Thermal imaging, broken branches lead rescuers to missing NC man ‘suffering dementia’
A missing North Carolina man was found over the weekend after rescuers used thermal imaging to locate him.
Robert Gouge, 74, was reported missing Saturday from the U.S. 221 North and Crosscut Drive area in Woodlawn, where he had been “known to walk,” according to a Saturday news release from McDowell County Emergency Management. He had last been seen around 6:30 p.m. Friday.
A Silver Alert was issued for Gouge, who was “suffering dementia and possibly diabetic,” and multiple agencies responded to search for him, Broad River Fire & Rescue wrote on Facebook.
Broad River Fire & Rescue says it launched drones equipped with thermal imaging and eventually spotted a “heat signature,” which they later confirmed was Gouge.
Ground crews then found footprints and broken branches, which led them to Gouge, the post says.
“He was known to break off branches as he walked making the area a higher probability,” it says.
Gouge was found just before 1 a.m. Sunday on “steep terrain” off U.S. 221, McDowell Emergency Management says. He was in stable condition.
He wasn’t “fully alert” when found and was treated by medics, Broad River Fire & Rescue says.
No other information had been released as of Sunday afternoon.
McDowell County is in Western North Carolina, about 40 miles east of Asheville.
This story was originally published March 28, 2021 at 3:05 PM with the headline "Thermal imaging, broken branches lead rescuers to missing NC man ‘suffering dementia’."
