Ben Pifher/MDN Faye Schaefer, center, is shown with, at her left, Owen Inman and Brennan Asmundson, teenagers who found her after she was reported missing Dec. 31, and Jordan Wilke at her right, the responding Minot Police officer. Others in the photo are law enforcement officers and Minot Mayor Tom Ross, far right.

Two teenagers from Berthold were out riding their snowmobiles on the first day of the new year, when they needed to make a short detour to safely negotiate a road crossing. This detour led them to be called heroes in front of a conference room full of family, friends, coaches, community members, first responders and the woman they saved from freezing to death.

Faye Schaefer, the subject of a Silver Alert issued on Dec. 31, had been missing for more than a day before she was found by teenagers Brennen Asmundson and Owen Inman.

Jordan Wilkes, the responding officer from Minot Police Department, said he received the missing persons call at about 3:30 p.m. on New Year’s Eve and had video footage showing she had been gone since about 7:11 a.m. He said it had been more than 24 hours from the time she had been reported missing to the time Asmundson and Inman had found her.

Wilkes said when he received the call, his first goal was to get as much information as possible regarding Schaefer. He was trying to find out which friends she may have visited, where else she might have gone and her health history. It was a combination of information given that prompted him to request a Silver Alert.

Officers had received tips statewide and had been responding to each one, Ward County Sheriff Robert Roed said. Law enforcement was following all the leads it could.

Inman and Asmundson had been riding their snowmobiles on the way to a favorite coulee for riding. Inman said he and his friend decided to take the longer way to avoid crossing pavement in front of an oncoming truck and semi-trailer.

He said they saw a glimmer where there should have been snow, so they rode by on their snowmobiles and saw a car, but noticed the door was open. He said if the door wasn’t open, he wouldn’t have stopped to investigate. He credited God, saying, “It was the grace of God that we found her.”

Roed said Schaefer had made a wrong turn, and when Schaefer saw Inman and Asmundson walking up to her, she thought, “Thank you, God.”

She said she was thinking, when stranded in the car, “please help me.” While waiting, stranded, not knowing if help was coming, she would open the door to stand up to stretch her legs and keep moving, scrape frost from the windows, thinking it was cliffs, as well as holler “Help me! Help me!,” she said.

“Nobody could possibly hear me, but I did it just to keep moving, because if you don’t keep moving you’ll freeze,” Schaefer said.

She said she won’t have permanent injuries from the incident and had only the start of frostbite developing on her back.

“I’m just so thankful,” she said.

“This is how it’s supposed to happen,” Roed said. “It could have only been a couple hours until this had ended badly.”

He emphasized how quickly things can turn for the worst. He commended how quickly everyone acted to get Schaefer the help she needed, and he said no one is sure exactly how long Schaefer had been stranded. He noted the tire tracks her car had left had been completely blown over by snow. He speculated she had likely run out of fuel some time overnight.

The vehicle was off the main road, and the boys had found a vehicle “that could not readily be seen,” said Maj. Larry Hubbard, chief deputy with the Ward County Sheriff’s Department.

According to Roed, the boys “did things that you should in an emergency situation like this.” They kept Schaefer awake and talking, warmed her as best they could and contacted help.

“Because of their quick actions, everything turned out great,” he said.

“There’s a lot of heroes out there that day, from the Dad that drove out there in a pickup to get her somewhere warm, to grandpa going out there with a snow plow, to Berthold Ambulance Service. They did a great job. None of it would have been possible had these two not stopped to check (the stuck car) out,” said Roed. “This ended well, and it’s due to their actions.”

The boys were presented a certificate of exemplary citizenship, along with a challenge coin from the Ward County Sheriff’s Department.

“Your actions directly contributed to the saving of a missing person’s life,” Roed said before handing over the certificates to applause.

An exceptional service award, along with an additional challenge coin, was presented by Capt. Dale Plessas of the Minot Police Department, who also congratulated responding officer Wilkes. Chief Al Schmidt from the Berthold Police Department presented the teenagers with certificates from the department, saying the boys are both outstanding citizens. Schmidt, who has known the boys from their younger years, had received the first phone call about their finding Schaefer.