Warden Timothy Price finds missing Madison-area woman

DNR conservation warden Timothy Price, 30, is credited with finding a missing town of Windsor woman in Vilas County on Wednesday.

Francine Tate, 50, had been missing since July 17 but was found by Price alive and well in an isolated area of Long Lake in the Town of Phelps in northern Wisconsin. Tate’s disappearance after attending a prayer service at her church had been widely publicized in the Madison area but Vilas County was not an area that had been targeted by officials in their search for her. Long Lake is about 240 miles north of Madison.

Warden Price says he was making rounds of lakes in eastern Vilas County when he pulled into a gravel road leading to a dam at the south end of Long Lake about 3 p.m. He says he spotted a maroon car parked along some boulders with its windows open and a black purse on the front seat.

Price says it is a remote area surrounded by the Nicolet National Forest and it is unusual to find people in the area but since it was very warm he suspected someone might have pulled in to look for a place to swim.

“It’s a peaceful area,” Price says. “But it is shallow and there are a lot of weeds so even when it is this warm, swimming seems unlikely.”

Price says he investigated and saw a woman reading a book on a blanket in the shade not far from the car.

“She looked up and said, ‘hello there,’” Price recalls. “She was neatly dressed and there was no reason for me to believe there was anything wrong except that the location was very desolate and she was there alone.”

Tate told Price that she had seen a few other people at the site earlier in the day – someone checking the dam gauge and some kayakers. Price asked her about the book she was reading and her name and where she was from. Tate said her name was Francine and she was from Dane County.

Price recalled that there was a woman missing from the southern part of Wisconsin and recalled an email he had received on July 20 th from Marilyn Howell, program assistant for the Division of Enforcement and Science. Tate’s family had contacted the DNR central office and asked that her description and that of her car be shared with conservation wardens statewide.

Price said he walked the trail while continuing to talk to Tate and then told her to have a good day before returning to his truck to check the plates of her car against the email description. After confirming that it was Tate, he called the hotline number and the local sheriff department to report his finding.

While waiting for sheriff’s officials to arrive, Price engaged Tate in small talk.

“I sat on the grass and told her that a lot of people were looking for her and were worried about her,” Price says. He then asked her what the chances were that he would be in that location at that time when he had another 250 lakes to patrol.

“I did not know she was a faithful person at the time but I told her it seemed like an act of God to me that I had found her,” Price says. Tate then told him that she had been praying and that maybe his finding her was a sign.

Tate was then taken to the Vilas County Sheriff’s Department and her car was towed.

“I popped my head in at the sheriff’s department and gave her a thumbs up and she smiled back,” Price says. “I was just doing my job and was in the right place at the right time.”

Tate has since been reunited with family and friends and sheriff's department officials do not suspect foul play. Price has been inundated with media interviews.

“Warden Price’s story is just one example of the critical law enforcement functions that conservation wardens perform on duty everyday,” says Amy Smith, DNR Enforcement and Science division administer. “Conservation wardens are exceptional public servants, and work daily to enhance public safety, and protect and promote our natural resources.”

“Besides the duties traditionally associated with conservation wardens such as checking licenses and apprehending poachers, this is a reminder that conservation wardens assist in complex investigations and are our eyes and ears in the community,” Smith says.

Warden Price has been a fulltime Wisconsin conservation warden since Jan. 2, 2002. He had been stationed in Walworth County before transferring to Eagle River about 1 ½ years ago. Today he patrols eastern Vilas County. Price and his wife live in Eagle River.