PSP stops search near missing woman’s home

BY PETER CAMERON
Times-Shamrock Writer

When 84-year-old Harriet H. Keim disappeared Sept. 30, state police conducted an extensive search of the woods around her Union Dale home with the help of dogs, volunteers and a helicopter, Cpl Jeff Burman said Thursday (Oct. 9).

But after several days of fruitless hunting, police abandoned that search. They continue to investigate her whereabouts however, including tips she may have been spotted in Schuylkill County.

“I miss her and I hope that she’s not hurt,” her daughter Sandi Blair said Thursday by phone. “I don’t want her to be hurting. We want her home of course.”

The octogenarian suffers from dementia and may be trying to travel to one of her previous homes in Virginia or Maryland.

Cpl. Burman said searchers are hoping she is still alive. The lead investigator is in daily contact with the family, who have been papering the area with missing posters, Blair said.

She said her mother may have been spotted in a Pine Grove store buying pretzels. Police are in the process of reviewing video from the store.

Keim is about 5 feet, 1 inch tall and about 100 pounds with gray shoulder-length hair. She was last seen wearing jeans and a beige sweater.

Anyone with information on Keim should call state police at 570-465-3154.