Elsie Hales has not been seen since June 27. Thursday night, Cumberland County investigators found a car that appeared to be Hales' and a body lying close by in a field near Clinton Road -- not far from where Hales lived.
Investigators canvassed the area from the air and from the ground. They tried to figure out whether the body is Hales.
Hales' family has not lost hope that she would turn up alive. They hung flyers just this week.
"It has been Hell," said Pam Holmes, Hales' daughter. "It is nothing anybody would ever want to go through."
The search hit an emotional hurdle when a farmer came across the body and car Thursday.
Investigators said the seasons played a big part in the discovery. Summer crops hid what fall now reveals.
Investigators also said there did not appear to be any signs of foul play. But they will wait for the medical examiner to positively identify the body and determine a cause of death.
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