.

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The trooper said crews will now work dawn until dusk to dig out a large plot, “more than four times the size of the area that we had originally done, to try and secure the mine so crews can access it to try and go in there and recover her. It’s going to be at least another day of just solid digging.”

Despite crews pumping oxygen into the mine, Limani said oxygen levels remain lower than what someone would want inside “for someone to try and sustain their life.”

Pleasant Unity Fire Chief John Bacha said in a Wednesday news conference, Bacha said the danger became apparent around 3 a.m. Wednesday, and the roof of the mine had collapsed in several places making it unstable.

Troopers ‘virtually positive’ Elizabeth Pollard fell into sinkhole

Limani said troopers are “virtually positive” Pollard fell into the sinkhole near Monday’s Union Restaurant in Unity Township.

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On Wednesday, PSP Communications Director Myles Snyder told USA TODAY a camera lowered into the hole revealed what appears to be a shoe.

Pollard was last seen about 5 p.m. searching for her cat Pepper, troopers said. Pollard’s family contacted state police at around 1 a.m. Tuesday morning to report that she had not come home.

Police found Pollard’s car behind the restaurant around 3 a.m. with her 5-year-old granddaughter safe inside, the agency reported. State troopers found a sinkhole in the area near the car nearly the size of a manhole cover.

“The sinkhole, it appears that it was most likely created during the time, unfortunately, that Mrs. Pollard was walking around,” Limani told KDKA on Tuesday. “We don’t see any evidence of any time where that hole would have been there prior to deciding to walk around and look for her cat.”

USA TODAY has reached out to Limani for more information.

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What is a sinkhole?

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, a sinkhole is a hole in the ground that opens up when there is no external surface drainage. When water builds up, it drains into the subsurface and dissolves the sediment below, creating caverns until the ground surface itself collapses.

They can form from natural or manmade causes, according to Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection. They also can crop up after extreme weather.

In the U.S., they’re most common in these states: Florida, Texas, Alabama, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee and Pennsylvania, according to the American Geosciences Institute.

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Pollard’s granddaughter unable to provide details about what happened

Pollard’s granddaughter, who’d been in the car for almost 12 hours in freezing temperatures, was found unharmed, troopers said.

The girl, now safe with her parents, was unable to give law enforcement any details about what happened.

“She was just a 5-year-old girl that was waiting in the car for her grandmother to come back,” Limani said.

Contributing: Jeanine Santucci and James Powel

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Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on X @nataliealund.



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Pennsylvania man arrested for allegedly feeding pet parakeet marijuana and beer

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Pennsylvania man arrested for allegedly feeding pet parakeet marijuana and beer


A Pennsylvania man was arrested on animal cruelty charges for allegedly feeding marijuana and beer to his pet parakeet after bringing the injured feathered friend to a bar, according to reports.

Timothy Grace, 40, was busted on Feb. 21 after carrying his wounded pet budgie named “Blue Skies” in his pocket to Callaghan’s Bar in Greensburg, according to CBS Pittsburgh.

Timothy Grace was arrested on animal cruelty charges for allegedly feeding marijuana and beer to his pet parakeet after bringing the injured feathered friend to a bar. WTAE

“The caller’s a bartender. She says there is a white male at the bar with a parakeet,” a dispatcher reported on the police radio transmissions obtained by the outlet.

“The patron was bragging to other people that were inside the bar that he feeds the parakeet marijuana and has it drink beer on a daily basis,” Detective Sergeant Justin Scalzo told the outlet.

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Grace “appeared extremely intoxicated” when police showed up to the bar and found the pet bird in distress, according to court documents obtained by the outlet.

“Its leg appeared to be broken,” Scalzo said, according to WTAE. “Its foot was actually facing the wrong direction.”

Grave was initially arrested for public intoxication and now faces charges including aggravated cruelty to animals and transporting animals in a cruel manner, the outlet said.

The pet bird was brought to PEARL Parrot Rescue in the Pittsburgh area, which rushed him to an emergency care facility.


Exterior of Callaghan's bar, with a sign showing
The injured parakeet is still breathing hard, remains on antibiotics, and has to wear a splint on his right leg. WTAE

Blue Skies spent four days in the hospital and was later taken in to be fostered by Teri Grendzinski, the president of PEARL. The injured parakeet is still breathing hard, remains on antibiotics, and has to wear a splint on his right leg, CBS reported.

“They realized his leg was broken. He also had some respiratory issues going on,” Grendzinski told the outlet. “He was also very, very skinny.”

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“The leg was broken badly enough there is a chance they’re going to have to amputate the leg if it doesn’t heal correctly,” she added.

If Blue Skies is eventually put up for adoption, he will require specialized care, the outlet said.

“When we got that call, it was horrifying. Why would you do that to a bird?” Grendzinski said.



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Pa. man found guilty of raping teen girl who he took to Mexico

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Pa. man found guilty of raping teen girl who he took to Mexico


A Pennsylvania man was found guilty of repeatedly raping his daughter’s best friend over a three-year span before fleeing with the teen to Mexico.

On Thursday, March 5, 2026, Kevin Esterly, 53, of Whitehall Township, Pennsylvania, was convicted on all counts of rape, statutory sexual assault, involuntary sexual intercourse and endangering the welfare of children.

Esterly shook his head as the verdict was read but said nothing in the courtroom.

Resources for victims of sexual assault are available through the National Sexual Violence Resources Center and the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 800-656-4673.

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Esterly’s trial began on Tuesday, March 3, after a judge denied his pretrial motion for the charges against him to be dismissed and for the Lehigh County District Attorney to be removed as a prosecutor in the case.

Both Esterly and his victim testified on Wednesday, March 4.

The victim — who is now 24-years-old — told the courtroom that she met Esterly and his family while attending church as a child and became best friends with one of his daughters. Esterly was a youth leader and elder at the church at the time. The victim said Esterly also coached her soccer team.

The victim said she became so close to Esterly’s family that she called his wife “mom” and eventually spent almost every weekend at their home in Lowhill Township, Pennsylvania. She also said she vacationed with them in New York state and Ocean City, Maryland.

The victim said Esterly first sexually assaulted her in August 2015 when she was 13-years-old after he gave her alcohol during a family birthday party.

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“I was scared. Frozen in fear,” the woman told the courtroom on Wednesday. “I pretended I was sleeping.”

The woman accused Esterly of sexually assaulting her almost every time she slept over at his home. She told the courtroom she eventually became addicted to alcohol and drugs, which Esterly gave her in exchange for sex. According to the woman, Esterly gave her cocaine and methamphetamine to keep her awake during school because she “would be up with him all night.”

The woman said Esterly continued to sexually assault her until he was confronted by his wife in 2017. Esterly’s wife then threw him out of the house, according to the victim. She said Esterly continued to sexually assault her over the next year.

Esterly was later arrested and then sentenced to prison after federal agents found him with the victim in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, in 2018. She was 16-years-old at the time.

The woman said she moved on and went to college after Esterly’s sentencing though she still struggled with drug addiction. She said she sought counseling in February 2025. She told the courtroom she received a message from Esterly on LinkedIn that same month in which he apologized for “failing you as a person I was supposed to be for you.” At that point Esterly had been released from prison.

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The woman said she had not told anyone about her relationship with Esterly up to that point and replied to him, “I live with our secret every day as I promised. I would appreciate an apology.”

The woman told the courtroom that Esterly responded by writing, “I hope one day you can forgive me. Nobody knows I reached out to you. That is the best for both of us.”

On Feb. 21, 2025, Allentown Police received a report of Esterly’s sexual assaults which led to the new charges being filed against him. He was arrested in West Virginia in June 2025 after two police pursuits. He was then extradited to Pennsylvania.

The victim told the courtroom on Wednesday that she kept quiet about Esterly’s abuse for years because she “was afraid to speak,” and felt “dirty and ashamed.”

“I wasn’t ready to tell anyone,” she said. “He was a father figure in my life. I loved him.”

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The woman also said she didn’t want to hurt Esterly’s daughter who was her best friend.

When the District Attorney asked her why she was “here today,” she replied by saying, “I want to tell the truth. I want to be set free.”

The woman ended her testimony by saying, “I don’t want to live with this secret anymore.”

After her testimony, Esterly took the stand for 45 minutes, denied all of the accusations against him and accused the woman of lying.

Closing arguments then took place Thursday morning. It then took an hour for the jury of seven women and five men to reach their verdict.

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3 dead in apparent murder-suicide spanning from Pennsylvania to Illinois, police say

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3 dead in apparent murder-suicide spanning from Pennsylvania to Illinois, police say



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Two women are dead in Pennsylvania and a man is dead in Illinois after an apparent murder-suicide, police said on Wednesday.

According to a report from the Pennsylvania State Police, the investigation began in Hillside, Illinois, when police there were dispatched after a man reported two women dead in Jackson Township, Pennsylvania. Police said that when officers got to Hillside, about 15 miles west of Chicago, they found that the man had died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

After identifying him, troopers said Hillside officers contacted police from Jackson Township to request a welfare check at the man’s home on Dior Drive, about 30 miles north of Pittsburgh. 

Map shows distance from Hillside, Illinois, to Zelienople, Pennsylvania

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KDKA


Police said officers used forced entry to get into the home and found two women dead from apparent gunshot wounds. It’s believed the two women were family members of the man who died by suicide in Illinois, investigators said. 

Pennsylvania State Police said they’ve assumed control of the case and are “actively investigating” what happened surrounding the three deaths.

Police didn’t release any names, saying the process of formal identification and notification of next of kin hasn’t been completed. Sources told KDKA that the victims were a husband, wife and their daughter.

“At this time, investigators believe there is no ongoing threat to the public, and law enforcement is not searching for any additional individuals in connection with this incident,” police wrote in the public information release report. “This remains an active and ongoing investigation.”

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State police didn’t release any other details on Wednesday but said more information will be made public when it’s available.  

“My first reaction was shocked because this is such a close-knit neighborhood, and to think something that horrible could happen here is very tragic because they were such a good family,” neighbor Danielle Sporer said on Wednesday. 



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