Authorities have called off their search for an Alaskan woman who vanished under the ice Saturday while trying to save her family's dog.
Canine teams, helicopters, drones, and divers scanned the area for any trace of Amanda Richmond Rogers, 45, and her dog Groot but had to end the search after their sonar devices froze over, NBC News reported.
The mother of four had been celebrating her 18th wedding anniversary on a hike with her husband and their two dogs Saturday afternoon when one of the dogs fell under the ice along a frozen river.
Richmond Rogers and her husband, Brian, jumped in after the dog. But while Brian eventually came up for air, neither Richmond Rogers nor her dog reemerged.
“I yelled but doubt she even heard me as she was completely concentrating on saving the dog,” Brian wrote in a Facebook post.
“Before I could get back to the opening to try and grab her I could see her SWIMMING downstream under the ice and then out of sight. I waited and waited and am still waiting.”
Alaska State Troopers said they would continue to review new evidence in the case as it becomes available.
“We haven't found anything that gives any idea of where she might be,” Troopers spokesperson Austin McDaniel told NBC.
“This was certainly not the result we were looking for,” he added.
Richmond Rogers worked as an emergency room nurse, a death scene investigator, and a pediatric hospice nurse, according to her family.
Her loved ones are now raising proceeds for the Alaska Dive Search Rescue and Recovery Team, which will go toward replacing damaged equipment and working cold cases, among other expenses.
Brian said his wife considered her dogs an integral part of their family. He and Richmond Rogers had gotten tattoos of their dogs' paws and even created a room in their house to memorialize their former pets.
“To me and our four boys she died a hero,” Brian wrote.
