‘This thing was a life saver’

He was 91, and he’d been missing for hours.

He lived in Newton, but a neighbor reported seeing his vehicle at his old farm northwest of Walton in Harvey County. Despite the family’s best efforts, they couldn’t locate him.

Finally, at about 11:15 p.m. Tuesday, the family called 911.

“It got dark on them,” Harvey County Sheriff Chad Gay said of the search efforts. “It would have been a needle in the haystack at that point — especially in the dark.”

Law enforcement officers joined in the search, but after more than an hour the search on foot was suspended. Harvey County Sheriff’s Corporal Brandon Huntley decided to deploy a drone with an infrared camera.

Within five minutes of the drone taking off at 1:15 a.m., Gay said, the camera detected a heat signature about 35 yards west of the house.

“He was laying on the ground in a hedge row, in heavy brush,” Gay said.

And he was still alive.

“There’s no doubt this thing was a lifesaver,” Gay said of the drone.

While Harvey County law enforcement agencies have used the drone in prior missing person cases, this was the first successful outcome.

“This is the one that made it all worth it,” Gay said. “That justifies every minute of time spent training.”

Authorities are withholding the man’s name. Gay said he suffered dehydration but is in good condition at a hospital in Newton.

The man does not suffer from Alzheimer’s or dementia, Gay said.

“He used to live out there...,” Gay said. “He went out there to just hang out on his property.”

Law enforcement officials believe he sought shade to escape the heat. The family was fearing the worst as the search unfolded, Gay said.

Instead, they got the best possible news.

“They were pretty happy with our guys,” Gay said. “I’d say ‘ecstatic.’ ”

This story was originally published July 19, 2017 at 8:29 PM with the headline "‘This thing was a life saver’."