One wrong turn in the woods turned into a race against time, and the woman lived.
Quick Take
- A 68-year-old Minnesota woman was found alive after three days missing and stuck in mud near Park Rapids.[1][3]
- Two men found her beside a van and heard her say, “Help me,” before pulling her out.[3][4]
- The woman told rescuers the mud felt like quicksand, and the timeline runs from June 3 to June 6.[1][2]
- The story is solid on the rescue itself, but the public record leans heavily on broadcast reporting, not full police files.[1][2][4]
The Rescue That Gripped Readers
Kathryn Woessner, 68, was last seen on June 3 and found on June 6, which supports the three-day timeline behind the rescue story.[1][4] Local reports say two men came across her while riding trails, saw a van stuck nearby, and then noticed her in a muddy puddle beside it.[3][4]
The first shock is simple: she was alive. The second is harder to shake. She had spent days trapped in mud, badly sunburned, weak, and calling for help from a place most people would never have seen in time.[1][2][3]
What the Men Said They Saw
Adam Sandbeck and Mike Gravalin gave the core account to local outlets. They said they saw what looked like a body in the puddle, then heard her say, “Help me.” CBS Minnesota and ABC News both reported that her van had gotten stuck, she got out, and then slipped into the mud.[1][3]
That detail matters because it explains how the rescue happened without turning the story into magic. The men acted fast, pulled her free, and then emergency responders took over. One report says it took about an hour and a half to get her out.[2][4]
Why the Story Feels Bigger Than It Is
The emotional pull comes from the gap between a terrible situation and an ordinary-looking trail. The men were not on a planned rescue mission. They were out riding, took a different route, and stumbled into a scene that changed another person’s life.[3][4]
Park Rapids, Minnesota ATVers Adam Sandbeck, Mike Gravalin helped rescue a missing woman stuck in mud for 3 days. https://t.co/zMMyT7XJCg pic.twitter.com/K3uIMmxRH0
— ABC30 Fresno (@ABC30) June 14, 2026
That is why the story spread so quickly. It has all the parts people remember: a missing person, a remote place, a sudden cry for help, and a narrow escape that feels almost too unlikely to be real.[1][2][4]
What the Public Record Still Does Not Show
The rescue itself is well supported across local broadcast reports, but the public evidence is still thin in one important way. The material available here mostly comes from television coverage, clip transcripts, and reposted summaries, not from the sheriff’s full incident file or medical records.[1][2][4]
That means the broad facts look strong, but some details remain less certain. The exact mud depth, the full chain of emergency calls, and the condition of the ground at the scene are not proven by a site report in the material provided. The name spellings also vary across outlets, which makes clean record matching harder.[1][2][3][4]
Even so, the heart of the story is hard to dispute. A missing woman was found alive after days in the mud, and the two men who found her appear to have reached her just in time.[1][3][4]
Sources:
[1] Web – Missing woman found alive after being stuck in mud puddle for days
[2] Web – Minnesota ATVers help rescue missing woman stuck in …
[3] YouTube – Missing woman found alive after being stuck in mud puddle …
[4] Web – Two men on a Minnesota trail helped rescue a missing …
