Couple Lost in Field Bill and Betty Fresch, Found Dead

FREDERICK CO., Md. - It's just 35 miles from the family gathering Bill and Betty Fresch were attending near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to their home in Shippensburg.

"They're very intelligent, very witty, very sharp. They do not think of themselves as elderly," says Jeanne Nagle.

Their daughters were worried when the couple left Friday, didn't make it home and didn't call. But just after 11 Tuesday moing, the Frederick County 9-1-1 Center got a call from a resident about a car abandoned in a field.

Not far from that car were the bodies of Bill and Betty Fresch.  His was 85. She was 79.

Investigators think they died of exposure.

"In speaking with the family, these folks were forgetful. We believe these folks were traveling back to their home, got disoriented, ended up here in Frederick County," said Cpl. Jason West.

Investigators think they drove their 2009 red Honda off the road into the field and couldn't get back out. There were houses not far away. There was no damage to the car.

"It's a very difficult area to drive vehicles. We had trouble getting some police vehicles in and out of there. Again there was no body damage on the car, but where it was at with the terrain it was just not possible to drive it out of there.”

Authorities are still waiting for an official cause of death from the medical examiner.