Drone operators find missing Plover woman

PLOVER — On May 5 at approximately 11:08 p.m., the Portage County Sheriff’s Office Communications Center received a call from a residential care facility reporting one of its residents was missing. The 91-year-old female was last known to be in her room at approximately 9:45 p.m. and was feared to have walked away from the facility. Officers from the Plover Police Department were dispatched to investigate. Portage County Sheriff’s Office deputies also responded to assist in the search. Two deputies trained as Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), or drone, operators were working at the time and also responded with a UAV.
A perimeter was established and a K9 unit was deployed. The K9 was unable to successfully track the victim due to scene contamination caused by the caregivers’ well-meaning initial search efforts.
As officers and deputies continued attempting to locate the woman, the UAV equipped with thermal imaging was deployed. The missing woman was safely located in a nearby wooded area by use of the UAV at 11:51 p.m. As a precaution, Emergency Medical Services evaluated the woman and she is expected to survive the ordeal.
Thanks to the technology provided by the UAV, and the skilled operators, the woman was found within 45 minutes from the initial call to the Communications Center. Temperatures at the time were slightly above freezing, making her timely rescue critical to her survival.