An elderly Brown County woman was found safe and sound after she was reported missing then returned home after an extensive search was made by Brown County emergency responders Wednesday afternoon.
After the 72-year-old woman left her south Brown County home near Brookesmith for a walk with her dog and did not return, a search party was quickly formed. According to Brown County Sheriff Bobby Grubbs, family initially started the search around 3:30 PM Wednesday and called for help from the Brookesmith Volunteer Fire Department. As evening was quickly approaching, members of the Brookesmith VFD then requested assistance from Brown County Sheriff’s Department at 6:30 PM said Sheriff’s officials.
Sheriff Grubbs stated that BCSO deputies, firemen and family continued searching and that it was decided to call David Furry with Leak Survey, Inc. of Early to assist with the search from the air since daylight would soon be running out. Furry and a pilot quickly arrived on scene with his helicopter, finding the missing woman around 7:40 PM.
“Furry’s helicopter got there pretty quickly they and spotted her almost immediately, probably within about 10 minutes he and the pilot were able to find her,” said Grubbs. “It helped because she had her dog with her and it was running around.”
With darkness quickly approaching, Grubbs stated that he thought about calling the Texas Department of Public Safety helicopter, but he knew that it would be well past dark by the time it could arrive, so a local helicopter was called to help in the search.
“I really want to thank David Furry and Leak Survey for their help. They helped a lot and spotted her almost immediately,” said Grubbs. “I really appreciate what they did, they were a tremendous help to us.”Grubbs and other members of the search team were thrilled to find the missing woman.
“I’m thrilled it turned out like it did. You always prepare for the worst and hope for the best,” said Grubbs. “The Good Lord answered our prayers.”
Sgt. Lana Guthrie also helped in the search and stated that once the woman was spotted from the air, family members and deputies headed to her location on UTVs while she went there in a pickup in case she was injured.
At approximately 7:45 PM an ambulance was called to transport the woman to the hospital for minor injuries. Family members confirmed that she had bumps and bruises but was otherwise doing well after being found and evaluated.
Family members stated, “We are very grateful for all the entities for helping locating her, especially the helicopter. They turned on the heat imaging and found her within about 8 minutes.”
