Hebron Town supervisor Brian Campbell told Northeast Public Radio that it's "very easy for people to get lost on back roads here".
"You don't know how many times I've been awakened early in the morning [by] people lost, run out of gas, over a ditch, you go tow them out, put them on their merry way. You never think of your own safety even," he said.
The type of bullet that killed Ms Gillis was a large lead slug fired from a 12-gauge shotgun, according to the Times-Union newspaper.