Virginia Taetzch, 87, was found dead and John Higgins, 77, rescued alive after a 46-hour ordeal in the Morris County park. Officials have not announced a cause of death, and no source indicates whether either hiker was enrolled in the county's Project Lifesaver program.
Virginia Taetzch, 87, was found dead Tuesday at Pyramid Mountain after two nights lost in the Morris County park. John Higgins, 77, her hiking companion, was rescued alive.
The two hikers, both residents of Pompton Plains, went into the park at about 1 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 30, and never returned. The Morris County Sheriff's Office found their unattended vehicle in the parking lot at about 10:14 p.m. Monday — 33 hours after the hike began, and nearly two days after anyone had seen them. No source identifies who first reported them missing, or whether family members or caregivers knew they were gone before the vehicle turned up Monday night. A sweep of the woods around the lot found no sign of the vehicle's owner. Their disappearance ran more than 46 hours, the span North Jersey outlet Daily Voice put in its headline, and covered two nights unaccounted for after they entered the park. The organized search operation ran shorter, beginning Monday night and pausing once overnight. As of Wednesday, officials had announced no cause of death and no additional circumstances surrounding Taetzch's death.
The operational account came jointly from Morris County Prosecutor Robert Carroll, Morris County Sheriff James Gannon and Montville Township Police Chief Andrew Caggiano. According to that joint account, authorities scouted the nearby woods after finding the vehicle and shut the first phase down at 4 a.m. Tuesday because of weather. Crews had searched the area for hours before the suspension, News 12 New Jersey reported. Investigators confirmed the two had entered the park for a hike Sunday afternoon. The search resumed at 9 a.m. Tuesday with a larger deployment — more than 30 officers from departments across Morris County — closing a five-hour pause. Higgins was found alive at about 11:40 a.m. Rescuers pulled him from the park and he was transported to Morristown Medical Center. After Higgins was brought out, crews kept looking. They found Taetzch later and pronounced her dead at the scene. Officials released no further information about her death.
Gannon said in a statement: "Our multi-agency Search and Rescue operation successfully saved one life, while sadly recovering a deceased individual. Our deepest condolences and prayers are with the families during this difficult time, and we thank all agencies involved for their dedicated efforts." Gannon's office, which runs the county's search-and-rescue operation, had located the vehicle that started the search.
Caggiano, whose department issued the public alert, credited the people who worked the mountain. "This was a tremendous effort by the men and women of multiple Morris County Law Enforcement agencies. The coordination and determination of all of those officers were able to save Mr. Higgins' life. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family of Ms. Taetzch." County officials released the final account at 9 p.m. Tuesday, according to TAPinto Montville.
The response drew the Montville Township Police Department, the Morris County Sheriff's Office and the Morris County Prosecutor's Office, with mutual-aid police, fire and emergency medical personnel from Boonton, Boonton Township, Lincoln Park, Kinnelon, the Montville Fire Department, Parsippany-Troy Hills EMS and St. Clare's MICU. The operation pulled search-and-rescue, medical and investigative resources from across the county from Monday night into Tuesday afternoon. News 12 New Jersey put the scale at more than 30 first responders drawn into the coordinated effort, and reported that Higgins's condition was not immediately known after he reached the hospital.
The case reached the public first as a missing-person alert. With no sign of the pair a day after their last contact, Montville police asked residents on Monday to watch for two at-risk adults near Pyramid Mountain. The alert went out roughly 24 hours after the hikers were last seen. The sheriff's office and the prosecutor's office joined the effort from the start, the alerts show. Early alerts carried by Montville Patch and WRNJ Radio listed the two as last known to be at Pyramid Mountain on Boonton Avenue after about 1 p.m. Sunday. Higgins was described as 6-foot-5 with white and gray hair. Taetzch was described as 5-foot-3 with brown eyes and light brown hair. The alert listed 911 and the Montville police line at 973-257-4300 for anyone with information.
The joint release draws no line from the weather suspension to either outcome, and officials have not said whether the interruption affected what happened to either hiker. What findings the prosecutor's office will release, and when, has not been announced. ABC7 New York reported that investigators had not announced what killed her.
The Morris County Park Commission lists Pyramid Mountain at 1,600 acres, with trails running through open fields, forest, rock outcroppings and wetlands, according to the Morris County Parks Commission.
Whether a different response system could have changed the outcome is unknown. The Morris County Sheriff's Office does run Project Lifesaver, a wristband tracking system for people with dementia, autism, Down syndrome or traumatic brain injury who wander. Participants wear a radio-frequency bracelet that emits a signal trained teams can track. The program is free of charge. To get in, a family member or legal caregiver has to file the application; the person being tracked needs a doctor's confirmed diagnosis, must live in Morris County, and needs a primary caregiver at home — conditions that cannot be inferred from the at-risk label police attached to the pair.
The sheriff's office has documented the program's local track record. The office noted a June 2020 case in which K-9 Section Detective John Granato located an 82-year-old client roughly 21 minutes after arriving on scene. The office specified that Granato relied on the program's tracking device, not his dogs, for that rescue. That rescue came just ten days after another. The same release put enrollment at 136 clients and said the county's typical find-time was roughly 13 minutes, against a national figure near 30 minutes. Other New Jersey counties run the same program under their sheriff's offices. Cape May County's program page states, "Search times have been reduced from hours and days to minutes." No source indicates whether either hiker was enrolled, and whether either would have qualified does not appear in the official record of the search.
As of Wednesday, officials had announced no cause of death or additional findings.
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Sources
• ABC7 New York, "Officers find woman dead, man alive after search for 2 missing seniors in Montville" (September 2, 2026)
• Cape May County, NJ, "Project Lifesaver" (n.d.)
• Daily Voice, "Missing Woman Found Dead, Man Survives 46+ Hours Lost On Pyramid Mountain: Cops" (September 1, 2026)
• Jay Edwards, WRNJ Radio, "Police searching for two missing 'at-risk' people last seen at Pyramid Mountain in Montville" (September 1, 2026)
• Jay Edwards, WRNJ Radio, "UPDATE: Search for two missing hikers at Pyramid Mountain in Morris County ends with man rescued, woman found dead" (September 1, 2026)
• Jeff Goldman, NJ.com, "Rescue crews find 1 hiker dead, 1 alive after overnight search at N.J. park" (September 2, 2026)
• Montville, NJ Patch, "2 At-Risk Seniors Missing From Pyramid Mountain" (September 1, 2026)
• Morris County, NJ — Sheriff's Office, "For The Second Time In 10 Days, A Morris County Sheriff's Officer Swiftly Locates A Missing Project Lifesaver Client" (June 15, 2020)
• Morris County, NJ — Sheriff's Office, "Project Lifesaver" (n.d.)
• News 12 New Jersey, "One hiker rescued, another found dead after dayslong search at Pyramid Mountain" (September 2, 2026)
• TAPinto Montville, "One Hiker Rescued, One Found Dead After Multi-Agency Search at Pyramid Mountain" (September 1, 2026)
• Andrew Caggiano — Montville Township Police Chief; President, New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police