Press Releases

Contact: Edie Smith, Spokesperson
Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife
284 State Street
41 State House Station
Augusta, ME 04333


Telephone: work (207) 592-4348

Fax: (207) 287-6395

July 11, 2009

16-Year-Old Pennsylvania Girl Safe After Traveling Down Penobscot River

Augusta, Maine - A 16-year-old Pittsburgh, Penn., girl who was reported missing on the west branch of the Penobscot River on Friday evening (July 10, 2009) was found safe after traveling 2.5 miles down the river.

Rebecca Levine, 16, who is in Maine to work on trails for a student conservation association, was floating in the west branch with two other friends near Big Eddy Campground in T3 R11 WELS on Friday evening when she began to float downstream. Levine told Game Wardens she believed she would have been able to go a short distance through a bend in the river and then come onshore.

Ms. Levine was reported missing at 5 p.m. Friday and was located at 7:30 p.m. She was wearing a life jacket.

Ms. Levine traveled approximately 2.5 miles down the river and through rapids, and was able to get out of the river on the left side before going over Big Ambejakmockamus Falls or “Big A” Falls. She began walking through the woods, and was located by three experienced kayakers who were helping in the search.

The kayakers – Angela Merrill, Paul Yearwood and Zach Dieseiberstro – transported Ms. Levine to the Big Eddy Campground. She was evaluated by Millinocket Rescue, and suffered scrapes, bruises and bug bites.

According to Maine Warden Service Game Warden Andrew Glidden, Ms. Levine was unfamiliar with the river and didn’t realize its dangers. “The water may look calm, but if you’re going down it, before you know it the water turns into dangerous Class 4 and Class 5 rapids.”

Game Wardens Andrew Glidden and Tom McKenney managed the search, and were assisted by members of Central Maine Forest Service, Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands, Maine Search and Rescue, Outward Bound, The Nature Conservancy and Chewonki.