09/01/2008
enlarge
Maine Warden Service photoSALEM TOWNSHIP -- A 9-year-old Winslow girl lost overnight Saturday in the dense woods of Mt. Abram was found, alive and unharmed early Sunday afternoon, according to Maine Warden Service officials.
Leah Cuetara, described by her aunt, Ann Doughty, as "a little ballerina," was found shortly before 2 p.m., more than 24 hours after she was last seen walking along an all-terrain vehicle trail near a family residence on Fish Hatchery Road.
Lt. Pat Dorian, with the Maine Warden Service, said Leah walked down a trail she had been on before with adults to go to a nearby stream. When she tried to return, she became disoriented and was headed south along Quick Brook, he said.
The girl was located by Jim Roberts and a passenger who were riding an all-terrain vehicle near a trail about two miles from the location where the child was last seen.
The couple was talking to her when another ATV rider, Jason Pinkham of Salem, came upon them and brought the child to the command post at Mt. Abram High School, about five road miles from where she was found, he said.
Leah was evaluated by medical personnel at the command post and returned to her family, Dorian said.
"'Other than her hands being scratched up, she was walking on her own,'" Stephan Mitman of Franklin Search and Rescue, read from team member Shelby Rousseau's report.
The daughter of Joshua and Christina Cuetara on Garand Street, Winslow, Leah had gone to a family reunion with her grandmother, according to relatives.
The ending was a happy one for the hundreds of family members, volunteers and wardens who turned out in droves at the command center set up at Mt. Abram High School on Saturday night and Sunday.
On Sunday, the school parking lot and nearby Route 142 were packed with cars, trucks and vans loaded with people who wanted to help.
People from all walks of life and from as far away as Portland turned out to volunteer, either to search or assist.
There were volunteers with all-terrain vehicles, horses and search dogs, people weighted down with knapsacks willing to walk on foot and people with a smile and a box full of sandwiches and an armload of water, willing to serve.
They said they would do whatever it took to hunt for the petite blonde, green-eyed girl whose face was posted on the bulletin boards.
Game wardens assembled a calm and methodical search, looking first with quick searches on the roads and then assembling volunteers for shoulder-to-shoulder grid searches of the hilly terrain.
Leah had last been seen at about 9:30 a.m. Saturday, walking away from a family reunion she had attended with her grandmother, according to information from Col. Joel Wilkinson, chief of the Maine Warden Service, and Doughty, the girl's aunt.
By 1 p.m. Sunday, nerves were getting strained. It was reaching the 24-hour mark and there was no comforting news. Doughty said she had been out to the search scene, but had to return. "It was so wooded; I was emotionally overwhelmed. It was too frightening," Doughty said. She said was out of character for Leah to go off on her own, that she rarely goes anywhere without adult supervision.
"Leah is a meek, shy ballerina. She does tap and jazz with Miss Heather (dance studio), attends Winslow Elementary. She used to go to Bradley's (dance school) in Skowhegan. "
Sue Dibiase, Leah's maternal grandmother from Canaan, looked frayed, saying family members had been keeping vigil all night, but she had not lost faith.
"They found tracks. I'm confident," Dibiase said. "Patience is so important."
Leah's father, Joshua Cuetara, voice choked with tears, tried to describe his concern.
"I can't talk about how I feel, it just can't. I tried to do a TV interview and couldn't," Cuetara said a couple hours before his daughter was found. A reserve Clinton police officer, firefighter since 1990, leader in emergency services for the Maine Wing Civil Air Patrol and a worker in emergency services for 18 years, Cuetara said his training had prepared him. What he left unsaid was what he was prepared for. Luckily he didn't have to find out.
Family members did not report Leah's disappearance until about 1 p.m., several hours after they first begin searching for her, according to game wardens.
Warden Rick Mills, supervisor for Somerset, Franklin and Oxford counties said he got the first call from the child's great-grandfather.
Mills had been at the high school since Saturday afternoon, grabbing only a couple hours of sleep in his vehicle, he said.
By 1 p.m. Sunday, Col. Joel Wilkinson, head of the Warden Service, was making plans to continue the search into the second night.
"It's a heavily wooded area, with a lot of drainage and hilly terrain," Wilkinson said. He said at least 350 people joined the search in a five-mile area around Fish Hatchery Road. Coordinating the search efforts were at least 26 game wardens, Maine State Police, six canines, along with an airplane from the Maine Warden Service, a helicopter from the Maine Forest Service and a fixed-wing airplane from the Civil Air Patrol.
Members of the air patrol and volunteers from several area fire departments also took part in the search.
Darla L. Pickett -- 474-9534, Ext. 341
dpickett@centralmaine.com
Reader comments
Click here to view or add reader comments