Missing 87-Year-Old Man with Dementia Found in Mass. Woods After Hourslong Search

The man was taken to a nearby hospital "for treatment of cold exposure injuries" after the ordeal, police said

By Brian Brant

The 87-year-old man with dementia was found in the woods on Feb. 21, Massachusetts State Police said. Photo:
Massachusetts State Police

• An 87-year-old man with dementia was discovered in the woods last week after he disappeared for nearly eight hours, Massachussets State Police said
• Amid the search, Massachusetts State Police Air Wing and K-9 unit helped find the victim
• His condition remains unknown as of Tuesday morning

An 87-year-old man with dementia was found in the woods thanks to the Massachusetts State Police Air Wing and a K-9 unit after he vanished for nearly eight hours, police said. 

State police said in a release on Monday that troopers from the State Police-Russell Barracks and members of the Massachusetts State Police K9 Unit, Special Emergency Response Team (SERT) and Air Wing responded on the afternoon of Feb. 21 to help Russell Police search for the missing man. 

The man, who has not been identified, was last seen just after 12 p.m. local time in the area of Blandford Road.

As state and local patrols checked local homes and businesses, state police K9 teams "observed several footprints in the snow leading eastward from a nearby residential driveway down a steep embankment into the woods," authorities said. 

"MSP K9 Unit Trooper Ken Hanchett deployed his partner, Orry, who quickly acquired a scent and began to pull down the hill," state police added. "Upon reaching the bottom, Trooper Hanchett and Orry tracked across a flooded and frozen stretch of ground into a clearing."

In the clearing, police say Orry showed a "proximity alert" and "pulled intensely across another overgrown and frozen area to a large tree." K9 Trooper John Areche and SERT Trooper Timothy Fanion assisted in the search.

At the same time, MSP Air 4, one of the helicopters in the Department’s Air Wing, conducted "an aerial search and observed a heat signature in the vicinity of the K9 team."

"As Orry pulled toward the tree, Trooper Hanchett observed the elderly man lying on the ground," the release said. "By this point it was approximately 8 PM, nearly eight hours after the man was last seen."

Troopers Hanchett, Areche and Fanion rendered emergency aid as additional SERT troopers responded to the scene. 

Troopers carried the man, who was unable to walk, to an ambulance. He was transported to a nearby hospital "for treatment of cold exposure injuries," authorities added.

His condition at this time remains unclear.

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Missing 87-Year-Old Man with Dementia Found in Mass. Woods After Hourslong Search