Present-Day Developments: Missing Minnesota Woman Found Alive After Three Days in Mud
You heard it right: a missing Minnesota woman was found alive after spending three days trapped in deep, quicksand-like mud along a remote trail.
Kathryn Jane Woessner, a 68-year-old woman from Alexandria, Minnesota, was last seen on June 3, 2026. Three days later, she was discovered alive west of Backus after two men exploring an unfamiliar off-road trail spotted her stranded vehicle.
The heroic duo, Adam Sandbeck and Mike Gravalin, had changed their original riding plans and headed down a remote trail when they came across the vehicle and noticed someone lying in the muddy water beside it.
As the men approached, they heard Woessner quietly call for help.
What began as an ordinary UTV ride instantly became a rescue mission.
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A Wrong Turn That Led to the Right Place
Woessner later told the men that her vehicle had become stuck. When she stepped outside and moved around it, she slipped into a muddy puddle estimated to be around two feet deep.
She described the mud as behaving like quicksand. Unable to pull herself free, she remained trapped on her back as the sun rose and set around her for three days.
By the time Sandbeck and Gravalin reached her, she was badly sunburned, dehydrated and struggling to speak. The men immediately called 911 and stayed beside her while emergency responders made their way down the remote trail.
Woessner was eventually lifted from the mud, placed onto a stretcher and transported for medical treatment. Authorities later confirmed that she had been located alive.
The rescuers described the unexpected chain of events as something much larger than coincidence. Their original plans changed, they selected a trail they normally would not have taken and they reached Woessner while she was still able to call out.
Sometimes being in the wrong place at the wrong time places you exactly where somebody needs you most.
Woman Stuck in Mud for Three Days, Rescuers Share Their Story
Adam Sandbeck and Mike Gravalin recount the moment they discovered Kathryn Woessner trapped beside her vehicle and realized their afternoon ride had become an emergency rescue.
Three days in the mud could have ended with a very different development. Instead, one altered route, two alert riders and a quiet call for help brought the search to an extraordinary conclusion.
Heroes do not always arrive with a plan. Sometimes they arrive on a UTV.
Sources: Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, ABC News, CBS Minnesota and the rescuers’ televised interview.
