Remains Of Missing Ohio Retirees Found

Skeletal remains of two women who set out on a shopping trip from a retirement home in April have been found in a remote Kentucky field, authorities said Monday.

A hunter discovered their car and the remains of Mary Ellen Walters, 68, and Ada Wasson, 80, on Sunday about 40 miles northeast of Louisville, said Major John Newsom of the Warren County sheriff's office.

The women were known to have been preparing for an excursion April 19 to a J.C. Penney outlet store, but officials were not sure if they planned to go to one in Columbus or in Carrollton, Ky.

Authorities and volunteers had searched thousands of square miles in a three-state area after the women failed to return to their homes in the Otterbein Retirement Living Communities, north of Cincinnati.

Investigators studied store videotapes, checked under bridges and passed out thousands of fliers. Police consulted with FBI experts and sent alerts across the nation.

Their car was found off Interstate 71 about eight miles south of Carrollton, in a location not visible from the road or air, Otterbein said.

Autopsies were to be performed Monday. Foul play does not appear to be a factor, authorities said.

"It has been a difficult time for the families and everyone who knew and cared about Mary Ellen and Ada," Otterbein said in a statement on its Web site. "All who live or work in this community share the loss of these two neighbors and our prayers are with the families in these difficult times."

Wasson at times became confused, while Walters, a retired United Methodist minister, was limited physically by knee problems, neighbors said.

Shopping was a favorite activity of the two, and they preferred driving scenic highways rather than Interstate 71. That complicated the search, because there are multiple ways to get to Carrollton, including via Indiana, or to Columbus, 90 miles to the north of the retirement home.

Authorities know Wasson filled her car with gas the night of April 18, and they left some time the next day. But in the weeks after the disappearance, there was no activity on the women's credit or bank cards, police said.

The women also didn't take luggage and Walters, who normally asked neighbors to watch her Schnauzer mix if she was to be away long, left the dog alone.