MADISON TOWNSHIP – The Ohio Special Response Team was recognized by the Richland County Sheriff’s Office for its assistance in a September 2023 missing-person case.
An awards ceremony took place Tuesday at the Richland County People’s Building, 597 Park Ave. E. in Mansfield, to honor OSRT responders.
Sheriff Steve Sheldon thanked OSRT members for their assistance locating a missing person in September 2023.
“I really, really, really appreciate what the OSRT team does,” he said. “It’s nice that we can call upon you (OSRT) to do stuff that we can’t do so well.”
Details from September missing person case
Sergeant Jason Shoemaker outlined the incident, which occurred Sept. 15, 2023.
At approximately 1 p.m., RCSO received a missing-person report from a family member of the victim, a 62-year-old resident of 5th Ave. in Mansfield.
The victim was last seen around 1 a.m. by a family member, who provided a description of the victim’s clothing, including that they walked with a cane and only had vision in one eye.
Deputies were dispatched to Rosedale Avenue at 3:46 p.m. in reference to a caller who found a cane, cell phone, hat and flashlight lying along the woodline.
A family member of the victim confirmed the items belonged to the missing person.
RCSO also made contact with a subject who reported observing a male subject, matching the victim’s description, around noon in the area where the items were located.
Shoemaker contacted Major Joe Masi, who along with Sheldon, responded to the scene and assisted with the search.
Deputy Alec Mills arrived with a K9, to possibly track the victim, while Deputies Jared Bennett and Cade Rogers began canvassing the area.
Deputies were alerted to multiple locations by the K9, but remained unsuccessful in locating the victim.
An extensive drone search was provided by the Ontario Police Department, which ultimately was unable to locate the victim.
“The canopy, the shrubs, was so thick it (drone) couldn’t penetrate with infrared,” Shoemaker said.
Surveillance footage from a nearby trucking company showed sightings of the victim.
With temperatures dropping and daylight decreasing, Shoemaker said the decision was made, after discussion with Masi, to call OSRT.
Ohio Special Response Team arrives at scene
Within one hour of contact, two OSRT K9s and their handlers were on location and briefed by RSCO personnel. Several additional OSRT volunteers from around the state also assisted in the search upon arrival.
Shoemaker said deputies assisted with OSRT and provided them with any requests made to help them in locating the missing person.
Following several hours of searching, the victim was located at 11:02 p.m. deep inside a wooded area and in need of medical attention.
Madison and Mifflin Township Fire Departments assisted with transporting the victim out of the wooded area using a Stokes Basket.
The victim was transported by ambulance to Ohio Health for an evaluation and treatment of injuries.
Shoemaker said the victim reported taking out the trash at 5:30 a.m. on Sept. 15, became disoriented and was unable to find the way back to their residence.
The victim also recalled falling and something hitting their eye, making it difficult to see.
‘All hands on deck situation’ says Shoemaker
Shoemaker said the positive outcome was possible thanks to the cooperation of all parties involved.
“Including the volunteers who stopped what they were doing that day to aid us in the situation,” he said. “Our department would like to publicly thank the Ohio Special Response Team for their dedication to our community and those in need.”
OSRT is a volunteer unit formed to provide civil agencies with a rapid response organization that can react quickly when emergencies arise, according to the unit’s website.
OSRT Captain Alan Plastow said a lost person behavior analysis system was used to assist their search near a stream in the wooded area.
“Lost person behavior analysis says elderly people with dementia have a tendency to go downhill and they have a tendency to go towards water,” he said.
“From the time I allocated the team, ‘walk down here and go along the stream,’ it took them 46 minutes to find this man, 46 minutes.”
OSRT members recognized by RCSO
Plastow said OSRT was asked at one point if the search should be stopped, due to difficult conditions such as darkness and falling temperatures.
“Our answer was, if we call the search at this point, we’ll be doing a recovery,” he said.
“So we continued to search, with the support of the police officers and the sheriff’s deputies and we found this man. It’s a good result.”
Sheldon said that without response from OSRT, he’s unsure how much longer the incident may have continued.
“I don’t know how much longer it (search) would’ve been,” he said. “But, we saved a life.”
Members recognized Tuesday included Plastow, Jeremy Artzner, Greg Grove, Deb Muntague, Elizabeth Hogan, Dennis Breen, Denise Kroger, Dale Thompson, Tim Durbin, Sarah Gentry and K9 Besa.
Jenn Killby, Robert Gannon, Chase Slepak and Tim Morse also received recognition, but were unable to attend Tuesday’s ceremony.
