Where were Martha and Mary Bates found? Missing Virginia and mother and daughter located after disappearing on the way to summer camp

Martha Bates, 42, and Mary Bates, her 15-year-old daughter, were recently located safely after they went missing on July 9, 2023. The two hail from Disputanta, Virginia. After they were reported missing by Mary’s father, Michael Bates, the mother and daughter allegedly spent the four days in the forest as they waited for authorities to rescue them.

Mary Bates and Martha Bates were supposed to contact Michael after they arrived at the destination, but they never did. As a result, Michael grew concerned and reported the pair missing. Authorities were able to locate Mary Bates and her mother after they traced the cell-phone ping from Martha’s phone. The two were rescued safely on Thursday, July 13, and reunited with Michael.

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Mary Bates and Martha Bates were on their way to Camp Carlo when they went missing

Martha and Mary Bates were last seen travelling to Camp Carlo on July 9, 2023. Camp Carlo is a summer camp for children located in Huttonsville, West Virginia. Martha was supposed to contact her husband, Michael, upon arriving at their destination. When she failed to contact them, he reported them missing.

As per a statement made by Alexis Grochmal, the spokesperson for the Prince George County Police, he said:

"Once the husband contacted the camp, and neither one of them arrived, he began contacting us [Monday] and we began doing a formal search …We began speaking with family members and things like that to find out their route."

Describing the efforts undertaken by the Prince George County Police, Grochmal further stated:

"We began to look at cell phone records and determined their last ping was in the vicinity near the Virginia-West Virginia border…The last ping that we received was in Monterey, Virginia."

However, efforts to locate the two missing women turned out to be more difficult by the remoteness of the area where they went missing. As per Grochmal:

"It’s kind of a dead zone. Cell phone coverage is not very good, so that is also leading to issues with obviously the ping location."

Michael Bates joined the authorities in the search of his missing family members. The authorities were fortunately able to locate the missing mother and daughter from the cell phone ping of Martha’s phone which revealed their location.

As per a statement made by the Prince George County Police, the mother and daughter duo are now safe and have been reunited with Michael.