ANSON, Maine — Police and firefighters recovered a body on Tuesday evening from a well located off Four Mile Square Road.
Somerset County Sheriff Dale Lancaster said that the body of 74-year-old Wilbert Bailey was recovered from the abandoned well at 162 Four Mile Square Road about 8:15 p.m. with the help of an excavator brought to the site that was used to dig down alongside the well so that the walls would not collapse on public safety personnel.
The recovery operation began after a deputy went to the residence Tuesday afternoon to conduct a welfare check on Bailey after a son was unable to get ahold of him.
When the officer arrived, he could not immediately locate Bailey, but after looking around the property, he found an uncovered well and what appeared to be a body in it. The well is within sight of Bailey’s house, Lancaster said.
Because the well appeared to be 30 to 40 feet deep, firefighters used thermal imaging to confirm that a body was in it, Lancaster said.
The sheriff said that firefighters from Skowhegan, Anson and North Anson assisted with the recovery operation.
Lancaster said the well previously had a cover on it but that the top had been removed. He was uncertain when the cover had been removed or why, but he said it appears Bailey went out to inspect the well sometime Tuesday morning.
The incident remains under investigation, the sheriff said, and Bailey’s body will be taken to the state medical examiner’s office for review.