Tragic update in search for missing Montana woman who vanished while riding her horse

A Montana sheriff leading the search for a missing woman who disappeared while riding her horse provided a tragic update on Tuesday, as deputies continued to scour a body of water where they believe she may have fallen.

Meghan Rouns, 27, went out horseback riding on a trail at McMaster Hills Recreation Center near Helena on Friday, but was reported missing by her family when she failed to return home six hours later.

Deputies and volunteers have since been frantically searching for any signs of the married woman, and found her horse and a phone with a tracker in a saddle bag on Saturday.

But as officials continued to sift through a portion of the Missouri River on Tuesday, Lewis and Clark County Sheriff Leo Dutton said their efforts have shifted into more of a 'recovery phase' than a rescue mission.

'There have been no signs of life since Friday, so the chances of life are at a very, very low percentage,' he told the US Sun. 'But we'll still look.'

Rouns was last seen by her family leaving her home around 2pm on Friday, October 4.

At around 4:20pm a photo was posted to her Snapchat account, according to Lewis & Clark Sheriff deputies. 

Authorities say she has not been heard from since then. 

She was then reported missing around 8pm after failing to return home, leaving police a window of three hours and forty minutes in which she could have disappeared.

Her father said she had been riding in the Eagle Bay area east of Helena, west of the Missouri River.

He said she was seen wearing jeans, a black shirt, possibly a grey hoodie and a ball cap, and only told family she was going riding in the area.

Over the next few days, several police agencies joined in the search for the missing woman, ultimately found Rouns' horse up the hill from Hauser Lake - which has become authorities' main search area. 

The Helena Police Department Malmstrom Air Force Base even deployed a helicopter on Sunday, as search dog teams were brought in.

Dozens of volunteers also scoured the recreational area on foot and horseback, and at the same time, a robotic-operated vehicle and divers were seen combing through the waters where Rouns horse was found. 

Authorities now believe Rouns may have been thrown off her horse amid strong winds on Friday, and fell into the river. She did not know how to swim, Dutton told the Independent.

'We believe something happened that spooked the horse to get it into the waters. We just don't know what yet,' the sheriff said, adding that he has ruled out foul play.

The sheriff went on to note that search teams uncovered her baseball cap upstream from where a GPS tracker and cellphone were found in a saddlebag, which they had used to piece together Rouns' activity through the recreation area.

'It somewhat confirms my postulation that there was a significant wind event that went through right as she got to the river's edge,' Dutton claimed.

'The hat was in the water,' he explained. 'We believe that was due to the significant winds.' 

On Tuesday, the sheriff's department deployed divers to the section of the Missouri River, which Dutton has called an 'area of interest.'

'We covered half of it yesterday and we will continue to search today,' he vowed on Tuesday, noting horseback riders and volunteers were still searching the land around the river.

The sheriff is now urging volunteers not to interfere with deputies' search of the waters, and have instead asked locals to focus on the dense brush areas away from the shoreline.