AUBURN – More than two dozen searchers Thursday night combed the woods of Mount Apatite Park for a 34-year-old woman last seen walking into the area about 3:30 p.m.

Police said the woman was believed to be depressed and carrying a bottle of liquor when she went into the heavily wooded area next to her parents’ house on Mine Road.

Police did not identify the missing woman Thursday night.

By sundown, the group of searchers had grown to include local and Maine State Police, Androscoggin County Sheriff’s officials, firefighters and Maine Warden Service officers.

At 6 p.m., police said contact had been made with the missing woman over a cell phone. Shortly after, the phone went dead, police said.

Maine State Police who had been training their search dogs in the area went to Mount Apatite Park to assist with the search, according to Auburn police Lt. Gary Boulet. The dogs searched through the woods near the home of the woman’s parents but failed to locate her.

By 9 p.m., several of the searchers were using all-terrain vehicles to ride along the complex of trails that wind along Mount Apatite Park. Others were searching on foot while some of the crews set up staging areas on Mine Road, Small Road and other areas off Hatch Road.

Police said the missing woman had been living out of state but had come home to visit her parents, whose home is next to a trail leading into Mount Apatite.

The woman was described as depressed over a relationship problem, and it was believed she was drinking when she went into the woods, police said. Searchers feared the woman may have fallen asleep or injured herself while roaming the dark woods, though she was said to be familiar with them. Police said the weather also added an element of urgency.

“With the temperatures maybe dropping down into the 30s tonight, we definitely want to find her as soon as possible,” Boulet said.

Searchers went into the woods on ATVs along Garfield Road and at the end of Small Road about 8 p.m. They moved through the woods toward Minot Avenue, driving along the trails in search of the missing woman.

The woods around Mount Apatite Park are known for boulders, ledges and quarries, remnants from mining that took place there decades ago. In more recent years, the area is generally used as a park for hiking.

“It’s a big patch of woods,” Boulet said.

By 11 p.m., searchers were making copies of the missing woman’s photograph in case she was spotted somewhere outside the park. Wardens and others were examining maps of the area as the search intensified.