An Indiana woman was reported missing last week following a “suspicious” fire in her house, authorities said.
Britney Gard, 46, was last seen the night of Sept. 30, according to the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office. She is considered a missing endangered person “due to her unknown whereabouts,” the sheriff’s office said.
Authorities responded to her home on Oct. 1, following a 911 call for a fire at her home in Bainbridge, located about 40 miles west of Indianapolis, the sheriff’s office said. Smoke was reported coming from the residence around 7:40 p.m., the office said.
Fire crews extinguished the blaze, which investigators believe is “suspicious in nature,” Putnam County Sheriff Jerrod Baugh said in a statement on Friday.
No one was found in the fire-damaged home, and attempts to contact Gard were unsuccessful, the sheriff’s office said. She was not located following a drone-assisted search of the area and searches of a pond on the property following the fire, the sheriff’s office said.
Gard was supposed to attend her daughter’s volleyball game on Wednesday, but did not show up, her sister, Stephanie Bowen, told ABC Indianapolis affiliate WRTV.
“Her car’s at home, her purse is at home. She’s nowhere to be found, and the house is on fire. It makes no sense,” Bowen told WRTV.
“I just feel like there’s something here bigger that we don’t know,” she said.
The search continued this week for the mother of two, with dozens of people, including her sisters, looking through cornfields and wooded areas near Gard’s property on Monday, WRTV reported.
Detectives asked anyone with information about her whereabouts to contact the sheriff’s office.
“We continue to investigate this case around the clock and are involved with her family to find Britney,” Baugh said. “Since this is an active investigation and we continue to gather information hourly, we will not be discussing any further particular evidence or information until we can complete this endeavor and find Britney Gard.”
Bowen urged people to be “vigilant” and to check their home security cameras.
“Britney, we love you,” she told WRTV. “We hope to see you safely return home.”
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