Lost cat search led to grandma's disappearance in sinkhole, never returned.

Authorities in Pennsylvania are frantically searching for the grandmother who may have fallen into a large sinkhole while searching for her missing cat.

On the evening of Dec. 2, Elizabeth Pollard, 64, disappeared in Marguerite, Pennsylvania, while searching for her lost cat, Pepper, outside a restaurant.

Pollard's family alerted authorities at 1 a.m. on Tuesday to report that his 5-year-old granddaughter was missing and was later found safe in the car.

Officials discovered a sinkhole near her car when they arrived at the scene. The depth of the hole is unknown, but a shoe was found around 30 feet underground.

Steve Limani, a Pennsylvania State Trooper, informed journalists that the possibility exists that the hole opened up on Pollard while she searched for Pepper, whose location is currently unknown.

""Grandma never came back after her granddaughter nodded off in the car and woke up," Limani said."

"It almost seems as if it opened up when she was standing on top of it."

On Tuesday, authorities lowered a pole camera with a sensitive listening device into the sinkhole in Marguerite, but did not detect any evidence of Pollard.

The sinkhole that swallowed Pollard was not reported or noticed by local restaurant workers and hunters before she went missing, leading authorities to believe that the hole may have been the cause of her disappearance.

Due to past mining activity, Marguerite, a western Pennsylvania village that was once a coal town, is prone to sinkholes.

The sinkhole in Marguerite, Pennsylvania was investigated by the Department of Environmental Protection, who determined that it was most likely caused by past work at the Marguerite Mine, which has been out of operation since 1952.

The incident is being investigated by authorities. No further information is available.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.