"Hikers found unharmed in forest after long search" by Kiera Blessing | Globe Correspondent November 10, 2014
Two women who got lost while hiking in Douglas State Forest were found unharmed after an hours-long search Sunday night, officials said.
Danielle Nute, 34, of Southbridge, and Katrina Radcliffe, 28, of Webster, entered the park in Douglas at about 1 p.m. Sunday, said Burrillville, R.I., police Colonel Stephen Lynch. The two were hiking on the Blue Trail near Benson Mountain Trail, Burrillville police said in a statement. At about 5 p.m., the women called 911 from the Buck Hill area. “At 5 p.m. they became lost,” Lynch said. “It’s dark, it’s starting to get cold. They mentioned they were cold.”
The cellphone call pinged a tower in Burrillville, prompting the search to begin in Rhode Island, Lynch said. The phone died about two hours later, leaving police with no way to track the women’s coordinates.
Massachusetts and Rhode Island State Police, Douglas police, and several Rhode Island local police departments aided in the search, Lynch said, using ground teams and boats. A Massachusetts State Police helicopter was en route when the women were found on the state line at about 10:30 p.m., Lynch said.
“Thank God they had the cellphone on them,” Lynch said, adding he was “glad they’re OK.”
“A lot of resources came to bear to make that happen,” he added. “If they didn’t have the cellphone, no one would have known they were missing and they would have had to spend the night in the woods.”
Lynch said temperatures fell as low as 34 degrees in the area Sunday night. The women were found by a search team in a boat on Wallum Lake, Lynch said. Police on the boat heard the women calling for help and were able to follow their voices and bring them to safety.
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