Authorities end active search efforts for woman swept under the ice on Eagle River

Alaska Wildlife Troopers, Anchorage police and search and rescue organizations have ended the active search for a 45-year-old woman missing since she was swept under the ice of the North Fork of Eagle River on Saturday, state troopers said Thursday.

Amanda Richmond Rogers, an emergency room nurse from Eagle River who also went by Mandy, has been missing since she went into the river to try to save her family’s dog after it fell through the ice. Alaska State Troopers said Thursday that they and rescue groups determined there are “no further areas of interest that are accessible” for them to search.

If authorities receive any new information or evidence, they’ll review it and determine whether additional search efforts will be undertaken, troopers said.

Crews including the Alaska Dive, Search, Rescue and Recovery Team and Solstice Search Dogs, among others, searched for Richmond Rogers over the course of four days using drones, helicopters, dog teams, divers and sonar, troopers said. Search efforts continued through harsh winter conditions that damaged a vital piece of equipment used to search beneath the ice.

Search and rescue personnel covered a large portion of the river during their search, the dive team said in a social media post Thursday. The group cut more than 120 holes in the river ice to deploy sonar and a remotely operated vehicle, the post said.

“We plan on continuing to search in the area as team members have time off work and when our sonar is repaired,” the organization said in its post.

Richmond Rogers was walking along the North Fork Eagle River trail on Saturday with her husband and two dogs when one of the animals fell through the ice while trying to drink from a small opening, according to her husband. Richmond Rogers, whose husband described her as an animal lover who considered the pets part of the family, went in after the dog to try to save it.

The Anchorage Police Department has entered her as a missing person, troopers said.