Missing Putnam County woman found alive in the woods more than a week after suspicious fire

PUTNAM COUNTY, Ind. – A Putnam County woman who disappeared a week ago has been found alive just a couple miles from her home after she herself called 911 for help.

Britney Gard, 46, is currently receiving medical treatment following her disappearance.

The circumstances were bizarre. Local departments responded to a fire at her home on East County Road 600 North in Putnam County on Oct. 1. She was not home at the time, but her car was in the driveway and her purse was inside.

Investigators deemed the fire suspicious in nature. Her family said Sept. 30 was the last time anyone had seen her. No one was able to contact her.

Her disappearance led to a large search, with rescuers looking through about 75 acres of corn and checking ponds for any trace of her. Drones were also deployed in the search.

Law enforcement tracked her phone as Indiana State Police and the FBI provided assistance in the case. On Wednesday, Gard was found alive in a wooded area about 2.5 miles away from her home.

According to the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office, dispatch received a 911 call from Gard around 5:30 p.m. Wednesday. Police said she asked for help finding her way out of a wooded area in Halls Woods Nature Preserve just east of Bainbridge, Indiana.

Soon, sheriff’s deputies and Indiana Conservation Officers found Gard in the woods. After being found by the police, Gard was checked out by Putnam County Emergency Management paramedics before being transported to Hendricks Health.

Putnam County Sheriff Jerrod Baugh told our partner station in Terre Haute that investigators do not believe anyone else was involved in Gard’s disappearance and that there is no current threat to the general public regarding the case. Authorities did not provide any further details.

“It is with great relief that we were able to find Ms. Gard last evening and bring this missing person case to a close,” Baugh said to WTWO/WAWV. “Thank you to her family and the organizations that worked with us around the clock on this case. Please continue to keep Britney, her family and all emergency personnel in your prayers.”

Family members expressed relief at the outcome.

“We had some alerts set up so that if Britney’s phone did become available that it would start squawking and it did,” said Kenny Bowen, Gard’s brother-in-law.

“[The investigator] just said, ‘Kenny, I’ve got her. I’m getting her out of the woods’,” Bowen said. “It was just an amazing and helpful call.”

The family is still trying to come to terms with what happened.

“Panic, is it really her?” said Stephanie Bowen, Gard’s sister, of her initial reaction. “I was just in shock. Excited, hopeful. When we confirmed it, it made us all feel relieved.”

The family thanked local law enforcement and the community for assisting in the search and getting the word out about Gard’s disappearance.

Family members don’t know where Gard has been for the last eight days and weren’t sure if she was in the woods the entire time.