MANKATO, Minn. — A 50-year-old woman was found alive Saturday morning in the Le Sueur River after Blue Earth County deputies and partner agencies searched through the night, according to information released by the Blue Earth County Sheriff’s Office and reported by KEYC News Now.
The sheriff’s office received a missing-person report at 6:55 p.m. Friday. Deputies went to the Le Sueur River Access near County Road 90 and 195th Lane, about four miles south of Mankato, where they located the woman’s vehicle, personal belongings and dog on the riverbank.
K-9, drone and helicopter teams search into the night
The first search phase included the Blue Earth County Drone Team, the sheriff’s office K-9 Unit and a Minnesota State Patrol helicopter. Crews continued until about 1:30 a.m., while a smaller team remained at the scene overnight.
Search operations expanded again at 5:30 a.m. Saturday with drones, watercraft and the sheriff’s office dive team. Mankato Department of Public Safety police and fire personnel, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, the Minnesota State Patrol and Mayo Clinic Ambulance Service assisted the sheriff’s office.
People walking nearby hear calls for help
At 7:15 a.m., people walking in the area contacted the sheriff’s office after hearing someone calling for help from the river. Rescuers located the missing woman and brought her safely out of the water.
Mayo Clinic Ambulance transported her to Mayo Clinic Health System in Mankato as a precaution. The sheriff’s release, as quoted by KEYC, said she was treated for minor injuries and exposure and was in stable condition at the time of the release.
The woman’s name was withheld out of respect for her privacy. ThinBlueNews is also not publishing identifying details or adding medical claims beyond the sheriff’s public account.
A layered public-safety response
The safe outcome followed a layered response: deputies first established the woman’s last known location, specialized K-9 and aerial teams searched through the night, a small crew kept watch, and the morning operation added boats and divers.
The passersby who reported hearing calls for help also became an important part of the rescue chain. Their tip gave search teams a specific area to focus on after hours of coordinated work.
The response adds a fresh Minnesota example to ThinBlueNews coverage of police rescue news, police K-9 teams and multi-agency first-responder teamwork.
Sources, visual and video notes
- KEYC News Now: “Woman Rescued from Le Sueur River After Overnight Search Near Mankato,” published July 18, 2026. KEYC states that its report is based on information released by the Blue Earth County Sheriff’s Office.
- MSN-hosted KEYC syndication copy, used to verify the complete source text and agency list when the publisher page was slow to render in browser QA.
Featured-image note: The publisher package used a generic MGN image rather than an official scene photograph. ThinBlueNews did not reuse that representative image and did not create a fake rescue scene. The featured image is a clearly labeled typography-only editorial card.
Video note: The sheriff’s release and the local reports reviewed for this article did not include incident footage. The KEYC article contained no rescue player or official embed, so there was no footage to embed or represent with a still frame.
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