The Maine Office of Chief Medical Examiner used DNA analysis to positively identify skeletal remains as those of Geraldine Largay. The remains were found on October 14, 2015, in Redington Township, Maine. The cause of death was determined to be accidental, from lack of food and water and environmental exposure.

The Maine Warden Service reported that the remains were discovered on Wednesday, over 3,000 feet off the trail by a contractor performing a forestry assessment on land owned by the U.S. Navy in Redington. Geraldine Largay, a 66-year-old resident of Brentwood, was last spotted departing Redington Township for an eight-mile trek to Mount Abram Township.

Geraldine Largay, affectionately referred to as Gerry by her acquaintances, went missing on July 22, 2013, after stepping off the trail to relieve herself, according to the warden's report. She was unaccounted for for more than two years. A medical examiner determined that Largay had succumbed to exposure.

On July 24, 2013, she was reported overdue at a trail crossing on State Route 27 in Carrabassett Valley in Maine by her husband. On October 14, 2015, a forester contracted by the U.S. Navy to survey navy property south of Mount Redington discovered a tent site that contained human remains. The remains were confirmed to be those of Largay.

A forester surveying adjacent land owned by the U.S. Navy stumbled upon her flattened tent, strewn gear, and remains in October 2015, nearly three miles from where she’d first stepped off. Teams of ground searchers and search dogs with their handlers tried to find her for two years.

The remains of missing Appalachian Trail hiker Geraldine Largay were located on October 14, 2015. The Maine Warden Service believes the remains were found in Redington Township. There were no clues found to date that can be attributed to Largay in any of the searches that have taken place.

Gerry went missing on July 22, 2013, while on the Appalachian Trail in Maine. Her remains were discovered zipped in her sleeping bag, surrounded by her personal belongings. She had constructed a basic shelter using hemlock branches and a bedding of pine needles. Her campsite was located about two miles from where she was last seen, but only approximately 1,500 feet from the trail.

Geraldine Largay was a 66-year-old retired Air Force nurse and experienced hiker who disappeared while attempting a northbound thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail in July 2013.[8] On July 22, 2013, Largay disappeared after leaving the Appalachian Trail to use the bathroom and became lost in the dense Maine wilderness… Despite an extensive search effort… no trace of Largay could be found at the time.[8] Largay's remains were finally discovered in October 2015 by a forester, more than two years after her disappearance.[8]

Ms. Largay, a retired nurse from Tennessee, had survived nearly a month on her own — longer than many old backwoods hands thought possible — before dying of exposure and starvation.[12] Her remains were found on Oct. 14, 2015, inside her sleeping bag, in a campsite she had kept neat until the very end.[12] When she failed to meet her husband he reported her missing. Her body was found over two years later in her makeshift camp.[12]

Geraldine Largay was last seen leaving the Poplar Ridge Lean-to early morning Monday July 22, 2013. She was never seen again. When she was eventually found, investigators were able to piece together Largay's final days based on messages attempted to be sent from her phone and the state of her campsite.

Because this post continues to show up on Internet searches, people who find their way here often don't know that Geraldine Largay's body was indeed found and the circumstances of her death established beyond doubt.[14] (This is a postscript indicating that the missing-person case ended with discovery of her remains and a clear determination of cause of death.)

On July 22, 2013, hikers watched as 66-year-old Geraldine Largay disappeared into heavy foliage on a section of the Appalachian Trail in eastern Maine. She was never heard from again.[11] (This Boston Globe social post summarizes that the 66-year-old hiker disappeared on the Appalachian Trail in Maine in 2013 and was missing for years before her fate was discovered.)

This short documentary tells the story of Geraldine Largay, a hiker who went missing while hiking the Appalachian Trail in 2013, and whose fate wasn't discovered for another two years.