Gerry’s Chances Of Survival Have Dwindled.
On foot or on bicycles, search and rescue crews were having little success. Because they were higher up in the woods, they reasoned that the visibility would be better. It was comforting for Gerry to know that people were looking for her because she could hear helicopters and planes flying overhead on a regular basis while hiking the Appalachian Trail. After all, she reasoned, it was only a matter of time until she was discovered. She made as much noise as she could with her hands and her bright red fleece, which she waved in front of her face. Nevertheless, she quickly discovered that all of her efforts had been in vain. Nobody could see her because she was hidden by the tall, dense foliage. It wasn’t until she was a week into her adventure that she realized there was another search plane overhead. She considered attempting to find an opening in the trees that was closer to the sound of the plane, but she was too exhausted at that point.
Holding On To Hope
Gerry had finished the last morsel of food she’d brought with her. She was starving, and her energy levels were deplorably low. Even when she was faced with the very real threat of starving to death, her unselfish and loving personality was evident: she could not take the thought of George having sleepless nights and being worried sick about her. She was well aware that he would try all in his power to track her down, so she determined that the least she could do was hang on for a little longer. Two weeks after her disappearance, there had been no sign of any progress in the investigation. To fathom that the energetic, joyous woman that Dottie Rust had photographed only 14 days before was the same woman who had been the focus of an unsolved missing person case was a difficult concept to grasp.
