WATERFORD — Ruth Frances Brennan was found Wednesday morning, about three-quarters of a mile from where she was last spotted Monday. According to officials, after spending nearly 48 hours on her own, she was alert and talking and was escorted from the woods.

The Maine Warden Service and dozens of volunteers spent part of Monday, all of Tuesday and several hours Wednesday morning searching for the 77-year-old South Portland woman after she was reported missing at 10 a.m. Monday.

Brennan had been vacationing with her family at a camp on Spur Ridge Road on Middle Pond, and went missing while walking from that camp toward Melby’s Market & Eatery on Route 35 in North Waterford.

Searchers, including the Air National Guard and members of a number of specialized search and rescue units, searched a roughly four-square mile area around where Brennan was last seen on Tuesday, hiking through woods with dense undergrowth, along camp roads, ATV trails and walking paths.

She was found in an area where wardens had not yet searched, according to the the Warden Service. 

Brennan walked regularly, was considered in good physical health, and had made a habit of walking from the camp to Melby’s store.

Brennan has symptoms common with dementia, but officials are unsure if that has played a factor in her disappearance, according to Maine Warden Service Lt. Kevin Adam. Her family said Wednesday that Brennan has “memory loss not uncommon of someone her age.”

Maine game wardens, Maine state troopers, Oxford County Sheriff’s deputies, and members of Maine’s Air National Guard were joined by over 60 volunteers from search outfits across the state Tuesday. They included Maine Association for Search and Rescue, Waldo County Search and Rescue, Dirigo Search & Rescue, Mahoosuc Mountain Rescue Team, Maine Search and Rescue Dogs, Maine Mounted Search and Rescue and Pine Tree Search and Rescue. They traversed miles of woods and hills surrounding the camp, organizing from a mobile command post established at the Waterford Fire and Rescue building on Valley Road.

Tuesday’s search, which started at 7 a.m., was briefly halted in the afternoon  to allow search dogs to recuperate from the heat, which hovered in the high 80s with high humidity. The heat and humidity remained Wednesday, as the search started up again at 7 a.m.

Brennan was reportedly found just before 10 a.m. Wednesday.

This story will be updated.

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