YOLO COUNTY — A wrong turn on a rural road ended in the death of a 78-year-old Hayward woman, authorities say.

The car that Raquel Labbe and her husband were traveling in got stuck in a fruit orchard and they apparently tried to walk out to find help, but succumbed to the elements.

Labbe was reported missing Jan. 29 after she failed to return from a gambling trip to Cache Creek Casino — about 20 miles north of Davis — with her husband, Harold, 76. Her son grew concerned because the couple would make the trip often, and always return on time, police said.

"The son "... was concerned because there are some medical issues and he did not know if they had their medicine," Hayward police Sgt. Steve Brown said.

A missing-person report was filed, which noted that Raquel Labbe was at-risk because she had Alzheimer's disease, Brown said.

The casino staff told investigators that the couple had never checked in. Authorities distributed fliers and called hospitals in the area.

Around noon Monday, a farmworker going through an orchard near the small town of Zamora, off Interstate 5, found Harold Labbe unconscious about 50 feet from the couple's Ford Focus, which was stuck in the mud and out of fuel.

The car had turned off a road just east of Highway 99 and onto a dirt path that runs through the orchard, Yolo County sheriff's officials said.

But the car got stuck, and officials said the couple likely kept the engine running to keep the heater on.

"When they ran out gas, they ventured out on their own," Brown said.

A couple hundred yards away, rescue workers found Raquel Labbe. She had died from hypothermia, likely late Saturday or early Sunday, Yolo County chief deputy coroner Robert LaBrash said.

"It appears she was heading toward the highway in search of help," Brown said.

Harold Labbe was recovering from hypothermia Wednesday in a Hayward hospital, officials said.

It was unclear why the couple drove into the orchard, or how far they had gone.