Edhat Staff
Source: Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office
Sheriff’s deputies along with County Air Support located a woman deep inside an orchard after she had been missing overnight.
Yesterday, at around 11:00 a.m., deputies responded to the 5400-block of Toltec in Santa Barbara to investigate a report of a missing person. They learned that a 71-year-old woman had left for a walk several hours earlier and had not returned home. The woman did not have a cell phone, spoke limited English and was not familiar with the area.
Deputies searched the area, including walking the route they anticipated she could have taken. As nighttime fell, the deputies were unable to locate the missing woman.
This morning, deputies resumed the search together with County Air Support scouring the 1400-block of Camino Molinero where one person had reported seeing the missing woman. Air Support located the woman and guided deputies on the ground to the area. Deputies drove off-road and hiked to reach the woman who was awake but needed medical attention. County Fire assisted by evaluating and transporting the woman by off-road vehicle to an ambulance that then transferred her to the hospital.
The success of finding this missing person is thanks, in great part, to a vigilant community member who reported seeing the missing person in the area to law enforcement.
Very beautiful story I’m so glad she was found
Pretty much just walk downhill in that situation. I wonder why she didn’t? Wandered out of a care facility? Funny-but-sad story: When Dad was recovering from a heart attack, the facility had long-term care halls as well and there was an old man in the dementia unit who kept slipping out of that hall & into women’s beds in assisted living believing she was his wife. The couple had lived in assisted living until he needed to be moved into “memory care” when she passed. He couldn’t comprehend that.