The driver of a vehicle that crashed over a hillside on Butler Logan Road in Frazer on Sunday remained missing Monday evening.
Frazer Township Police Chief Terry Kuhns said a Buick sedan apparently went over an embankment near 2618 Butler Logan Road sometime Sunday night, but wasn't discovered until Monday morning. He said a resident noticed his mailbox missing, went to investigate, then found the vehicle and called police.
Kuhns said officers responded at about 7:20 a.m. They couldn't find the driver, but discovered a small amount of blood in the vehicle and soon discovered a sweatshirt nearby with some blood on it.
He said police have been unable to reach the registered owner of the vehicle, a Butler woman whom he declined to identify.
The woman's family has also been unable to reach her.
She was last seen Sunday at about 7:30 p.m. when she left her mother's home in Butler. Relatives said the light blue sweatshirt found in the woods looked like the one the woman was wearing Sunday.
Tire tracks were visible Monday where the vehicle went off the road just before the guardrail begins on the southbound side of Butler Logan near Grace Lane.
The vehicle traveled through the low hanging branches of two pine trees, went another few yards along the guardrail, then tipped onto its side and came to rest against two trees at the bottom of a small embankment.
Though police aren't certain the registered owner was driving the vehicle, they're concerned because the woman's relatives can't reach her, Kuhns said.
Police brought in emergency responders to search the woods, as well as a state police helicopter to search the area using a thermal imaging camera. When those efforts failed, they brought in a search dog from the Butler County Sheriff's Department.
The dog could not track the woman's scent, and police called off the search shortly before 3:30 p.m.
Jodi Weigand is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach her at 724-226-4702 or jweigand@tribweb.com.
