An 80-year-old Woman Went Missing, but Her Loyal Dog Found Her and Waited With Her for Days Until Help Arrived
The 5-year-old chocolate Labrador is proof that a dog is a man’s (or woman’s) best friend. He stayed by his owner’s side for three days and two nights while police looked for the missing woman.
A woman with dementia who is 80 years old and from Colorado got lost last month while she was at her family’s summer home in a remote part of central Utah. Elsie, a brown Labrador who is 5 years old, was with her. Her family went looking for her while they were busy making dinner when they realized she wasn’t there. They told the police and called the Emery County Sheriff’s Office for help when they couldn’t find her. Several rescue teams from different agencies sprang into action to try to find the woman and dog, but they were not successful.
Ralph Mitchell, who lives in the remote mountains of central Utah and has known the woman’s family for more than 50 years, told USA TODAY that the sheriff’s office, local police, and members of the community worked together to search for the woman for a long time. Mitchell said that helicopters and drones were used, people on motorcycles and trail bikes were sent out to look for the woman, and people in the town went door to door. There were no extra parts, and the whole area was checked nonstop for two days and two nights.
The woman went lost for two days. On the third day, James Thomas, a K9 officer with the Utah Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Division, and his K9 dog Kip joined the search. Thomas said that Kip is taught to smell and find things that people leave behind.
The morning and afternoon heat made it harder for them to search, so Thomas said that “working at night,” when it was cooler, was the “best option” for them. Several times during their search, Thomas said they heard weak dog barks that woke them up and gave them ideas on “where to start looking a little bit more in depth.”
“When I was out checking the outbuildings, I heard a dog bark and it was brief,” he said. “I was in a very good position to get a direction on where this dog bark was coming from.”
When he heard the bark, he called the missing woman’s husband and told her what he had heard. The husband told him that their five-year-old dog had been missing with the woman.
Security footage points authorities in the right direction.
Thomas said that in the morning of the third day, police were able to get videos from a neighbor’s camera that showed the woman walking her dog past the house.
“It was the first evidence that we had of her presence, and it gave us a timeline of when she was out in walking and how long she’d been missing,” he said.
Thomas said that the video helped them figure out which way the woman might have gone. He and Mitchell then went their separate ways and “hit the hillsides” to keep looking.
Someone looked for her for three days and two nights before they finally found her. Thomas said the woman was asleep with her dog next to her. Mitchell said she was missing her shoes and had sticks in her hair.
Thomas said, “She was deeply scratched and had bruises on her arms.” He also said, “She was very thirsty.”
Thomas said that she was awake and happy to see everyone who came to help her. He told them that the woman had no memory of what she had been through.
Mitchell said he started yelling and singing to get the family and neighbors’ attention because there was no cell phone service in the area. He then went down the hill to get them, along with water and other first-aid supplies.
In a Facebook post, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources said the woman was taken to a nearby hospital for medical evaluation. Mitchell told USA TODAY Wednesday that the lady is now back home and is doing well.
Mitchell said the family is very thankful to everyone who helped find the missing woman. They thanked him in particular for saving the family matriarch and safekeeping a lifetime of memories in a place they enjoy.
Mitchell said Elsie was taken to the vet for a checkup and was thirsty, but she is now fine.
“In my story, the outcome is that the dog ultimately is responsible for me being able to find her,” he said. “In the end, the dog is the hero because she is so loyal to her owner.” That dog’s resolve to stay with her owner, along with her love and loyalty, are truly admirable.
“Most likely the brief barking that I heard and led me to find her was probably the dog defending the owner from a coyote or another wild animal,” he said.
The woman was also saved by her dog, according to the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, whose barking led searchers to her.